Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 8: Libourne - Limoges, 200.7k

[GroupDK]

Today Van Aert may actually have been the fastest sprinter.

"may actually"

I don't wanna pop your balloon, but c'mon he got served on a silver platter 300m out with all the other sprinters behind, and Pedersen then open up his finish from behind Van Aert, - from a distance far-out that certainly was a gamble.

Van Aert completely loses momentum, not sure if he slips when he should peak out on the left or simply was surprised how early the other opens up, but we have to do a lot of make-believe to place "may actually have been" on this finish ..
Finish Stage 8: https://tinyurl.com/22npehnb

Jumbo Vista likely also starting to conclude that there are stronger sprinters if everything else is equal, and why they tried to burn-out the other top sprinters on the climb, which would have been top'nudge if it had worked and Pedersen & Phillipsen dropped..
Impressive that Pedersen can hold that sprint so far, and likely played a role in the WvA mistiming.

- as I highlighted in #370, Mads Pedersen also admits it was a gamble, and he was completely sacked the last +50 meters,..

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Wonderful, very long sprint after a hard day in the saddle. Fantastic win. Congrats to Pedersen, who always apears a bit on the chubby side.

 

[saunaking]

"may actually"

I don't wanna pop your balloon, but c'mon he got served on a silver platter 300m out with all the other sprinters behind, and Petersen then open up his finish from behind Van Aert, - from a distance far-out that certainly was a gamble.

Van Aert completely loses momentum, not sure if he slips when he should peak out on the left or simply was surprised how early the other opens up, but we have to do a lot of make-believe to place "may actually have been" on this finish ..
Finish Stage 8: https://tinyurl.com/22npehnb

Jumbo Vista likely also starting to conclude that there are stronger sprinters if everything else is equal, and why they tried to burn-out the other top sprinters on the climb, which would have been top'nudge if it had worked and Petersen & Phillipsen dropped..
Impressive that Pedersen can hold that sprint so far, and likely played a role in the WvA mistiming.

- as I paste #370, Mads Petersen also admits it was a gamble, and he was completely sacked the last +50 meters..

what are you even watching???
Laporte c0cks something up and slows right down, WVA has to stop pedaling, allowing 3 or 4 other guys open up a sizeable gap to him, then he has to bascially re-start and still manages to come up to the leaders.

Laporte totally blew it here

 

[Blanco]

Happy for Pedersen, was a bit afraid when he won the World Champs that it was perhaps too early and could've been a bit of a Costa-style outlier but he has really fulfilled his potential well, loved seeing his escapades in the Vuelta last year. Still saying that pull on the front of the break away from Ciccone the other day was dumb as *** though.

How is Costa more outlier than Pedersen?

 

[HelloDolly]

Alaphilippe 25th and useless attack by Asgreen. Only light the Tractor.

Tough tour for Quick-Step.

Tough Tour and year for Astana

Do we have to have these endless posts about WVA and how he was the strongest , how he should have won, could have won, etc
He didnt win. The strongest won on the day
Congratulate Pederson and move on

 

[proffate]

He might be willing, but will team invest in him?

I think a team would invest in him if he promised to ride more than just the tour. Some teams out there are looking for UCI points he could easily bring all year. But is he willing to do the work? Doubtful

 

[Tim Cahill]

How is Costa more outlier than Pedersen?

He's on one more win than Costa and is almost 10 years younger, will probably finish his career with double.

Rui has had a really good career however, just probably the least spectacular one of the WCRR winners that came to mind as it's basically a killers row.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Costa won three straight Tour de Suisse and even this year at 36 he was flying in the early season, but he‘s become quite inconsistent. I only just noticed he was in the Tour de France.

 

[GroupDK]

what are you even watching???
Laporte c0cks something up and slows right down, WVA has to stop pedaling, allowing 3 or 4 other guys open up a sizeable gap to him, then he has to bascially re-start and still manages to come up to the leaders.

Laporte totally blew it here

The only thing that blew it, was the surprisingly early opening from Pedersen, it's like 21 seconds mind-bending sprint, and was a gamble and Pedersen was blown the last +50 meters, as he explain (#370 but to his luck, same was Phillipsen from countering Pedersen early opening...
- on stage 7, when Phillipsen goes past his lead out it's 11 sec. sprint https://tinyurl.com/4m5ta48a
maybe we should honor the winner and stop making excuses, on how it's everybody under the sun, that is the reason why WvA didn't win, and how Van Aert "could, would, and should" have won, if something "else" had unfolded differently.

As a team' Jumbo Vista went all in today on the climb to drop Pedersen & Phillipsen, as if they can get them out of the picture, then the road is open for Van Aert.. (they couldn't), and if you think that was a mistake to burn so much manpower on the climb, then flip it back at WvA as it was his plan.

But Van Aert' as the bonafide super champ he is, has no problem in manning up & admitting his mistakes, it's more all these secondary viewers that are standing upside down, trying to find make-believe excuses on his behalf.. - its a shame..as it paints one of the greatest riders on the road' in a pity light.

WvA after today's stage "I screwed up" [+37sec] - that's the format of my champ, self-awareness & honesty.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AK_kO3drHNs

 

[Dazed and Confused]

When the strongest rider opens up from a distance on a slight uphill finish he will often win. Limited tactics are involved. Pure class.

 

[Gratemans]

what are you even watching???
Laporte c0cks something up and slows right down, WVA has to stop pedaling, allowing 3 or 4 other guys open up a sizeable gap to him, then he has to bascially re-start and still manages to come up to the leaders.

Laporte totally blew it here

^This. I like Pedersen, and I'm pleased that he won here. But you can't disregard that Van Aert lost a lot of speed because of whatever happened to Laporte and that Van Aert was boxed in right at that moment. The fact that he eventually managed to get third place tells me he was at least as fast as Mads today.

But stuff happens, and almost every sprint has contenders in it that didn't win because of said stuff. It happens to all of them some time or another. (Which is also why I tink someone here calling Cavendish's 34 wins "inflated" is just a ridiculous take)

 

[Boehmand]

^This. I like Pedersen, and I'm pleased that he won here. But you can't disregard that Van Aert lost a lot of speed because of whatever happened to Laporte and that Van Aert was boxed in right at that moment. The fact that he eventually managed to get third place tells me he was at least as fast as Mads today.

But stuff happens, and almost every sprint has contenders in it that didn't win because of said stuff. It happens to all of them some time or another. (Which is also why I tink someone here calling Cavendish's 34 wins "inflated" is just ridiculous)

The only thing that "happened" to Laporte, was Pedersen doing a 320 meter sprint on a 4 % gradient.

Even in a flat sprint, the last lead out guys wouldn't stop until earliest 250 meters, and on a 4 % incline that easily drops to 175 meters.

So had Pedersen done a "normal" sprint for the conditions, Laporte would have had plenty of time to veer off right, while still in front of Pedersen, and might even impede Pedersen slightly while unleashing Van Aert with a clear lane to the line.

In other words he timed his lead out perfectly, but when he was ready to unleash Van Aert, Pedersen was already beside him, while MVDP had started his lead out on the left, so Laporte got boxed in, with nowhere to go.

The only thing he may be criticised for, is leaving a gap on his right for Pedersen to go through, but I think he felt he was in control and nobody would kick that early - and then Pedersen did an insanely long sprint - he started it at the same time as MvdP started to ramp up his lead out for Philipsen, and was in the wind the entire 320 meters, while going uphill - think about that

 

[Gratemans]

The only thing that "happened" to Laporte, was Pedersen doing a 320 meter sprint on a 4 % gradient.

Even in a flat sprint, the last lead out guys wouldn't stop until earliest 250 meters, and on a 4 % incline that easily drops to 175 meters.

So had Pedersen done a "normal" sprint for the conditions, Laporte would have had plenty of time to veer off right, while still in front of Pedersen, and might even impede Pedersen slightly while unleashing Van Aert with a clear lane to the line.

In other words he timed his lead out perfectly, but when he was ready to unleash Van Aert, Pedersen was already beside him, while MVDP had started his lead out on the left, so Laporte got boxed in, with nowhere to go.

The only thing he may be criticised for, is leaving a gap on his right for Pedersen to go through, but I think he felt he was in control and nobody would kick that early - and then Pedersen did an insanely long sprint - he started it at the same time as MvdP started to ramp up his lead out for Philipsen, and was in the wind the entire 320 meters, while going uphill - think about that

I agree with everything but your first point. For some reason, Laporte suddenly lost a lot of speed. It might even have been empty legs (but I don't think so, he was also looking down as though something went wrong with his shifting or whatever). Anyhow, Wout at that moment had nowhere to go and just lost a lot of speed.

No criticism on Pedersen either from me: he went exactly at the right time. The stage flattened off at the end, so he had to go early. And he did just that perfectly, good on him. I'm just saying, were it not for LaPorte falling back that hard, Wout would have had a real chance to win here as well.

 

[hfer07]

Pogacar vs Vingegaard
ROUND 3

may the best rider win

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

"may actually"

I don't wanna pop your balloon, but c'mon he got served on a silver platter 300m out with all the other sprinters behind, and Pedersen then open up his finish from behind Van Aert, - from a distance far-out that certainly was a gamble.

Van Aert completely loses momentum, not sure if he slips when he should peak out on the left or simply was surprised how early the other opens up, but we have to do a lot of make-believe to place "may actually have been" on this finish ..
Finish Stage 8: https://tinyurl.com/22npehnb

Jumbo Vista likely also starting to conclude that there are stronger sprinters if everything else is equal, and why they tried to burn-out the other top sprinters on the climb, which would have been top'nudge if it had worked and Pedersen & Phillipsen dropped..
Impressive that Pedersen can hold that sprint so far, and likely played a role in the WvA mistiming.

- as I highlighted in #370, Mads Pedersen also admits it was a gamble, and he was completely sacked the last +50 meters,..

lol dude, Van Aert literally had to hit the breaks in a full sprint uphill, get back going again and still finished 3rd pretty close behind Pedersen. He gets boxed in by Van der Poel on the left and Pedersen on the right, as Laporte completely implodes and stalls Van Aert.

 

[GroupDK]

The fact that he eventually managed to get third place tells me he was at least as fast as Mads today.

Things aint linear in a sprint like these, where we both have significant sprint distance & variable elevation, quite a difference where you placed and the air you have to eat.
also why riders often will prefer to take a wheel and come from the back.

 

[laarsland]

van Aert- and Remco-apologists really are a breed of their own.

Race winners are given asterisks when these rider DNFs, race wins aren't valid as they didn't have the same run to the line as the victor.

 

[ManicJack]

van Aert- and Remco-apologists really are a breed of their own.

Race winners are given asterisks when these rider DNFs, race wins aren't valid as they didn't have the same run to the line as the victor.

Take it easy there buddy. You may get banned for hating. 😉

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

van Aert- and Remco-apologists really are a breed of their own.

Race winners are given asterisks when these rider DNFs, race wins aren't valid as they didn't have the same run to the line as the victor.

Please point out the apologists here. I only read people saying Van Aert rode the fastest sprint once he had a clear path, which is a verifiable fact. But i haven't read the entire thread, so maybe i missed some posts. Saying Van Aert got held up/boxed in is in no way putting an asterisk next to Pedersens win or claiming it invalid. But only a blind man would argue Van Aert was slower, or got a free path to sprint.

Positioning and timing are (imho) more important factors/qualities when sprinting than top speed, so Pedersen won fair and square. Haven't seen anyone contest that. So maybe there's more shitposters here than apologists.

 

[Samamba]

Poor of Ewan not to feature, but Groenewegen was as expected, @tobydawq

Ewan wasn't feeling great (struggling with his stomach) and gave the go ahead to the team to do their own thing with 60km to go. So that's why Campenaerts attacked, and De Buyst/Van Gils basically did their own thing in the final.

 

[Blanco]

He's on one more win than Costa and is almost 10 years younger, will probably finish his career with double.

Rui has had a really good career however, just probably the least spectacular one of the WCRR winners that came to mind as it's basically a killers row.

Greipel won twice more than Contador, so wins number is not always deciding argument.
Rui had a really good career indeed, Pedersen is on the way too, I just can't see Pedersen ahead of Rui Costa, at least yet.

 

[Peter von]

I think jumbo went a little too hard going into the final 5 k and Laporte had to burn a match or two, which meant that he couldn’t quite kick with Wout on his wheel on the final 300 m. Again Jumbo are too stressed or too eager or I don’t know,

But yeah. In every sprint there are two or three guys who looked like they were faster. If the sprint had finished 50 meters shorter we would also say Phillipsen would have passed Pedersen for sure if the sprint was just 40 meters longer.

 

[RedheadDane]

Greipel won twice more than Contador, so wins number is not always deciding argument.
Rui had a really good career indeed, Pedersen is on the way too, I just can't see Pedersen ahead of Rui Costa, at least yet.

I suppose one of the things that makes Pedersen strange is that his World Championship win was his first big win.