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Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 2: Cesenatico > Bologne (Bologna), 199.2 km

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It's time

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It's 15km from San Luca to finish, which makes a whole other game, but...
San Luca is one of the most illusive climbs for Pogačar (1xDNF, 2x2nd).
Roglič, on the other hand,...
 
So will Carapaz try to follow when Pog attacks on San Luca? He did it in on La Redoute this year, and in Giro Dell'Emilia last year.

Got to love Carapaz, never afraid to test his limits. :)
 
Emirates will push hard in Cote san luca, but I wouldn't be surprised if Visma will push hard during all stage until the final climbs.

Why would Visma do it? Hard tempo all day long doesn't necessarily fit Van Aert, who has a good shot from a selected group today. You don't think they will apply kJ strategy to launch Vingo on San Luca, do you? :p
 
Curious how the finale will go today. Will the winder play a party poper? Will a group gather together? Will anyone be able to get away?

A rather small group gathering together for the final sprint is a likely scenario. Still, I'm curious how the top dogs will fare on San Luca relative to each other. I'd like to watch some interesting action i.e. Pog + Rog working together to the finish line after gaining some seconds on the top.
 
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After the excessive hype for Stage 1, the forum aperetif for Stage 2 is rather subdued. In stage 1, apart from the Romance Bardet story, it didn't really live up to the hype. UAE got to first base but didn't consummate stage 1. We had a feel good story with Bardet taking yellow in his last tour. Unfortunately, he'll probably lose the jersey today.
Stage 2 is a sprint stage. I expect Pog to gap Rog on the hillock but it may all come back together for the finish.
 
It's a decent speed but associating it with Visma's kJ strategy is ridiculous, they didn't even pace for most of the stage and UAE's interval was definitely stronger. Being too slow on final climbs actually cost Visma the stage victory.
They wanted the stage if other teams helped him, they didn’t wanted to do the work alone. If there was a fail in this stage, then we can start by the EF fail, then by the Emirates fail by burying 4 riders, and we can end by the lidl and Visma fail by losing the stage by 5 s.

The guys from DSM had a lot of merit yesterday.

If other teams do a good pace during the stage, they don’t need to do fortunately. It's a long process everyday with a good pace.
 
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