Tour de France Tour de France 2021, Stage 9: Cluses – Tignes, 144.9 km

[Netserk]

The peloton will soon reach the steep half of Pré. Will the UAE safety car stay on the front?

Poels getting back to the others at the front.

 

[Põhja Konn]

Probably been mentioned already, but this has been a remarkably rainy Tour so far.

 

[Netserk]

And Poels is dropped again.

Pré:

 

[Kaptain Kool]

Hatch did say earlier that this was possibly the greatest first week of a race ever, which is probably pushing it, but certainly we've had a lot more action in week 1 than we get most years. I'd say that this single week has been a microcosm of the 2011 Tour. The first third was just a demolition derby of favourites being eliminated from the race by crashes, the second third was somewhat boring, the most recent third has been absolutely incredible.

Well, that's the point of the earlier post. Hatch says every race is the greatest, every rider is in the form of his life and everyone had the ride of the century. So when something is exciting - and this week has been better than most - its effective excitement level is reduced to about 50% of of its true excitement level just as a natural reaction to Hatch's over-exaggerations.

It's like that kid's story about The Boy who Cried Wolfpack but it was always only EF Education First or something. When Kasper Asgreen really was stealing Shakespeare's chickens, no one came to help because they didn't believe him.

 

[Tobi]

What is Poels doing

 

[perico]

#FreeKuss yet?

 

[Salvarani]

Master tactician Kuss attacks

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Seems an odd time for him to go, he'll have a hard time closing that size of gap before the summit of the Col du Pré.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Kuss glides away on a vicious attack

 

[Wvv]

DNF Tim Merlier

 

[Netserk]

Merlier DNF. What a waste that he only sprinted for the win once.

 

[saganftw]

What is Poels doing

his best

 

[DoYouEvenRideBruh]

What happened to Merlier?!

 

[Red Rick]

What happened to Merlier?!

Can't climb with the likes of Cavendish and Greipel

 

[Netserk]

O'Connor officially dangerous now. +8'13'' before the stage, virtually only +0'40'' now.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Van Aert's done

 

[Red Rick]

Van Aert oops

 

[Netserk]

Van Aert letting go, as expected.

 

[Big Doopie]

…crap…

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

WVA done, Pogacar will have the biggest advantage in GC after the first 1,5 weeks since... Ullrich 1997? Think that was also 5+ minutes after that Saint-Etienne time trial.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

lol Colbrelli's still in the chasing group.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Forget about Merlier abandoning. The real story is Nans Peters dropping out. Hopefully he'll be back to win a stage at the Vuelta.

 

[ngent41]

WVA done, Pogacar will have the biggest advantage in GC after the first 1,5 weeks since... Ullrich 1997? Think that was also 5+ minutes after that Saint-Etienne time trial.

He might not have the jersey at all with Ben O'Conner in the break, probably will but O'Conner should be close after today

 

[Red Rick]

And Poels is dropped again.

Pré:

Pre + Roseland + downhill finish would be great.

 

[Netserk]

Wet and cold all day. Do we expect any of the podium contenders to bonk today?