Guess not many following the Dauphiné, but Remco put 40 seconds into Roglic on a 34km ITT on stage 4 today. With Jonas unlikely to be in winning form (if he even shows up to lead Visma), I was, and am, hoping to see Roglic come into July with a realistic shot at pushing Pogi into savage mode and making a great race. Never mind. Pogi lives and sleeps in savage mode. I was hoping not to see another grand tour decided by upwards of ten minutes. I think the TdF window is closed for Roglic and he’ll have to fight for a podium spot in Nice.
Pure class. After causally riding away off the front and past a few hopefuls to win the stage, he reports to the race leaders cool down and protocol area. 2nd place finisher Guilio Pellizzari approaches Pogi to congratulate him and ask for his pink glasses as a souvenir. Pogi obliges his request and also strips off the Maglia Rosa right there and presents it to Pellizzari.
That was a cringey mess for a grand tour stage. What a clown show from RCS to not be better prepared with bad weather contingency ready to implement. Good on the riders for going to their team buses and cars and skipping the ridiculous parade. The town already had their moment with a stage finish, podium ceremony, and rest day. And yeah, on such a shit day that began in shameful disarray, of course Aliphilippe is one of the primary agitators.
Yep, understandable. I’ll keep it on in the background mainly for the comfort of hearing the sounds of bike racing and commentary while I’m working. Even though the outcome is settled, barring something shitty for Pogi, there’s still some good scenery to come.
The way he dropped the group with G and how quickly he put a minute into them was crazy. And not only an undeniable force of nature and talent on the bike, but also a super likable guy. It’s always been clear through his enthusiasm and sportsmanship, both in defeat and victory, that he just loves to race his bike and compete, leaving it all out on the road. You see his interview after the stage yesterday giving genuine props to Steinhaiser and Quintana and talking about being excited and happy to see how well they were going. It’s cool to see such a dominant athlete who operates with earned confidence and legit respect for his competitors and the sport instead being an asshole fueled by ego and bluster. What an absolute monster of a bike racer and badass sportsman.
Yeah, that could be definitely interesting form an entertainment perspective, but I do my best to avoid train wreck tv and internet content, so I’m hoping all of the possible contenders for the Tour show up rested, fit, and in top form. Obvious and ubiquitous pondering of “performance methods” in the pro peloton aside, I’m not interested in watching the Grande Boucle ironically, lol.
He’s been making some big efforts, so he’ll need to moderate that regardless of who ends up being a GC contender at the Tour. I can’t see how Jonas can achieve the fitness and race form to win in July. Even Plugge said they won’t take him to the Tour if he’s not going to compete for the win. They may give Wout the leader role, but I don’t see him beating Pog even if Pog is less than himself because of going for the double. Whatever happens with all of the moving parts regarding the principal players at the Tour, it should be an interesting watch.
That’s especially questionable since Pog is trying for a Giro/Tour double. Seems like they would be trying to avoid burning too many matches. Looks like Bardet just blew up. Surely Pogacar will go soon.
Some head scratcher moments today for sure. After gearing up for true bunch sprint, then seeing the break nearly escape, I was laughing and hoping to see either Pog or G pull off a cheeky win.
Saw some Stage One picks for Narvaez around the web in the last couple of days. Very well timed to hold off Pogacar and Schachmann. Bardet and Arensman dropped is a shock.
I’m ready. It’s always fun to watch Pogacar be Pogacar, but barring something unexpected or unfortunate, it seems pretty likely that the most compelling race within the race with be to see who stands on the podium with him.
At least he’s doing LBL instead of Roubaix and doesn’t have to worry about the condition of the pavè, especially Arenberg, which they are saying is in even more shit condition than usual. Let’s hope he stays upright and whole going into those next two big races on his program.
Jesus. It just keeps getting worse. I’ll still watch, of course, but was really hoping to see some great battles with a healthy and revitalized Roglic, along with Remco, Pogi, and Jonas at full strength.
True, just a brutal year. Just like Wout, collarbone and some ribs. He could possibly be recovered in time for TdF, but not likely in his usual Tour form. Sucks for Pogacar, too. That dude loves to race and compete. I’m sure he’d be thrilled to get a his third Tour victory no matter what, but beating a diminished Jonas might not be as satisfying. That’s racing, though.
It’s a fair criticism, but cycling has done pretty well on the last few years of installing safety measures on high consequence turns at altitude and descents, especially in the grand tours. It’s a shame that some descents in this race were identified and the concrete culvert on the outboard side of a curve on a known probable high speed decent wasn’t covered by a mat or even cheap mattress. Still, you can’t nerf the whole world.