TDF 2021 - Rest day 1 - *SPOILERS *
No_Ta_Doctor
Posts: 13,037
in Pro race
“Road racing was over and the UCI had banned my riding positions on the track, so it was like ‘Jings, crivvens, help ma Boab, what do I do now? I know, I’ll go away and be depressed for 10 years’.”
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
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2. Incredible
3. Horrid
4. Unbelievable
5. Great (for a tt)
6. Who writes this?
7. Unexpectedly unexpected
8. Dominant
9. Brutal
Only crashes that lets it down really. But that really lets it down lot. Now if pog can have a simon yates style collapse on the second climb of ventoux, we also have a race.
The GC was very interesting and looked reasonably open until Pogacar blew everyone away, first in the TT and then with his superhuman displays at the weekend, particularly Saturday.
As kingstongraham says, it appears (covid aside) that only a Yates style 2018 Giro collapse will stop him winning, provided he can stay on his bike.
I don't remember Yates being quite so aggressively dominant though, not in the way Pog put his opponents to the sword at least. And of course, Yates was trying to gain an advantage as he knew he'd lose time in the later TT, not a concern for Pog.
The history of cycling means suspicions are raised with performances like his. I for one really hope he is clean and that he was so much better than the competition simply due to them having their reserves depleted (for whatever reason).
We'll never know, but the way Pogacar is riding I'm not convinced a fully fit Rog could have stayed with him and tbh, G has never looked like the rider he was back in 2018.
A long way to go though, Ventoux on Wednesday will be telling.
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Of all places, Valence has rain forecast for tomorrow and the riders will face a very stiff headwind for much of the route.
Dare I say it? Could be dull.
Ventoux, on the other hand looks is set fair, with no threat of the weather condition that the mountain takes it's name from.
However, I now have my eye firmly fixed on Friday, as it looks like being the last day of several that offer up a howling crosswind, from Montpellier to Carcassone.
Fingers crossed.
Or jump on the doping bandwagon and rant at the TV.
😉
I am not sure. You have no chance.
The first week is generally all about who wins stages and who is temporarily in yellow and on that basis it's been great.
At the moment it isn't shaping up to necessarily be a great week 2 and 3. I hope we're all wrong, but with Rog and Thomas gone, the only way it can really be a vintage edition is if Pog keeps on going and wins by an hour.
Also, the new director in the censored with ITV commercial team a couple of times for sticking with coverage instead of going to a break.
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South East of Quillan, they get there with about 20km to go.
When last staying in the area, we went on a drive around to see the scenery. It was basically the first 120km of this route with a diversion to go to Mirepoix, plus over a different hill to see the view the valley near Quillan. Hope the weather is good, because there's some amazing views.
I agree with you. The Cavendish comeback was great but it been a week of getting rid of the stars before they could perform.
We're left with a race of 50/1 longshots scrapping over podium places, half the sprinters out of the race and everyone going to Tokyo wondering when they should leave.
@DrHeadgear
The Vikings are coming!
I don’t understand anyone saying things are boring even if it is - the only way it’s over is if we’re watching the arrival of a rider who would then go down in history as one of the best new talents the sport has ever seen. As a cycling fan isn’t that something to be celebrated, something fabulous to just sit back and watch?
The problem is that it's left us set up for a rather dull GC race over the next fortnight unless something unexpected happens, and I think that colours the way people (including me) think about things right now.
Possibly the secondary competitions will produce some excitement - with Pogacar threatening to run away with everything else there might be more scope for a proper climbing battle for once, green looks like it'll be intriguing if Cavendish survives and Colbrelli keeps taking points back on lumpier stages. And even if none of that happens there's still the possibility that individual stages still ignite, providing a series of decent one-dayers even if they're stripped of the context that a GC battle gives a normal tour.
The GC Race is probably over so we have to pivot to enjoying each stage as a one-day race instead, which is fine...
- @ddraver
First 5 days were a snooze if you're not a cav fan.
Sprint uphill, one dominates the rest, repeat day two but different rider, sprint stage, GC destroying TT, sprint stage.
Crashes were just sad.
GC ....well what can you say ? Still a lot of road left . Plenty of talk about how mega pog is . Podium battle may get absurd with long range attacks by people 10 mins down keep coming ...why not ?
A lot of "pog may crash " energy floating around ... Bit weird thinking about it.
Ok big factors in first week being so good was WvA and MvdP along with JA.. WvA made that escape happen and MvdP made it stick . They animated the first week .