Tour de Suisse 2023, 11th-18th June ***SPOILERS***

kingstongraham

And Remco not looking impressive.

kingstongraham

Gall however very impressive, remco just churning away up the climb leading the yellow jersey group.

kingstongraham

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

mididoctors

Good stage .... Gall was brave . Remco mugging everyone for the bonus was predictable... Suited him

mididoctors

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

Should of done the same tactics the stage before ...but this is more interesting he lost time ... He just has to hold everyone close for the tt

blazing_saddles

Either Skelmose is an extremely cool customer, playing the long game or he simply played the wrong game.
Never did a tap to keep the jersey until 500 metres to go.

No_Ta_Doctor

blazing_saddles said:

Either Skelmose is an extremely cool customer, playing the long game or he simply played the wrong game.
Never did a tap to keep the jersey until 500 metres to go.

Skjelmose says he was happy to lose it as the team doesn't have to control tomorrow now. Was quite pleased it was to Gall as he should be able to take him in the TT.

Gives a decent intelligent interview as it goes

https://twitter.com/stinemomo/status/1669024664302100491?s=20

blazing_saddles

No_Ta_Doctor said:

blazing_saddles said:

Either Skelmose is an extremely cool customer, playing the long game or he simply played the wrong game.
Never did a tap to keep the jersey until 500 metres to go.

Skjelmose says he was happy to lose it as the team doesn't have to control tomorrow now. Was quite pleased it was to Gall as he should be able to take him in the TT.

Gives a decent intelligent interview as it goes

https://twitter.com/stinemomo/status/1669024664302100491?s=20

I guess it’s safe to say he’s playing the cool headed long game.

jimmyjams

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

You can say that with hindsight (and others have too) but he did look occasionally uncomfortable on the last climb. He might have had a dilemma if Bardet and Keldermann had managed to sustain and extend their 2 or 3 attacks.
That there were so many attacks (Bilbao and Lazcano also tried, as did even Evenepoel about 6 km out, albeit where the climb briefly went a bit less steep), suggests the group weren't pushing it, as does the fact that Gall arrived at the finish with about the same time difference as he had 16-18 kms out.
I think Evenepoel would struggle with a stronger group on a continuously steep mountain.

jimmyjams

mididoctors said:

Good stage .... Gall was brave .

Gall said afterwards he would have preferred it if a couple of others had joined him when he went forward, but having made the effort to get clear, he wasn't going stop because he was alone, so it became a case of 'All's well that ends well'.

andyp

jimmyjams said:

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

You can say that with hindsight (and others have too) but he did look occasionally uncomfortable on the last climb. He might have had a dilemma if Bardet and Keldermann had managed to sustain and extend their 2 or 3 attacks.
That there were so many attacks (Bilbao and Lazcano also tried, as did even Evenepoel about 6 km out, albeit where the climb briefly went a bit less steep), suggests the group weren't pushing it, as does the fact that Gall arrived at the finish with about the same time difference as he had 16-18 kms out.
I think Evenepoel would struggle with a stronger group on a continuously steep mountain.

I think he's well below his best and is riding very intelligently. Whether it's enough to win the race is open to question, but he has kept himself in contention in two mountain stages where, from what we've seen, he could have blown up completely and lost much more time.

kingstongraham

jimmyjams said:

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

You can say that with hindsight (and others have too) but he did look occasionally uncomfortable on the last climb. He might have had a dilemma if Bardet and Keldermann had managed to sustain and extend their 2 or 3 attacks.
That there were so many attacks (Bilbao and Lazcano also tried, as did even Evenepoel about 6 km out, albeit where the climb briefly went a bit less steep), suggests the group weren't pushing it, as does the fact that Gall arrived at the finish with about the same time difference as he had 16-18 kms out.
I think Evenepoel would struggle with a stronger group on a continuously steep mountain.

I also said this:

kingstongraham said:

And Remco not looking impressive.

I agree that if it had been someone on another level than Bardet attacking, they'd all have been in trouble.

jimmyjams

andyp said:

jimmyjams said:

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

You can say that with hindsight (and others have too) but he did look occasionally uncomfortable on the last climb. He might have had a dilemma if Bardet and Keldermann had managed to sustain and extend their 2 or 3 attacks.
That there were so many attacks (Bilbao and Lazcano also tried, as did even Evenepoel about 6 km out, albeit where the climb briefly went a bit less steep), suggests the group weren't pushing it, as does the fact that Gall arrived at the finish with about the same time difference as he had 16-18 kms out.
I think Evenepoel would struggle with a stronger group on a continuously steep mountain.

I think he's well below his best and is riding very intelligently. Whether it's enough to win the race is open to question, but he has kept himself in contention in two mountain stages where, from what we've seen, he could have blown up completely and lost much more time.

I too think he could probably still win overall.
Tomorrow is the Albula near the end of the stage, and it will depend on how he manages that. I've ridden it in a Gran Fondo and a third the way through you think it's fine, but then it kicks in.

jimmyjams

blazing_saddles said:

Either Skelmose is an extremely cool customer, playing the long game or he simply played the wrong game.
Never did a tap to keep the jersey until 500 metres to go.

I noticed Skjelmose didn't do much in the group on the last climb, in fact a couple of times it appeared that one or the other rider 'glared' at him for his non-participation (couldn't tell if they actually said something).
He did go briefly to the front, just before Bilbao attacked (perhaps because Skjelmose slowed the group a little), and part of the reason why the group didn't make much time on Gall can probably be put down to his non-participation.

I watched the video posted by No_Ta_Doctor, but sportsmen are often not entirely truthful, no one wants to run themselves or their chances down. I suspect today he was at his limit – he did say yesterday he was unsure of his climbing ability.
In one thing he is correct, Gall is normally rubbish at TTs.

jimmyjams

kingstongraham said:

jimmyjams said:

kingstongraham said:

Turns out Evenepoel judged the effort best of the rest.

You can say that with hindsight (and others have too) but he did look occasionally uncomfortable on the last climb. He might have had a dilemma if Bardet and Keldermann had managed to sustain and extend their 2 or 3 attacks.
That there were so many attacks (Bilbao and Lazcano also tried, as did even Evenepoel about 6 km out, albeit where the climb briefly went a bit less steep), suggests the group weren't pushing it, as does the fact that Gall arrived at the finish with about the same time difference as he had 16-18 kms out.
I think Evenepoel would struggle with a stronger group on a continuously steep mountain.

I also said this:

kingstongraham said:

And Remco not looking impressive.

I agree that if it had been someone on another level than Bardet attacking, they'd all have been in trouble.

You might have a lower opinion of Bardet than me, and I know he has failed my liking for him often, but I thought it was promising to see him so active today and I hope it promises well for the Tour.
The performances of Keldermann and Schachmann also gave hope (if they are planned for the Tour).

kingstongraham

I love Bardet.

takethehighroad

It's the Goldfinger stage today, over the Furkapass and Albulapass where scenes from the film were shot.

He famous image of Connery with his DB5 is taken on the Furkapass

red.rider

Early start today. Riders already up an running

red.rider

Big break seems to be established without my PTP pick.
Antonio Tiberi is in there with Fabio Fel(l)ine. This could get ugly

red.rider

Felline was shot out of the back of the breakaway, while Tiberi lives on.

Powless did actually make it in to the break, but wasn’t recognised initially on pcs’ live stats.

kingstongraham

Wout's in the break.

jimmyjams

I heard the break had 10, then 19, but I've only seen 18 names – including Higuita and Eenkhoorn (who shared the points over the Furka and Oberalp passes) together with Powless, Rui Costa, Van Aert, Izaguirre (the best-placed), Küng, Simmons and Hirschi. They are 3-20 ahead and close to the bottom of the Albula.

DNS were Vine (apparently he crashed towards the end of yesterday's stage), and one or two others, and 4 have climbed off so far today, George Bennett being one.

kingstongraham

Wout lasted halfway up the climb.

kingstongraham

Race is on for the yellow jersey now. Evenepoel not going with Gall's attack.

kingstongraham

Ayuso absolutely flying.

mididoctors

Good stage ...remco could still win .... Ayuso was impressive . Somehow skelly jelly moose came 2nd

mididoctors

kingstongraham said:

Ayuso absolutely flying.

Bit scary on the descent at times tbh

kingstongraham

This has been a good race. Ayuso wins and gets within about 20 seconds of the overall.

mididoctors

It's a really hard climb ...covered with traffic when I did it .... Not a fave

mididoctors

Sheffield crashed on the descent off camera . Hospital