TDF 2021: Stage 6, Tours > Châteauroux 160.6 km **Spoilers**
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First one was very good as it looked like they messed up chasing the lone survivor.bobmcstuff said:
Apart from the fact that Cav won them, neither of those sprint stages have been any different to a normal TdF sprint stage IMO - obviously the fact Cavs won them is poetic etc but they were pretty bog standard sprint stages weren't they.hypster said:Most exciting opening week to a TdF that I can remember. Alaphilippe, van de Poel, Cav and Pogacar all racing flat-out instead of the usual, repetitive sprint-fest. And now some hills and mountains to finish things off.
As always it's the riders that make the race... couldn't have been scripted better this year0 -
Well my point being usually we start with a short, boring prologue followed by several sprint stages which are largely pretty unremarkable irrespective of who wins. This year we have already had two thrilling uphill finishes, an interesting time trial and three exciting sprint finishes in the first six stages. We also seems to have several riders who actually look like they are interested in winning something rather than just surviving the first week.bobmcstuff said:
Apart from the fact that Cav won them, neither of those sprint stages have been any different to a normal TdF sprint stage IMO - obviously the fact Cavs won them is poetic etc but they were pretty bog standard sprint stages weren't they.hypster said:Most exciting opening week to a TdF that I can remember. Alaphilippe, van de Poel, Cav and Pogacar all racing flat-out instead of the usual, repetitive sprint-fest. And now some hills and mountains to finish things off.
As always it's the riders that make the race... couldn't have been scripted better this year0 -
Yes that was nail-biting. But it was only really the last 5 or possibly 10km (ie when a sprint stage is normally worth watching from) and it does happen relatively often - once or twice in a year of GTs?bobones said:
So lone breakaway rider caught with 250 metres to go was just bog standard fayre?bobmcstuff said:
Apart from the fact that Cav won them, neither of those sprint stages have been any different to a normal TdF sprint stage IMO - obviously the fact Cavs won them is poetic etc but they were pretty bog standard sprint stages weren't they.
I'm not saying it wasn't good to watch - I'm a bit hoarse from 2 Cav wins personally - but if it was a different winner they would have been written off as fairly standard sprint stages.0 -
Cav will get over the mountains, I'm sure of it. It'll be tough for him, but it'll be tough for everyone. The gruppetto will be huge on the toughest days, and Mørkøv will pace it right. I think he's got enough mates in the peloton to make it work.
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Lacked cows.bobmcstuff said:
Apart from the fact that Cav won them, neither of those sprint stages have been any different to a normal TdF sprint stage IMO - obviously the fact Cavs won them is poetic etc but they were pretty bog standard sprint stages weren't they.hypster said:Most exciting opening week to a TdF that I can remember. Alaphilippe, van de Poel, Cav and Pogacar all racing flat-out instead of the usual, repetitive sprint-fest. And now some hills and mountains to finish things off.
As always it's the riders that make the race... couldn't have been scripted better this yearCorrelation is not causation.1 -
I reckon there might be vaches tomorrow. We should probably have a klaxon.Warning No formatter is installed for the format1
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On their Watts Occurring podcast, Thomas and Rowe think he'll get to Paris without drama, they reckon DQS will put 3 riders with him through the mountains
It's a good listen BTW, never got round to it before but lots of level headed thoughts from experienced guys.
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!1 -
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Indeed. Latest episode recorded after the stage 5 ITT with a bit of retrospective on earlier stages. Pair of experienced pros discussing events. Good listen. (Their theme music is good as well 😊)tailwindhome said:On their Watts Occurring podcast, Thomas and Rowe think he'll get to Paris without drama, they reckon DQS will put 3 riders with him through the mountains
It's a good listen BTW, never got round to it before but lots of level headed thoughts from experienced guys.
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I'm sure it doesn't count for much, if anything, but on the first couple of stages he came in ahead of some of the other sprinters after the final climb. There could be a multitude of reasons for that, but it doesn't scream out that he's any worse going uphill than they are.No_Ta_Doctor said:Cav will get over the mountains, I'm sure of it. It'll be tough for him, but it'll be tough for everyone. The gruppetto will be huge on the toughest days, and Mørkøv will pace it right. I think he's got enough mates in the peloton to make it work.
Morkov suggested the other day that Cavendish had been working specifically for the Tour just in case he got lucky. Leaving aside the observation that the harder you work the luckier you get, it suggests he was doing at least some work on his climbing as well.1 -
They're Welsh don't you know...above_the_cows said:
It's usually a good listen for an insight into the thoughts of the peloton and Ineos in particular (obvs). They had some good thoughts about Frau Opa Omi too which it seems ASO have listened to.
Speaking of podcasts, Boulting picked out that Cav 'beat' both Tony Martin and Chris Froome in the TT yesterday which suggests that he has some good legs outside of the last 200m too.
The third thought I had whilst walking the pup is, What has happened to Arnaud Demare? I...well...in a way I'm quite pleased about it, but I'd have expected him to be doing a lot better than he is. Without Ewan, probably winning all the sprints.We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver0 -
Not unconvinced Alpecin shouldn't be backing MVDP in these sprints.
“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!2 -
Feel bad for Sam Bennett and a tad guilty for feeling happy for Cav“New York has the haircuts, London has the trousers, but Belfast has the reason!0
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Agreed.tailwindhome said:Not unconvinced Alpecin shouldn't be backing MVDP in these sprints.
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If Sam was 30 something, I'd feel worse. He has plenty of tours to cometailwindhome said:Feel bad for Sam Bennett and a tad guilty for feeling happy for Cav
(🤥)We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
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Too many of the best sprinters are on the same teams. It's like Ineos with GC riders.0
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After his wind tunnel TT training, you're now making him a lead sprinter?kingstongraham said:
Agreed.tailwindhome said:Not unconvinced Alpecin shouldn't be backing MVDP in these sprints.
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norks?above_the_cows said:
Boobies? Baps? Knockers?Lanterne_Rogue said:
Trying to work out what got censored. Tit? Boob?No_Ta_Doctor said:
*breast*No_Ta_Doctor said:Big glass censored alert!
.The camera down the willy isn't anything like as bad as it sounds.
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Not sure that's totally fair on DQS. When they signed Cavendish he was a bit of a sad joke (© Jammiedodgeruk) and Jakobsen was out of action for the foreseeable.TheBigBean said:Too many of the best sprinters are on the same teams. It's like Ineos with GC riders.
Alpecin-Fenix's apparent campaign to hoard unhappy sprinters looks like achieving its goal though. Don't think Merlier or Philipsen are in a terribly good place right now.0 -
Cav's beaten both of them a few times now, so no great surprise.Lanterne_Rogue said:
Not sure that's totally fair on DQS. When they signed Cavendish he was a bit of a sad joke (© Jammiedodgeruk) and Jakobsen was out of action for the foreseeable.TheBigBean said:Too many of the best sprinters are on the same teams. It's like Ineos with GC riders.
Alpecin-Fenix's apparent campaign to hoard unhappy sprinters looks like achieving its goal though. Don't think Merlier or Philipsen are in a terribly good place right now.0 -
Yeah, it's more the way they're swapping roles that makes me think they're unhappy - hard to imagine either of them wanting to give 100% to the leadout.0
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I'm not sure there's a protocol for what you do what the lead out man is clearly much stronger than the sprinter to be fair...
Anyhoo,
We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
- @ddraver1 -
It’d be a different story had Ewan not crashed out.TheBigBean said:Too many of the best sprinters are on the same teams. It's like Ineos with GC riders.
(As much as it pains me to say)2 -
Can only race against who is there and those who are there are arguably the best1
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He's not done the wind tunnel or the tt training.TheBigBean said:
After his wind tunnel TT training, you're now making him a lead sprinter?kingstongraham said:
Agreed.tailwindhome said:Not unconvinced Alpecin shouldn't be backing MVDP in these sprints.
His sprinters keep getting beat, I think he'd be at least as good.0 -
In the two sprints Cav has won he has managed to get round Merlier and Philipson where as Ewan managed to run into Merliers back wheel when he tried to get round them.rick_chasey said:
It’d be a different story had Ewan not crashed out.TheBigBean said:Too many of the best sprinters are on the same teams. It's like Ineos with GC riders.
(As much as it pains me to say)
I’m not convinced it would have been a different story plus you need to be there to contest these things. How many times has Cav blown it by snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.0 -
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Irrespective of blame, incidents involving Sagan appear to have played a big part in Cav's
hit rate.0 -
I can't work out if you were joking but you do realise he's 30 already?ddraver said:
If Sam was 30 something, I'd feel worse. He has plenty of tours to cometailwindhome said:Feel bad for Sam Bennett and a tad guilty for feeling happy for Cav
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