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Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 6 (Binche – Longwy, 219.9k)

Page 26 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Interview with the JV directeur sportive is interesting - plan was to get WvA in the big break, because they were sure that if WvA was in the peloton with his current form, that nobody would help JV bring the break back (and presumably they didn’t want to commit riders to do that for the green jersey). Unfortunately a break of only 3 went, which absolutely wasn’t the plan. Clearly WvA gave it his best effort from that situation though.

I don't get why they didn't leave the 10 man break that Laporte was in go. Laporte was the best sprinter in that group, they could have done no work in the peleton and Laporte could have done very little in that group with his teammate in yellow and very good chance Laporte goes into yellow at the end and they just swap and he gets the stage win. It made no sense why WVA was chasing that down.
 
sure u can think of it that way and I see how you could.

I feel like Rog has shown signs of decline since the start of the season.

I have also always felt that Pog exudes a class and ease that no one else comes close to.

he also now has confidence in what he can do, unlike Vuelta 2019 and even most of the 2020 TDF.

Rog is a workmanlike top talent (like Cadel Evans) and has not been real competition for Pog for two years now.

it is not close. Not at all.
Unlike Evans he crashes far too often in grand tours. I think the first Tour loss to Pogacar seemed to take the wind of Roglic's sails. Since then it hasn't been close.
 
You're saying these things like they're facts, but they're not. 2021 looked like it would have been close. Pogacar never dropped Roglic all spring, and Roglic was looking stronger in the time trials. 2020 Roglic would likely have won without the crash at the Dauphine. I agree Pogacar is better now. We'll see if he'll show any signs of weakness this year, like he did last year. If he does a Mont Ventoux on an MTF, we might have a race. It's a slim chance, but let's wait and see :)

not facts, no.

but it has been my observations and experience watching cycling for decades now.

fwiw, I posted at the very start of 2020 that I thought Pog would win the TDF that year. Then in 2021, I said it would not be close referencing Fignon’s dominant 1984 win after surprising everyone at a tender age in 1983.

and there is then the fact that Pog is still improving and has gained confidence while Rog has at very best stayed where he was (and I think declined).

as I have said I would rather Pog NOT win, but I also want him to be beat on the merits and simply cannot see that happening.
 
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That’s called overthinking things (I know the response will be “no, it’s that they not thinking at all”), by trying calculate whether another team would chase the break. This early in the Tour some teams will always chase.

sounds more like a cover story. But I don’t really care if we can get exciting exciting racing!
What he said was just plain dumb. It's like going forward with a plan despite the conditions have changed completely.

Unless someone can show me that WVA got them bucks by being 3h on TV I can't see how this doesn't harm the Vingo dude or Jumbo.
 
You're saying these things like they're facts, but they're not. 2021 looked like it would have been close. Pogacar never dropped Roglic all spring, and Roglic was looking stronger in the time trials. 2020 Roglic would likely have won without the crash at the Dauphine. I agree Pogacar is better now. We'll see if he'll show any signs of weakness this year, like he did last year. If he does a Mont Ventoux on an MTF, we might have a race. It's a slim chance, but let's wait and see :)
No, Pog's win on Planche de Belles Filles in 2020 saw his superior brilliance emerge, last year's Tirreno, Liege, Tour, Lombardia was his concecration. This year Strade Bianche, Tirreno, Flanders (though he did not win was the strongest) etc., all by 23 years-old demonstrated he is on another level. What else history shall write.
 
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A tight fight with whom? I don't know who is supposed to be this rival to Pogacar, his closest competitor last year was 5 minutes down

I don't really know either - but I do now that the teams who want to beat UAE should focus their energy on that and not on all other kinds of goals (I'm especially thinking of JV here).

If Pogacar suddenly gets a problem, JV should have strong riders to pull in the front - but Van Aert has spent an incredible amount of watts on the flat roads so far. They could use him as the strongest stagiaire of the whole race instead of letting him do his own show.
 
JV explanation:
They didn't want to chase, so the plan was for a breakaway with WvA. They argued that without WvA in the break, the break would have won anyway, and tomorrow they would lose the jersey anyway. So all or nothing for WvA in the breakaway.

In the end, we can't say it wasn't entertaining.

If they were fine to lose the jersey today and rode like that, then bravo, true master minds. They should just put Jonas and Roglic on Pogacar's wheel from the start and just sit the whole day. If dangreous breakaway goes, just sit, don't bother. Let UAE do their job with that as they are the first among GC contenders and have the absolut favorite in their team. It's that easy.
 
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not facts, no.

but it has been my observations and experience watching cycling for decades now.

fwiw, I posted at the very start of 2020 that I thought Pog would win the TDF. Then in 2021, I said it would not be close referencing Fignon’s dominant 1984 win after surprising everyone at a tender age in 1983.

and there is then the fact that Pog is still improving and has gained confidence while Rog has at very best stayed where he was (and I think declined).

as I have said I would rather Pog NOT win, but I also want him to be beat on the merits and simply cannot see that happening.

As Rogla fan I was in denial, but I am afraid you are right. I think he still has some GT (win or wins) in his legs, but not against Pogacar.
 
not facts, no.

but it has been my observations and experience watching cycling for decades now.

fwiw, I posted at the very start of 2020 that I thought Pog would win the TDF. Then in 2021, I said it would not be close referencing Fignon’s dominant 1984 win after surprising everyone at a tender age in 1983.

and there is then the fact that Pog is still improving and has gained confidence while Rog has at very best stayed where he was (and I think declined).

as I have said I would rather Pog NOT win, but I also want him to be beat on the merits and simply cannot see that happening.
I think 2021 would have been very close. It doesn't seem too improbable that Roglic could have followed Pogacar on stage 8. That ride was impressive, but not out of the ordinary compared to other performances by both Pog & Rog, looking at the watts. The time difference was exaggerated by the fact that the others were looking at each other and riding for 2nd. He took a bit of time again on stage 9, but after that, he tried several times, but couldn't drop the other two, and were in fact dropped once himself. And I believe Roglic was better than Vingegaard last year.

Of course it's all speculation.
 
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Just had a look at the result and Roglic did so much better than anticipated. Also Fuglsang compared to WvA and Simmons. And Quintana as well. On the other hand, O'Connor is done. As is Pinot (but that was to be expected). And Vlasov also shouldn't lose 5s here. Have to rewatch it now.
 
Just had a look at the result and Roglic did so much better than anticipated. Also Fuglsang compared to WvA and Simmons. And Quintana as well. On the other hand, O'Connor is done. As is Pinot (but that was to be expected). And Vlasov also shouldn't lose 5s here. Have to rewatch it now.
Vlasov crashed 10k before the finish and had to put in a big effort with his teammates to get back to the front group.
 
I'd try to ride smarter for one and not harder. Leave Pogs team burn themselves out and maybe try to go early yourself. They easily could have tried to get in the break themselves but I think their only attempt was with Cort. Pog isn't going to bother riding down Powless if he attacks.
Ah ok. I thought you meant they shouldn't even have tried anything. I don't disagree the could have tried something smarter.
 
not facts, no.

but it has been my observations and experience watching cycling for decades now.

fwiw, I posted at the very start of 2020 that I thought Pog would win the TDF that year. Then in 2021, I said it would not be close referencing Fignon’s dominant 1984 win after surprising everyone at a tender age in 1983.

and there is then the fact that Pog is still improving and has gained confidence while Rog has at very best stayed where he was (and I think declined).

as I have said I would rather Pog NOT win, but I also want him to be beat on the merits and simply cannot see that happening.
And Pog has done all of this by 23. If he keeps improving till even just 28, there won't be anything for anyone. The new Cannible
 
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No, Pog's win on Planche de Belle Fille in 2020 saw his superior brilliance emerge, last year's Tirreni, Liege, Tour, Lombardia was his concecration. This year Strade Bianche, Tirreno, Flanders (though he did not win was the strongest) etc., all by 23 years-old demonstrated he is on another level. What else history shall write.
They were so even on the climbs when they faced off in 2021, and Roglic had improved his time trialing. It takes blind faith to believe Pogacar would have blown healthy Roglic out of the water last year, but you certainly seem to have that :)
 

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