Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 7 (Tomblaine – La Super Planche des Belles Filles, 176.3k)

[sir fly]

I am not sure if such a steep ramp is actually his preferred terrain. But he didn't look completely unbeatable today, even though Vingegaard never got father away from him than his initial jump, I doubt he would've been able to drop Pogacar had he tried earlier for example.

Not the gradient, lasting of today's effort was in his sweet(est) spot.

 

[movingtarget]

Kirby not being able to differentiate between Schachmann and Vlasov of course.

Too busy looking for Clarke.

 

[bjaelkesex]

Is that the third or fourth time Vingegaard has "broken" Pogacar on a gc stage only to see him finish second behind the Slovenian?

 

[movingtarget]

No reason to feel bad for Pinot when Gaudu is the leader.

Pinot settled into his new role as stage finisher...........

 

[BR2]

Thomas extremely strong on a climb that should suit him the least.

I'm now hoping for a good final result for Bardet.

 

[movingtarget]

Meintjes running lol

Froome tribute. How to do it properly.

 

[dercuforever]

Thomas extremely strong on a climb that should suit him the least.

I'm now hoping for a good final result for Bardet.

He tends to shine in long climbs so I am also hopefull.
In the Giro prior to his DNF/DNS, he was on par with Hindley/Carapaz and Landa.
If JV and Pog do not go after him when he goes on a climb or in a descent, he may well podium, or at least top 5.

 

[tobydawq]

Thomas extremely strong on a climb that should suit him the least.

I'm now hoping for a good final result for Bardet.

He (Thomas) was really good on that finish in 2019 too.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Thomas extremely strong on a climb that should suit him the least.

I'm now hoping for a good final result for Bardet.

I hope so too. It's good for the race.

 

[perico]

Thomas extremely strong on a climb that should suit him the least.

I'm now hoping for a good final result for Bardet.

Thomas has always been strong here. He dropped Bernal, Mas, Alaphilippe, and Pinot here in 2019

 

[movingtarget]

I bored of pog already. christ.

He looks pretty bored himself.

 

[Lorzenz08]

I hope so too. It's good for the race.

Unfortunately I doubt it. I think he is going to lose a lot when the pressure by the leaders is going to grow.

 

[Lorzenz08]

I bored of pog already. christ.

Hopefully Roglic will get better. We can only dream of a Vingegaard - Roglic duo trying to take on Pog. Would be chaos.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I don't understand this complaint about repeated climbs. It's the Tour de France. That's what you get. It's like people complaining that that they have to watch guys pedal their bikes.

At least with other climbs they can use them in different ways, the only difference in this one is adding the gravel bit on the end which actually makes it worse.

What was Jumbo doing by not using Kuss to make the stage harder for Jonas?

I see you haven't seen Jumbo at any point in the last 2 years, allow me to fill you in...

With the original finish-line, it's a good climb that is worth being excited for. It has been overused, but it has still delivered every single time. 2012, 2014, 2017 & 2020 were all quite good for such a climb.

The gimmick gravel section significantly worsens it. Now it's all about timing the effort of the last 500 m of the climb. Sad for a good 1st category climb to be reduced to that.

This. Only without the "it's a good climb that is worth being excited for" bit. It's an OK climb without the gravel bit, but in 10 years it's caught up with the amount of uses Hautacam (introduced 1994) has had and is only just behind Angliru (introduced 1999) and Zoncolan (introduced 2003) - and been used repeatedly in other races too.

As a middle of week 1 kind of climb, it's fine, like when Aru won. It's like a tamer Peña Cabarga. But not every year. And certainly not every year including a gimmick section that turns it into a glorified sprint.

So what? That doesn't make it forum doctrine.

I guess in toby's mind, if I didn't say PDBF was overused, nobody else would have noticed?

 

[FrontHeadlock]

I bored of pog already. christ.

Reminds me of the movie Gladiator, where the old man tells Maximus (after quickly slaughtering everyone) that he needs to win the crowd to win his freedom.

This is so boring. Not winning the crowd at all.

 

[Ranagazoo]

Unpopular opinion but I think that gravel section is a great addition to a great climb

 

[Netserk]

At least with other climbs they can use them in different ways, the only difference in this one is adding the gravel bit on the end which actually makes it worse.

They can add Chevrères like they did in 2014 and 2019.

 

[gunara]

Reminds me of the movie Gladiator, where the old man tells Maximus (after quickly slaughtering everyone) that he needs to win the crowd to win his freedom.

This is so boring. Not winning the crowd at all.

What do you want him to do actually? Cease to exist? I think he's just being there like all other riders, he just happenn to have the capacity to win the Tour, and even that, it's not a given that he always will.

 

[inri2000]

Wiggins: "There's no gifts anymore"

Of course not when there are bonus seconds on the line, the era of gifting stages didn't have bonus seconds available on mountain stages.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

They can add Chevrères like they did in 2014 and 2019.

Oh yes, a "cat.1" climb more generous than some of the Vuelta's!!!

I rag on Chevrères more because of the overcategorisation than anything else though, it's fine. Doesn't really impact the racing in terms of changing the way people race PDBF, but does mean they're hitting it with less recovery time so can improve the racing on PDBF for sure. Regular PDBF should probably be a cat.2 for my money, let alone Chevrères.

And so should Cordal, Minas and Peña Cabarga.

 

[Netserk]

Wiggins: "There's no gifts anymore"

Of course not when there are bonus seconds on the line, the era of gifting stages didn't have bonus seconds available on mountain stages.

When exactly do you think gifting stages started?

 

[inri2000]

When exactly do you think gifting stages started?

I didn't watch before the 90's

 

[Miha81]

Wiggins: "There's no gifts anymore"

Of course not when there are bonus seconds on the line, the era of gifting stages didn't have bonus seconds available on mountain stages.

Maybe he was referring to time when he was gifted the whole grand tour

 

[RobertCrawley]

I didn't watch before the 90's

It happens all the time. For instance, if a rider helps another in a breakaway to gain time in the GC, he's often given the stage.

 

[Netserk]

Oh yes, a "cat.1" climb more generous than some of the Vuelta's!!!

I rag on Chevrères more because of the overcategorisation than anything else though, it's fine. Doesn't really impact the racing in terms of changing the way people race PDBF, but does mean they're hitting it with less recovery time so can improve the racing on PDBF for sure. Regular PDBF should probably be a cat.2 for my money, let alone Chevrères.

And so should Cordal, Minas and Peña Cabarga.

By the equation of length times average gradient to the power of two, it scores 426 without the extra km. So you either need to penalise its low altitude or revise the scale completely.