Tour de France Tour de France 2023, stage 9: Saint-Léonard-de-Noblat - Puy de Dôme, 182.4k

[Trofonios]

I think Pog's tactic is easy here, follow Vingegaard on Puy de Dome and attack close to the finish if he has the legs.
Don't think Pog really has the confidence here to let Majka and Yates pull hard first 1-2k on the steep section and then attack from more than 2k out. Believe what happened on Marie Blanque will still be on his mind. And it's not worth the risk really, he is just 25s down after all.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

TJV best plan is drilling plan, all men.
I.e. zero WvA break or other team member break 'jumps'. Just one, very heavy drilling from the gun, using the upmost rightly with every rider, saving Kuss and Vingegaard for final 6.6k essential Dôme part
Any deviation from this plan and dinner is served for Pogi.

Theoretically could also be hard stage delivered by other GC riders. Essential is a very hard raced stage will favor Vingo, while just tad hesitation and easier tempo will favor Pogi.

Just a pity I'm off mostly all day by tomorrow.

 

[Izzyeviel]

https://inrng.com/2013/09/roads-to-ride-puy-de-dome/

 

[Boehmand]

The fight to be first onto that service road/bike path, is going to be craaaaazy

I wonder if they are allowing spectators up there, or if it will just be the riders and "nature", once it gets narrow like that?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

The fight to be first onto that service road/bike path, is going to be craaaaazy

I wonder if they are allowing spectators up there, or if it will just be the riders and "nature", once it gets narrow like that?

Official word is that there will be no spectators I heard on German Eurosport, which is very sad.

 

[Reynard]

I think Jumbo should have no interest in making this a fight between Vingegaar and Pogacar for the stage win. This should therefore really go to the break as this start allows so many riders to go into the break that it could be a large one with some bigger guys towing the climbers for the stage win.

So maybe a Stuyven/Kirsch for Ciccone, a Küng for Pinot, Naesen for Gall and so on

UAE will try to control like PdBF I think but it really depends on the break if that works. Also many teams can try with ridefs for the break as its not that important to hold domestiques back on this hockeystick stage where it will be 1v1 on steep gradients. So for me I could understand guys like Pinot, Buchmann, Kelderman or Harper in the break. I think only Majka/Yates or Kuss can help you at Puy the dome as a domestique a bit if you need a leadout.

My favourites for the stage win are Berthet/ Gall if Ag2r again can get the break right and Pinot who I think won't be marked by even minor GC teams like Jayco or Bora. I think this and Grand Colombier are his best chances at a last Tour win. Maybe stage 20 but that depends if the GC position in the Top 5 aren't pretty much locked up at that point. The other mountain stages probably will be eaten up by the duel of the giants.

Interesting story line will be if Hindley can really make his 3rd place more secure. this climb looks great for him and he also was best of the rest with Rodriguez and Yates on Thursday. He could be really quite good here maybe he could stay even relatively close to Jonas and Tadej as they could be a bit more arythmical in their riding pace compared to Tourmalet.

 

[Trofonios]

TJV best plan is drilling plan, all men.
I.e. zero WvA break or other team member break 'jumps'. Just one, very heavy drilling from the gun, using the upmost rightly with every rider, saving Kuss and Vingegaard for final 6.6k essential Dôme part
Any deviation from this plan and dinner is served for Pogi.

Theoretically could also be hard stage delivered by other GC riders. Essential is a very hard raced stage will favor Vingo, while just tad hesitation and easier tempo will favor Pogi.

Just a pity I'm off mostly all day by tomorrow.

Could be a double edged sword, but I see your point. On this terrain, TJV can make stage hard, but question is if it will be harder for Pog than Vingegaard. Think LBL type of terrain, which this is in some sense disregarding the final climb, suits Pog well.

 

[Reynard]

Official word is that there will be no spectators I heard on German Eurosport, which is very sad.

But it's the right thing to do. No one needs another Nibali or Froome incident because of the spectators.

 

[Izzyeviel]

lets hope its a boring stage then. We shouldn't come back if we can't have fans here.

 

[Boehmand]

lets hope its a boring stage then. We shouldn't come back if we can't have fans here.

Having fans there would be dangerous.

As a viewer I don't really care if there are spectators there, in some respects it makes the race cooler, because we get a completely unobstructed view of what is happening.

 

[RedheadDane]

lets hope its a boring stage then. We shouldn't come back if we can't have fans here.

Would be a shame if climbs were only used if there was room for spectators.

 

[houtdffan]

Think returning to Puy de Dome was Goveneou's pet project

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Think returning to Puy de Dome was Goveneou's pet project

You‘d think that was Super Planche. Has he started a new one? Maybe they‘ll alternate Puy de Dôme and Super PDBF from now on.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

30+ degrees at the bottom.

Man, that's really steep. I think we may see riders rolling back down.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

During holiday trip in '88 visited old 8k Circuit de Charade just a couple of months before its last race and project of the new shorter layout. Same day I visited Puy de Dôme, just in the vicinity, the day before tour riders entered at the official Tour stage. Camps all over and like a party.

So much soul in a single day.

And now?
To hear that this final climb will be without spectators is just so, so sad news

I have to appreciate what I was able to experienced 35 years ago but this feels like a punishment on par with banning any spectators from attending men's soccer Champions League Final.

 

[Netserk]

Man, that's really steep. I think we may see riders rolling back down.

Celsius.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Great Sporting Moments: Jacques Anquetil v Raymond Poulidor, Tour de

Cycling is not supposed to be a contact sport. Wrestling, yes. Rugby, yes. Cycling, no. But on a July afternoon in 1964, two Frenchmen rode up a mountain in a way unseen before or since. They literally went shoulder to shoulder, riding side by side, leaning into each other, neither yielding, in...

www.independent.co.uk

'The suffering was intense, the courage awesome. "I never felt that bad on a bike," Poulidor said. More than 20 years later, dying from cancer, Anquetil told Poulidor the pain he was in was "like racing up the Puy de Dôme, all day, every day'

 

[Gigs_98]

But at he same time stage 5 must be a negative outlier for Pogi, no way he is able to follow on Tourmalet with such ease if he has the same leg as the day before.

It's tricky to tell how hard Vingegaard tried to drop Pogacar on the Tourmalet though. To me it didn't look like an all out attack, which is understandable considering it came with 50k to go. I think it's very well possible that had the stage finished on the Tourmalet Vingegaard would have dropped Pogacar there. But then I admit that's a lot of speculation from my side.

Watching his attack on the Tourmalet again with the knowledge of how the stage ended, maybe the power dynamic really just shifted from stage 5 to stage 6. Vingegaard really looked a lot less explose than the previous day. In any case, I simply cannot help but look at stages 5 and 9, notice how similar the final climbs look and hence expect a somewhat similar outcome.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Landa will lose time to Vingegard.

 

[Peyroteo94]

It's tricky to tell how hard Vingegaard tried to drop Pogacar on the Tourmalet though. To me it didn't look like an all out attack, which is understandable considering it came with 50k to go. I think it's very well possible that had the stage finished on the Tourmalet Vingegaard would have dropped Pogacar there. But then I admit that's a lot of speculation from my side.

Watching his attack on the Tourmalet again with the knowledge of how the stage ended, maybe the power dynamic really just shifted from stage 5 to stage 6. Vingegaard really looked a lot less explose than the previous day. In any case, I simply cannot help but look at stages 5 and 9, notice how similar the final climbs look and hence expect a somewhat similar outcome.

This. However, I think you are a die hard fan of Pogi so you are expecting the worst to not get disappointed.

 

[Gigs_98]

This. However, I think you are a die hard fan of Pogi so you are expecting the worst to not get disappointed.

Hahaha...well...can't argue with that ^^

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

During holiday trip in '88 visited old 8k Circuit de Charade just a couple of months before its last race and project of the new shorter layout. Same day I visited Puy de Dôme, just in the vicinity, the day before tour riders entered at the official Tour stage. Camps all over and like a party.

So much soul in a single day.

And now?
To hear that this final climb will be without spectators is just so, so sad news

I have to appreciate what I was able to experienced 35 years ago but this feels like a punishment on par with banning any spectators from attending men's soccer Champions League Final.

OK watching modern pics I identify they've reintroduced the rack railway of which I from my visit remember landmark info about taken use of in early 1900s.
It makes sense in relation to safety, but no sense making it a part of the tour route then.
But just a symptom of the time we live in. Someone badly wants to bring back soul from historic times, but in the attempt they get it so horribly wrong that it becomes senseless.
With these sad news I would've preferred they did not touch Puy de Dôme, but in stead consigned this epic mountain for the history books. Now bad, soulless history has to be written

 

[nightowl]

I’m interested to see how Vingegaard and Jumbo respond to how stage 6 unfolded. When he got countered, in very similar fashion, on Loge des Gardes at Paris-Nice he was suddenly no better than the second-rate climbers for the rest of the race. This despite doing crazy watts in Spain the week before, and insta-dropping all those riders on his first attack before being countered. So that must have been at least somewhat due to psychological reasons - but I suppose we’ll find out tomorrow if that was a one-off or if he really does struggle after getting dropped when he thinks he’s strongest

 

[peterfin]

My scenario for tomorrow: MVDP will attack to honor papi. WVA will join with 20 others. JV will chase and the peloton will be shred to pieces. WVA and MVDP are the only ones left of the group for the final climb. When arriving close to the steep parts of the Puy de Dome with almost 2 minutes ahead, WVA will be asked to wait on Vingegaard. WVA does an incredible effort but Pogacar survives. Vingegaard attacks in the last two kilometers but Pogacar follows (barely). MVDP almost cracks but wins. He is completely exhausted. Pogacar wins the sprint for the 2nd place. Frustrated WVA confirms again for the Sporza camera that it is not "his tour" this year before jumping in the car. However, the next day he will say that the team took the best decision.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

The legend is back!
5 km from the line Hindley attacks. Vingegaard is weakening and asks Pogacar "Teddy, slow down, he isnt a threat to us. BTW have you got a spare gel? "
Pogacar gives Vinge a gel and pats him on the back saying "No problem Vinnie, we will finish together"
Pogacar ends up losing the Tour by 10 seconds.