Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 16 (Carcassonne – Foix, 178.5k)

[RobertCrawley]

The Cyborg knocked almost 4 minutes from his time and is now in 8th place. Good move and well done.

 

[ontheroad]

Not too sure what people are expecting of Ineos at this Tour. Thomas is a very effective diesel these days. Yates isn't his brother. Martinez has no form. Baffling that they didn't put Pidcock in the break today as he probably would have won. But beyond that, they're working with what they've got.

It is precisely the Pidcock decision that I was referring to. If he had got into the break today he could have won since Vlasov was given leeway and Jumbo had limited resources driving the peloton to control the break. Instead he struggled to maintain contact with the yellow jersey group and was of limited use to his team mates. They mightn't have the strongest riders in the race but they had the strength in numbers to do something.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Froome dropped Bardet

Just like old times.

 

[Finn84]

Soler officially OTL.

 

[Rechtschreibfehler]

They did use NVH between the two mountains. And I think the mere fact that WvA was there to close any possible gaps acted as a deterring factor for Pogi to not even try.

Agreed. I think it was the smart choice today not to attack, a duell vs WVA downhill and on the flat wouldn't do much good and just waste really a lot of energy.

 

[postmanhat]

It is precisely the Pidcock decision that I was referring to. If he had got into the break today he could have won since Vlasov was given leeway and Jumbo had limited resources driving the peloton to control the break. Instead he struggled to maintain contact with the yellow jersey group and was of limited use to his team mates. They mightn't have the strongest riders in the race but they had the strength in numbers to do something.

Completely agree. The stage was ideal for him and it ended up being a very soft break that barely lost any time on the climbs. Can only assume they've got something in mind for him over the next couple of days?

 

[SarahtheDane]

Soler snubbed by Prudhomme.

 

[ontheroad]

Completely agree. The stage was ideal for him and it ended up being a very soft break that barely lost any time on the climbs. Can only assume they've got something in mind for him over the next couple of days?

You would have to think so but today was the ideal stage profile for him and it would also have meant that Ineos could have sat on wheels in the peloton all day instead of riding near the front. He was still close enough in GC to be a faint threat so it made very little tactical sense to put Martinez in the break. Even if Pidcock hadn't won the stage he would have been at least there to assist Thomas and Yates on the descent.

When he didn't go in the attack I thought they might send him and Yates up the road half way up the penultimate climb and use the descents to gain time and see if the others chased. But they didn't try anything. Maybe they are keeping their powder dry but they are running out of stages to do something.

 

[Phillip O'Garner]

What was the point of Soler struggling to finish nearly an hour behind? As with Morkov no consideration by the team for rider welfare.

 

[RobertCrawley]

What was the point of Soler struggling to finish nearly an hour behind? As with Morkov no consideration by the team for rider welfare.

Maybe they are hoping for a Paul Sherwen pass (although Sherwen did it to honor the race, so maybe Soler too).

 

[huangho]

Soler officially OTL.

Combativity award should have been for him... I remember his bad attitude with movistar from some years ago, when he was forced to stop to help a teammate, but the year when he finished the stage with 2 broken arms, and today's stage has proven that this guy has a lot of "you know what"...

Kudos to him, but UAE team you should have stopped him!!!

 

[bill1109]

What was the point of Soler struggling to finish nearly an hour behind? As with Morkov no consideration by the team for rider welfare.

He must have read the Roglic forum ; )

 

[RobertCrawley]

Thibault Pinot hug of the day (obviously) goes to Marc Soler.

 

[Bonimenier]

What was the point of Soler struggling to finish nearly an hour behind? As with Morkov no consideration by the team for rider welfare.

Riders often want to finish the stage even if they know if they will OTL. They rather go out that way than stepping off the bike during a stage. Hayman told a few days ago that one of the biggest regrets in his career was abandoning instead of finishing the stage when he knew he was going to OTL.

 

[Phillip O'Garner]

Riders often want to finish the stage even if they know if they will OTL. They rather go out that way than stepping off the bike during a stage. Hayman told a few days ago that one of the biggest regrets in his career was abandoning instead of finishing the stage when he knew he was going to OTL.

I get that, but if a rider is seriously sick or injured there has to be a duty of care from the team.

 

[Bonimenier]

I get that, but if a rider is seriously sick or injured there has to be a duty of care from the team.

Sure, but they can't pull him of the bike and throw him in the car if he refuses to stop (if that is what happened, of course).

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Really nice win for Hugo Houle. 12 years as a pro working for this win.

Happy to see Nairoman moving up. But nowadays that generally means he moves down again the next day

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

I really dont like teams allowing clearly doomed riders to ride solo in misery all day (or worse still pushing them to do it). If a guy is out the back early, can’t catch up, can’t make a time limit and is in obvious pain or puking his ring what on earth is the purpose of torturing them?

 

[RobertCrawley]

I really dont like teams allowing clearly doomed riders to ride solo in misery all day (or worse still pushing them to do it). If a guy is out the back early, can’t catch up, can’t make a time limit and is in obvious pain or puking his ring what on earth is the purpose of torturing them?

Commentary: Remembering Paul Sherwen

Following Sherwen's death at 62, we remember his gritty performance to finish the 1985 Tour de France.

www.velonews.com

“After 30 kilometers, I told them to leave me,” Sherwen said. “I had so much pain in my back I had trouble following them and I thought there was no reason they should stay and throw away their race on an invalid. I told them to leave me, but they wouldn’t go, so I had to tell them two or three times.”

After 80 kilometers, Bondue and Simon obeyed. “We decided we had to respect the man. We went off thinking that was the end of him,” one of them said. Sherwen was alone.

“A lot of times I felt like getting off but I kept thinking it was probably my last Tour de France and that was no way to end it. ‘Carry on, carry on,’ I kept saying to myself. “What a futile effort’ I kept thinking, but what I was saying was ‘Carry on.’”

He finished the stage 63 minutes behind the winner and half an hour behind Simon, the next-to-last rider.

By the rules, Sherwen should have been put out of the Tour. “There are four reasons to avoid eliminating a rider,” he explained. “The general speed of the stage, the point where the accident occurred, the effort the rider made to finish and the amount of traffic blocking the road. They cited all four reasons to put me back in the race.

“But first I went straight to hospital for X-rays. They showed extremely large bruisings of the head and shoulders. I was back in the race by the next morning’s start but I had a pretty rough two or three days afterward. And I finished, didn’t I?”

Sherwen made it to Paris, 141st of 144 riders.

“People say it was a fantastic feat,” he said of his long solitary ride, “but for me, it was nothing except exceptional. I think it was part of what the Tour de France is all about.”

 

[Andy262]

It's good to see Froome getting back to a level where he isn't embarrassing himself. Last year was hard to watch.

 

[Skijumper Roglic fan]

I would never have expected Hugo Houle could win a TdF stage. I thought, if Astana cannot make him win such a stage, then no one can.

Glad also for Theo Maucher, Israel‘s mastermind. Theo learned how to do it at Gerolsteiner, and today is one of the most important men in Israel‘s staff.

Houle on the bike looks like Mark Padun. Both have the looks of recreational cyclists, doing 5.000-10.000 kms a year, at maximum. And both are really strong. They do not look stylish, but are strong.

When I read today Houle had a few seconds of a gap on Peguere, I thought, he soon would be caught, and would lose 10 minutes to the stage winner at the finish line…

 

[Sciatic]

Really nice win for Hugo Houle. 12 years as a pro working for this win.

Happy to see Nairoman moving up. But nowadays that generally means he moves down again the next day

I think we have to acknowledge that's a definite possibly. But if he does drop tomorrow, perhaps he can rebound and soar on Hautacam!

 

[Boes]

In danger of being called a fanboy, I'm still gonna say it. Van Aert is being used as a lap dog for Vingegaard. If he was a bit more selfish or had a team for his own he could have won at least 2 more stages, probably more.

If Vingegaard ends up losing his yellow in the TT and/or climb finishes Van Aert has every right to be downright pissed. He didn't need to wait today. Vingegaard would have been perfectly fine on his own.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Froome finished ahead of Bardet.

That's good, Chris is almost back. Vinge and co are lucky that they have managed to build a solid time buffer cause Chris is about to unleash a monster.

 

[bill1109]

In danger of being called a fanboy, I'm still gonna say it. Van Aert is being used as a lap dog for Vingegaard. If he was a bit more selfish or had a team for his own he could have won at least 2 more stages, probably more.

If Vingegaard ends up losing his yellow in the TT and/or climb finishes Van Aert has every right to be downright pissed. He didn't need to wait today. Vingegaard would have been perfectly fine on his own.

WVA is the strongest rider in this race. He just isn't designated as gc..cycling has changed. Guys like wva can now achieve their goals and still help gc riders. Old ex pros that say it's stupid riding have to grind their old rules against the current...Lance, Johan , horner, I watch them all. ..yes sure they would "tell wout no more" then the strongest rider wound leave their team immediately. Times have changed in cycling. Podcasts are nice to listen to but watch the shift. Nice that old geezersake money..I'm a geezer ...but cycling has changed. Nice to see these yohngs guys sparring. If jumbo committed to roglic it would be another year of not winning tour...and I'm a big roglic fan..but the guy crashes ..a lot and badly..so cycling moves on. It's a cruel sport.