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Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 13: Agen > Pau, 165.3 km

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Tadej says they will now ride defensively in the Pyrenees. I'm not sure he will be able to do that.

Vingegaard would say it's not a lack of balls, just smart racing.

Makes sense, he's got the lead and he knows Visma doesn't have the strong mountain doms they usually have this Tour. Still, Pog gonna Pog.
 
Tadej says they will now ride defensively in the Pyrenees. I'm not sure he will be able to do that.

I mean really he says that he can ride a bit more defensively, but also that he would like to win the stage if he doesn‘t have to do too much for it.
 
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But Van Gils is a big talent. Capiot is a big whatever.

It's always the same. SAFETY when you can blame organizers. Say nothing when riders hospitalize each other

Ah Red Rick and his anti Belgian feelings... always great to see.

That's apart from the fact that they are sometimes hypocritical, but today they just keep going by blaming the one who's not following his line, which they have been doing for 5 years or so. It's not cause someone crashes and someone else doesn't in a collusion that the one staying upright is always the one in the wrong, even if he "blasts" him (which for me isn't even true but ok. He doesn't have to fly into the barriers cause someone else can't ride straight and wants to look back mid sprint.

And yes, you can call me biased, I am probably, but tbc I thought De Lie came off pretty good without a DQ earlier this week (while for some reason he didn't get so much heat then).
 
But Van Gils is a big talent. Capiot is a big whatever.

It's always the same. SAFETY when you can blame organizers. Say nothing when riders hospitalize each other
Drifting across 1/3 of the road is not safe in that situation. I think Van Gils should have let up once he saw it happening, but when he began the move there was more than enough space to move into. Dipping his shoulder isn't really the same as a shoulder barge, either.
 
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At the end of the day Van Gils tries to take a marginal gap and had no thought of aborting the move. In every sprint riders have been blocked on the barriers and I have yet to see one try to barge themselves when they are blocked.
I just don't think it was a marginal gap when he began to go for it, it was probably like two cyclists' width. He should've stopped pedalling as hard when Capiot drifted (not braked), but there was nothing wrong with the initial decision.
 
Like looking behind and drifting to the left while slowing down mid sprint?
Don't blame the victim. There will always be riders "slowing down" in a sprint. But when you come from behind and want to move further forward, you must assess which gaps are available. Van Gils had time enough to see that the gap at the barrier was too small. That he accellerated instead and tried to force his way through, should be punished severely.
 
At the end of the day Van Gils tries to take a marginal gap and had no thought of aborting the move. In every sprint riders have been blocked on the barriers and I have yet to see one try to barge themselves when they are blocked.

Do you have an example of 2 riders where the speed difference is as big as here (at least 15km/u)? it's completely different when you are both kind of sprinting at the same time,. Here Capiot is going so much slower, it's already hard to judge given the difference, but it also means that you would have to pull the breaks fully, which is just dangerous there.
 
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Don't blame the victim. There will always be riders "slowing down" in a sprint. But when you come from behind and want to move further forward, you must assess which gaps are available. Van Gils had time enough to see that the gap at the barrier was too small. That he accellerated instead and tried to force his way through, should be punished severely.

When you crash it doesn't necessarily mean you're the victim. The gap was available if Capiot just hold his line, which he has to according to the rules. It's pretty easy to spot if you just watch yk. The gap only gets to small when he's already half besides him and when he simply can't stop anymore given the speed difference. He has to get through, Capiot also still keeps going more to the left, they collide. Van Gils puts his shoulder cause he knows there is gonna be contract, Capiot doesn't (he's relacing his muscles) cause he doesn't realize he's boxing someone in. So he crashed.
 
Tomorrow will probably be a GC snooze fest with a mountain sprint. Hopefully fireworks from the gun on Sunday.
If Tadej rides defensively (and I really question whether he can), I doubt Jonas will attack him in the Pyrenees. These aren't the mountains that suit Jonas.

But if Jonas senses that Tadej is having a bad day, he will drill it to find out, I'm sure. And vice versa.
 
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I think there is definitely more than enough space for Van Gils to move here at this point - moving to the left by Capiot was a bit of a mistake. Van Gils then should have realised the gap was gone and reduced his speed, which was his mistake. But while neither rider comes out of it blameless, it was not some kind of psychopathic decision from Van Gils.