TDF 2019: Stage 6, Mulhouse > La Planche des Belles Filles 11/07/2019 - 160,5 km *Spoilers*

specialgueststar

Blazing Saddles wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

hypster wrote:

I just noticed that Richie Porte finished with Fuglsang, Landa and Bernal and is 1:07 behind Thomas so not out of it by any means.

They are all in it. But Thomas has that look of rider who is going to ride away. .... Maybe an illusion we will see.

Pinot is looking good

Thomas built last year’s win on very late but very very fast attacks.

I guess he makes use of that track pursuit speed he has.

This is in a similar vein.

Quite an incredible transformation. I honestly wonder how he got down.to that weight when overweight at the beginning of the season and had an up and down season. To be sprinting up there seemed unreal. Don't worry this is not a suspicious post just genuinely impressed he can do it and would like to know how. What dedication. It must be purely diet?? When he rode up to alaphalippe he looked like he was at the start of the cat and fiddle. Anyone got any actual insight into his actual preperation ? It must be all to do with nutrition?

The only insight I can offer is what his weight was a week before the Tour of Switzerland, just after returning from Tenerife, where he was turning out great numbers. We had that discussion in the yellow jersey thread.
I didn't mention that he seemed relaxed and quite chatty, which, according to him, is a sign of preparation going well.
He even allowed himself a gin, but no champagne......not outside the toasts, at least.

Versatile rider !
April

May

Yesterday

coopster_the_1st

Blazing Saddles wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

hypster wrote:

I just noticed that Richie Porte finished with Fuglsang, Landa and Bernal and is 1:07 behind Thomas so not out of it by any means.

They are all in it. But Thomas has that look of rider who is going to ride away. .... Maybe an illusion we will see.

Pinot is looking good

Thomas built last year’s win on very late but very very fast attacks.

I guess he makes use of that track pursuit speed he has.

This is in a similar vein.

Quite an incredible transformation. I honestly wonder how he got down.to that weight when overweight at the beginning of the season and had an up and down season. To be sprinting up there seemed unreal. Don't worry this is not a suspicious post just genuinely impressed he can do it and would like to know how. What dedication. It must be purely diet?? When he rode up to alaphalippe he looked like he was at the start of the cat and fiddle. Anyone got any actual insight into his actual preperation ? It must be all to do with nutrition?

The only insight I can offer is what his weight was a week before the Tour of Switzerland, just after returning from Tenerife, where he was turning out great numbers. We had that discussion in the yellow jersey thread.
I didn't mention that he seemed relaxed and quite chatty, which, according to him, is a sign of preparation going well.
He even allowed himself a gin, but no champagne......not outside the toasts, at least.

His preparation included a 40 hour training week in Tenerife and the same Telegraph(?) interview reported him saying he was only 1kg over from his TdF race weight. The interview was early June.

Also, chasing/riding with Froome and Poels up the mountains in Tenerife would have given him a strong indication where he was in relation to those 2 riders and both of those were generally considered to be in excellent shape ahead of the TdF.

Ben6899

RichN95 wrote:

Here's the ITV commentary team having a running race up the final climb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QopU3fXIVBk

Brilliant.

bobmcstuff

Watching the highlights, plenty of speculation about why Poels was dropped so early in various places and on the ITV highlights. But they show the team car going past him and handing off a bottle, whoever is in the passenger seat very clearly and obviously makes a "slowly, slowly" motion out of the window after the bottle hand off before driving off.

Seems much more likely that he was told to sit up and save himself.

coopster_the_1st

mididoctors wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Was not a great stage.

Interesting. For the last 40 k is my.verdict . The bonus mattered.

a Few surprises in the finale

It was not a rubbish stage.

His viewpoint has a nationalist bias and the Dutch did their standard lay down and capitulate when it mattered.

*You can see how the phrase 'Dutch courage' got attributed to that nation.

rick_chasey

mididoctors wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Was not a great stage.

Interesting. For the last 40 k is my.verdict . The bonus mattered.

a Few surprises in the finale

It was not a rubbish stage.

I was hoping for a faster more explosive ascent up it, like in the past.

Quick note on Kruiswijk - I was struggling to hear over the baby cries but I'm fairly sure he said he ride the final km or so with a flat rear tyre.

orraloon

Botster. Your choice of words is down at your normal level. What is your problem? Did mummy not love you enough?

ocdupalais

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

SpecialGuestStar wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

mididoctors wrote:

hypster wrote:

I just noticed that Richie Porte finished with Fuglsang, Landa and Bernal and is 1:07 behind Thomas so not out of it by any means.

They are all in it. But Thomas has that look of rider who is going to ride away. .... Maybe an illusion we will see.

Pinot is looking good

Thomas built last year’s win on very late but very very fast attacks.

I guess he makes use of that track pursuit speed he has.

This is in a similar vein.

Quite an incredible transformation. I honestly wonder how he got down.to that weight when overweight at the beginning of the season and had an up and down season. To be sprinting up there seemed unreal. Don't worry this is not a suspicious post just genuinely impressed he can do it and would like to know how. What dedication. It must be purely diet?? When he rode up to alaphalippe he looked like he was at the start of the cat and fiddle. Anyone got any actual insight into his actual preperation ? It must be all to do with nutrition?

The only insight I can offer is what his weight was a week before the Tour of Switzerland, just after returning from Tenerife, where he was turning out great numbers. We had that discussion in the yellow jersey thread.
I didn't mention that he seemed relaxed and quite chatty, which, according to him, is a sign of preparation going well.
He even allowed himself a gin, but no champagne......not outside the toasts, at least.

Versatile rider !
April

May

Yesterday

Diet would've been a big part of his preparation. The diet specialists at Sky/Ineos are pretty cutting edge, by all accounts.
Let's say Thomas was 6kgs over race weight on Jan 1st (I'd be surprised if it was much more than that), that's 26 weeks before the Tour = 230g to lose a week (some of which would have been water as well as fat). Utterly doable - especially for a full time athlete.
Last year I dabbled in a ketogenic/low carb/high fat diet and was impressed with the physiological changes over the space of about 6 months. It's properly shifted a lot of behavioural norms that I'd slipped into over the years. It's become a bit of fad now that any celeb with a book to flog will probably have done likewise in the last 2 years, but in terms of keto/low carb diets for the endurance athlete, there is a lot of scientific investigation into all this going on. But when you consider that the 3 biggest "food" companies in the world are Nestlé, PepsiCo and CocaCola, I think you can see where the resistance might be to anyone saying that sugar/carbs consumption are a problem.

tim000

bobmcstuff wrote:

Watching the highlights, plenty of speculation about why Poels was dropped so early in various places and on the ITV highlights. But they show the team car going past him and handing off a bottle, whoever is in the passenger seat very clearly and obviously makes a "slowly, slowly" motion out of the window after the bottle hand off before driving off.

Seems much more likely that he was told to sit up and save himself.

didnt the same thing happen last year . sat up on the early stages , then came good in the last week . inios/sky seem to use their domestiques when they need them .

ddraver

I also wondered if his ability to train/prepare for the Olympic Team Pursuit has helped G out a bit as he must be used to replicating race training with minimal race days...

Dunno

Alejandrosdog

ddraver wrote:

I also wondered if his ability to train/prepare for the Olympic Team Pursuit has helped G out a bit as he must be used to replicating race training with minimal race days...

Dunno

I think training is training but racing has far more unknowns that can’t be controlled. The track is far more controlled in many ways, I’ve always thought it an ideal discipline because you can train in a much more specific way.

Especially pursuit since in many ways you work up to the point that you produce your best performance it’s either good enough or not. That’s why I like it.

Pross

I don't get the mystery over weight loss. I managed to lose 3-4kg in the first month of this year as part of my marathon preparation. It was a simple balance of working out my daily basic calorie consumption and keeping 500kcals a day below that, adding back on the calorie expenditure. OK I had more spare to lose but I haven't got a nutritionist and my job isn't dependent on maintaining a racing weight.

My bigger question with Geraint is whether he has enough in his legs to last the 3 weeks but I'd be surprised if he doesn't.

bobmcstuff

Pross wrote:

I don't get the mystery over weight loss. I managed to lose 3-4kg in the first month of this year as part of my marathon preparation. It was a simple balance of working out my daily basic calorie consumption and keeping 500kcals a day below that, adding back on the calorie expenditure. OK I had more spare to lose but I haven't got a nutritionist and my job isn't dependent on maintaining a racing weight.

My bigger question with Geraint is whether he has enough in his legs to last the 3 weeks but I'd be surprised if he doesn't.

Probably harder when you are already <10% body fat and you are trying to make sure you have eaten enough to train properly.

But yes 2 or 300 grams a week as someone said above doesn't sound that unrealistic.

Alejandrosdog

its not losing weight thats the issue but maintaining muscle when youre so lean if youre also trying to keep training intensity and duration. Its a bit like the saying cheap light strong pick two.

Pross

RichN95 wrote:

Here's the ITV commentary team having a running race up the final climb

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QopU3fXIVBk

Was that the full length of the climb? If so sub 40 by PK is seriously impressive!

ocdupalais

Alejandrosdog wrote:

its not losing weight thats the issue but maintaining muscle when youre so lean if youre also trying to keep training intensity and duration. Its a bit like the saying cheap light strong pick two.

Er, ok: light and strong. Was this a trick question?

amrushton

Discussion on the move podcast about Alaphilippe using ketone-esters in the final 30km. Never heard of these but apparently it's a third food source along with carbs and fat. Developed by the military and Quick Step is one of the biggest users. It's not illegal btw as it's a supplement but now something to drive the lab nutters into further madness.

https://hvmn.com/ketone-ester/science

bobmcstuff

amrushton wrote:

Discussion on the move podcast about Alaphilippe using ketone-esters in the final 30km. Never heard of these but apparently it's a third food source along with carbs and fat. Developed by the military and Quick Step is one of the biggest users. It's not illegal btw as it's a supplement but now something to drive the lab nutters into further madness.

https://hvmn.com/ketone-ester/science

Weren't Sky using these a while back?

Apparently tastes disgusting.