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

[Rob5091]

Chapeau Poels & Bahrain - good for him after all these years and makes up for Landa's disappointing performance so far. Carlos Rodriguez can up his price to Sir Dave to stay at Ineos.

The crash caused by the idiot spectator changed the whole stage, but maybe it would have been the same outcome - Vingegaard and Pogacar marking each other to the line.

 

[JosefK]

Anyone else had a laugh about Pogacar spinning extra hard in the final 20m to pass the finish first with nothing on the line?

Vingo gifted him those inches.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

It's getting very crowded, but if we try hard, I think we can fit one more angel on the head of this pin.

 

[JosefK]

It's getting very crowded, but if we try hard, I think we can fit one more angel on the head of this pin.

Today's stage must have been intense, just going by the number of posts on this thread and the passionate responses therein.

 

[KZD]

Really dominant win for Poels, during many years he was a part of the Sky train of the Tour so glad that he adds a Tour stage win to his palmares. I have to feel a bit for Van Aert, he is obviously very strong but once again he gets piped by someone in a stage at this year's Tour and the way the things are going he might end up without any stage win. Burgudeau better than his doppelganger Alaphilippe once again.

Regarding GC, Vingegård impressed me today, he reacted very swiftly to Pogačar's attack and seemed to have a little bit in reserve so it bodes well for his chances. Pogačar didn't have a great day but his attack still put a lot of time into Rodriguez and Yates so he couldn't be bad either. Hope that we have a great battle in third week.

 

[Andy schleck]

If he's behind in the GC then surely.

He will attack anyways, because it's the best stage and climb suited for him. It's not a good strategy attack everyday. It was not worth it today. He had the intention to attack yesterday, but pogacar was also strong.

 

[noob]

Vingegaard will be following Pogacar to bed tonight to tuck him in!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1680660665369874434

View: https://twitter.com/TamauPogi/status/1680660665369874434


Almost confirmed!

 

[dobrien]

The dude is a pro tour level rider who could drop you by 10 minutes, going up your driveway. He prepares all year to ride this race. His entire focus in his life right now is winning the tour. He is actually out there, turning pedals over at 300-800 watts, hour after hour. You aren't qualified to tell him the type of stem bolt to use. How long have you been watching cycling? Sit the f**k down.

Great post, thank you. This is a TOUR DE FRANCE winner we're talking about here, and the current wearer of the yellow jersey. Most of the people on this board couldn't handle 5 minutes of the suffering these guys are handling day in and day out, yet we have people calling them 'cowards' and 'stupid'? I want to throw up when I read that. Armchair DS's......

 

[SHAD0W93]

That was barely an attack. Went longer round the turn and then just looked at Pogacar as they were coming to the line. Man's head is so on a swivel he couldn't even ride through the line without looking at Pog.

Watch again. Pog sat down after his accelerations, Vinge started to accelerate to shoot past him, Pog immediately responded, Vinge sat down after Pog matched him in the turn and then started looking at Pog.

 

[rallybanana]

You know what? Today seems like a good day to use his full name!
Congratulations to Wouter Lambertus Martinus Henricus Poels.

He shares a name with Henricus Theodorus Josephus (Servais) Knaven

 

[Grayguard]

I can't find the TJV = idiots comments today? What's up with that?

Anyways - another entertaining stage. I am quite enjoying Pogacar and Vinge being so equal at the moment.
It makes every stage really interesting to watch.

Only regret was the crash... I had hoped for an even more tense race, but the crash (and idiot spectator) gave the break too much time

 

[jmdirt]

Wout P nice ride! Big win!

 

[Andre]

Vingo gifted him those inches.

no gift. Tadej ripped it from Vingegaard.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

no gift. Tadej ripped it from Vingegaard.

Tell me you didn't watch the stage, without telling me you didn't watch the stage.

 

[Cookster15]

Today's stage must have been intense, just going by the number of posts on this thread and the passionate responses therein.

Yes. But the post counts are way down compared to a decade or so back when this forum was in its prime. Here is an example from the 2011 TdF - 4 times as many pages?

2011 TDF: Stage 19 - Modane - Alpe-dÂ’Huez

2011 TDF: Stage 19 - Modane - Alpe-d’Huez Armageddon- The final battle. This has been the closest Tour de France in generations, and with the race almost run, the destiny of the Mailot Jaune still hangs in the balance. Three top Grand Tour riders lie within striking distance of...

forum.cyclingnews.com

 

[Pippo_San]

Wout loses even against Wout.
Can't have an happier day for cycling.

 

[zlev11]

I really don't understand how people can say what a waste of weekend stages. If this does not entertain people why do you watch cycling
So I'm with you on this one

I really, really hate this line that people constantly post on here, "if you are not entertained, why watch cycling". yeah the stage was more entertaining than watching golf or tennis but it could've been so much better if there was a better route. people do not complain just to complain, they complain because they are passionate about the sport and can see how this weekend (especially today) could've easily have been so much better. we have the two most evenly matched GC riders the Tour has possibly ever seen and they hand them todays absolute soulless route with nowhere to attack aside from the last 1.5km and squander the whole thing. now there's 1 real mountain stage left in the whole race with a full week to go and all we got on the penultimate Sunday was 5 minutes of GC action. i guess if you're just looking to be "entertained" for half an hour, this did the trick, but we saw how great a race these two guys can have when you give them the parcours (like Stage 6 this year and many stages last year), it just feels awful to see them handicapped by the bad route.

as far as the TV coverage goes, seeing Poels a little bit more would've been good, but my major gripe was that they spent WAY too much time showing the *** helicopter view of the GC group when it conveyed nothing more than the motorbike shot would've.

 

[Izzyeviel]

I agree. The ASO should've done what they normally do and put on a pair of 200km utterly flat sprint stages. I honestly don't know why they bothered.

 

[RobertCrawley]

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.

I think a split screen would be a good idea.

 

[saunaking]

I think a split screen would be a good idea.

Yep, we will see it in the ITT.
It's just that nobody cares about Poels. Sorry guys.

 

[Andy schleck]

I agree. The ASO should've done what they normally do and put on a pair of 200km utterly flat sprint stages. I honestly don't know why they bothered.

After one of the most boring giro's of all time with a ridiculous route, they should feel blessed by the route of the tour and the entertainment that is happening.

 

[geisterhome]

I more or less agree with this. When there is good GC action and break is decided there is no need for a lot camera time on the winner, but it's still the riders moment of glory and I do think showing 1 second of Poels at 2km to and 1 second at 1km to go and 1-2 seconds as he crosses the line is a bit extreme. If Poels wants to show the race to his kids later they will barely see him race

Give the stage winner a bit more respect imo. Normally I don't care, but I really loved it that Poels was winning and only know I noticed how depressing it is for the winner, but also his/her fans to actually barely get to see how he/she wins the race. If the choice is hard than atleast make a splitscreen, that's not too hard really.

For the 2019 Tour you could watch the race from every single camera via the Eurosport player. Those were good times, made my own splitscreen, usually with the tv broadcast for commentary, one cam in front of the group of favorites and the other one at the back. Idk why you cant do that anymore ever since.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Yep, we will see it in the ITT.
It's just that nobody cares about Poels. Sorry guys.

Well, we care about him!

35 years old. Yet another master's winner in the the TdF.

 

[theyoungest]

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.

This was ridiculous though. If it was Jean-François Poels we'd have seen a lot more of him. The director for this year's Tour has been awful in general (just a small example: yesterday, 200 meters from the top, Pogi and Vingo getting ready for the sprint, and then the broadcast cuts away to Rodriguez!). But this takes the cake. It's just insulting.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

This is how I interpreted what I saw, once Yates attacked. Pog was sitting on, and he kept drifting back a little less than a bike length, and it seemed to me that was an attempt to try to get Jonas to attack, but Jonas was having none of it. That he didn't go over the top, and that Pog was unable to drop hm with his attack, maybe shows that neither was feeling super strong.

Interesting debate My take was that Jonas' reluctance was not exactly related to 'having none of it'.
But simply caused by the fact that Pogi is a big unknown territory this year and Jonas didn't want a risk of backfire, taking into account upcoming short ITT of which IMO is designed for an indeed tight outcome the two between (ok time will show) and yellow jersey advantage as last starter.

I think Jonas putting a wheel ahead on that last steep bend, before the line, was a message, and them crossing together without either really pushing the issue, seemed to suggest that they were both on equal terms.

Fully inline here with that POV.

Weird question: Is it possible that you can steal the data from a rival's head unit, using some bluetooth trickery?

OK now, VERY interesting debate! (I have no answer here)
At least Pogi's data are fully available on Strava (*edit* i.e. no essential HR or wattage analysis data) - haven't checked through busy weekend but previous uploads was just entitled a number indicating stage number, some added single smileys - but this title being a tad more 'sexy'