Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 20: Belfort - Le Markstein, 133.5k

[bob.a.feet]

Could be the Eric Cantona of cycling. He has the looks for the big screen, not to mention the romantic allure

Eric Cantona is a bit more eccentric, to put it mildly.

 

[Volderke]

Considering that Germany and France have gone to war over Alsace-Lorraine since forever. I would venture to guess that if there were any, most are a bit kaputt.

Munster has a big chateau / schloss / whatever, and there are some more that side of the ridge up north.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Is that Tom Dumoulin in the background looking like a European Supermodel?

 

[dobrien]

Could be the Eric Cantona of cycling. He has the looks for the big screen, not to mention the romantic allure

Haha, I'm guessing he'd much rather retire to a quiet life of tending the goats!

 

[RobertCrawley]

Great win for Pogi!!

 

[dobrien]

Is that Tom Dumoulin in the background looking like a European Supermodel?

Good shout, it is!! Can't deny the guy is looking sharp; appears to be enjoying himself more now he's not racing..

 

[yaco]

Simon Yates taking training and no racing to another level by going into the TDF with no races for three months which seemed to work as he had a strong third week.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Simon Yates taking training and no racing to another level by going into the TDF with no races for three months which seemed to work as he had a strong third week.

Interesting.

 

[Jagartrott]

Considering that Germany and France have gone to war over Alsace-Lorraine since forever. I would venture to guess that if there were any, most are a bit kaputt.

There are plenty of castles and the like, but they are almost all on the eastern slopes, overlooking the Rhine. Anyone driving on the highway there (Colmar, Séléstat, Mulhouse) will have seen them.

 

[Netserk]

You just have the feeling that Vingegaard didn’t ride to his full potential:
If he can pull off a tt like some days ago, you would expect him to actually race the race, but the next thing you see is him just following wheels and he would even do a track stand if Pog did one, to make absolutely sure he isn’t doing anything than following wheels.

i would have loved to see an aggressive Vingegaard today: it’s the TdF and he raced this last stage as if he was afraid to influence the outcome of the stage, while he could have raced it to show the world what he has in the legs. It’s great to see that in a tt, but better in a race.

Tell me you didn't watch Loze without telling me you didn't watch Loze.

 

[tretiak]

Great to see Pogi be so happy for a stage win.

Vingegaard happy to sprint for the win it’s fair. Not really a climb hard enough for him to drop Pogi under normal circumstances anyway and Pogi looked pretty strong today again.
I do find it interesting that Jonas rides like Pogi had a chance of gaining the 7 mins back. I think mentally when you’ve been living in the zone of 100% focus it’s tough to go out of it and adjust to riding for the stage win even if it can cost you 30 seconds.

Jonas is mentally focused from the first to the last stage. It's just the right attitude for a winner.
Pogacar is not there
mentally, he slips up a bit here and there. His poor preparation for ITT example, lethargic cycling in turns and downhills, what is he thinking?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Van Baarle just said on Dutch television that they wanted to win the stage with Vingegaard. Except somebody forgot to tell Vinge the Cringe.

Vingegaard was riding like a complete turd today, trackstanding and stuff, completely forgetting that Pogacar wins that sprint 10/10 times.

Didnt ride this like a champion, but his conservative self. DIsappointing.

 

[Ripper]

Jonas not needing to prove his d!ck is bigger, every day, is evidently "boring." I think his desire was to win the Tour de France...and he did a pretty good job of that.

I would love there to have been another rider contending (other than Remco), but there isn't right now...so boring.

At least he won a stage. For me it tends to be a bit of a letdown if the GC winner does not win a single stage.

The final was OK, but like I said, it would have been cool to have some others in the mix.

 

[topcat]

Munster has a big chateau / schloss / whatever, and there are some more that side of the ridge up north.

I live in the real Munster and we have caislean here. Now am I going to get into a fight for stating that fact?

 

[BigCoward]

Pogacar is more than 7 min after Jonas. His attack, which is his strength, came to nothing. He has to find another way to win in the future Jonas will get better and better for quite some time to come. But the question is what will he come up with?

Surely the assumption is that the younger rider gets more room for improvement, all things being equal.
Also, he can prioritise more, Jonas has nowhere to go with that.

We need an age verification thing for this board, some of the juvenile comments from people about their favourites opponent are pathetic.

 

[Ripper]

Gotta say reading the last two pages really gives me headaches. Those riders don't deserve douchebag fanboys going at each others throat on their behalf.

Yes, it is a bit sad. I mean, we all have our favourite riders and people we root against. And I rant a lot about some racers, especially in the doping thread. But honestly, neither of the top 2 deserve hate for the way they rode today.

Somebody call a wambulance for people!!

 

[tretiak]

Surely the assumption is that the younger rider gets more room for improvement, all things being equal.
Also, he can prioritise more, Jonas has nowhere to go with that.

We need an age verification thing for this board, some of the juvenile comments from people about their favourites opponent are pathetic.

So you mean that at 26 you can't develop? Then it is a pity for many athletes who want to get better at this age.

 

[HelloDolly]

Great Tour ..I enjoyed it all . pity couldn't have a Pinot win to finish it off but I guess " lets not ask for the moon when we have the stars"

Both Vingegaard and Pogacar are great riders and both deserve respect

Felix Gall is the revelation of the Tour for me

Pity Cav didnt get his win and so many GC guys crashed out

Thanks everyone on here for the ride ...back for San Seb and the Worlds

 

[zenoiz]

Not sure what anyone is complaining about; Pog did Pog things to win the stage. There is no way Vinge drops Pog on these slopes so what is he supposed to do, but save himself the hassle and hope Pog drops his chain in the sprint. At least that makes more sense than what Felix ‘my DS told me to not let FdJ or Arkea get a win’ Gall was doing…

 

[Samamba]

these slopes

Yeah these easy 10% slopes.

 

[Jagartrott]

At least he won a stage. For me it tends to be a bit of a letdown if the GC winner does not win a single stage.

He won one (TT) stage, but you would expect someone finishing a GC with a 7m30s advantage on number 2 and 11 minutes (!) on number 3 to have more stage wins. If the Jumbo plan for today was indeed to win the stage (as mentioned by Van Baarle), then he must not have received this information, because how he rode, he would only have won if Pogacar'd messed up completely.

 

[dobrien]

So you mean that at 26 you can't develop? Then it is a pity for many athletes who want to get better at this age.

I think he meant Jonas has nowhere to go with respect to prioritizing the Tour more as(unlike Pog, who could elect to skip classics season) he is already 100% laser focused on it; the reference wasn't regarding Jonas age other than suggesting since Pog is younger he might have more room there than Jonas. My .02 anyway.

 

[tretiak]

Great Tour ..I enjoyed it all . pity couldn't have a Pinot win to finish it off but I guess " lets not ask for the moon when we have the stars"

Both Vingegaard and Pogacar are great riders and both deserve respect

Felix Gall is the revelation of the Tour for me

Pity Cav didnt get his win and so many GC guys crashed out

Thanks everyone on here for the ride ...back for San Seb and the Worlds

Gall was fun to see, hope he develops for next year. Need more cyclists who can challenge uphill.

 

[Netserk]

He won one (TT) stage, but you would expect someone finishing a GC with a 7m30s advantage on number 2 and 11 minutes (!) on number 3 to have more stage wins. If the Jumbo plan for today was indeed to win the stage (as mentioned by Van Baarle), then he must not have received this information, because how he rode, he would only have won if Pogacar'd messed up completely.

He could just as well have won in Laruns and Courchevel. That would reflect his dominance.

 

[tretiak]

I think he meant Jonas has nowhere to go with respect to prioritizing the Tour more as(unlike Pog, who could elect to skip classics season) he is already 100% laser focused on it; the reference wasn't regarding Jonas age other than suggesting since Pog is younger he might have more room there than Jonas. My .02

If that's what you mean, I understand your reasoning.
But the question is, is Pogacar like that as a person? I don't really have a favorite cyclist. Cancellara has quit :-(