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Txzen

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Posts posted by Txzen

  1. 12 hours ago, G650 said:

    Can't help himself

    Pretty much. 
     

    Headed to some of my favorite areas this weekend. The Tourmalet from the Luz side is glorious - long regular slopes with incredible views. 
     

    The Hourquette is a lovely climb, the road seemingly carved in the side of the mountain with great views all along the way. Because I enjoyed it, one can gather its not that difficult (relatively). 
     

    Then Pla d’Adet. The first few K are double digit agony, but it evens out soon after. Once can see the top of the climb almost from the start, but it seems to take forever to get there as the road turns away from the end so many times you never seem to make progress. 

    Spoiler

    IMG_3736.thumb.jpeg.85073108a21acb790ba2cfb9206273de.jpeg

    view from the first main bend at Pla d’Adet. Far in the distance, the finish is atop the green ‘bump’. 

     

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  2. Tadej isn't as strong as he thinks he is, and Jonas is no where near as weak as expected. Tadej claims his training was optimized for the Pyrenees stages - we shall see. The Pyrenees always get written as these irregular climbs with ever changing gradient compared to the more steady alpine climbs. Outside of Hautacam, I don't think that's true. The Tourmalet is relentless but regular, as is Pla d'Adet and Plasteu de Beille. Unlike today, you're not going to find long stretches of double digit percentage gradients. 

    Is Tadej fading or did he bonk? Jonas is certainly surging. 

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  3. TP going for it at 80k, ok. Remco attacking then fading, Roglic and his team limiting the damage, and Jonas racing 70k on his teammates bike. Hell of a stage. 
     

    Tadej likes to race. Let’s see if he has enough gas in the tank when we hit the Pyrenees.

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  4. Agreed. Can Tadej keep his lead on 13/14 and then 19/20, or at least not crack? Will Primoz and Jonas ride into form? Will Remco be within striking distance for the top step for the last TT? A much more entertaining Tour than I expected with all the big name crashes during Spring. 

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  5. We may indeed have a race here, though Tadej still had great form. 
     

    Remco confirming he thought he heard a pop or hiss, thought he had a slow leak and took the last corners a little conservatively. He’s a fun one to watch. Seems way more mature than his age. 

  6. Mark has not always been an easy guy to like. Strong willed, ill tempered, cocky. But the twilight of his career - starting with his tears at his ‘last race ever’ at Ghent in 2020, it’s been hard not to pull for him. What a legend. Well done Sir Mark!

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  7. What a fucking stage. Pog looks like he’s missing a little top end on his attack, but while JV can almost match it he looks not able to sustain it. 
     

    Spoiler

    Have climbed the Galibier from the Valoire side twice. Once in 2008 starting in Valoire because I was scared. Once 10 years later from St. Jean de Maurienne because I was foolhardy . That included the Telegraph and made it and out and back 42mi day with 7400’ of climbing. Died a hundred deaths on the way to the top.

    By far my favorite decent - long, open, fast with otherworldly mountains all around.

     

    IMG-0409.jpg

     

    IMG-0413.jpg

    IMG-0406.jpg

     

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  8. I kind of like Carapaz…but he grabbed that jersey in the most Spanish way ever. Loved the WTF looks from Remco and Tadej at they were all soft pedaling in. 
     

    edit - my bad, he’s from Ecuador but my feelings are the same!

  9. Peacock here and I hate it. 
     

    Living on the West Coast, always tuning in late in the morning with no option to start from the beginning. Have to start within and hour or so of the end. I guess it beats Wide World Of Sports Sunday updates, but just barely. 
     

     

  10. Maybe the positive for Roglic is that he’s not peaked too early. But this was a familiar sight today - just needed an ill-fitting helmet half off his head while he struggled to hold onto seconds to complete the picture. 
     

    Let’s see if Tadej burned too many matches, but I doubt it. As said above, hope at least it’s an interesting 3 weeks in July. 

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  11. There was a time when I would agree. I think there was one spring in the Bay Area that broke me. It was an El Nino year, and so riding in the wet was just the way it was going to be. But crossing the GGB on the way home, it started to hail. That combined with wind whipping in froze me. Sat in a warm bath for an hour trying to get my core temp back up. Never the same, and now I'm too old and soft to repeat. 

    Not enough words to describe how TP is just on another level. He's such an amazing all-rounder - great TT, great climber, not impacted by the cold, not averse from trying Spring Classics. We haven't seen one like him in a long time. And he'll give the jersey off his back for a young rider (as he did today). 

    Great Giro so far for Danny Martinez - always liked him at EF.

    Worried about the weather the next few days. Hope we don't get a repeat of today. 

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  12. Late to the party, thanks for the tag. 

    Discovered almost by accident that my MAX subscription now carries the Eurosport coverage for (some of) the spring classics. How nice to watch Strade Bianche from the comfort of my own living room, rather than hunched over my computer watching a downloaded torrent. Between that and Peacock, I guess I guess we have them all covered this year - oddly enough perhaps the most complete TV coverage we've had for a while on mainstream channels (though I was never a GCN guy). 

    What can you say about Tadej. I used to think he was a little too cocky, but his sportsmanship won me over. The guy loves to race. To call out he would attack when he did, and then do it while everyone was in misery in the hail and mud, phew. An 80k TT for the win. True panache with that one. Never dull to watch. 

    Can't help but think about the showdown with Jonas eventually. While he's nowhere near as exciting to watch, the talent is undeniable. Both are able to ride in terrible conditions (see the wins in cold wet O Gran Camino) with damn fine bike handling as well, so we're past the staring-at-the-watt-meter boredom of past. 

    Not sure Bora is up for the challenge in keeping Roglic in play. I think he's got a chip on his shoulder from being 'reigned in' at the Vuelta (though I'm not 100% sure he was able to challenge Sepp on those long steep climbs), so he's got something to prove. I get the move for him, but not sure Bora was the best choice - but where else could he go?

    These helmets, though - oy: Spaceballs

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