Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 4: Pinerolo > Valloire, 139.6 km

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Ayuso is a perfect fit for a Movistar GC leader.

 

[Roku]

I posted early in the year that he had a poor preparation because of sponsor commitments. His last race day in 2023 was in the Taiwan on the 27th October, then in Mid January, he was riding the TDU in Australia, then he went straight to the Alula tour in Saudi Arabia at the end of January. Since then he has not fired a shot. Jayco needs to make a decision whether he drops more time and tries for stages or battles on to get top 15 GC.

Anyways S.Yates has always been hit or miss and usually too inconsistent. He should drop out of GC and fight for stage wins, IMHO.

 

[velaso montador]

He lost 17s to pogacar in the descent to my countings and calculations. He lost less than Vingegaard but more than Roglic/Rodriguez/Ayuso. I'd like to see him do better obviously, but then again, it's really not the end of the world either.

He says his wheel slid a bit on one of the wet sections, and he stopped taking risks after that.

Great ride from evenpoel. Evenpoel was clearly the second strongest rider today after Pogacar I think like befoer he will surprise manyyy this tour* he is mean and lean. He lost a bit in the first part downhill but the power section only pogacar matched him and at the end evenpoel was clearly the strongest in the bunch behind.

 

[skidmark]

loooooooong history of totally selfish riding without ever lifting a finger for a teammate.

I guess given that he's 21 and has only been a leader, that makes sense

 

[RobertCrawley]

Jonas: He says rhe team expected to lose 2 minutes or more in rhe first four stages. To lose "only" 50 seconds is quite good, and "our time will come."

 

[Barkintheeye]

Great ride from evenpoel. Evenpoel was clearly the second strongest rider today after Pogacar I think like befoer he will surprise manyyy this tour* he is mean and lean. He lost a bit in the first part downhill but the power section only pogacar matched him and at the end evenpoel was clearly the strongest in the bunch behind.

How do you reckon that? Only rider that was close to follow pog’s attack was Vingo…

 

[scribers]

All that good climbing is no good if you give it all away to remco and lose time to boot

 

[scribers]

Jonas: He says rhe team expected to lose 2 minutes or more in rhe first four stages. To lose "only" 50 seconds is quite good, and "our time will come."

lol okay

 

[Landeirovic]

Good performance still. Probably sat up a bit. Knowing he has no chance to repeat what he did last year and get on the podium.

And if Almeida + Ayuso are this good... he doesnt need to be better atm.

Last year Yates did as domestique a great GC result. This year he will be domestisque but not spend more energy for GC. He go to the Vuelta where he can win the GC

 

[Poursuivant]

Last year Yates did as domestique a great GC result. This year he will be domestisque but not spend more energy for GC. He go to the Vuelta where he can win the GC

He will come second to Pog at Vuelta

 

[search]

According to Denk's podcast, Bora and Ineos got a hotel with a beautiful view today - at 1800m alttiude

 

[Pantani_lives]

Holy Moses, what a stage! UAE used the length and height of the Galibier to reduce the group to the best eight climbers in this Tour. Pogacar used his explosiveness to create a gap in the final section with the steep bends. His descent was impressive. He must have done a lot of reconnoitering. Those bends with the melted snow looked scary.

For Evenepoel today was his crucible, and he passed it with flying colors. The doubts about his capacities at high altitude and about his team strength have been erased. A podium spot in Nice looks very realistic now. He just has to do good time trials and avoid a bad day.

 

[scribers]

High fives at aso’s dinner table today. They’ve delivered us from Italy with a bang through the alps and there is still a race to be done

 

[Cookster15]

Nice to have action like this so early in the Tour!

Great win by Pogacar and a good example why he is a popular rider. Noticed he rode all the way to the line only celebrating after the line - he wanted every second he could get. With bonuses it was a good day's haul.

Vingegaard lost the wheel when Pog surged out of a bend - Vinge didn't have the power. Also not sure if its significant that Vingegaard lost the wheel in the chasing group at the end and slipped 2 seconds?

After the criticism of their riding on stage 2, UAE did a good job and surely Ayuso knows his place now?

Also good to see Remco finish strongly with the Vingegaard group and Roglic hold on after initially struggling when the fun started on the Galibier.

 

[KZD]

One of the most entertaining descents of the last years and good stage altogether.

Pogačar really is in superb shape, being able to drop a very high level Vingegaard on the high mountains is impressive and in the second part of the descent he really showed that he had more left in the tank. UAE riders also with an amazing job (big shoutout to Pollitt and Almeida), only Ayuso is a worry given his seemingly unwillingness to work.

Vingegaard didn't look good in the end and lost important time but he is still in the game and the fact that the next mountain stage is in 8 days should help him but the TT is going to be another hard test and Visma doesn't look good either.

Remco also really strong showing that he is really climbing at his best and with the TT coming on Friday he has to be considered as a real candidate for the overall as well. Rodriguez very strong as I expected in this sort of stage and Roglič with a better performance than on Sunday showing that he is still in the game.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Why am I feeling that the Tour GC could still be exciting and is far from over?

Pogi drew the first blood but it's only stage 4 and it's far from certain he'll keep his level until the end. Vingo obviously hasn't said his last word and will want to attack later. NoFatco Evenepoel may turn out to be very dangerous in this Tour: given his current climbing level and two TTs left. Not sure about Primoz but maybe it's too early to write him off.

 

[Le Grand Doop]

UAE did a good job and surely Ayuso knows his place now?

hardly.

he refuses to work. and then Doctor Gianetti actually lauds him for it.

I always wondered why he joined UAE with Pog already established. Money I guess. but I hope Pog sets him straight if il dottore won't.

 

[Cookster15]

hardly.

he refuses to work. and then Doctor Gianetti actually lauds him for it.

I always wondered why he joined UAE with Pog already established. Money I guess. but I hope Pog sets him straight if il dottore won't.

Well he (Ayuso) is a bit thick then.

 

[Le Grand Doop]

Well he (Ayuso) is a bit thick then.

or super smart -- very good at faking being almost dropped so he never works other than for himself. He has done this over and over.

as @Logic-is-your-friend alluded to, the best place would be to see him flounder away his career is selfishness at Movistar.

 

[Barkintheeye]

hardly.

he refuses to work. and then Doctor Gianetti actually lauds him for it.

I always wondered why he joined UAE with Pog already established. Money I guess. but I hope Pog sets him straight if il dottore won't.

Looked like there was a moment midway into Galibier where Almeida was asking where the h@ll he was and that he should take his turn. I think he did but just that and not much more. Anyhow the UAE team clearly dominates Visma in the high mountains.

Then Pog and Vingo are both a number too large for the rest of the contenders. Will be interesting to see how 3rd to 5th plays out.

 

[perico]

loooooooong history of totally selfish riding without ever lifting a finger for a teammate.

Long history? The guy is 21 years old and this is his 3rd GT. In the first 2, he was a protected rider. This is his first time riding specifically for someone else.

 

[staubsauger]

Long history? The guy is 21 years old and this is his 3rd GT. In the first 2, he was a protected rider. This is his first time riding specifically for someone else.

Especially after Angliru last year, Almeida is the one rider that truly deserves to get conned by Ayuso!

 

[Red Lobster]

Vingegaard lost the wheel when Pog surged out of a bend - Vinge didn't have the power. Also not sure if its significant that Vingegaard lost the wheel in the chasing group at the end and slipped 2 seconds?

I couldn't tell whether Vingegaard was on the cusp of cracking big time. Did he just get gapped or was he well over the limit? If there had been another 2k of stout climbing left what would have happened? Would have he needed to back off to the pace of the other GC guys? In that case, he needs to get A LOT better if he's going to drop Pogacar in week three.

 

[RobertCrawley]

Ineos certainly have their leadership questions answered.

 

[Tim Cahill]

I love the way Almeida immediately knew exactly what Ayuso was doing too. He remembered Masnada on the Stelvio and thought oh no not this again.