Tour de France Tour de France Femmes 2023 (July 23rd-30th)

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Oct 3, 2021
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TBF Movistar have won a stage and don't have the yellow jersey, having the yellow jersey kind of puts the onus on SD Worx to do the chasing. If they don't want people to expect them to contribute to the chase, they should have let a break get enough to get the jersey, or threaten to. Instead they've tried to have their cake and eat it, let breaks get up the road enough that other teams want to chase, but not actually want to let the jersey go, and then not had any coherence with regards to how they try to win the stage afterward. And when they have had a plan it's actually been kinda counterintuitive, such as having Vollering lead out Kopecky for a sprint that was better for a lighter rider, and then not having Kopecky help Vollering at all on a stage where Vollering could gain GC time but instead Kopecky attacking repeatedly solo on a stage she had little chance of catching the break and was never going to be taken seriously as a threat by the big guns with the Tourmalet coming up on Saturday.

The problem I think if you ride this race conventionally tactically you expend alot of energy vs your main rival, has AvV even put her nose on the front yet ? who is more than capable of overcoming any advantage you gain over the preceeding stages on the Tourmalet if she launches one of her solo ride attacks, which you cant counter anymore because you wasted your time gaining what you thought was a good buffer but traded any chance of countering a strong attack, just because of the way this race route is planned, and was the case last year.

So I think SDWorx are reacting to how they lost La Vuelta and last years TdF , and are being deliberately disruptive and not following the normal rules, just so Demi can go head to head up that main climb.

Plus they have a rider who is naturally disruptive to the "normal" team order,but who I absolutely think has the licence to ride like that, but will if push came to shove ride for the team goal.
 
Sep 26, 2020
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Is this like that one time in the men's Vuelta, were Trek announced that Ellisonde had abandonded, and it was actually Reijnen? Though, there doesn't appear to be any FDJ riders who are DNF.

And PCS just has her listed both having finished, and not having finished...

Schrödinger's Muzicat.

The riders who were OTL had to wait for a train to cross at some point apparently and have been allowed to continue in the race.
 
Mar 19, 2009
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She won't lose by under 20secs
Probably not. According to this year's form book Vollering should still win fairly comfortably but I'm hoping it turns out like it did with Pog this year.
Lettuce hope, the alien must be defeated.
Vollering has certainly been the alien this year. The only thing that's kept her from winning just about every race she's entered is SDWs strength allowing them to spread things around a bit. Well, that and an ill-timed nature break.
 
Vollering has certainly been the alien this year. The only thing that's kept her from winning just about every race she's entered is SDWs strength allowing them to spread things around a bit. Well, that and an ill-timed nature break.
Of course, but Demi is about to be 27 and probably in peak shape of her career. Van Vleuten is almost old enough to be a grandmother.
 
Feb 20, 2010
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The problem I think if you ride this race conventionally tactically you expend alot of energy vs your main rival, has AvV even put her nose on the front yet ? who is more than capable of overcoming any advantage you gain over the preceeding stages on the Tourmalet if she launches one of her solo ride attacks, which you cant counter anymore because you wasted your time gaining what you thought was a good buffer but traded any chance of countering a strong attack, just because of the way this race route is planned, and was the case last year.

So I think SDWorx are reacting to how they lost La Vuelta and last years TdF , and are being deliberately disruptive and not following the normal rules, just so Demi can go head to head up that main climb.

Plus they have a rider who is naturally disruptive to the "normal" team order,but who I absolutely think has the licence to ride like that, but will if push came to shove ride for the team goal.
Well, this is the benefit that Movistar now have with Lippert, they have somebody who is at least approaching elite level and can jump into and out of the bunch and track moves on Annemiek's behalf and be taken as a credible threat in her own right even by the super-teams.

Edit: by "at least approaching elite level" I do not intend to suggest that Liane Lippert is not an elite cyclist. She's been top 10 of the world ranking on CQ twice in the last 3 years. She's pretty damn obviously an elite cyclist. I am meaning as a stage racer, as in at least this type of stage race she does still have a bit of a block where she has a bad stage here and there, like when she dropped from the lead to 21st in the GC in the 2019 Women's Tour or Peñas Llanas in the Vuelta. She's good enough that she has to be taken seriously as a threat until that bad stage happens - and in future hopefully she can iron that out such that the bad stages no longer happen.
 
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Oct 3, 2021
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Probably not. According to this year's form book Vollering should still win fairly comfortably but I'm hoping it turns out like it did with Pog this year.

Just to be clear my view if Demi loses, it won't be by seconds this time, the gap will be bigger 1min plus etc
 
Jan 11, 2010
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Probably not. According to this year's form book Vollering should still win fairly comfortably but I'm hoping it turns out like it did with Pog this year.
Vollering is Pog, Van Vleuten is Vingegaard. Just biding her time until the long climbs arrive. Given how close she already was on the explosive stuff, I think Van Vleuten should be fairly confident. I'm pretty sure her level has gotten a lot closer to Vollering since the Vuelta.
 
Oct 3, 2021
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Edit: by "at least approaching elite level" I do not intend to suggest that Liane Lippert is not an elite cyclist. She's been top 10 of the world ranking on CQ twice in the last 3 years. She's pretty damn obviously an elite cyclist. I am meaning as a stage racer, as in at least this type of stage race she does still have a bit of a block where she has a bad stage here and there, like when she dropped from the lead to 21st in the GC in the 2019 Women's Tour or Peñas Llanas in the Vuelta. She's good enough that she has to be taken seriously as a threat until that bad stage happens - and in future hopefully she can iron that out such that the bad stages no longer happen.

I never took your original post as dissing Lippert, she's good enough to be a strong threat to GC and ultimately replace AvV absolutely.
 
Feb 20, 2010
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I never took your original post as dissing Lippert, she's good enough to be a strong threat to GC and ultimately replace AvV absolutely.
Well, that was what was intended, she may not be a one-for-one replacement for Annemiek but she can be in time. I just looked at what I'd written back and thought that without specifying that I'm meaning for this kind of mountainous long-form stage race (or as long-form as the women's scene gets for the time being, at least), it could come across as overly critical of a rider who has quite demonstrably been one of the elite names for a while now. And I certainly didn't want to come across as belittling Liane, who I already liked before and have absolutely loved watching race this season.
 
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Oct 1, 2014
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Gruppetto OTL.
Turns out they were held up at a railway crossing. In a rare outbreak of common sense, they've been allowed back in the race.



Medical bulletin

flag-gb
Anna Henderson ( Jumbo-Visma ) - Left elbow injury.

flag it
Martina Alzini ( Cofidis ) – Abdominal pain.


Jury report

flag-en
Demi Vollering ( SD Worx ) – Staying. 100 Swiss francs fine, twenty seconds time penalty, 10 points deduction in the points classification and 2 points deduction in the mountains classification.

flag-en
Danny Stam ( SD Worx team leader ) – Stayeren. 200 Swiss Franc fine.

flag-gb
Pfeiffer Georgi ( Team dsm-firmenich ) – Unauthorized supply (sticky water bottle). 100 Swiss Franc fine.

flag-en
Charlotte Kool ( Team dsm-firmenich ) – Unauthorized supply (sticky water bottle). 100 Swiss Franc fine.

flag-en
Kelvin Dekker (sports director Team dsm-firmenich ) – Unauthorized supply, twice (sticky water bottle). 100 Swiss Franc fine.

flag-en
Kelvin Dekker (sports director Team dsm-firmenich ) – Failure to respect the instructions of the jury. 200 Swiss Franc fine.

The riders Jeanne Korevaar , Maaike Boogaard , Lotta Henttala, Alice Barnes , Marjolein van 't Faith, Babette van der Wolf , Anastasiya Kolesava, Marie Morgane Le Deunff and India Grangier came in one minute and 53 seconds after the time limit, but are allowed to race from the jury based on article 2.06.032, because they had to stand still for two minutes and 10 seconds (in front of a passing train).

During stage 5, supplies are allowed from kilometers 20 to 10 kilometers from the finish.

In the context of the fight against technological fraud, 25 bicycles were checked. All bikes complied with UCI regulations.
 
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KZD

Feb 21, 2019
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SD Works played really badly today and Vollering could regret the 20 seconds penalty at the end of the race.

Great stage win for Bauernfeind anyway!
 
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Mar 6, 2009
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Oh how I love when sprint stages are not won by sprinters. Another solo win, more weird tactics. It's cycling, but not as we know it. We'll done to Bauernfeind.
 
Jul 10, 2014
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How it's done
In that first race, it came as a surprise to Faulkner how casual it all is—and how exposed. “I just pulled over, and you just jump off to the side of the road and pull your bibs down. It’s just… it’s just butts out. The follow cars are passing, but no one cares.”

 
Oct 3, 2021
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Stage 6 profile, Albi to Blagnac, the flattest stage of the tour apparently, so designed for the sprinters, but crosswinds at the finish may be a factor, without a Wiebes, its got to be Kool right ? :)
2f03e
 

ManicJack

BANNED
Apr 4, 2023
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How it's done
In that first race, it came as a surprise to Faulkner how casual it all is—and how exposed. “I just pulled over, and you just jump off to the side of the road and pull your bibs down. It’s just… it’s just butts out. The follow cars are passing, but no one cares.”

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