Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 4: Dax - Nogaro, 181.8k

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah, you really can't just divebomb corners on those wide roads when you ride in a big bunch, stuff's gonna happen...

 

[Jagartrott]

Girmay continues his underwhelming year, unfortunately. I thought he had found his good legs again in Switzerland, but he was dropped very fast in stage 1, and was going backwards today. Probably he should not bother about the bunch sprints here anymore and go for breakaways.

 

[RobertCrawley]

I agree until the 3km mark. After that, he must leave front of the peloton. If all gc riders act like Vingegaard, sprint stages will be carnage all the time.

The 3k mark helps because if you crash you don't lose time. But there is still a greater possibility of a crash, which can end your Tour. It looked like Jonas anticipated the danger of the curves on the racetrack and wanted to stay up front until the final straight.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Powless still looks very nice in polka dots

 

[Salvarani]

I've been saying this for years, these wide sprint finishes are far more dangerous than narrow twisty finishes. These narrow twisty finishes it is always strung out where's finishes like today allow people to bunch up.
On another note, one thing that drives me mad is when lead out riders just sit up infront of everyone, that last crash was caused by that.

Waerenskold made a mistake. He was looking behind and around his shoulder. Started to drift and touched the wheel of Couqard and then took out the other Cofidis rider.

Had he dropped back after his lead-out and looked straight forward. The others would have just passed around him.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Powless still looks very nice in polka dots

He's a super nice guy, I hear.

 

[glassmoon]

Should the UNO-X guy be punished somehow?
Or is it just '*** happens'

definitely

 

[Eclipse]

He was, but Wout got lost

Vingegaard and Jumbo were very obviously riding solely for GC rider protection

 

[Boehmand]

He wasn't leading sh##, C'mon...

Yes he was, Jumbo had set up a perfect lead out for Van Aert with 3 K to go.

Van Hooydonck, in front of Van Baarle, in front of Vingegaard, in front of Laporte, in front of Van Aert.

Unfortunately Van Aert got pushed out of position and lost around 40 places (as written in this very thread when it happened), so the whole setup broke up, but Vingegaard wisely stuck to the front, to stay out of trouble and capitalise on any gaps forming.

 

[saunaking]

definitely

Probably won't happen and we will hear about the dangerous turns in the course

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Man of the day Cosnefroy - well deserved!

 

[RobertCrawley]

Girmay continues his underwhelming year, unfortunately. I thought he had found his good legs again in Switzerland, but he was dropped very fast in stage 1, and was going backwards today. Probably he should not bother about the bunch sprints here anymore and go for breakaways.

MVDP pushed Girmay out of the way, and it looked like Girmay didn't really respond and drifted back. If he jumped on Jasper the Disaster's wheel like Caleb did, he might have been a factor.

 

[saunaking]

Vingegaard and Jumbo were very obviously riding solely for GC rider protection

then how come wva placed in top 10 after being so so far back

 

[RobertCrawley]

Vingegaard and Jumbo were very obviously riding solely for GC rider protection

I believe you are right.

 

[saunaking]

Jasper the Disaster's

We are not doing this!

 

[Izzyeviel]

Should the UNO-X guy be punished somehow?
Or is it just '*** happens'

No. He was just unlucky he drifted into someone. Happens all the time, the leadout does their job and drifts back... eventually someone will cause an accident doing to that & today it was him. Just goes to show a split second lack of concentration can lead to disaster

 

[Peyroteo94]

The 3k mark helps because if you crash you don't lose time. But there is still a greater possibility of a crash, which can end your Tour. It looked like Jonas anticipated the danger of the curves on the racetrack and wanted to stay up front until the final straight.

We had chaos in the front. I really don't like to see GC riders racing like he raced in sprint stages.

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

And WTF was Vingegaard doing? A GC rider cannot be in the front with 1km to go in a sprint stage. This type of racing brings a lot of chaos to the sprinters

He was staying safe by riding at the front? What’s so wrong about that, better be safe than sorry.

 

[Andre]

I liked the way MVDP just pushed Girmay out of the way as if saying: "come on man, if you don't want to sprint get out of my way"!

 

[saunaking]

No. He was just unlucky he drifted into someone. Happens all the time, the leadout does their job and drifts back... eventually someone will cause an accident doing to that & today it was him. Just goes to show a split second lack of concentration can lead to disaster

What I don't understand is why it is so rare to hear criticism of riders for behavior like this from fellow riders. The amount of crashes caused by rider error is not insignificant.

And the one time a rider took heat for it was Fred Wright lol when Primoz crashed himself

 

[Norbea]

Waerenskold made a mistake. He was looking behind and around his shoulder. Started to drift and touched when will of Couqard and then took out the other Cofidis rider.

Couqard had a heated exchange with Wærenskjold yesterday, accusing Wærenskjold for clipped his front wheel. Did he take his revenge?

Agree that it is more likely a mistake.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Marie Blanque looks like it will be fireworks tomorrow, but it doesn't look like a GC shakeup day.

 

[Boehmand]

I believe you are right.

You will notice in these types of situations, the rest of the Tour:

When Jumbo is riding "protect Jonas and keep him in front", they will have a guy on his inside, all the time, to protect him from swerves in the peloton.

When they are riding "lead out of Wout to contest for the win", they are strung out single line, with Vingegaard in front of Laporte, as the 2nd last guy in the train for Van Aert.

 

[RobertCrawley]

You will notice in these types of situations, the rest of the Tour:

When Jumbo is riding "protect Jonas and keep him in front", they will have a guy on his inside, all the time, to protect him from swerves in the peloton.

When they are riding "lead out of Wout to contest for the win", they are strung out single line, with Vingegaard in front of Laporte, as the 2nd last guy in the train for Van Aert.

Awesome. Thanks!

 

[Rob5091]

Chapeau Philipsen - just beat Ewan who's doing better then I expected. Also Coquard? He was always good on uphill sprints but did well in both sprints today.
Shame for Jakobsen - hope he can continue.
Racing circuit racing means high speeds and less margin for error, throw in a dawdle to the last 40 km and a crash is to be expected.