Unfortunately for him, being second in the green jersey and finishing 4/5th In TDF sprints = not in great shapeSagan doesn’t seem like he’s in great shape.
Unfortunately for him, being second in the green jersey and finishing 4/5th In TDF sprints = not in great shapeSagan doesn’t seem like he’s in great shape.
Unfortunately for him, being second in the green jersey and finishing 4/5th In TDF sprints = not in great shape
Sagan mechanical in the last sprint, however bora was the one that shredded everyone to make the day what it was.another day, another race where Wout beats Sagan (among others) in a sprint for the win.
This TDF is so much better with out Froome /sky leading after every race and zero suspense. More than a week in and it’s wide open.
FWIW, I think this is the most boring tour in recent history. Typical, the sprints are good, the break away wins were good, but the GC battle was basically over since the 6th stage.
FWIW, I think this is the most boring tour in recent history. Typical, the sprints are good, the break away wins were good, but the GC battle was basically over since the 6th stage.
The podium had shifted in other tour’s too, in the last 8 years that was really the only battle to watch (2nd-5th), but who really cares?The GC battle was over after stage 6? You really think that? That's an objectively ridiculous thing to say. With less than two minutes separating the top four going into the two hardest stages of the tour, this was far and away the least settled tour going into the last week in recent memory. The fact that the top 10 has shuffled as much as it has in the last four days is evidence enough that very little was settled even after stage 15 or 16. Roglic has a death grip on first now, but he and his team had to earn that every day. And even now, after having a team that has stepped up every single time he needed them, he could still blow up in the uphill time trial and make way for not only Pogacar but also Lopez. Not only was the GC battle not settled by stage 6, it's possible it's not even settled now. I mean, it's probably going to be Roglic at this point, but on a solo ride against the clock uphill, he could lose to both Pogacar and Lopez.
The podium had shifted in other tour’s too, in the last 8 years that was really the only battle to watch (2nd-5th), but who really cares?
Roglic’s death grip on first (Similar to sky/Ineos) is what makes it boring. Sure, uphill TT could explode it all, but Pogacar having bad luck early in the tour and losing time basically gave Jumbo a free pass at making others works to try and make up time. The same EXACT thing sky used to do. Not sure Roglic is bulletproof but he has not really shown any weakness against the other GC guys.
Well, anyone in the lead is going to make others work to try to take it. That's kind of how racing works. Roglic hasn't had a death grip on first until today (possibly yesterday.) His team has been fantastic, but this isn't the same thing as Ineos - none of these guys, with the possible exception of Doumolin, were ever going to be GC threats (Kuss WILL be soon, but he's not ready now.) Ineos has always had multiple threats. Jumbo really has one hand to play here and they've played it beautifully and pretty much nothing has gone wrong for them. But that was by no means guaranteed at any point right up to and including today - or even this Saturday. If Roglic had one bad climb it wouldn't matter how many guys they have to pull him back, they'd be in real trouble. This isn't an Ineos situation where everyone else was locked out because guys who could be GC contenders on almost any other team were working in service of whoever the boss was paying them to work for. In this situation, Jumbo is ride or die with Roglic this year - maybe Doumolin if he didn't have bad luck earlier could have been a second puncher, but that was never a plan. This was a one shot team from the jump and they've executed perfectly, but the fact that even doing that has left them STILL somewhat vulnerable now, with just one more day of real racing left, speaks to the openness of this particular tour. Plus you've got young guys like Pogacar who will never stop trying to attack keeping them all on their toes. That's just not boring.
FWIW, I think this is the most boring tour in recent history. Typical, the sprints are good, the break away wins were good, but the GC battle was basically over since the 6th stage.
@1speed going bananas today.
@1speed going bananas today.
I’ll still stand by it was still boring as a whole. What’s it say about the quality of the riders in this tour when Richie Porte makes the podium 😛