Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 4 (Dunkerque – Calais, 171.5k)

[Valv.Piti]

Its useless to speculate on his form after that TT. And its even more useless to state that they dont now if they should ride for him or Jasper on stage 6.

I mean, come on now! Are you really serious? Why bring Mathieu in the first place then?

 

[Netserk]

I don't think this TT suited him apart from the rain, and the late starters had better conditions than he did.

This year was half the length. And more corners and accelerations per km.

 

[Forever The Best]

Haven't followed cycling that much past few months. Did anyone important crash in the first 3 days?

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

I don't think this TT suited him apart from the rain, and the late starters had better conditions than he did.

Plenty of guys who finished behind him lost bucket loads in the corners. Then there were of course those who were (very) fast but crashed.

Don't think him placing 5th in this wet and technical time trial means he's on some good to great form. He pretty much said he was **** in stages 1, 2 and 3. Blames it on not having raced since the Giro.

Maybe his form will arrive, but it's anyone's guess.

 

[titan31]

How will Netflix add drama to stage 3? Fake action music, behind the scenes drama? Team car having a flat tire and needing to chase back on only three tires?

One man and his extreme attempts at social distancing?Throw some jaws music on as the peleton appear in shots behind him. Then some slow motion replays of any crash and Will Buxton appears to highlight how you always need to pay attention.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Netflix will just portray Magnus as he was presented on the TV. Cheered by his whole country. Single-handedly beating the peloton.

Remember this is a series for general public and not for some hard core pro road cycling fans.

 

[CyclistAbi]

While we wait for the stage to start we can drink some coffee. Perfect leadout perfect coffee.

luka mezgec's quest for the perfect cup of coffee

derailleur interview series, tour de france special.

derailleur.substack.com

 

[Keram]

Since there is no racing today you can listen to Pog rapping. Note: cringe warning!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1543877915363917825

View: https://twitter.com/BasTietema/status/1543877915363917825?s=20&t=1OPKV1Yp0Xmom6PXi6J9MQ

How can he be a two times TDF winner? He looks like 16 years old boy next door.

 

[Tonton]

Three stages in Denmark, good for all the people and the cycling fans in this beautiful country. But truth be told, ASO couldn't bribe the winds and here we are with a trio of northern France cycling challenges. As a Frenchman, I like the stages 4-5-6. They will feature what, in my mind, riding a bike in "le Nord" is about.

It's looking more and more like contenders and pretenders won't mix it up until La Super Planche, trying to make it to the rest day after stage 9 within striking distance for the podium candidates (maybe 6-7-8 riders), or within 20 seconds or so from one another for the big boys.

And I only see three big boys: Pog, Rog, and Geraint (with a question mark). After all, like Bernal in '19, Geraint could be the last one standing.

I hope that I'm wrong, that we get wind tomorrow, wet cobbles, and rain on stage 6. It's not likely to happen, but I always want an epic Tour, so I will do my shaman dance tonight.

 

[Sciatic]

I think tomorrow we could end up with another bunch sprint with all the notables, unless one of the teams with a more””climby” sprinter goes hard on the middle section of the course to get rid of Jacobson, Groenwegan, etc. Like BORA used to do in occasional stages to set up Sagan. Roster-wise, Jumbo is probably the best position to do something like that, but I really don’t think they would want to use up any extra energy tomorrow that isn’t focused on helping their GC hopefuls. They and the other GC teams may also be wanting to keep the powder dry for the pave stage.

 

[Gargamel35]

While we wait for the stage to start we can drink some coffee. Perfect leadout perfect coffee.

luka mezgec's quest for the perfect cup of coffee

derailleur interview series, tour de france special.

derailleur.substack.com

Ah Luka and his V60 coffee. Too mild and modern for me, but he's got his technic down

 

[gregrowlerson]

Since there is no racing today you can listen to Pog rapping. Note: cringe warning!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1543877915363917825

View: https://twitter.com/BasTietema/status/1543877915363917825?s=20&t=1OPKV1Yp0Xmom6PXi6J9MQ

Pog is more G than G.

 

[red_flanders]

GCN doesn't have rights to TdF in USA that's why we're all buying Peacock when we already have GCN.

Express VPN is your friend.

 

[Pantani_lives]

A light wind will come from the left in the final. That and the climbs might lead to a reduced bunch sprint. Another top 2 for Van Aert is in the cards. GC riders need to watch out. Echelons are not impossible. The classic types will probably save themselves for the tougher stage tomorrow.

 

[Cookster15]

Interesting stage. Would be good to see MvDP win.

Still seems strange why such an early rest day yesterday - obviously I missed why, can anyone help?

 

[DJ Sprtsch]

Still seems strange why such an early rest day yesterday - obviously I missed why, can anyone help?

Hasn't it been like this in all GTs with starts outside of the home country of the GT? Except in case for bordering countries.
When racing in Denmark on Sunday it is simply not possible to continue the next morning in France with all the team buses and trucks having to be in place. It is a 1000km transfer.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Interesting stage. Would be good to see MvDP win.

Still seems strange why such an early rest day yesterday - obviously I missed why, can anyone help?

It's more or less impossible to finish in Denmark and at the next day to compete in France. Too much logistics involved.

 

[Cookster15]

It's more or less impossible to finish in Denmark and at the next day to compete in France. Too much logistics involved.

Thanks, got it! Not complaining, just I knew I missed the news.

 

[CyclistAbi]

Thanks, got it! Not complaining, just I knew I missed the news.

That is on why there is no Giro stage in Slovenia. Imagine they would start the stage in Goričko. They would need to be near Piran the very next day.

 

[danielovichdk2]

Someone needs to light up this race. Please.

The stage looks hilly but looking closer at hills it seems this will be another bunch sprint deal.

Cort will defend his dotted jersey and perhaps catch a break. That would be nice for a change.

Jumbo and Ineos to work together and racing high pace. Rog to attack on the last climb but Vinoukorov and Lance catches up and wins in the same time. A stage like that please

 

[CyclistAbi]

Someone needs to light up this race. Please.

The stage looks hilly but looking closer at hills it seems this will be another bunch sprint deal.

Cort will defend his dotted jersey and perhaps catch a break. That would be nice for a change.

Jumbo and Ineos to work together and racing high pace. Rog to attack on the last climb but Vinoukorov and Lance catches up and wins in the same time. A stage like that please

More likely Jumbo 1 2 3. If that would be to happen.

 

[King Boonen]

Mod hat on:

If someone is trolling then please report them. Do not respond to their posts in kind, this will likely mean we have to suspend multiple people. I've removed about half this thread and I think I got everything, please keep it on topic.

Cheers,

KB.

 

[spalco]

Haven't followed cycling that much past few months. Did anyone important crash in the first 3 days?

I think nobody's seriously hurt, and it has been a surprisingly low-crash first 3 days; the field is even still complete, which I'm sure is rare in the Tour.

 

[gregrowlerson]

I think nobody's seriously hurt, and it has been a surprisingly low-crash first 3 days; the field is even still complete, which I'm sure is rare in the Tour.

Don't jinx it.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It's more or less impossible to finish in Denmark and at the next day to compete in France. Too much logistics involved.

I don't think it would be impossible, the distance isn't that great. Without needing the equipment, I've even flown into and out of Copenhagen for a day trip before. However, for that to be feasible they would have to finish stage 3 somewhere very close to an airport - and probably Copenhagen for it to be large enough to cope with the logistical burden, which then would put massive restrictions on what you can do with the three stages as part of the Grand Départ since they wanted to start in Copenhagen too.

The other thing that you would then have would be the need to transport everything. As a result, the only way that would likely make sense would be to have an ITT or TTT on either the last day in Denmark (enabling the logistics of the regular road bikes to gain a head start) or the first day in France (enabling the TT gear to be taken to France direct and the rest of the equipment to be transferred across two days.

However, while it would be logistically possible, it's probably more of a headache than it's worth for the impositions on route. I mean, we've moaned about the lack of spectacle outside of the fans enough, imagine if we hadn't even had the ITT?

Hell, back in 1988 the Vuelta started in the Canary Islands, having an ITT, a TTT and a road stage in the first three days, and then transferring to Sevilla with no rest day. Since Denmark is in the Schengen area, this seems like the most reasonable comparison (back in the pre-Schengen days you'd have more issue with transfers across borders between stages, but the Canaries to mainland Spain is a comparably long transfer by air or boat that would not require passport control, customs checks etc).