Tour de France Tour de France 2022: Stage 9 (Aigle – Châtel Les Portes du Soleil, 192.9k)

[RobertCrawley]

An early rest day.

Looks like that to me too, although Tadej and Wout have been unpredictable, thankfully.

I hope for a ripping chase of the breakaway after the Pas de Morgins.

 

[Tonton]

Pinot got Covid the week before Le Tour, and by his own admission, now is about the right time. Thibaut Pinot commented after the PLanche that in the climb, he paid the price for his unsuccessful attempts to go in breaks early on. It would have been a great story. But Madiot was right: Pinot wasn't far enough in the GC then...well now he is.

Only if: with Gaudu close to the podium, which is a team objective, Tibopino may be a super dom' tomorrow. Gaudu was to be the next Pinot, as good as Bernal...you'll never know if don't give him a shot, have the whole team behind him. At the same time, putting all the eggs in one basket is dangerous, FDJ knows it for sure.

Pog can do the '69 Merckx number and win everything. Ineos has different cards to play, they can wait a little longer. The pressure is on JV, one more shot to change the narrative before the rest day. Vingo is still in it, but he's being outclassed every single day. Seconds here, seconds there, seconds everywhere...

 

[movingtarget]

Hopefully a good size break forms which will splinter later. A repeat of yesterday will have me watching Kyrgios at the tennis, something I try to avoid. Is Michael Storer still in the race ? A stage he would normally like.

 

[hfer07]

Poga's 3rd stage win

 

[Pantani_lives]

A stage in the middle mountains seems ideal for a breakaway. Candidates are Pinot, Barguil, Martin, Vuillermoz, Jungels, Mollema, Teuns, Mohoric, Fuglsang, Bettiol and Woods. It's time for the stage hunters to come out of their slumber.

 

[StryderHells]

Hopefully a good size break forms which will splinter later. A repeat of yesterday will have me watching Kyrgios at the tennis, something I try to avoid. Is Michael Storer still in the race ? A stage he would normally like.

Storer is still in the race, he’s been going well the last couple of stages and was last man staring helping Gaudu on stage 7.

 

[search]

they seem to be all focused on Gaudu, though. Küng also was not allowed to escape yesterday, even on home roads. Same for Pinot the day before.

 

[search]

In theory yes but while Vlasovs punch seems alright going by today and two days ago, the crash (or Covid) definitely has taken its toll on him on longer climbs, otherwise he wouldn't have lost so much yesterday. So I don't think they'll do something for him and instead probably try to put Kämna in the breakaway again if he feels it.

in his daily podcast (Bora boss) Denk said that they expect a big GC day, and therefor everyone will work for Vlasov instead of going up the road.

Vlasov's crash was apparently harder than they first thought, and he is still struggling a bit on the bike. For the moment, they still aim for a GC podium with him, though.

 

[Jan the Man]

I quite like this stage design. Ordinarily one would think one for the stage hunters and an early opportunity for serious contenders at the polka dot. However the way this tour has been raced, who knows!

 

[Salvarani]

Should be a day for the break.

Would be great if Ineos try something with any of their riders, but I doubt it.

It is a brutal start with three mountain stages next week so maybe riders will be hesitant.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Very optimistic picking Martin. He is brilliant at what he does in plugging away to get a decent GC result while never being a threat but I don’t think he has ever been in a move and actually looked dangerous for a stage win in any Grand Tour through his career.

Exactly, that's why he's 100/1.

 

[MrTea1976]

My picks are Fuglsang @ 13, Storer @ 26, and Guillaume Martin @ 101 (lol).

Long odds for Martin obviously because he's only 3 minutes down on GC, but I'm hoping that no self-respecting GC team will feel threatened by The Philosopher's chances over three weeks. Unfortunately, self-respecting GC teams are a rarity in this age.

Roglic @ 28 seems a good pick to me. Woods @ 14, Pogacar @ 6.

 

[staubsauger]

Lutsenko also starts to look better.

A stage in the middle mountains seems ideal for a breakaway. Candidates are Pinot, Barguil, Martin, Vuillermoz, Jungels, Mollema, Teuns, Mohoric, Fuglsang, Bettiol and Woods. It's time for the stage hunters to come out of their slumber.

What about Lutsenko?

 

[Laplaz]

This has Kennart Lämna written all over it

 

[StryderHells]

Very optimistic picking Martin. He is brilliant at what he does in plugging away to get a decent GC result while never being a threat but I don’t think he has ever been in a move and actually looked dangerous for a stage win in any Grand Tour through his career.

Stage 5 at the 2020 Vuelta and stage 4 at 2020 Tour.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

in his daily podcast (Bora boss) Denk said that they expect a big GC day, and therefor everyone will work for Vlasov instead of going up the road.

Vlasov's crash was apparently harder than they first thought, and he is still struggling a bit on the bike. For the moment, they still aim for a GC podium with him, though.

Interesting that they expect a big GC day, bit surprised by that.

 

[Pirazziattacks]

Hopefully a good size break forms which will splinter later. A repeat of yesterday will have me watching Kyrgios at the tennis, something I try to avoid. Is Michael Storer still in the race ? A stage he would normally like.

Storer finished over 10 minutes down yesterday, he'd have to be a certainty to try to get in the break.

 

[Escarabajo]

This is a trap. We might see something interesting today.

Pogacar's biggest enemy is himself. He might need his team at some point in the next week and needs to be careful.

 

[gunara]

How long will Pidcock hang on?

 

[roundabout]

Ruben Guerreiro out with Covid

 

[topcat]

Jumbo to shock the cycling world and put a team move together.

 

[bob.a.feet]

Roglic @ 28 seems a good pick to me. Woods @ 14, Pogacar @ 6.

I don't like to bet on anyone less than 10, which rules out Pogacar for pretty much any stage.

Roglic @ 28 is nice though. At the moment he seems to be in survival mode, however, and I don't see him beating Pog, Vog, or even Wog Van Og in a sprint.

 

[KZD]

Ruben Guerreiro out with Covid

If riders are already testing positive before the rest day I fear what will happen tomorrow during the mandatory testing day...

If the UCI doesn't stop with this testing obsession stage racing, as we know it could be in danger.

 

[roundabout]

A stage in the middle mountains seems ideal for a breakaway. Candidates are Pinot, Barguil, Martin, Vuillermoz, Jungels, Mollema, Teuns, Mohoric, Fuglsang, Bettiol and Woods. It's time for the stage hunters to come out of their slumber.

Mollema is feeling unwell to the point that he had an antigen test yesterday so I doubt that he will feature today

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Jumbo to shock the cycling world and put a team move together.

Step 1: send Van Aert up the road
Step 2: Van Aert goes for the stage win
Step 3: ???
Step 4: Success