Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 7: Nuits-Saint-Georges > Gevrey-Chambertin, 25.3 km (ITT)

[Danskebjerge]

Mads Pedersen out - Tour ruined. ☹️

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Only watching the highlights now: 113 riders were slower than Julien Bernard. 80 were slower than him on the section that he rode largely with one arm waving, and in which he stopped to kiss his partner and child. How?

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

I mean, the start of this era should just be post COVID break - but the question is when you make a cutoff and call it a different one

Always up to debate when an era comes to an end and where a new one begins, if it's not a clear cut like the Indu era. To me, the Pogi-era already started pre COVID and his 2019 Vuelta display
But I think in relation to @Rackham's text it was not so much about the 'era' as he excitement in noting that the four expected "era" riders are still current and still proving to be the strongest after 7 stages, when much else could have gone to waste, besides disappointments from one or more of the four.
I would say it is difficult to rule out Wonder Kid Evenepoel as part of the 'era' riders, although he is sub par speaking GT's, he is still in the game. And I'm almost certain we'll see spectacle from him before the really high mountains, where he'll try to do a lot of damage to his closest competitors with stronger climbing and descender skills.
It is in this light that I read the text.
(And not an endless irrelevant-to-the-thread discussion of eras. OK with me with such a discussion, but open a dedicated thread for that stuff, thx).

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I was wondering where you had gone. Why the (slight) name change?

View: https://youtube.com/watch?v=Vet6AHmq3_s

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I mean, the start of this era should just be post COVID break - but the question is when you make a cutoff and call it a different one

This is the Evenepoel era, in which for the time being, Pogacar is the most successful rider.

 

[awavey]

Only watching the highlights now: 113 riders were slower than Julien Bernard. 80 were slower than him on the section that he rode largely with one arm waving, and in which he stopped to kiss his partner and child. How?

yeah I was wondering that too, when youve got the likes of Cav going as fast as he can busting a gut because he's worried about the time cut as ITTs are no longer treated like rest days, how does Bernard get away with riding like that ?

and actually beating people too ? What kind of result would he have got if he'd given it full focus ?

 

[Saint Unix]

Only watching the highlights now: 113 riders were slower than Julien Bernard. 80 were slower than him on the section that he rode largely with one arm waving, and in which he stopped to kiss his partner and child. How?

The only explanations I can come up with are that he was in a frantic hurry to get some action after a week on the road, or maybe everyone else stopped there for a quick sample too.

 

[More Strides than Rides]

yeah I was wondering that too, when youve got the likes of Cav going as fast as he can busting a gut because he's worried about the time cut as ITTs are no longer treated like rest days, how does Bernard get away with riding like that ?

and actually beating people too ? What kind of result would he have got if he'd given it full focus ?

It just goes to show how long seconds actually are, and how few you lose for quick stops. I think the poster talking about Remco losing 5 to 6 seconds jumping on his back wheel can take a note or two.

 

[proffate]

That french guy came out and said he rode harder on the start of the TT so he'd have time to kiss his wife and wave to fans.

Obviously most riders are incentivized to ride as slow as possible without getting cut. The fact that even people on this forum think they're gunning for 50th place somewhat explains the UCI's position here. It seems they want to maintain the illusion that more than 15 guys are actually "racing" that day. Why, I have no idea.

what I don't understand about this TT, and granted I don't really follow all the latest tech trends, is how/why some of the setups like Kung's and Pog's were permitted to have a fairing straight up blocking off the lower half of the main triangle. I'm assuming those are hypothetically water carrying devices but those riders certainly didn't drink from them and it's obvious what the real purpose is. And if those are allowed all of a sudden, why isn't Spec scrambling to add that to their TT bike? Actually I could swear that already existed but was banned by the UCI and only allowed for tryathlon

 

[awavey]

That french guy came out and said he rode harder on the start of the TT so he'd have time to kiss his wife and wave to fans.

Obviously most riders are incentivized to ride as slow as possible without getting cut. The fact that even people on this forum think they're gunning for 50th place somewhat explains the UCI's position here. It seems they want to maintain the illusion that more than 15 guys are actually "racing" that day. Why, I have no idea.

I dont think anyone is under illusions that there are only a handful of riders in contention on an ITT stage and the rest are simply filler material getting from A to B.

But as Cav said post stage, these arent rest days for riders like him anymore, if Remco goes off on an absolute flyer, just to prove a point that he's the fastest ITT at the moment because he knows theres a rest day coming up and doesnt care much about performing on todays stage, then theres real jeopardy for alot of riders if they dont make the effort to take the ITT seriously enough of missing the time cut.

I cant remember who it was but it was a retired ex pro who said the same thing in an ITT they were just mucking about in one in their words not paying attention to the time treating it like a cafe run, and they got half way through and the team car are screaming at him to go faster because his delta times were way off meeting the time cut, and he had to go basically fully in to the red for the rest of it just to make it.

So I just find it amazing that Bernard could ride it like that, and it was more than a few seconds he lost, and yet still be faster than other riders.

 

[Netserk]

Time splits for stage top-10 and GC top-20:

Gall not only slowest on the last two sections, but also the uphill one (lost 21" to Küng despite the chain drop and going under 40 km/h).