Tour de France 2024....chat, discussions, talking points

[Count Steer]

He quite fancies tomorrow's stage too.

[Bustaspoke]

The way he found his way to the front reminded me of the Cav from a decade back.I wonder if he can back it up with another win or two?

[Ditchfinder]

The timing is perfect, he accelerates away with so much speed at the right moment. There are faster riders, more powerful sprinters, but he has 14 years of tdf experience beating the best of them most years

[weeksy]

You know what, i think he actually had the best sprint on the day too, in terms of speed/power. As well as the right gaps and technique as well. Mightily impressive for sure.
I'm out later so i'll be missing todays race until at least this time tomorrow morning, so won't be opening the thread/forums later.

[weeksy]

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/to ... age-6/live

One hill today but early and only a Cat4..

One for the highlights/last 10km to watch for sure.

[mangocrazy]

Just found this (rather remarkable) statistic in the link Weeksy shared above. Note how Cav has very few 2nd or 3rd places compared to all the others. When he goes for it, by and large he wins.

TdF_stage_wins.JPG (61.77 KiB) Viewed 652 times

[Count Steer]

Just found this (rather remarkable) statistic in the link Weeksy shared above. Note how Cav has very few 2nd or 3rd places compared to all the others. When he goes for it, by and large he wins.



TdF_stage_wins.JPG

You really have to take the non-specialist sprinters out of the list though. Still, even vs Sagan the difference is quite significant.

[weeksy]

It is surprising though how few sprinters in that list. I'll be honest, i didn't know Kittel had won so many stages.

[Count Steer]

I'm surprised how far down the list Jacques Anquetil is.

[weeksy]

I'm surprised how far down the list Jacques Anquetil is.

you old bugger

[mangocrazy]

Just found this (rather remarkable) statistic in the link Weeksy shared above. Note how Cav has very few 2nd or 3rd places compared to all the others. When he goes for it, by and large he wins.



TdF_stage_wins.JPG

You really have to take the non-specialist sprinters out of the list though. Still, even vs Sagan the difference is quite significant.

That's my lack of in-depth knowledge of the TdF shining through. A moment's thought should have made me realise that a lot of those in that list probably weren't sprinters.

[Count Steer]

I'm surprised how far down the list Jacques Anquetil is.

you old bugger

He was the first rider to win the Tour 5 times. 4 in a row in the 60s.

So, later, when me and a few mates got into cycling he was a still a bit of a legend and you could pretty much build a bike with Anquetil branded parts (my wealthy-fathered schoolmate actually did) - frame and bars at least...Campag gears obvs. He proceeded to win everything at the local road riding club and gave up and sold it.

[weeksy]

Even before the results were posted i said that Jasper would be demoted for blocking WoutvA. I was impressed the judges gave it, they're quite lenient at times but he deserves a demotion as he's got a lot of form for exactly that.

Cav obviously didn't feature after his mechanical probably took some energy out of him. But i decent finish to the stage nonetheless.

short Time Trial for today. Bit of a lump in there, so it'll be interesting to see how all the favourites do

https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/to ... age-7/live

[Count Steer]

It all seemed to be going well for Cav until about the last 30 seconds. Girmay was up there again...deffo one to watch and the earlier result doesn't look like a fluke.

Today looks like a wine tour - you could do a matching wine tasting along the route - Nuits-St-Georges to Gevrey-Chambertain. Hic!

[weeksy]

Girmay has been a weird one, we watched him a couple of years ago in the Gent Wevelgem racing to victory and he was flying, but he's been off-form for ages now, but weirdly he's been expected time and time again and not delivered.
Watching the replays and seeing Cavs replies it was a bit of poor positioning too and getting a wrong line/wheel putting him in a position he was never going to recover from. But that's the nature of the beast.

[Ditchfinder]

Got to hope Remco makes a statement today, it's only a short one but if he can get 30 seconds it keeps GC honest until Stage 11 at least

[weeksy]

Can't see him being much better than Pog and Vingo. But i do think he'll likely win today.

[Count Steer]

Be interesting to see how Vingo goes in the TT. It's a bit more of a microscope on his fitness than the team stages in some ways.

[weeksy]

After a weird weekend with some gravel racing, Vingo getting close to imploding it seemed and Roglic working hard. As well as Pog battering everyone to death.
Pidcock will be gutted he missed the win as i think he mis-timed his sprint completely and would have won if he'd got it correctly.

So we're onto the day after rest and it's mostly flat... it's the easiest ranked stage so one for the sprinters. As many have not had a win yet, the break won't be getting today for sure, it'll be the sprint teams bossing it and keeping everyone on their toes and reeling in the breaks.

Then the final 10km it'll be down to positioning and who has the best finish today... possibly with a bit of luck in the mix too.

as always, i want Cav for the win but whether or not we'll see that is open to debate.

[MingtheMerciless]

I thought the gravel stage was brilliant, you could really see those who were just power houses with poor bike control. It was a shame for Piddcock but hopefully he can have a go on a lumpy stage but I wonder if he’s thinking of the Olympics as well?