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2021 Tour de France


dockers_strike
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37 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Im guessing many of the sprinters prefer the shorter track races to the grind of 150km a day?

 

Yeah, greipel is still in there, Sagan dropped out a stage or two back.

 

Rest day today, back in the saddle for the start of the final week tomorrow. Can Cav win one more stage to beat Merckx's and his record?

Two realistic chances

 

Mourenx to Libourne  July 16th

Chatou to Paris July 18th

 

Needs to survive the mountains

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19 hours ago, dockers_strike said:

Im guessing many of the sprinters prefer the shorter track races to the grind of 150km a day?

 

Yeah, greipel is still in there, Sagan dropped out a stage or two back.

 

Rest day today, back in the saddle for the start of the final week tomorrow. Can Cav win one more stage to beat Merckx's and his record?

Yes, maybe the days of fully specialized sprinters like Cavendish, riders who only do bunch sprints and nothing else are over and bunch sprints will go back to pre-sprinters era, I don't know, I only watch the Tour. He is now sprinting against all-rounders like Wout van Aert. I remember one year Cavendish was regularly beaten by Kittel in the last 100 yards, so that was like the end of his dominance, biology caught up with him and the new generation of sprinters would now be faster. But he is now back from semi-retirement at the age of 36 and looks absolutely unbeatable, and nobody doubts he will win in Paris if he gets there. Also, it looks like there is not much competition, like that stage where Quick Step practically delivered him to the finish line.   

 

I am more of a GC guy, to me bunch sprints are just a side show, something exciting at the end of the stage in which nothing much happened, like a penalty shootout after a boring goalless draw, but I could swear even when Cavendish was at his best, in the years around 2010, it seems to me now his wins were less of a formality, there were three or four or more really strong guys trying to beat him, with three or four lead out trains fighting it out, bumping heads etc.  

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40 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Yes, maybe the days of fully specialized sprinters like Cavendish, riders who only do bunch sprints and nothing else are over and bunch sprints will go back to pre-sprinters era, I don't know, I only watch the Tour. He is now sprinting against all-rounders like Wout van Aert. I remember one year Cavendish was regularly beaten by Kittel in the last 100 yards, so that was like the end of his dominance, biology caught up with him and the new generation of sprinters would now be faster. But he is now back from semi-retirement at the age of 36 and looks absolutely unbeatable, and nobody doubts he will win in Paris if he gets there. Also, it looks like there is not much competition, like that stage where Quick Step practically delivered him to the finish line.   

 

I am more of a GC guy, to me bunch sprints are just a side show, something exciting at the end of the stage in which nothing much happened, like a penalty shootout after a boring goalless draw, but I could swear even when Cavendish was at his best, in the years around 2010, it seems to me now his wins were less of a formality, there were three or four or more really strong guys trying to beat him, with three or four lead out trains fighting it out, bumping heads etc.  

Yeah, it is a bit weird how there aren’t any good sprinters. Caleb Ewan is faster than Cav though and probably would have won at least two of the stages if he hadn’t crashed.

And obviously his own team think Sam Bennett is better.

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56 minutes ago, SasaS said:

Yes, maybe the days of fully specialized sprinters like Cavendish, riders who only do bunch sprints and nothing else are over and bunch sprints will go back to pre-sprinters era, I don't know, I only watch the Tour. He is now sprinting against all-rounders like Wout van Aert. I remember one year Cavendish was regularly beaten by Kittel in the last 100 yards, so that was like the end of his dominance, biology caught up with him and the new generation of sprinters would now be faster. But he is now back from semi-retirement at the age of 36 and looks absolutely unbeatable, and nobody doubts he will win in Paris if he gets there. Also, it looks like there is not much competition, like that stage where Quick Step practically delivered him to the finish line.   

 

I am more of a GC guy, to me bunch sprints are just a side show, something exciting at the end of the stage in which nothing much happened, like a penalty shootout after a boring goalless draw, but I could swear even when Cavendish was at his best, in the years around 2010, it seems to me now his wins were less of a formality, there were three or four or more really strong guys trying to beat him, with three or four lead out trains fighting it out, bumping heads etc.  

Im just speculating but I think Cav's sprinting prowess deteriorated with that illness he had that kind of crept up and him and lingered before being diagnosed?

 

I also think he made a mistake quiting the Tour part way through to go to the Rio Olympics. He wasnt racing with 'his' Tour team and the standard probably wasnt there.

 

Mustnt be forgotten that team tactics plays a lot in these sprint finishes and that's probably played a part in the victories as well.

 

Shitty weather for the start of the Tour's last week, hope we dont see crashes.

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Missed the latter part of today's stage, the old girl wanted to go to the garden centre!

 

But it looks like Pogacar has all but sealed the yellow jersey and the Tour win.

 

Cav also finished the stage within the time limit having been shepherded over his final mountain test at this year's Tour de France by Deceuninck-Quick Step team-mates Davide Ballerini, Tim Declercq, Dries Devenyns and Michael Morkov. Having completed the stage the British sprinter keeps hold of his green jersey as leader in the points classification and will now take the start line for tomorrow's stage that is widely expected to end in a sprint finish.

 

Tadej Pogacar celebrated stage victory in yellow for a second day in a row at the Tour de France and can surely soon start toasting a second consecutive title after another dominant display.

 

In a mirror image of Wednesday's finale, Pogacar raced clear of Jonas Vingegaard and Richard Carapaz in the final few hundred metres of the climb to Luz Ardiden as the top three came home in the same order as their positions in the overall standings.

 

The victory moved Pogacar to the top of the king of the mountains classification, putting him in line to arrive into Paris as the owner of three of the four race jerseys - yellow, the polka dots, and the best young rider's white - for a second year in a row.

 

It also made him only the fourth rider in Tour history to win on consecutive summit finishes.

 

This Tour has claimed many victims, but even if the likes of Primoz Roglic or Geraint Thomas had avoided injury or incident, it is hard to imagine anyone being on the level that Pogacar has demonstrated day after day.

 

"(Cycling) has been a game for me since I started," the UAE Team Emirates rider said. "It's one I'm really enjoying playing."

Others will disagree. The Ineos Grenadiers bossed the Tour for most of the last decade as Team Sky, but with three days to go they have no victories in this race and no real hope of seeing Carapaz move up from third given Vingegaard's superior time trialling ability.

Knowing this was their last chance, they had worked to set up Carapaz for an attack on the final climb but the Ecuadorian could not find a gap.

 

The three leaders were joined in the final few kilometres by Enric Mas, the Movistar rider hoping to build on Spain's dominance of this climb since it was first used in the Tour in the 1980s.

 

He attacked with 800 metres to go, but Pogacar responded to ease away from Vingegaard and Carapaz for his third stage win of the Tour - one that increases his lead to five minutes and 45 seconds.

"It's unbelievable," Pogacar said. "After yesterday, I felt really good and I'm really happy with the win. It's crazy."

 

The 130km stage from Pau was the shortest road stage of this year's Tour, but back-ended by the hors categorie climbs of the Tourmalet and Luz Ardiden, also one of the toughest.

The day began with news of a police raid on the team hotel of Bahrain Victorious overnight, with French prosecutors announcing a preliminary investigation into doping allegations was under way.

Matej Mohoric had said the team's riders had nothing to hide and would respond on the road, and it was the Slovenian champion who got in an early breakaway - tackling much of the Tourmalet alone with Julian Alaphilippe.

 

After they were caught by a larger chasing group, David Gaudu struck out for glory with some daredevil descending out of the clouds, but the Frenchman could not build much of a gap.

 

In the end, there would be nobody who could live with Pogacar - the young phenom who is competing in only his third Grand Tour, but who has collected three stage wins in each and is en route to winning a second overall.

 

Friday's stage to Libourne is flat, an opportunity for Mark Cavendish to break Eddy Merckx's record of 34 Tour stage wins outright, before Saturday's time trial will bring the final changes to the overall standings.

 

But given Pogacar won the stage five time trial, the opportunities to dislodge him have already gone.

 

"Why should I be worried?" he said. "For the time trial, we will see. It is a discipline where I always want to do my best.

"You can lose six minutes in a time trial, it's happened before, but I'm pretty confident."

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Penultimate day of the Tour and today's stage is a time trial. Pogacar just needs to stay on the bike and not lose time to his rivals to clinch the yellow jersey and make tomorrows Champs Elysees stage the processional stage it is.

 

'Convention' over the last 25 or so years means no one in the GC challenges the yellow jersey for the title who, usually has an unassailable lead anyway. Last time the yellow jersey lost the Tour on the Champs Elysees was when it was a time trial stage around 1990, I think. The organisers thought that was a bad idea and dropped it from future races.

 

However, the sprinters can and do still contest the race so tomorrow will be Cav's last chance this Tour to break Eddy Merckx's record. The question is, will he be back next year for another crack?

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4 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Penultimate day of the Tour and today's stage is a time trial. Pogacar just needs to stay on the bike and not lose time to his rivals to clinch the yellow jersey and make tomorrows Champs Elysees stage the processional stage it is.

 

'Convention' over the last 25 or so years means no one in the GC challenges the yellow jersey for the title who, usually has an unassailable lead anyway. Last time the yellow jersey lost the Tour on the Champs Elysees was when it was a time trial stage around 1990, I think. The organisers thought that was a bad idea and dropped it from future races.

 

However, the sprinters can and do still contest the race so tomorrow will be Cav's last chance this Tour to break Eddy Merckx's record. The question is, will he be back next year for another crack?

I suspect it will be tomorrow or not at all. Who knows though, Cav has proven me wrong before. 
 

p.s. I’ve enjoyed your input into this thread. 
 

p.p.s. Shithouse cunt (I’m just joking)

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Enjoyed this edition of the Tour a lot. I got the official guide and had it with me when watching. Had the stage notes, interviews, background, and stuff about past winners and their famous efforts on particular stages. I really want a road bike now but would be loath to ride on roads here. 

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9 minutes ago, Kepler-186 said:

Enjoyed this edition of the Tour a lot. I got the official guide and had it with me when watching. Had the stage notes, interviews, background, and stuff about past winners and their famous efforts on particular stages. I really want a road bike now but would be loath to ride on roads here. 

Same. I have a decent carbon road bike, I've used it once this year. I like riding out towards Delamere Forest but too many dickheads on the road. 

 

So I stick with mountain biking, I'll get injured by my own doing!

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36 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Same. I have a decent carbon road bike, I've used it once this year. I like riding out towards Delamere Forest but too many dickheads on the road. 

 

So I stick with mountain biking, I'll get injured by my own doing!

Was thinking of getting the train to West Kirby this week and riding back to New Brighton or Birkenhead before getting the train again,  but is Delaware Forest’s tracks decent for a ride? 

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4 minutes ago, Kepler-186 said:

Was thinking of getting the train to West Kirby this week and riding back to New Brighton or Birkenhead before getting the train again,  but is Delaware Forest’s tracks decent for a ride? 

Mountain bike or road?

 

There is loads of nice country lanes suited for road bike but too many Nigel Mansels knocking about particularly when weather is nice. In the forest is okay for mountain bikes, little too flat for my liking though, and no bike specific trails.

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10 minutes ago, manwiththestick said:

Mountain bike or road?

 

There is loads of nice country lanes suited for road bike but too many Nigel Mansels knocking about particularly when weather is nice. In the forest is okay for mountain bikes, little too flat for my liking though, and no bike specific trails.

Mountain bike. Might try Delamere Forest. Never been proper mountain biking. Cheers for the info. 

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1 hour ago, Kepler-186 said:

Enjoyed this edition of the Tour a lot. I got the official guide and had it with me when watching. Had the stage notes, interviews, background, and stuff about past winners and their famous efforts on particular stages. I really want a road bike now but would be loath to ride on roads here. 

Yeah, I wouldnt advise riding on busy roads and even the minor ones, you get nobheads who seem to want to run anyone on a bike off the road.

 

It's best to find a decent cycle route away from traffic. Trouble is, those kind of routes is more suited to an ATB rather than a road bike.

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17 minutes ago, dockers_strike said:

Yeah, I wouldnt advise riding on busy roads and even the minor ones, you get nobheads who seem to want to run anyone on a bike off the road.

 

It's best to find a decent cycle route away from traffic. Trouble is, those kind of routes is more suited to an ATB rather than a road bike.

I ride up to Hightown, Formby and along the front to Hall Road coastguard from mine, and just avoid the roads as much as possible. Went the other way last year down the dock road to Cressington at the end of the promenade, that’s a good ride. Fancy something a bit more challenging, but watching the Tour and the Giro this year I’ve got a bit obsessed with the road and distances! 

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  • 2 months later...
9 hours ago, Kepler-186 said:

@dockers_strike alright mate started a podcast from Eurosport called Re-Cycle: stories from different Tours, Giros, Vueltas and the other famous events. Worth a listen. 
 

https://shows.acast.com/re-cycle-the-cycling-history-podcast

9183D806-1639-49D6-9C06-9719BC7ED482.jpeg

Cheers bud. Im listening to it now. This you actually doing the commentary when you say you started the podcast?

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