Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 20 (Lacapelle-Marival – Rocamadour, 40.7k/ITT)

[RedheadDane]

Ganna goes full berserk mode but WVA beats him by 30 seconds anyway. Froome shows his best TT since the accident and gets 3rd place on the stage.

Pog has mechanically, Jonas catches him but they both crash and DNF. Thomas wins GC.

So, you went from "Quite possible", over "Litterally impossible", to "Rather improbable, but technically possible."

 

[Red Rick]

Kuss will top 5 just for the sake of speculation of Vuelta leadership.

 

[RedheadDane]

Uhm... I hope the name of the second climb is about hospitality, not hospital. Coz if it was about hospital, maybe a bit worrying...

 

[tobydawq]

I think Wout will be troubled by the niggle in his knee which has seemed to hold him back so far.

It will be interesting to see, whether Thomas dons his rain jacket again.

 

[Eeslliw]

Küng will win this. Lol at everyone having Pogacar in top 3, he won't even make it top 10.

 

[tobydawq]

Uhm... I hope the name of the second climb is about hospitality, not hospital. Coz if it was about hospital, maybe a bit worrying...

Is it worrying that there is a hospital near a route?

You must worry quite a lot on most stages, then... I don't think they're places of evil.

 

[tobydawq]

Küng will win this. Lol at everyone having Pogacar in top 3, he won't even make it top 10.

Haha, what?

 

[RedheadDane]

Is it worrying that there is a hospital near a route?

You must worry quite a lot on most stages, then... I don't think they're places of evil.

I sure hope nobody will be needing said hospital.

 

[Eeslliw]

Haha, what?

There are at least 10 guys better on TT course like this (Thomas 2x, Kung, Wout, Ganna, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik, Bissegger, Bettiol). He will also go all out from the start and overcook himself.

 

[Moondance]

Uhm... I hope the name of the second climb is about hospitality, not hospital. Coz if it was about hospital, maybe a bit worrying...

I think it’s hospital in the medieval sense of the word, like a place for pilgrims to stay. Rocamadour is a historic pilgrimage site with a bunch of former monasteries (maybe even a few current ones)

 

[rallybanana]

Uhm... I hope the name of the second climb is about hospitality, not hospital. Coz if it was about hospital, maybe a bit worrying...

Maybe they saw there was a Rasmussen on the startlist and decided they might need a hospital

 

[KZD]

There are at least 10 guys better on TT course like this (Thomas 2x, Kung, Wout, Ganna, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik, Bissegger, Bettiol). He will also go all out from the start and overcook himself.

No way Tratnik, Bettiol, Bissegger or Laporte are better than an in shape Pogačar is such a course

 

[RedheadDane]

Maybe they saw there was a Rasmussen on the startlist and decided they might need a hospital

Please, no!
Zeeman was also not happy when asked about that ITT. "It's not good for Denmark to have those thoughts."

Meanwhile...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1550754658100068352

Hope everything turns out okay.

 

[tobydawq]

There are at least 10 guys better on TT course like this (Thomas 2x, Kung, Wout, Ganna, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik, Bissegger, Bettiol). He will also go all out from the start and overcook himself.

No way.

Benjamin Thomas a better TT'er than Pogacar? Yeah, right.

 

[rallybanana]

WVA has the advantage of knowing Ganna's pacing plan and split times. Not sure how fresh Ganna came out of the Pyrenees.

So Van Aert selfishly rode for a high place in GC just to gain an advantage for this time trial !

 

[Bonimenier]

https://imgur.com/a/2pwzpw5

View: https://imgur.com/gallery/2pwzpw5


Wind forcecast from a weather station a few clicks north of Rocamadour (if publicly available apps are worth anything). Mostly headwind/sidewind, but also pretty faint (1-2 BFT). Given the twisty-turny parcours I don’t think wind will be a major factor. Maybe an ever so slight advantage for earlier runners at best.

And this is why G never tried to move up in GC. HUGE weather advantage compared to Vingegaard and Pogacar.

 

[Volderke]

And this is why G never tried to move up in GC. HUGE weather advantage compared to Vingegaard and Pogacar.

10 minutes worth of headwind avoided!

 

[Samu Cuenca]

There are at least 10 guys better on TT course like this (Thomas 2x, Kung, Wout, Ganna, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik, Bissegger, Bettiol). He will also go all out from the start and overcook himself.

Pogačar has ridden 5 GT ITTs, which have had different lengths and profiles, and his worst result is 11th. And although this one is comparable to the one, where he finished 11th, he's clearly a much better rider today than he was during the 2019 Vuelta.

It's possible that he's going to crack in a final attempt to turn things around, but the course itself shouldn't really trouble him much.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Ganna hasn't looked great all Tour although that may also be due to Ineos super passive approach and he has simply been chilling. When is he attempting the hour record? I wonder if his training has changed a bit this year, has definitely looked less dominant.
Going with WVA, Pogacar to take 50 seconds of Vingegaard.

 

[staubsauger]

Ganna hasn't looked great all Tour although that may also be due to Ineos super passive approach and he has simply been chilling. When is he attempting the hour record? I wonder if his training has changed a bit this year, has definitely looked less dominant.
Going with WVA, Pogacar to take 50 seconds of Vingegaard.

His hour record has been postponed has been told on Eurosport. So his shape must be quite poor.

 

[limak_]

It will be interesting to see, whether Thomas dons his rain jacket again.

Might be an ice jacket this time.

 

[sir fly]

Might be an ice jacket this time.

Meltdown it is.

 

[jsem94]

Race fatigue is such a factor in these late TTs. Not sure how Bissegger etc will handle it, or even Ganna. WVA or JV to win.

 

[Potomac]

I want maximum drama today.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

There are at least 10 guys better on TT course like this (Thomas 2x, Kung, Wout, Ganna, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik, Bissegger, Bettiol). He will also go all out from the start and overcook himself.

What? B. Thomas, Cattaneo, Laporte, Tratnik and Bettiol better than Pogacar? Heck, you could argue that Pogacar is better than Bissegger as well. I'd take Pogacar head to head in all those matchups at even odds any day of the week while calling my bank to celebrate.