Tour de France Tour de France 2025, Stage 16: Montpellier to Mont Ventoux, 171.5 km

[Boehmand]

So UAE are 1 man down and they send 2 guys in the break and then put Politt on the front. Playing 5D chess, I believe is the topical phrase!

Aren't we upto around 8D by now?

 

[Boehmand]

No, I just take accountability for my actions and have a modicum of self-control...

You are so cool

 

[Tim Cahill]

I’m not sure they can bring back 5 minutes on Arensman/Mas/actual top climbers on Ventoux.

 

[D. Pecher]

I simply don't care what UAE want or what they expect, and I don't like the traditional 'capo' of the peloton approach which, if we're being honest, was one founded on bullying and little else.

I think you have a monumental misunderstanding of how cycling works. Almost every breakaway group in history has gone because the team of the leader, or the sprinter teams, allowed them to do so. You might have an idealistic view of it being other wise, but that's pie in the sky.

It has always been like this: If you try to break away and the leader's team doesn't want you to, you're not going. That has nothing to do with bullying. the word you're looking for is : strategy.

People have wasted their own and others' energy by trying to force a pointless issue. If you want to present your team's colors in a breakaway, you choose a stage where the leader and the sprinters teams don't have any skin in the game. Has never been different.

 

[Heston]

Healy should have been in the front split. His group is going too slow now.

 

[Rou]

I’m not sure they can bring back 5 minutes on Arensman/Mas/actual top climbers on Ventoux.

Arensman is not good in the heat. Mas is weak this Tour.
7 minutes for them should be enough but not guaranteed.

 

[yaco]

I’m not sure they can bring back 5 minutes on Arensman/Mas/actual top climbers on Ventoux.

Think they need closer to 6 minutes. Healy is the joker in the pack. Expect other GC teams to put riders on the front to protect their GC position.

 

[Rou]

Group 1 is overpacing it and killing themselves.

 

[Barnacle Bill]

I'm just wondering if someone is in the team bus adding names to this long list...

Politt said in the Schlag & Fertig podcast: "In the peloton, you have friends and riders you’re not so fond of. On our team bus, there’s also a list of riders who are friends and a blacklist. You don’t want to be on that list". Although this won't necessarily explain some of UAE's tactics during the Tour, it hints at the existence of personal reasons to chase down breakaways.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

For Alla Tutor blocking the second group

 

[RedheadDane]

Gachignard sick?

 

[Mac9]

Pogacar must be 7/2...4/1 to win from here now. What was he this morning, 4/6?

 

[D. Pecher]

Group 1 is overpacing it and killing themselves.

The whole stage was insanely fast due to everybody and his dog trying to get into a breakaway. Those guys have been going at 50kph nearly all day, while the pack is now taking a breather. Either UAE has blown their own engine chasing down all those riders, or they know that even 6 or 7 minutes won't be enough for the breakaway group.

 

[Heston]

Alla and Tutor blocking the second group

Why though? Not like Trentin is gonna beat Arensman on Ventoux

 

[Finn84]

Gachignard sick?

Yes.
The time limit seems to be a way over half an hour so I think he won't be OTLed.

 

[fenns]

Pog only 30% in the betting now

he probably still isn't feeling great and will just follow Jonas.

 

[AmRacer]

Healy on the move

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Gachignard's attempt at doing a reverse Poli is going well, but he probably won't be able to decrease the gap on Ventoux.

 

[Brullnux]

It has always been like this: If you try to break away and the leader's team doesn't want you to, you're not going. That has nothing to do with bullying. the word you're looking for is : strategy.

People have wasted their own and others' energy by trying to force a pointless issue. If you want to present your team's colors in a breakaway, you choose a stage where the leader and the sprinters teams don't have any skin in the game. Has never been different.

And yet – a group of circa 35 enterprising riders broke the shackles of your all-powerful, all-controlling leader's team, and now have six minutes on the peloton and could well contest the stage.

Truly wasted energy, as you say. Or perhaps it does make sense to ignore the leader's team when they only have one roleur on the front and trying in vain to control a stage they have no divine right to control. Too tricky to say, you're right.

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Breakaway with 6 minute lead. Dont Uae/visma want a win today? Or will the mutants catch them?

 

[RedheadDane]

Yes.
The time limit seems to be a way over half an hour so I think he won't be OTLed.

But will he make it to the finish?

 

[AnotherArmChair]

Healy could have done with a teammate

 

[MagliaNera]

Yes.
The time limit seems to be a way over half an hour so I think he won't be OTLed.

He's already 15 minutes behind alone on the flat so I think it's quite likely will either arrive OTL or (more probably) just DNF beforehand.

Quite unusual to show his time gap on TV for that long though, poor Gachignard.

 

[Heston]

Healy group in disarray. QS the only ones saving it.

 

[Danskebjerge]

Almost every breakaway group in history has gone because the team of the leader, or the sprinter teams, allowed them to do so. Y

That's true for many GC stages, but not all one day races.

Also, it's only a phenomenon because big teams are allowed (mandatory). If the teams consisted of, say, three riders, the race would be much harder to control, and we would probably see more breakaways with very strong riders.