The Lanterne Rouge Thread 2021 **SPOILERS**
Comments
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Going for the double then. Nice to see a team with the ambition to target two competitions. Strength in depth.Lanterne_Rogue said:
Ironically they're currently leading the team rankings, despite everything...Pross said:You have to salute Jumbo Visma's committment to the team award after being at completely the wrong end of the field last year. ISN making a good bid to but several of their riders failed to hold the wheels of Rick Zabel losing 2 minutes in the process.
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Hirchsi, now the Lanterne after Soler's withdrawal, will "try to start today's stage" - as per his team. It's not looking good...
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Also, can I suggest that making Marc Soler throw in the towel despite suffering two broken elbows was rather unfair on the poor chap?0
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He could have used aero bars to support both his new casts, but those pesky UCI rules deem he would have had an unfair advantage.Lanterne_Rogue said:Also, can I suggest that making Marc Soler throw in the towel despite suffering two broken elbows was rather unfair on the poor chap?
"Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.1 -
I'd have been happy if they'd just let him pass the towel, or preferably just sort of nod in its general direction...blazing_saddles said:
He could have used aero bars to support both his new casts, but those pesky UCI rules deem he would have had an unfair advantage.Lanterne_Rogue said:Also, can I suggest that making Marc Soler throw in the towel despite suffering two broken elbows was rather unfair on the poor chap?
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A relatively uneventful day for the Lanterne Rouge today, despite the unusual number of riders who had suddenly found religion - at least to judge from those overheard praying for a sign. The day was naturally overshadowed by the loss of leader Marc Soler overnight, deemed to be lacking the regulation number of functional elbows, but a rapid rejigging of Hirschi's bars to suit his altered geometry meant that the new Lanterne was able to defend his position.
The pressure clearly got to Hirschi, however, and a rush of blood to the head on the final climb led to him surrendering nearly four minutes. I'm sure his DS will be anxiously scanning tomorrow's route for a handy hedge to be the recipient of another Swiss roll to make up time.
That gave my pre-race tip Amund Grøndahl Jansen the opportunity to step up and make me look embarrassingly prescient. Much to my surprise, and possibly his, he managed to hang on in the final group to leave him bottom of the rankings on countback, though on the same time as celebrity speedbump Tony Martin. AGJ will no doubt be looking to the ITT on Tuesday to drop him for good, as Martin reports no physical injuries other than the tyremarks of half the peloton across his backside.
Other riders worth a mention include today's breakaway, determined to pull the old out the front, caught, out the back trifecta on their unwitting DSs. The biggest winners here were Koch, Cabot and Theuns, who all finished in the last group on the road despite spending most of the day at the head of the race.
Of the six who got away though, it was Ide Schelling that caught the eye most, with his innovative tactic of asking permission to attack, returning to the peloton to make sure he still had permission, popping off again, returning because he thought he'd left his housekeys with a friend, going back up the road, then returning to make sure that he still had permission because he wasn't sure he'd remembered to say 'please', before finally hunting down a lead group whose time had gone out by a whole minute whilst he faffed about. It's those sort of marginal losses that potentially mark him for greatness, and Schelling now sits just outside the top ten.
There were quite a few riders in the final group so no stage results this time, but here's the underall:
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The leader could be seen barely managing to walk back to the team bus on stage 1 backstage pass.
Today he is probably in tears thinking of his tremendous achievement (or maybe just the pain)
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Did you see that?! Gerunt Thomas wilfully chucking himself at the tarmac to plummet up the leader board.
So desperate are they but putting a bloke with a cardboard placard by the side of the road that pulled 50+ riders into the mix was not actually a very shrewd tactical move.
I hear Les Gendarme are still trying to track down a Bike exchange employee and are leaving no bush unturned.
seanoconn - gruagach craic!0 -
Today saw another exciting day in the competition for the Lanterne Rouge, with riders literally falling over themselves to get amongst the leaders. First of the major fallers was Geraint Thomas, finally making a decisive move to seize leadership of Ineos for the rest of the Tour.
Unfortunately his strategically dislocated shoulder was soon popped back in by a passing medic, and then Ineos sent most of their team to shepherd him back to the bunch (and his nominal day job of pursuing the GC) under armed guard. Dave Brailsford can be so unromantic sometimes.
The next big name to make a move was Primož Roglič, who had seen Thomas' antics and suddenly realised that there was a major title there for the taking, and furthermore one that was unlikely to involve trading bonus seconds with Pogacar. Roglič immediately attacked by saying something about Sonny Colbrelli's mother, and the Italian took the bait, swiftly punting Roglič out of the side of the race and straight into some conveniently placed road furniture.
This time it wasn't the DS that stomped on their rider's dreams but a team mate. Outraged that Roglič might take time on him during a sprinters' stage in which he'd customarily slope off 5km before the end, a furious Tony Martin came back and more or less frog-marched him back up towards the front of the race. Martin's mood was already pretty sour, as a perfectly timed tumble over a prostrate Thomas had earlier failed to produce any reason to loaf around for the rest of the day. Jumbo-Visma will need to stamp out this sort of behaviour quickly as the bad mood could easily fester.
Not content to see the rest of the GC enjoying their time in the limelight, Pogacar then decided to fall off and create a massive split in the bunch. A lack of experience at this level showed though and, despite yet another dramatic crash between Ewan and Sagan giving the opportunity to slam the anchors on, Pogacar only took an underwhelming 26 seconds on LR - matching Thomas, who must surely have been suffering from concussion to make such an elementary error. As David Millar mentioned on ITV, Thomas could have had a more glorious TdF history if only he didn't have so many accidents that he recovered quickly from.
In interviews afterwards other riders were scathing about the failure to impose an 8km cut off for the GC riders, meaning they were getting unnecessarily involved in the race for the Lanterne on a day when time was expected to be taken. It's bad enough trying to engineer a reason to fall off the back, without the likes of Roglič and Pogacar throwing themselves around and getting in everyone's way.
All this rather overshadowed another fantastic performance from the Ides of Schelling, who once again managed the perfect LR tactic of pointlessly getting into a break, getting caught, and immediately Schelling himself out the back. This keeps the DS happy by making it look like you've been working hard, whilst allowing you to take loads of time. To add a further dash of panache, Schelling also managed to grab twenty bonus seconds for some unspecified infraction, propelling him up to fourth on LR.
Top marks though went to Clément Russo, who managed to steal enough time to move up to first underall. Could he be the hero the French public have been waiting for to end their dry run? Tune in tomorrow to find out...
Today's Inclement Weather:
In Clément's Dreams:
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I'm warming to Schelling. Its not easy to slip off the back when you're spotted...Warning No formatter is installed for the format0
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David Millar showed he clearly has huge ambition for Thomas here. He was convinced Thomas was still riding minutes after he was clearly shown crossing the line following the failure of the earlier move. Thwarted by the pesky medic.0
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It was an issue for Eurosport as well - it's like Thomas has developed some sort of invisibility cloak. All he's got to do now is give Luke Rowe the slip and...0
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Also, have now found out why Schelling get a 20 second penalty - feeding in the final 20km. It's all about the marginal gains.
And given the amount of feeding I've been doing since lockdown started I can assure you that my margins have been gaining appreciably too.1 -
Have they run out of plaster yet?seanoconn - gruagach craic!0
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It's odd.bm5 said:David Millar showed he clearly has huge ambition for Thomas here. He was convinced Thomas was still riding minutes after he was clearly shown crossing the line following the failure of the earlier move. Thwarted by the pesky medic.
The jawbones are not doing their job for some reason."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
I wonder what poor Movistar underling has been given the role of Soler bum-wiping duties for the next few weeks. An onerous task at the best of times, but we’ve all seen him looking behind and complaining about what his team is up to…blazing_saddles said:
He could have used aero bars to support both his new casts, but those pesky UCI rules deem he would have had an unfair advantage.Lanterne_Rogue said:Also, can I suggest that making Marc Soler throw in the towel despite suffering two broken elbows was rather unfair on the poor chap?
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There was a moment in today's stage when Lotto-Soudal riders suddenly started appearing at the front en masse. Without fail every commentator identified this as an attempt to disrupt the chase, with their rider Brent van Moer holding off the peloton.
As usual the commentators were focussing on the wrong end of the race.
Unnoticed by anyone, Roger Kluge - reigning Lanterne - had slipped off the back. And Lotto - switching focus for the Tour with the demise of Caleb Ewan - were now furiously driving the race forward to increase the amount of time he gained. Form is temporary, but class is permanent.
No wonder everyone in DQS was in tears - they'd just been made to look utterly foolish by a superb piece of deception.
Kluge ended up taking over seven minutes on Russo, who succumbed to Cavendish fever and somehow came in on the same time as the stage winners. Amund Grøndahl Jansen takes the LR lead though, after taking a minute or so to reclaim top spot.
Join us tomorrow for the race of truth, in which the clock is yet again shown to be an utter lying sod...
Chasing Legends:
Chasing Tailend:
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That's an impressive move by Kluge. Gaining 7 minutes on such gentle parcour takes some doing.
Almost as impressive as MVDP on stage 2, at the other end of the race."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
Dan McLay doing a Zubeldia0
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Evening All,
That's an outstanding piece of scribblin' there, LR...many chuckles, thank you!1 -
Has any one noticed the sheer emotion by all those finishing at the wrong end of the race?
They cannot seem to reconcile the deep feeling of disappointment and contrived happiness. It leaves them lying on the floor and sobbing.
Such expectations of them are cruel.seanoconn - gruagach craic!1 -
Good to see Kluge backing up yesterday's fine effort today.0
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Unlucky that the conditions favoured later starters, imo.kingstongraham said:Good to see Kluge backing up yesterday's fine effort today.
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Very tricky for them, having to guess the time cutWarning No formatter is installed for the format0
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And so to the race of truth, where the truth is that time trials are kind of boring.
In an attempt to introduce a bit of jeopardy and intrigue to the race for the Lanterne, the organisers insisted on sending the leaders off first so that their teammates were unable to brief them on the slipperiest corners, deepest potholes, and any other opportunities to gain time via a strategic chute. More catastrophically a strict cut off was in place to ensure that nobody made the time trial any less interesting than it already was, meaning that LR contenders had to gauge their effort carefully to avoid being timed out.
This didn't stop yesterday's big winner, Roger Kluge, from another assured performance, taking another six minutes and 13 seconds on HD. This was beaten only by Carless Verona - who has changed his name by deed poll for this tour to raise awareness of the need for low traffic neighbourhoods in Italian cities - and Brendan McNulty. The former claims to have been saving energy to work in the mountains - a fine excuse if you can get your DS to swallow it, and the latter came a cropper somewhere around the course.
Big losers of the day were Martin, who suffered an embarrassing onset of muscle memory from former glories, and Russo, who had a jour avec for unspecified reasons. That leaves illegal-feeding wonderkid Schelling and perennial British hopeful Dan McLay to move up into the top three. Amund Grøndahl Jansen retains the overall lead though after a solid 155th place.
High Definition:
Hyde Park Corner:
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Despite an unpromising parcours, today was another day of movement in the Lanterne Rouge. The day started with a heavyweight group getting free of the peloton, only to eventually collapse when it belatedly dawned on the likes of Asgreen, Nils Politt and Soren Kragh Andersen that their task for the day of chasing the break would be considerably easier if they weren't actually the people in the break.
The sole rider to survive was GVA, who then started soft-pedalling to allow his solo pursuer to catch up. Unfortunately the pursuer turned out to be none other than Roger Kluge.
Kluge had clearly only popped off the front of the peloton for a brief TV pleasing chasse patate before shirking off the back, and had no intention of actually doing anything so extreme as riding for a stage win when the superior prize of the Lanterne Rouge remained up for grabs.
A farcical tactical situation now presented itself. GVA wanted desperately to be joined in the break and soft-pedalled to allow Kluge to catch up. Kluge, meanwhile, had no intention of working and expertly managed the gap to GVA at a solid thirty seconds. Finally the peloton had absolutely no intention of chasing down any more breaks today, thank you very much, and took advantage of the stalemate ahead to enjoy their own spell of riding at the lowest possible tempo.
At some point Lotto-Soudal clearly realised that they were the team most likely to be blamed for the next seven hours of inaction, and ordered to Kluge to put some effort in and his plan for a chasse patate had had its chips. Stalemate resolved, everyone settled down to their prescribed tedium.
The only action occurred in the final few kilometres. No sooner was Kluge caught than he dropped straight out the back in a textbook attack to take 1'07" on HD, showing once again that experience counts when it comes to the Lanterne.
Experience isn't everything, however. Unseen by Kluge, Ide Schelling was building up for yet another attack. Grabbing nearly two minutes on Amund Grøndahl Jansen, who had apparently suffered the same problems of staying awake as the rest of the audience, the attacking wonderkid slotted straight into pole position. Schelling looks set fair to continue his fine form into the mountains with another stage tomorrow that suits his yo-yo style.
Ride of the day though came from Anthony Perez, who finished four minutes down in unclear circumstances, with Jacopo Guarnieri gaining an honourable mention for managing to hit the tarmac in the middle of the leadout trains without bringing down anybody else.
Sour Prom:
168 TIM DECLERCQ 56 DECEUNINCK - QUICK - STEP 03h 19' 27'' + 00h 01' 51'' - -
169 DRIES DEVENYNS 57 DECEUNINCK - QUICK - STEP 03h 19' 27'' + 00h 01' 51'' - -
170 DANIEL OSS 75 BORA - HANSGROHE 03h 19' 27'' + 00h 01' 51'' - -
171 IDE SCHELLING 78 BORA - HANSGROHE 03h 19' 27'' + 00h 01' 51'' - -
172 JÉRÉMY CABOT 203 TOTALENERGIES 03h 19' 27'' + 00h 01' 51'' - -
173 CHRISTOPHER JUUL JENSEN 176 TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE 03h 19' 32'' + 00h 01' 56'' - -
174 MIKKEL BJERG 2 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 03h 19' 49'' + 00h 02' 13'' - -
175 MARCO HALLER 164 BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 03h 20' 06'' + 00h 02' 30'' - -
176 JACOPO GUARNIERI 84 GROUPAMA - FDJ 03h 21' 18'' + 00h 03' 42'' - -
177 ANTHONY PEREZ 96 COFIDIS 03h 22' 00'' + 00h 04' 24'' - -
Sore Plums:
168 TONY MARTIN 16 JUMBO - VISMA 20h 44' 19'' + 00h 35' 02'' - -
169 MADS PEDERSEN 45 TREK - SEGAFREDO 20h 44' 36'' + 00h 35' 19'' - -
170 MARC HIRSCHI 5 UAE TEAM EMIRATES 20h 46' 37'' + 00h 37' 20'' - -
171 RETO HOLLENSTEIN 35 ISRAEL START-UP NATION 20h 47' 06'' + 00h 37' 49'' - -
172 MARCO HALLER 164 BAHRAIN VICTORIOUS 20h 47' 32'' + 00h 38' 15'' - -
173 CLÉMENT RUSSO 137 TEAM ARKEA - SAMSIC 20h 48' 23'' + 00h 39' 06'' - -
174 ROGER KLUGE 155 LOTTO SOUDAL 20h 48' 53'' + 00h 39' 36'' - -
175 DANIEL MCLAY 135 TEAM ARKEA - SAMSIC 20h 49' 15'' + 00h 39' 58'' - -
176 AMUND GRØNDAHL JANSEN 175 TEAM BIKEEXCHANGE 20h 49' 43'' + 00h 40' 26'' - -
177 IDE SCHELLING 78 BORA - HANSGROHE 20h 50' 34'' + 00h 41' 17'' - P : 20''0 -
It's pretty tight there at the bottom. As far as I can tell from trying to read the overly compressed images (thanks forum software...) on a mobile '
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If I can find a suitable source to copy them from that doesn't try and stick everything across three line breaks per rider I will!
Official tour ones are hateful - is that any better to read?0 -
Don't worry about it, I know the problemLanterne_Rogue said:If I can find a suitable source to copy them from that doesn't try and stick everything across three line breaks per rider I will!
Official tour ones are hateful - is that any better to read? Warning No formatter is installed for the format0 -
Here’s hoping that Amund Grøndahl Jansen has a better day tomorrow. Sad to see him losing time to Schelling today.0
