Yeah. I think Jumbo will control but not dig too deep. Wout will probably be allowed to relax a bit if he has Worlds legs on yet he can win stage 20. It’s for UAE to create something.
Cookster15
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- May 14, 2011
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If Pog can somehow turn all the pre stage 16 predictions about altitude and long climbs on its head by attacking Vinge on Lotz I might stay interested. More likely is the TdF effectively ended on stage 16 and Vingegaard will ride tempo to not make it any more ridiculous.
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We all want something big to happen today, but reality is that whatever happened from the rest day to now will transfer in the same way to Loze. It is painful to accept but Vingegaard will just put more time into Pogacar. Hopefully Pogacar will at least entertain us with his attacks, but they won't go far.
- Mar 20, 2022
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This. Vingegaard showed a level yesterday that Pogacar doesn't have it. This is over if Vingegaard wants to pull the trigger.
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as stated above, Pogacar won a beautiful stage 6 with Vingegaard as nr2 - that critical stage after Jonas got over a minute on him on stage 5, and tons of people in the comments cried "Tour de France over" and where Jonas & Jumbo tried to gain more time on stage 6 and couldn't, and Pogacar instead fought back and took like ½ minute on Jonas..
That could give hope for a Pogacar comeback today.
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Cookster15
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Me too. I’m disappointed in myself 🤣I'm surprised you're still here
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If teams were reversed there would be opportunities for Pog before Loze. As shown this Tour he can gap Vingegaard off his wheel (although since Sunday that has looked increasingly unlikely) and if he would have Wout to jump to that would lead to a challenge for Vingegaard.
This way round I don't see much chance except for ideally a 30s gain and a miracle on Saturday. Jumbo will simply put Wout as an emergency satellite rider in the break and strangle the race. Same for Saturday I guess.
Oh and that rain talk is completely wishful thinking. It has almost 20°C at 2000m, even if it rains a bit, it's still warm summer weather, don't see any Pog advantage there whatsoever.
This way round I don't see much chance except for ideally a 30s gain and a miracle on Saturday. Jumbo will simply put Wout as an emergency satellite rider in the break and strangle the race. Same for Saturday I guess.
Oh and that rain talk is completely wishful thinking. It has almost 20°C at 2000m, even if it rains a bit, it's still warm summer weather, don't see any Pog advantage there whatsoever.
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- Nov 16, 2013
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It's like last year's Giro where people kept saying Hindley won it without winning a stage.
- Feb 21, 2019
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I think Pogačar won't go down without swinging, he will try to claw back some time after UAE probably controls the stage but he will likely get followed and possibly countered and dropped by Vingegård if the stage win is still within reach.
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Time changes in this forum. A few days ago TJV had the worst tactics and UAE where the best team. I think they should try to shake it up a bit, just to see if Vingegaard and he's team have a bad day. Of course they can try on the last 5 or 6 km's and that can create quite a gap, but I think they need to work hard before. The stage is long a probably one of the most difficult mountaion stages in recent years - there is a big possibility for large gaps.
Maybe they won't and wishes to safeguard Yates third position and let Pogacar sprint away in the final km. for bonus seconds. Or maybe they go all-in to give it a go and in the same time expect that Yates can hold on to his position. I hope the latter - it ain't over til the *** lady sings and everybody can have a bad day. But I do believe Vingegaard will have the upper hand in week 3.
- May 5, 2010
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yeah, they've gotta try. Their best bet is that Vingegaard is cooked after yesterday, so ride hard all day and Yates launches Pog on Loze, slightly sooner than they otherwise would.
My first thought yesterday after Jonas crossed the line was that he looked too cooked to have a good day today, but after settling down a bit I decided not to bet the house on Vinge loosing 3 mins + today
. UAE however have to make some version of that bet, hopefully not involving my house though.I think if they attack all day it's a brave show, mostly done for the tv lenses, but yeah as a guys looking through those lenses I wouldn't mind if UAE just sends everyone up the road.
- May 5, 2010
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So what are the latest news about the weather? Also, what's Jonas' record in bad conditions? Has he ever struggled in rain/cold? Cuz we know Pog loves it.
UAE is not strong enough and Jumbo not bad enough for this stage to become an chaos before Meribel. And if they protect Yates' 3rd place, then it becomes even less likely anything significant happens. So with all the respect for Adam let's hope that's not the case lmao
With that said, Pogacar will go crazy for sure regardless. If he actually has a gap at top of Col de la Loze, then Imma pray for them both on that descent, especially if it rains. So yeah, my very unbiased prediction is that Pogacar attacks once or twice before the steepest part begins, Jonas able to hold on, then they have a good ol' Contador-Schleck staredown, Pog launches a monstrous attack with like 3-4km to the top and, no wishful thinking here of course, but JV cracks and him struggling there means Tadej gets 1:00 back before saturday. I think I've just talked myself into believing he can do it, even though part of me also thinks Vingegaard finishes this stage with 2 minutes ahead of him and another 2 ahead of CRods and Yateses of the world
UAE is not strong enough and Jumbo not bad enough for this stage to become an chaos before Meribel. And if they protect Yates' 3rd place, then it becomes even less likely anything significant happens. So with all the respect for Adam let's hope that's not the case lmao
With that said, Pogacar will go crazy for sure regardless. If he actually has a gap at top of Col de la Loze, then Imma pray for them both on that descent, especially if it rains. So yeah, my very unbiased prediction is that Pogacar attacks once or twice before the steepest part begins, Jonas able to hold on, then they have a good ol' Contador-Schleck staredown, Pog launches a monstrous attack with like 3-4km to the top and, no wishful thinking here of course, but JV cracks and him struggling there means Tadej gets 1:00 back before saturday. I think I've just talked myself into believing he can do it, even though part of me also thinks Vingegaard finishes this stage with 2 minutes ahead of him and another 2 ahead of CRods and Yateses of the world
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After seeing weekend mountain stages (especially Sunday) and yesterday's ITT anything but Vinge putting more time into Pogi would be a big surprise. I hope I am very wrong for sake of last week GC racing
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- May 5, 2010
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'You can see the Irishman Chris-Juul-Jensen from Wicklow giving chase'
You can just hear the cynicism in Kelly's voice
I need to have a serious talk with Sean Kelly!
Just because Irish cycling isn't doing so well in this TdF, doesn't mean they get to steal one of our riders.
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