Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 5: Pau - Laruns, 162.7k

[Danskebjerge]

So many analyses, pointing in all directions, from Jumbo-Visma being brilliant to being foolish. But keep it simple: Vingegaard and Pogacar, the two strongest climbers, were side by side up the last climb - as expected, and independent of whatever tactics had been chosen or not chosen. Kuss was strong - we don't know if that meant anything. Domestiques are important in flat terrain, less so on climbs.

 

[Netserk]

Stage results minus the breakaway riders:

Vingegaard

+1'04''
Skjelmose
Pogi
Gaudu
Rodriguez
Kuss
Yates, Simon
Yates, Adam

+1'23''
O'Connor
Pidcock
Bardet
Woods
Pinot

+2'21''
Martin
Bilbao
Crass
Landa
Meintjes
Kelderman

+2'47''
Bernal

~~~

Small gaps except for one ahead of the rest and the two Bahrain captains behind.

 

[T-Nielsen]

Dude, it was a joke

Don't think you are funny

 

[Volderke]

I love it when people step upon the high horse and ask why things are hard to understand.

The difference between Vingegaard and Pogacar was massive when Vingegaard could put 36 seconds in about 1,5 km of climbing (+ increasing the gap on the plateau before the downhill and increasing downhill and flat to finish). With such a massive difference after a hard race it would’ve likely been a significant difference with a slightly slower race. Say Pog had lost 15-25s instead of 35s and Yates had been around 10s behind Pog instead of 20-25s. In theory that looks like a better scenario for UAE.

But then the problem is that if UAE had gone slower, then Vingegaard would have had both Benoot and WVA waiting on the top. And that would’ve probably made the gap between Vingegaard and Pogacar the same or even bigger than it was today.

My whole point is: Pogacar wasn’t yesterday enough to keep up with Vingegaard.

Majka staying with him two minutes more or even Yates staying with Pog the whole climb wouldn’t make Pogacar being able to stay with Jonas. That’s what I’ve been saying when I’ve said this isn’t about tactics, but about pure strength difference between them. As you use to say, is that so hard to understand?

And yes it was a hard race, but probably nothing special really. Laengen did the whole Soudet, the peloton never caught the break and UAE had good numbers and there was plenty of team mates for Pog until the steep part. UAE didn’t loose because tactics or team weakness. UAE lost because Jonas was much stronger. Claiming it’s about the team and tactics is a distraction to the reality.

you are right. Everything I wrote makes zero sense. Let’s move on and see what happens today.