Tour de France Tour de France 2024, Stage 9: Troyes > Troyes, 199.0 km

[Extinction]

To the contrary, I would not want to have the increased risk (I think this is the real issue here) of a flat or a crash see one or more of the GC guys lose their Tour de France today. I think the Tour should be won in the mountains and the TTs. To thus have someone taken out, because he flatted at the wrong moment or crashed and broke bones on a gravel stage, offsets any temporary gain in spectacularity for holding such a race in a GT. The Tour is already the most nervous and stressful race of the calendar, considering it's three weeks of stress and nervousness. Consequently, I just find the Tour stands much more to lose than to gain with such a stage. But ASO has decided to go through with it, so let's just hope all the favorites come through unscathed to fight it out in the mountains to come.

 

[Bolder]

I think most, if not all, of the "Negative Johns" in here are just afraid they'll lose a rider for the GC on this stage.
Personally I'm looking forward to seeing a big one-day specialists break form halfway and them juking it out 4-5 minutes in front of a larger field with all main contenders. Everyone should be prepared for punctures on the gravel sections and have enough support riders to manage.

There's always a risk of a GC contender puncturing/getting caught behind just 1-2km before the cutoff in a sprint stage as well, so let's just see how it pans out before complaining too much.
ASO also force sprinters to climb big mountains, which they're certainly not specialists of.

Although the sprinters just soft pedal up mountains. They aren't racing to keep their place. My issue is that I hate to see riders lose time because of mechanicals and crashes, and a stage where riders are underbiking just increases the odds of that happening. That said, I definitely find them entertaining...

 

[tobydawq]

Although the sprinters just soft pedal up mountains. They aren't racing to keep their place. My issue is that I hate to see riders lose time because of mechanicals and crashes, and a stage where riders are underbiking just increases the odds of that happening. That said, I definitely find them entertaining...

But even though some people will continue to spin the yarn that all Pogi's achievements can be ascribed to luck, there probably is a reason that we all think he is less likely to suffer misfortune today.

Also, he has a poor team for this stage, but he has a lot of friends in the peloton. That could come in handy today.

 

[Nick2413]

Looking forward to it. The risks shouldn’t be much worse than most sprint stages. Does feel a bit wasted not having major climbing though.

 

[Valv.Piti]

I agree.

I believe this stage is very short-sighted, i.e. in the sense people (especially casual fans) are going to get an exciting stage 9. No question. It'll be dramatic.

But at what cost? Imagine crashes, mechanicals & huge time loss + physical damage for GC favorites (especially the top 4)? Suddenly stages 14 onwards (aka the high mountains) are all boring, uneventful processions without decent drama or racing because the better riders have been wiped out in a gimmick stage.

I can't imagine there's a single fan of one of the top GC contenders who is actually looking forwards to this. Even Pog isn't immune from having a nightmare out there because there's so much out of his control.

I look forward to it. It will be great fun to actually see some racing again instead of the boring processions that is flat sprinter days. You're talking about absolute worst case scenarios here, and yes, there's a risk of some bad luck happening here, but it is what it is. Stuff like that has always been a part of cycling, and as we all know lightning can strike anywhere at any time. We have just been very lucky this race so far, but it CAN happen, and it can happen tomorrow as well.

Will be a very fun stage and one I will be watching from beginning to end because riders actually want to be in the break, race hard and because there's a lot of uncertainty about how things will play out. Who will control? Whats the big teams agendas? Lots of opporunities. Thats proper racing!

 

[Extinction]

Looking forward to it. The risks shouldn’t be much worse than most sprint stages. Does feel a bit wasted not having major climbing though.

For the GC guys it absolutely will be, because, unlike a sprint stage, this kind of race is definitely gonna be raced from the front for GC. It's a completely different scenario. And the surface aspect, which already increases the likelyhood of crashes and flats, will send the stress and nervousness in the peloton, especially for the GC teams, through the roof, thus making the race even more perilous. This could be a disaster for the Tour if a Pogacar or a Vingegaard crashes out or flats at the wrong moment, which doesn't benefit the Tour de France. And the probability that that happens increases ten-fold in a gravel stage in my opinion. But, are you not entertained!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Also, if youre the type of fan who's almost 'too invested' in your favorite rider, I can understand how you feel about this stage. Especially given that that particular rider has a history of misfortune and also really isn't considered to be good at this terrain compare to his rivals, but for the rest of us that don't really care that much about whose winning and just want a great race, its a nice stage.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

I really hope none of the top GC guys have a puncture or crash going up or down one of those mountains in the 3rd week, taking away their opportunity of winning/poidiuming the race.

 

[Rackham]

For the GC guys it absolutely will be, because, unlike a sprint stage, this kind of race is definitely gonna be raced from the front for GC. It's a completely different scenario. And the surface aspect, which already increases the likelyhood of crashes and flats, will send the stress and nervousness in the peloton, especially for the GC teams, through the roof, thus making the race even more perilous. This could be a disaster for the Tour if a Pogacar or a Vingegaard crashes out or flats at the wrong moment, which doesn't benefit the Tour de France. And the probability that that happens increases ten-fold in a gravel stage in my opinion. But, are you not entertained!

Yeah it'll be entertaining for sure. I have absolutely no reason to see how this stage could disappoint neutral fans. But like I said, it's just one stage. The Tour is another two weeks & its entertainment quality could be greatly impacted by events on the gravel today.

There's also another issue for me which is the borderline 'unfairness' of how this type of stage massively benefits super teams with powerful rouleurs who can hit the front of the bunch with their GC leader at the right time & keep them safe. Visma in particular on paper go into the stage with a non-negligible advantage compared to some of their rivals. We've already seen how strong they are during hectic moments so I can't see how today will be different.

In that respect Rog & Evenepoel have a much higher risk of finding themselves down in the bunch & more exposed to crashes/incidents & finding themselves dropped for reasons unrelated to their own skill on gravel roads.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

For the GC guys it absolutely will be, because, unlike a sprint stage, this kind of race is definitely gonna be raced from the front for GC. It's a completely different scenario. And the surface aspect, which already increases the likelyhood of crashes and flats, will send the stress and nervousness in the peloton, especially for the GC teams, through the roof, thus making the race even more perilous. This could be a disaster for the Tour if a Pogacar or a Vingegaard crashes out or flats at the wrong moment, which doesn't benefit the Tour de France. And the probability that that happens increases ten-fold in a gravel stage in my opinion. But, are you not entertained!

From a pure entertainment perspective, I'd much rather have an entertaining and exciting stage that sees one of the GC guys crash out than another possession stage like the last two have been.

 

[AmRacer]

Yeah it'll be entertaining for sure. I have absolutely no reason to see how this stage could disappoint neutral fans. But like I said, it's just one stage. The Tour is another two weeks & its entertainment quality could be greatly impacted by events on the gravel today.

There's also another issue for me which is the borderline 'unfairness' of how this type of stage massively benefits super teams with powerful rouleurs who can hit the front of the bunch with their GC leader at the right time & keep them safe. Visma in particular on paper go into the stage with a non-negligible advantage compared to some of their rivals. We've already seen how strong they are during hectic moments so I can't see how today will be different.

In that respect Rog & Evenepoel have a much higher risk of finding themselves down in the bunch & more exposed to crashes/incidents & finding themselves dropped for reasons unrelated to their own skill on gravel roads.

It's unfair some teams are better than others. 🙃

 

[Rackham]

It's unfair some teams are better than others. 🙃

I mean... yes?

It's not a new conversation in pro sports. I don't think the ASO should create stage profiles which benefit the richest teams even more.

This isn't a new topic obviously. FYI I thought it was stupid back when I was a kid when Alex Zülle lost six minutes during the passage du Gois in the 1999 Tour, aka a time gap which pretty much reflected his final standings versus L.A.

There's countless other examples. I think this conversation is even more relevant now because every stage is becoming hectic & tricky, no matter the profile. Street furniture, central traffic islands, speed bumps & all the rest (like the dominance of team trains & the quasi death of proper breakaway specialists) has made the most mundane stages a matter of survival in the bunch.

But in any case we've known about this stage 9 since October so every team has had the opportunity to prepare. It won't make it any less sh*tty though if & when something happens out there today which demolishes the GC standings in an unfair way.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

Damn, just realized I'll miss the live signal today
Will try and shut down every kind of radio-/internet signal until I'll be able to watch full stage from late evening. It would be extremely underwhelming to me, if the riders does not grab out this fine chance to create the most spectacular stage of the year.

 

[kamaveli]

If I were riding in a team using Sram groupset I would be frightened of this stage.

 

[AmRacer]

I mean... yes?

It's not a new conversation in pro sports. I don't think the ASO should create stage profiles which benefit the richest teams even more.

This isn't a new topic obviously. FYI I thought it was stupid back when I was a kid when Alex Zülle lost six minutes during the passage du Gois in the 1999 Tour, aka a time gap which pretty much reflected his final standings versus L.A.

There's countless other examples. I think this conversation is even more relevant now because every stage is becoming hectic & tricky, no matter the profile. Street furniture, central traffic islands, speed bumps & all the rest (like the dominance of team trains & the quasi death of proper breakaway specialists) has made the most mundane stages a matter of survival in the bunch.

But in any case we've known about this stage 9 since October so every team has had the opportunity to prepare. It won't make it any less sh*tty though if & when something happens out there today which demolishes the GC standings in an unfair way.

It's unfair Man C has the best players.

 

[tobydawq]

It's unfair Man C has the best players.

It's not only Rodri who will be crowned Premier League champion....


Apples and oranges. As always with cycling vs football analogies.

 

[Valv.Piti]

We know what Rackham's agenda is. He's scared to *** that Roglic will once again crash and/or lose significant time , and you can't blame him. Therefore he can't enjoy the spectacle. Its just that simple.

 

[Stubb]

Tour de femmes 2022 rode these "chemins blanches" in 2022 and, despite all the punctures, it was a funny but not decisive stage; lots of bike changes though, so having a similar height teammate with you will be important (Pog, Remco and Rog should have at least 2, Vinge one). No clear favourites but Pog might have an edge being the best one day racer of the four.
I hope Visma (by far the strongest team on this terrain) will try to cause some havoc, their misfortune should end at some point!
So, go Matteo and show to these lilliputian climbers what 1.9 m of power can do!

 

[Eclipse]

Expecting this to be pretty boring really with decisive moments being bike issues more than racing.

The F1-ification of cycling.

 

[AmRacer]

It's not only Rodri who will be crowned Premier League champion....


Apples and oranges. As always with cycling vs football analogies.

Regarding some teams are better than others.

 

[Rackham]

We know what Rackham's agenda is. He's scared to *** that Roglic will once again crash and/or lose significant time , and you can't blame him. Therefore he can't enjoy the spectacle. Its just that simple.

It's hardly an 'agenda' because I can't exactly influence anything, can I? It's just an opinion.

I've also made my point pre-emptively so there's no confusion, or hypocrisy. If by chance the reverse occurs (aka Rog is fine & one of his rivals loses a chunk of time due to serious misfortune), I won't change my view after the stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

I hope Visma (by far the strongest team on this terrain) will try to cause some havoc, their misfortune should end at some point!
So, go Matteo and show to these lilliputian climbers what 1.9 m of power can do!

Sending Jorgenson ahead would also ensure Vingegaard doesn't mistakenly take his bike if he punctures.

 

[Berniece]

We know what Rackham's agenda is. He's scared to *** that Roglic will once again crash and/or lose significant time , and you can't blame him. Therefore he can't enjoy the spectacle. It’s just that simple.

Even if I was a Pogacar fan I wouldn’t want this. Can you imagine losing the Tour here due to a random mechanical? It’s just silly

 

[Valv.Piti]

Time losses are not what ruins the races, crashes are. Vingegaard losing 2 minutes or Pog losing 2 minutes would hardly make the racing worse - quite the opposite usually. Same goes for a lot of other riders

 

[noob]

Almeida, probably.
Pogačar: 1.76 m
Almeida: 1.78 m
Ayuso: 1.83 m

Sure, Pogačar on Ayuso's bike wouldn't quite be a Vingegaard on Van Hooydonck's bike situation, but still a bit impractical.

Our thought processes were identitical 🤣🤣🤣🤣