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

[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.

 

[Boehmand]

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.

He was only 9 seconds off at the KOM, and lost by far most descending - predmoninatly on the easier high speed parts.

He definitely looked beat at the KOM though, but that might be from just giving everything to the KOM line, knowing a long freewheeling descent followed.

 

[tobydawq]

Spectacular stage! So close, and then the heavy legs are felt on the descent.

Yep, one of the best descent finishes I can remember. Fantastic stuff.

Excellent performance by Pog, but the Tour isn't over if Vingegaard can still have his usual third week legs.

 

[Nick2413]

Went about as expected. Meaning a great stage that gave us a taste of everything we wanted. Never thought I’d be pulling for Remco so hard but happy to see him doing well and hoping he’s not blowing his load. Vingegaard still in good enough shape to be a threat. UAE very strong and Ayuso scamming Almeida for 15 seconds by sitting in the back despite looking weaker. Roglic… hoping he’s going for the 3rd week peak.

 

[topt]

Ullrich on German Eurosport saying that Ayuso's behavior might lead to problems down the line, less so for challenging Pogacar but rather that Almeida and Yates will at some point ask - "why do we go full in, and this guy gets rewarded for setting a fake pace at front".

Valid point.

was thinking exactly this, only reason Almeida lost time today vs Ayuso was his fake pace; he must be damn pissed

 

[topt]

This is a tour that needs 2 55km ITTs

We'd have an epic battle between Remco and Pog. Pog having the advantage on the climbs (and descents), Remco in the TT

no we wouldnt

 

[QueenStagiaire]

was thinking exactly this, only reason Almeida lost time today vs Ayuso was his fake pace; he must be damn pissed

Really the only reason was that Almeida is a bad descender but if Ayuso had ridden himself to a standstill, he wouldn‘t have lost out, duh

 

[balac]

was thinking exactly this, only reason Almeida lost time today vs Ayuso was his fake pace; he must be damn pissed

That's not true. Almeida lost time because he's not a good descender compared to Ayuso, Roglic or Crod.

 

[topt]

That's not true. Almeida lost time because he's not a good descender compared to Ayuso, Roglic or Crod.

he was behind on top, so its true

 

[balac]

he was behind on top, so its true

Roglic was behind Ayuso and Almeida at the top of the Galibier. So no, it's not.

 

[topt]

I missed what Ayuso did

fake pace + not wanting set tempo; Almeida was yelling at him

 

[topt]

Roglic was behind Ayuso and Almeida at the top of the Galibier. So no, it's not.

was he behind Ayuso on top or not

 

[tobydawq]

Almeida's getting angry with Ayuso was one of the biggest 'get out of jail' cards for Roglic I've ever seen.

He could have lost two minutes if Almeida had kept pushing.

That's not to say Ayuso wasn't to blame, it was just perfect timing for Roglic for that to happen right at that moment.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Almeida's getting angry with Ayuso was one of the biggest 'get out of jail' cards for Roglic I've ever seen.

He could have lost two minutes if Almeida had kept pushing.

That's not to say Ayuso wasn't to blame, it was just perfect timing for Roglic for that to happen right at that moment.

Luck merchant

 

[will-10]

Ineos certainly have their leadership questions answered.

Love it when the road decides

 

[Froome]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1808238216891318746

View: https://x.com/Tratnikstan/status/1808238216891318746

 

[scribers]

would your DS be in your ear telling you what corner type is coming up kind of like a rally car ?

They have gps on the bikes. For real