Tour de France Tour de France 2025, Stage 5: Caen – Caen (33.0k, ITT)

[Escarabajo]

maybe Vaquelin will save Arkea ...they need a sponsor

The chances of him staying in Arkea are really remote...

 

[Pantani Attacks]

Not the fact that he's a damn good cyclist?

I think for redacted clinic reasons, it is hard to warm to him in that regard. You might say Pogacar is the same, but Pogacar always showed the pedigree. Vingegaard's rise is not Froome esque but it isn't a million miles away either. Also, sure the watts are the watts, but he's not very good tactically when he doesn't have his team with him and he has yet to be bold and daring compared to the other top cyclists of this era.

 

[RedheadDane]

No, that is where most of the hate comes from.

Yeah, I guess cycling is much more exciting if it's just one guy dominating.

The Pogacar-Vingegaard rivalry is great because it's just that; a rivalry.

So far it's 2-2 on Tour wins.

 

[Sciatic]

Slowest???

-er

 

[rghysens]

2007 was not a climbers TdF parcours by any stretch of the imagination.

I think you are assessing it with current courses in mind. Back than it was considered a rather mountainous tdf.

 

[staubsauger]

Gall hasn't ridden such a bad TT @Mayomaniac . Lost less than 2 minutes on Vingegaard & Roglic and less than 1 minutes on Carlos Rodriguez!

 

[houtdffan]

2007 was not a climbers TdF parcours by any stretch of the imagination. The Alps where absolutely horrendously designed. You had a cat 1 descent finish to start, a 5% MTF and Galibier with 40km of descent to go.

Pyrenees were nothing crazy either, apart from having 2 HC mountain finishes. Peyresourde after Bales is pretty mid, and Plateau de Beilles only had Paillheres in the stage.

Aubisque stands out as the only massive mountain stage but that cancels itself by being an Aubisque MTF

of, yeah it was.

When a cat 2, Port de Paihleres and Plateau de Beille is considered the EASY day (today, that would be the queen stage), you know you have an exceptionally harsh route. Easish Alps not withstanding

That route was not all about the MTFs

 

[houtdffan]

The best climber won the race. Dislocated his shoulder, had zero team and still won the race. Before his crash, he destroyed Landa on Abetone (an easy climb).

Aru was the best climber that year in that race overall.

Lost because he had a disaster of an ITT

 

[Peyroteo94]

Aru was the best climber that year in that race overall.

Lost because he had a disaster of an ITT

I'm shocked by this answer

 

[Tim Cahill]

It's grim scenes, going through the results for some glimmer of light and all I can come up with is 'pretty nifty 39th for Gall, only lost 3 minutes instead of the expected 4'

 

[Eclipse]

Wow, didn't expect to check the results and see a collapse of this size this early

 

[staubsauger]

Aru was the best climber that year in that race overall.

Lost because he had a disaster of an ITT

Aru would have lost his podium spot to Amador if Astana had reeled-in Contador for Landa towards Verbania. 🤣🤣🤣

Landa lost that Giro d'Italia because Astana protected the weaker rider.

 

[Potomac]

It's a three week race.
This Pogacar kid has to show me he can still do it in the third week.

 

[Cookster15]

Great ride Remco as the overwhelming favorite to win today - he delivered. 54km/h. wow.

Pogacar of course the big winner on GC. He is on fire. What Dauphine TT?

Big surprise looks like Kévin Vauquelin. The new French hope?

Of course Vingegaard losing over 1 minute in 33km to Pogacar is a big shock. Hopefully he is much better in the mountains else we will all be wondering how his prep went so wrong?

 

[slim charles]

He's quite boring and forgettable as a cyclist and off it, although this has improved a little. Jumbo Visma as a whole aren't very likeable which is saying something as the enemy is UAE which are very hard to root for yet have characters who are far more likeable and easy to root for.

I don't really think he's boring. I like him fine, I'm not Danish. I just like some other riders better.

I feel like there is a fair amount of middle ground between 'love him' and 'detest him'

 

[Danskebjerge]

Skjelmose says he rode the TT of his life, referring to his massive watts. So he doesn't understand how he could finish relatively far down in the ranking. He hints at the technical setup.

(I don't know if he's aware of the wind changes, but if he compares himself to the other GC riders, this is of minor importance.)

Judging by Vingegaard's few comments, it seems he rode a slightly disappointing TT, but I don't interprete it as if Vingegaard could have matched Pogacar on a better day.

 

[Brullnux]

Is that Pogacar's best ever (flat) TT?

 

[Red Rick]

Is that Pogacar's best ever (flat) TT?

Yes.

It's also the only flat ITT he's done in TdF shape since the start of 2024, so it's hardly a surprise. I think it's slightly better than the first ITT last year, but not by that much. And the difference can be as simple as the day before the TT being a GC stage this year while last year it was much fresher as everyone had the day off before the ITT in 2024.

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

Aru would have lost his podium spot to Amador if Astana had reeled-in Contador for Landa towards Verbania. 🤣🤣🤣

This makes zero sense to me. Aru was 6 min ahead of Amador at the end of the Giro and he finished with Amador on the stage to Verbania. Before Verbania Landa was 4 minutes behind Contador.

How was Astana pulling harder on the downhill and flat to Verbania supposed to cost Aru more than 6 minutes?

 

[proffate]

If you weren't a Dane, you wouldn't care for Vingegaard, in fact you would most likely detest him.

I'm not a Dane, and I'm glad he exists so there's at least some threat to Pog.

If he never beats Pog again I'll have a reason to go back to disliking him (which was the case before Pog's dominance began squeezing all enjoyment out of the sport).

 

[ppanther92]

Gall hasn't ridden such a bad TT @Mayomaniac . Lost less than 2 minutes on Vingegaard & Roglic and less than 1 minutes on Carlos Rodriguez!

I agree (with still a low standard for a "classic" GT GC approach).

In fact, with his TT, positioning, downhills, he always has a lot to overcome for a good GC.

Nevertheless, 2023 when finishing 8th overall, he was down 4:06 after 5 stages (and that is with being in a break on stage 5 already, finishing 3rd and gaining back time). So if he can indeed again be the 3rd best climber in the 3rd week - thats possible again.

 

[staubsauger]

This makes zero sense to me. Aru was 6 min ahead of Amador at the end of the Giro and he finished with Amador on the stage to Verbania. Before Verbania Landa was 4 minutes behind Contador.

How was Astana pulling harder on the downhill and flat to Verbania supposed to cost Aru more than 6 minutes?

Aru was about to crack completely. If Astana had abandoned him in order to reeled-in Contador it would have been game over for the Sardinian!

It seems like only Jean-Claude Leclercq & me remember that situation!

 

[Bavarianrider]

You keep saying this but your posts consistently imply TTs are the only skill that should be rewarded in cycling.

That could not be further from the Truth.

 

[Danskebjerge]

I'm not a Dane, and I'm glad he exists so there's at least some threat to Pog.

That's basically the only approach that makes sense in a Tour de France context, unless one is cheering for Pogacar.

Vingegaard isn't my favourite Danish rider, but would I watch the TdF if he wasn't there to pose a semi threat to Pogacar? I'm not sure.

 

[staubsauger]

I agree (with still a low standard for a "classic" GT GC approach).

In fact, with his TT, positioning, downhills, he always has a lot to overcome for a good GC.

Nevertheless, 2023 when finishing 8th overall, he was down 4:06 after 5 stages (and that is with being in a break on stage 5 already, finishing 3rd and gaining back time). So if he can indeed again be the 3rd best climber in the 3rd week - thats possible again.

There also might be a situation towards La Plagne / Col den la Loze where UAE doesn't need to keep the breakaway in check anymore and Visma takes the gamble to pressure Quick Step into smoking Paret-Peintre, Van Wilder & Cattaneo.

Dunno if Ineos with Arensman after the Giro d'Italia and aging Thomas & Kwiatkowski could prevent such a big move. Arkea basically has Costiou and that's it. PostNL has Barguil and that's it. Red Bull could send Lippowitz into such a move rather than chasing themselves.

Question is whether Mas is still in the game after the Pyrenees. Movistar could ride with Rubio, Castillo and Romeo.


This might create interesting developments in the Alpes. Even if it isn't for the 1std positions, but the battle for 2nd between Vingegaard & Evenepoel and the places of honor behind the podium.

Edith reminds me of Cristian Rodriguez at Arkea!