weeksy wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 8:21 am
Count Steer wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 8:16 am
I've been keeping tabs on it and this year's event has taken the sting out of putting it behind a paywall. Without a competition for GC and with a high-speed expensive, state-funded steamroller of a team dominating (at least Sky wasn't a nation state when they did the same!) then...meh.
There's always one dominant team, Visma have had it, so have UAE and of course Team Sky, you have to accept that, it ebbs and flows. Even in the flat stages there's teams that dominate the bunch even if they don't end up always winning the stage. Some teams are just stronger.
This year though i'd argue UAE are less dominant that Team Sky era, you only have to look 50% through a stage and there's only McNulty there and Isaac as well as Pog, whereas in Team Sky days they'd still have 5-6 at that stage of things. But I do kinda get your point.
Agreed... UAE weren't even that good a team though (they are now to be fair), Pogacar was THAT far above everyone else he was doing the job on his own for a long time... He now has a couple of decent deputies and is absolutely untouchable.
weeksy wrote: Wed Jul 22, 2026 6:56 am
I felt that was the case before we even turned up. I couldn't see any way anyone was beating Pog. The only possibility was a fall/illness that could happen, but in a riding context, he's so far ahead of anyone else right now.
I guess it depends how you look at the world in a way. Is it boring seeing someone bugger off anytime they want, is it boring having the UAE train chase everyone down. Or is it impressive seeing arguably the best cyclist of all-time racing. Double edged sword with a few twists of logic in there.. I enjoy watching him race as he's a beast who'll attack rather than just sit in. But i must admit, Pidcock is my favourite to watch at the moment as he's a bit of a nutter in many ways
Both, for sure... It's incredibly impressive, but it's also not much of a spectacle to watch! Kinda like the Armstrong years sadly... The racing was all the better for Armstrong's retirement for a while!
Pidcock is an outright nutter... He has absolutely zero self preservation... He's an incredibly talented individual, but I have it on good authority he's a very, very challenging individual for many reasons... Not least of which is that he's so uncompromising, that he expects nothing but 100% from anybody and everybody about everything, just cos that's what he expects of himself... Either way, he's a great watch, but more often than not he would be that bit more consistent and get more results if he just backed off that last 10% or so... To finish first, first you've got to finish and all that... Backing off just does not compute with Pidcock!
