Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 15: Les Gets - Saint-Gervais Mont Blanc, 179.0k

[Miha81]

interesting interview with Pog, they tried to improvise something with Yates, to make Jonas go for it, as Pog didnt think the climb was tough enough to create a gap on his own.

whether thats down to he was feeling tired, or he felt Jonas was as strong as him is the unanswered bit, but sometimes I guess you have to try something different, given how many people think Jonas should have attacked at that point shows its not a completely daft idea, had Pog then been able to counter obviously and get his own gap.

Just watched. He looked fresh and stated that climb was not hard enough to break climber like Vinge so they tried something new.

 

[Andy schleck]

Vingegaard is a coward. Go ffs

The only guy that until now attacked from far is the coward, and the guy that is always attacking in the last km is not the coward.

 

[yaco]

But Simon was there. How does Adam compare to Simon?

Simon has won ITT's at P/N and at the Giro - Simon is better, however he has been struggling for form in the TDF - Adam is in better form but I suspect they will ride similar times.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Ratio

Ratio

Ratio

#GetRekt

Cherry on top though that’ll make it a win is Pouls beat WVA.

 

[pelotonIQ]

WTF is Woet Poels doing???? He's got Landa behind and he is pacing Soler and Belgian pozzato. What an idiot. Bahrain need to sack this guy ASAP, unforgivable. What a joke

Landa was 15th in GC and 12 minutes down from entering top 10, what did you expect?

A stage win for the team is more valuable than yours and Landas feelings.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Just watched. He looked fresh and stated that climb was not hard enough to break climber like Vinge so they tried something new.

He should have also said that he needs multi-mountain days and long stages or something. Can‘t these two guys get more creative and say that they tested telepathy and hypnosis today or that their testosterone was too low because their wives visited them after the stage yesterday or that they were looking for the German translation for Chateau or that a dog ate their energy gels?

 

[zlev11]

garbage route garbage racing

 

[Miha81]

He should have also said that he needs multi-mountain days and long stages or something. Can‘t these two guys get more creative and say that they tested telepathy and hypnosis today or that their testosterone was too low because their wives visited them after the stage yesterday or that they were looking for the German translation for Chateau or that a dog ate their energy gels?

Or simply that he kept his glasses on

 

[D. Pecher]

The only guy that until now attacked from far is the coward, and the guy that is always attacking in the last km is not the coward.

How long have you been watching cycling? Three weeks? You can't ride defensively if your entire gap amounts to the bonus seconds for a stage win. Riding the way Vingo rode today means he's either a) a coward b) stupid c) tired or d) simply not any better than Pogacar but exactly on the same level. Chose one.

 

[EddyMazzoleni]

I think UAE tactic actually made sense, even if Vinge did not go to the front to close the gap, it still gave Pog the possibility to have Yates' slepstream to keep the speed high in the case he was able to create a small gap to Vinegaard. The problem was, the fatigue of the last 3 days took something away from his acceleration and he could not open up even a few meter, whichhis a problem going forward of course. At the same time, i do not think he was on the limit like some people are saying, there is simply no way to put 38 s into Rodriguez in 800 meters if you are about to blow.

 

[Peter von]

Funny that Pogi tried to use Yates as bait for Vingegaard. I don’t think you try this if you are absolutely flying, but at the same time it’s a decent move by Pogi to decrease the pace and favour Pogi’s punch more. Unfortunately for him Rodriguez came and turned the pace back up and Jonas didn’t care one bit about Yates.

Powless took the polka dots back!(edit no he didn’t but he did take points)
It’s not very flashy, but so far he is getting the job done the hard way, he is burning a lot of matches though and I wonder if he can be there on stage 20 to take the last points he needs. I find it a bit boring when the gc leaders win KoM by default, so I think it’s pretty great. Though Trek might have killed Skjeldmose and Ciccone to get two extra points and neither of them had the legs to follow the moves by Wout and Wout; though at the end of the day Poels was probably too strong regardless.

 

[RedheadDane]

Powless took the polka dots back!

I think Ciccone got it instead. Tied by points, Ciccone having more higher-category climbs that Powless.

 

[Peter von]

Landa was 15th in GC and 12 minutes down from entering top 10, what did you expect?

A stage win for the team is more valuable than yours and Landas feelings.

Also if Powls stopped pulling the break would stop and be pulled back and a new move with different riders might escape and Wout would be back pulling alone and Landa wouldn’t gain Very much other than an unhappy team mate. At that point Lamdas best chance of a win was his group pulling very hard to catch Poels and a fresher Landa could then walk away on the last k

I think Ciccone got it instead. Tied by points, Ciccone having more higher-category climbs that Powless.

Thanks

 

[Boehmand]

garbage route garbage racing

The gaps are larger amongst the top 10, than the last 2 year, after stage 15, so calling the route "garbage" is odd.

 

[zlev11]

The gaps are larger amongst the top 10, than the last 2 year, after stage 15, so calling the route "garbage" is odd.

yeah where was the terrain for an attack from the top 2 on todays stage? nowhere.

 

[Rackham]

No one are listening to/can even hear what DS's are saying in the last part of a race.

I hope you mean 3D, because otherwise they could just ride through the mountains instead of over them

Also the TV signal has a delay, to the DS can't watch what is going on real time from the car.

I was joking.

The move was done to destabilize Vingegaard. That's all.

But I will say Jumbo is far too defensive, i.e. potentially treating Loze on Wednesday the same way they treated the final LPDBF ITT in 2020 with Rog, aka as a 'sure thing'. There's absolutely zero guarantee Vingegaard is better than Pog on Loze, or that he's better 'enough' to the point he could mitigate whatever Pog throws at him in Tuesday's ITT & Saturday's Alsace stage.

10 seconds is nothing & it's way too close to call, either way.

 

[skippo12]

I think UAE tactic actually made sense, even if Vinge did not go to the front to close the gap, it still gave Pog the possibility to have Yates' slepstream to keep the speed high in the case he was able to create a small gap to Vinegaard. The problem was, the fatigue of the last 3 days took something away from his acceleration and he could not open up even a few meter, whichhis a problem going forward of course. At the same time, i do not think he was on the limit like some people are saying, there is simply no way to put 38 s into Rodriguez in 800 meters if you are about to blow.

This. UAE played it smart. Yates just pacing both isn´t nearly as good as Pog jumping to Yates wheel with Vingegaard isolated. If Pog could have opened a gap he probably would have been in yellow. Kudos to Vingegaard. He anticipated the attack and never lost Pogs wheel.

 

[Carols]

People crack me up. When they show the end of the stage with the breakaway they scream show the GC. When they show the nail biting, edge of seat CG battle they scream because they only got 10 seconds of the winner from the breakaway. Some people just can Never be satisfied, must complain..... It's why I've been scarce around here, it's become more whiners corner than fun.

 

[Salvarani]

It could have been a missed opportunity for Vinge, where Pog might have been at his most vulnerable. We will never know, maybe it wont matter in the end.

Now a day for recovery.

This ITT is difficult to predict on who to favor. It could well be the case they go pretty much even here also.

Vinge starts last and will have Pogs time to go by, at the same time Pog can ride his own race just like in 2020. That time it was to his advantage to go first when Roglic cracked completely, upon realizing he was losing a lot of time and effectively the race.

Col de Loze comes already the next day! A huge effort in the ITT is something you can have to pay for immediately in the day after, but you cant probably hold back anything in the ITT. You have to go for it.

A tricky but short stage 20, if it would still be close, but I think mayhem is coming on the two next stages. Someone has to crack and it could be either... or both? Who knows.

 

[ppanther92]

Landa was 15th in GC and 12 minutes down from entering top 10, what did you expect?

A stage win for the team is more valuable than yours and Landas feelings.

Also Poels is the by far better climber than Landa. At least today. Landa again couldn't do anything. Not even outclimbing Burgadeau.

 

[Boehmand]

yeah where was the terrain for an attack from the top 2 on todays stage? nowhere.

Plenty, none of them were just able to make a difference and that is the key.

The route has almost no impact, when riders are this evenly matched.

 

[Boehmand]

I was joking.

I know, so was I

 

[SHAD0W93]

Someone has to crack and it could be either... or both? Who knows.

God imagine if they both do and the others gain time.

 

[Scarponi]

The only guy that until now attacked from far is the coward, and the guy that is always attacking in the last km is not the coward.

He only attacked from far before he knew how strong Pog was because he thought we would be weak with the messed up prep lol

 

[Nick2413]

Great stage. Really nice to see some creative tactics even if they didn’t work out.