Tour de France 2024 pre race discussion

2

Comments

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908
    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    By Stage 4 this is going to create a lot of riders well well down on GC making breakaways way less dangerous for GC teams ?

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    Absolutely doing my head in that this is not starting a week later.


    I know why, yada yada, but the Tour starts in July. Plus I'll inevitably miss the stage the Pinerello to Valloire stage because, ironically, I'm in Paris.


    Booo.

  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,572

    It feels like it starts in June every 4th year due to the Olympics.

  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,438

    Sepp Kuss out of the Visma-LAB team with Covid

  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    The team statement says he hasn't properly recovered from Covid. Did anyone see any reports of him having it in the past month? I haven't and I do wonder if it's a lack of form that's behind this decision, as he was way off the pace at the Dauphine.

  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,572

    Pogi really has found a working voodoo doll this year!

  • N0bodyOfTheGoat
    N0bodyOfTheGoat Posts: 6,057

    That's a shame, depending on how strong Vin really is, Kuss might have been their Pog challenger.


    Didn't someone post on the forum that another big name had covid recently, in the last couple of weeks?

    ================
    2020 Voodoo Marasa
    2017 Cube Attain GTC Pro Disc 2016
    2016 Voodoo Wazoo
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    Tao was dropped from the Trek Tour team because of covid. Plenty of others who have had "flu like symptoms" without explicitly saying covid - Milan I think was one?

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  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    Rolf Sørensen is out with heart problems 😭

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  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    It's definitely not good for a man who was so stressed over Vingegaard in 2022 I genuinely worried the TT might end him.

    Three weeks living out of a suitcase, late nights, early mornings, long drives, hours on end in roasting commentary boxes - it's not an easy game

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  • amrushton
    amrushton Posts: 1,312

    Over in 4 days according to Marc (Maddo) Madiot on Cycling News. Pog sticks it to everyone so that leaves stages for breakaways and no threat riders to take stages

  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    Looks very controllable... I thought some thing like this . The only disagreement is there isn't enough terrain for pog to have a big lead by then

    "If I was a 38 year old man, I definitely wouldn't be riding a bright yellow bike with Hello Kitty disc wheels, put it that way. What we're witnessing here is the world's most high profile mid-life crisis" Afx237vi Mon Jul 20, 2009 2:43 pm
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    Pog sounding pretty bullish in interviews, basically saying his form is the best it's ever been....If it was Vingers saying it I'd suspect mind games but I don't think Pog is wired that way.

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    Everyone else is trying to bag underdog status so, why not? Might as well see if you can psych people into racing for the podium and not for the win from the start.

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  • roscoe
    roscoe Posts: 526

    Have we got a Velogames League set up? There was one before but I can't remember the code!

  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    This from Visma Lease-a-bike has predictably got some people wound up. They're all remote control robots now apparently, they say of the team that gave us the Pogacar mugging on Granon just two years ago and have had Vingegaard going toe-to-toe with Pog ever since


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  • seanoconn
    seanoconn Posts: 11,674

    TP must be a little disappointed not to be one of the team leaders but can’t blame Ineos. He had relatively free rein to make inroads on GC last year and didn’t, hasn’t shown signs this season that would change. Bit of super domestique work and hope for a stage win. Shame, I really thought he’d be a GC contender one day.

    Cav, Cav, Cav!

    Pinno, מלך אידיוט וחרא מכונאי
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    God the Tour in Florence is just the best thing. Gutted I'm not there tbh.

  • wakemalcolm
    wakemalcolm Posts: 911

    I see COVID has announced that it had Tadej Pogacar. It wasn't serious apparently and COVID should survive to infect other people.

    ================================
    Cake is just weakness entering the body
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,698

    Stop

    Making

    TP

    A

    GC

    Rider

    !!!

    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,601

    I get the impression the only person who thinks Pidcock is a gc rider is Pidcock himself.


    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,655

    I don't think Pidcock knows what he is or what he wants to be. He's still riding cross and MTB, and riding classics as well as tours. If he sees the "bad days" that he tends to have as something that can be eliminated and if he sees a potential for a few percent improvement in the mountains and TT then it's still a possibility.

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  • andyrac
    andyrac Posts: 1,198

    Pidcock thought he'd have to dedicate fully to the road to be anywhere in a GT. And has since changed his mind - needing to mix disciplines to keep him fresh. I wonder if post-Olympics he'll change his mind again. Personally, I don't think he's a GC rider, but time will tell.

    However, ending up at RB-Bora wouldn't be the biggest surprise; would suit RB, and Specialized, as he's won U23 World titles on Specialized-Sram equipped bikes.....and was part of the advertising of the Diverge back in 2019/20.

    All Road/ Gravel: tbcWinter: tbcMTB: tbcRoad: tbc"Look at the time...." "he's fallen like an old lady on a cruise ship..."
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661

    pidcock is a great rider, but he should stop dicking around on non road bikes and stick to the road if he wants more road success