[Will Hunt]

As an honorary Dane I'm obviously now totally invested in Vingegaard ... but basically still clueless about the Tour. But he seems to be looking strong.

Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. To crack so early in the event and before the more serious mountains, he surely can't come back from that.

Looking forward to seeing whether Vingegaard Vs Hindley will be interesting.

[andy moles]

Be interesting to see how today pans out...if Vingegaard is as dominant as yesterday on the final climb and claims yellow, it's hard to see anyone taking it back off him.

I hope Hindley stays strong and Pogacar rallies, for the sake of keeping the GC race interesting!

[webbo]

As an honorary Dane I'm obviously now totally invested in Vingegaard ... but basically still clueless about the Tour. But he seems to be looking strong.

Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. To crack so early in the event and before the more serious mountains, he surely can't come back from that.

Looking forward to seeing whether Vingegaard Vs Hindley will be interesting.

Some prediction that.

[sheavi]

"Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. "

I was thinking this might not age well 

[andy moles]

Well that was something. Jumbo Visma threw the kitchen sink at that stage and Pogacar still took back nearly half a minute and won it.

Back to looking like the two horse race that everyone predicted.

[Johnny Brown]

Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. To crack so early in the event and before the more serious mountains, he surely can't come back from that.

Looking forward to seeing whether Vingegaard Vs Hindley will be interesting.

Some prediction that.

 

[Will Hunt]

No spoilers till after the ITV highlights!
 

[Duma]

Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. To crack so early in the event and before the more serious mountains, he surely can't come back from that.

hahahahahahahaha

I love Tadej "Mark, I'm coming for you..."

[andy moles]

No reading the thread on the subject till after the ITV highlights!
 

FTFY 

[teestub]

  this! don't click on any threads about subjects you don't want spoiling, whether it's the Tour, egg chasing of the climbing world cups.

Shaping up to be another classic between the top two, kinda weird having the Pyrenees in so early.

[steveri]

Jonas looked like he burnt some serious matches to get yellow. I’ve proper warmed to Pog after a lukewarm initial perception, he always livens things up. Crazy to think he’s still eligible for the young rider jersey. And a good Cav gag post race.

[Will Hunt]

"Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. "

I was thinking this might not age well 

Just caught up.

Well well well!

 

[lukeyboy]

this! don't click on any threads about subjects you don't want spoiling, whether it's the Tour, egg chasing of the climbing world cups.

Shaping up to be another classic between the top two, kinda weird having the Pyrenees in so early.

It's looking like an amazing tour so far, hope it can stay exciting and competitive for the next 2 weeks.

I was thinking what a shift it is from the early Team Sky days where you just never saw GC riders actually racing each other, and here we are on day 6 with the top 2 exposed and trading blows for the second day in a row.

For the record, I don't hold anything against Team Sky - they were trying to win and that was the most effective way to do it, the onus was on other teams to compete and make it exciting - but this is way more fun to watch.

[webbo]

"Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. "

I was thinking this might not age well 

Just caught up.

Well well well!

 

What’s todays prediction. Cav, Euan or Jasper.

[sxrxg]

"Pogacar lost the tour yesterday. "

I was thinking this might not age well 

Just caught up.

Well well well!

 

What’s todays prediction. Cav, Euan or Jasper.

Would love it to be Cav, think he might have to wait until the third week though when the others have suffered over some more mountains.

Today I think it will be Philipsen again, he looks like the class of the sprint field and has Van Der Poel as lead out.

For a wild card the tailwind high speed finish could suit Groenewegen.

[webbo]

Electric gears

[teestub]

Electric gears

Oh interesting, he had a wheel change at about 50km out, so maybe that fucked up his indexing slightly? I thought he had kicked too early, but that would explain why Jasper waltzed past!

[teestub]

didn't watch the ITV4 coverage but watching this again (love these vids) this looks like another irregular sprint from Jasper and potentially he should have been relegated for cutting off Biniam Girmay

[Paul B]

Electric gears

I think they're great. Especially from SRAM.

You should watch the ITV coverage Stubs as they cover the choice of line and the lodged (failed) protests.

[MarkJ]

I've seen more trouble in the last 10 years with electric gears than I ever saw in the 70's/80's/90's.
This might have cost Cavendish the all-time record.

[MarkJ]

This might be of interest.
ps. Spoiler alert - his coach does not reveal all ; there is no one training secret ...
However, those of us who have been following Prof Inigo san Millan are gradually building up the picture.

[Paul B]

I've seen more trouble in the last 10 years with electric gears than I ever saw in the 70's/80's/90's.
This might have cost Cavendish the all-time record.

The same way a cable stretching at an inopportune moment could happen? Pinning it on the rear mech is also an assumption.

Let's face it, they wouldn't use electric over mechanical if that was the case.

[webbo]

I've seen more trouble in the last 10 years with electric gears than I ever saw in the 70's/80's/90's.
This might have cost Cavendish the all-time record.

The same way a cable stretching at an inopportune moment could happen? Pinning it on the rear mech is also an assumption.

Let's face it, they wouldn't use electric over mechanical if that was the case.

They use what they get paid to use. Bike manufacturers and equipment suppliers pay the the teams to use their stuff. That’s why you see rebadged wheels, but you can’t really rebadge a group set

[MarkJ]

1. The same way a cable stretching at an inopportune moment could happen? 2. Pinning it on the rear mech is also an assumption.

1. Cables don't suddenly stretch, they do it gradually over a period of months or years, and it can be adjusted out.
2. In his interview ( after he cooled off a bit in the bus ) , Cavendish said that it went from the 11 to the 12 and back again, twice, while he was in the middle of his final sprint.

A big part of the reason for needing electric gears in the insane ( consumerism .. ? ) push to 10, then 11 and 12 sprockets on the back. Now we have sprockets made of foil , chains that cost three times as much , and batteries being thrown away or having to be recharged.
Personally I dug my heels in at 9-speed... so you can see where I stand on this !

[sxrxg]

It shouldn't have ended that way 😭😭😭