Tour de France

[Nordboy]

I tend to dip in and out.

But I don't remember a final Saturday like this one before?

(would it be uncool for an attack on the final day )

[weeksy]

So the big question is. Was Pogacar ok losing the odd sprint to Roglic because he knew he had it at the end? Was he playing the long game and none of us realised?

It's basically not allowed. Gentlemen's agreement

[weeksy]

Nice moment from Roglic there, respect

[weeksy]

All 3 jerseys!

[Nordboy]

I just thought Roglic looked in total control for the whole Tour but bugger me Pogacer, at 21yrs old, totally destroyed him today. Roglic had nothing left, he looked in shit state, UAE played it very well.

I know it's not allowed, but that would stir things up a bit

Yep, nice touch, tough to do when he must be totally distraught, 3 wks and it came down to the last day.

Great for the race and viewers though

Right, onto the Le Mans 24 hour now, my wife is livid!!

[weeksy]

Tour of Luxembourg here, then giro Rosa and wsbk?

[chutzpah]

Well crikey.

I took one of my kids to the play park with it on record.

Skipped to the last few riders, my intrigue was set to whether Carapaz could hold the polka dot jersey with a final storm up the climb and whether Porte could make podium.

Slowly had that realisation that heck, yellow may be on.

What images, when you feel elated for one rider and really feel sympathy with another.

For me this will be the Tour where Jumbo were the strongest team who didn't put a foot wrong, some real talent who did everything right, but Pogacar freelanced amazingly throughout and through talent and tenacity took it.

Amazing.

[chutzpah]

Already doing the rounds.....

[chutzpah]

(In all the excitement I also failed to notice that Movistar fulfilled their sole annual purpose: 1st in the team classification. Fifth time in the last six years)

[crust]

I don't get this 'gentlemans agreement not to race last day' - it's a race, so race.

It's not in the rules so go for it, they race for the sprint, so why not the whole hog?

[weeksy]

I don't get this 'gentlemans agreement not to race last day' - it's a race, so race.

It's not in the rules so go for it, they race for the sprint, so why not the whole hog?

Even if they wanted and tried to it wouldn't happen. As fast as the JV guys are they can't beat Bennett's and Sagan's team on their own

[chutzpah]

Yup, they'd have absolutely zero chance of breaking away, too many teams who want to participate in what's seen as the world championships of sprinting. It's not just a case of pedalling faster than everyone else.

One frequently misunderstood thing about a race is that a break is allowed to go by the peloton. When the main protagonists for the day are happy with the make up of the break (people involved/teams involved/size), they literally let it go. If they're not happy, they chase it down. They then give the break a certain amount of leeway on the day and when they choose to reel it in (not too far from the finish) they do so through the sheer power of the larger group versus a smaller one.

[chutzpah]

An extra story on this - I was lucky enough to be in a lead commissaire car for the Tour of Britain several years back. Our job was to follow any break.

It turned out to be a day where through some combination of miscalculation or peloton politics, the break actually made it to the finish, a rare event on a parcours such as that day. But what was interesting was observing how the break actually attempts to conserve their energy. When they felt they were getting too far ahead, they attempted to ease up a little (long way to go, multi-stage race over a week etc and you only have so much energy to give). Usually at this point, the peloton would get a time check and also slow down. They don't want to catch them too soon either.

Only on this day, no matter how the break eased up they kept taking time from the peloton. For whatever reason, there wasn't enough teams pulling. One of the participants in the break even asked the commissaire in the car when he was holding out the time board whether he was sure it was correct. Another said "they're crazy! What are they doing?" (ie the chasing bunch)

It got to the stage where they realised that with a full gas effort they may make it to the finish - and they did. But they were spent by the end.

Now think about today - a flat route into Paris and you'd need first of all the whole LJV team manage to somehow get away from the bunch, then build up a several minute gap. Not easy on a flat course, it would be guts in all the way. No managed gap, because behind them there will be several sprinters teams pulling plus the UAE team. Plus a top ten finish in the Tour is quite well regarded, so you'd have Movistar, Bahrain-McLaren, Mitchelton-Scott, EF and Astana contributing too for fear of Dumoulin moving up the pecking order.

[chutzpah]

A beautiful route through the Louvre, but it was mega odd to witness the bunch enter the main circuit in Paris and not have the usual huge roar from the crowd.

[weeksy]

The whole of PAris is like some weird movie set isn't it.

[Couchy]

I watched a bit but tbh it’s just a fitness contest that happens to be on bikes. Unless there’s been a result where a more skilled but less fit rider has beat a fitter rider by out riding him, maybe out braking or out cornering ? Obviously this sport isn’t for me as I prefer sports where braver and more skilled riders can win

[weeksy]

I watched a bit but tbh it’s just a fitness contest that happens to be on bikes. Unless there’s been a result where a more skilled but less fit rider has beat a fitter rider by out riding him, maybe out braking or out cornering ? Obviously this sport isn’t for me as I prefer sports where braver and more skilled riders can win

Let's see you doing 70,mph down an alp on 23mm wide tyres

[Couchy]

I watched a bit but tbh it’s just a fitness contest that happens to be on bikes. Unless there’s been a result where a more skilled but less fit rider has beat a fitter rider by out riding him, maybe out braking or out cornering ? Obviously this sport isn’t for me as I prefer sports where braver and more skilled riders can win

Let's see you doing 70,mph down an alp on 23mm wide tyres

So whoever wins the one tech section wins the event or does the fittest person win ? I like to see bike skill win in any two wheeled event and this like I say is a fitness event first and foremost which of course is very impressive but little different to a marathon in that the fittest wins. Now take a downhill mtb event a rider with more balls and skill can beat a rider that has better fitness, now that’s entertaining

[chutzpah]

I think it's very safe to say that no, it's not the fittest person who necessarily wins races.

[weeksy]

I watched a bit but tbh it’s just a fitness contest that happens to be on bikes. Unless there’s been a result where a more skilled but less fit rider has beat a fitter rider by out riding him, maybe out braking or out cornering ? Obviously this sport isn’t for me as I prefer sports where braver and more skilled riders can win

Let's see you doing 70,mph down an alp on 23mm wide tyres

So whoever wins the one tech section wins the event or does the fittest person win ? I like to see bike skill win in any two wheeled event and this like I say is a fitness event first and foremost which of course is very impressive but little different to a marathon in that the fittest wins. Now take a downhill mtb event a rider with more balls and skill can beat a rider that has better fitness, now that’s entertaining

You'll never grasp the skill to sit in a bunch at 60kph, or the tactics of break aways, or the skill to descend, the skill to attack, the skill to sprint for green jerseys. The fuelling, the training, the hydration.

Then of course you need to pedal.