2024 Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift ** spoilers **

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  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    What happened to vollerings team? ...

    "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

    They that confident?

    "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
  • r0bh
    r0bh Posts: 2,438

    Blanka Vas said her radio wasn't working... hmmmm

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728

    It did seem a bit amateurish, leaving her to fend for herself, while clearly in pain.

    That final 5kms took a lot out of her.

    Georgi looked to be by far the worst hurt, which perhaps isn't surprising, watching the crash from above. It was a heck of a tumble.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    I think her position is was ok to go ...but the radio excuse if true is crap ...where is my team leader?

    "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
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728
    edited August 15

    Blanka Vas was in the right place, imo. It's the rest of the team that wasn't.

    Lorena Wiebes ended up sprinting for 8th, from the main bunch. What excuse did she give?

    (OK, having checked, the rest were either behind, or involved in the same crash)

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    She said she didn't even know there had been a crash when she was interviewed after the stage, and said it was a bittersweet win after learning that Vollering has lost yellow.

    I think of all the SD Worx riders, Vas is one of the closest to Vollering, as they frequently train together at altitude. There has been lots of rumours of discontent in the team and, with Vollering leaving at the end of the year, I think some riders are less committed to supporting her than they were before.

  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,700

    I nearly posted that Demi was crusing up the "cote de saint pancre"

    Maybe not so much...

    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475
    edited August 15

    At the very least, they needed to have dropped back Wiebes. Despite her winning, if I were DS I would have dropped back Vas as well.


    That being said, don't know why it took me so long to notice this, but it's utterly grating once you notice: the commentary team constantly use the full name of all riders (which isn't always or rather hardly done for the men) and the amount of saying their names incessantly and hardly anything else bugs me to no end. Blah blah blah [full name], [full name], [full name], [full name], blah blah [full name], blah blah [full name], blah [full name], [full name], [full name], [full name], [full name].

    Breath, [full name][full name][full name][full name][full name], [full name] riding hard now, she is flying, [full name][full name][full name][full name][full name] on her wheel, [Sedrinkabaol] [full name], [Sedrinkabaol] giving it everything, [full name][full name][full name][full name][full name][full name].

    It's so stupid and irritating.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    If we accept that Vas was telling the truth and her radio wasn't working, how would you have got her to drop back, given the gap wasn't big enough to get a team car up to her? I know everyone thinks radios have turned riders into instruction-taking automatons, controlled by an all-seeing DS, but in the chaos of a peloton racing the last 10 kms of a stage disrupted by a crash, it's hard for anyone to know what exactly is going on and who is where on the road.

  • JimD666
    JimD666 Posts: 2,293

    "Pfeiffer Georgi suffered neck fractures and a broken hand when she crashed on stage five of the Tour de France Femmes"

    Ouch.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/articles/cpvyr1m20nxo

  • 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

    Today the racing looks on

    "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

    Decent racing ...vos did well to get back on... But no cigar

    "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
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728

    Jeez.

    Do all these commentators have lesson at screaming down the mic?

    It really doesn’t make finishes any more exciting.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475

    It's unbelievable how bad so many of the teams are. These two are racing Kirby to the bottom.

    It's a shame, because I quite like Dan LLoyd and Matt Stephens (to say something positive as well), but they are quite under used. Adam Blythe is fine on the motorcycle as well (not sure that is really needed though).

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463

    Lloyd is no longer part of the team though. Not sure why Matt Stephens doesn't do more as he's really good and is generally at the races.

  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475
    edited August 16

    I'm quite slammed at the moment getting ready to move to Munich, so I'm watching cycling a lot less than I would like to. Had just caught up and wasn't aware of that at the time. If true, obviously there is not much you can do. I'd be willing to believe Vas as well, as Vollering and Vas seem to be friends as mentioned above, but there is really no excuse for Wiebes.

    Wiebes is probably riding angry, because she lost twice to Kool and is only thinking of getting a win on the board, everything else be damned.

    Overall a world class team should be able to keep your leader in the yellow jersey within sight. They had 3 riders left who could theoretically help (Vas, Wiebes, Bredewold). Only Bredewold did. Case can be made, that Vas should never have even went with the winning move if not given the okay to go from Vollering prior.

    Winning overall is hard and Vollering could be losing 2 GT's off of a nature break and a crash with sub par support from SD Worx (for whatever reason).

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,553

    I'm on holiday in France so have been enjoying the French TV coverage. @blazing_saddles would have hated today, as the commentators were almost wetting themselves at the thought of a French win, first when Juliet Labous attacked at the base of the final climb, then they went into overdrive when Kerbaol attacked and got a 30 second gap.

    My other half was reading in the same room and was moved to comment that the commentators seemed especially excited today. They were.

  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728

    Haha! I am not surprised.

    The Olympics were on another level, when it came to supporting French athletes with zero chance.

    Not hard to imagine how hyper emotional they must have been over an actual win.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • gethinceri
    gethinceri Posts: 1,665

    There are several great cycling commentators on Eurosport.

    They're all called Matt Stephens.

  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,124

    I thought the commentary was ok yesterday. Obviously pleased at the first ever French win in the new tour de france.

    BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
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  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728

    There won’t be a whole of this stage left by the time live coverage begins. That’s assuming that there will be the usual half hour of pointless chat and speculation.

    In the meantime, there has been a whole raft of abandons during the stage, including Anna Henderson and Charlotte Kool.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,656

    And Lanterne Rouge leader Mieke Docx


    Justine Ghekiere takes the stage in the polkadots, very emotional. She's won a stage race before, but I don't think she has an actual stage win or one day win. She's collected a few mountain jersey though, including the Giro

    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • mididoctors
    mididoctors Posts: 18,908

    Kasia is in a bind there ...question the wisdom of towing vollering .that said vollering didn't look overly dominant


    Holding vollering to one min on the alpe?


    Nit impossible

    "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
  • orraloon
    orraloon Posts: 13,236

    Catched up on final 15km. Didn't understand why in yellow Kasia would sit on the front of the chase peloton. Good stage win for the Belgie.

  • Dorset_Boy
    Dorset_Boy Posts: 7,579

    Catched up?

    Hope Kasia can hang on tomorrow, she has been bridesmaid far too often in her career.

  • m.r.m.
    m.r.m. Posts: 3,475

    Didn't really seem like Vollering has enough to drop Kasia by over a minute on the Alpe. At least today.

    PTP Champion 2019, 2022 & 2023
  • davidof
    davidof Posts: 3,124

    Torrential rain overnight and really nasty this morning.

    BASI Nordic Ski Instructor
    Instagramme
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,728

    The final stage doesn’t kick off until much later than usual. The finish is due around 6pm, UK time.

    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.