TdF 2019 - Stage 13 ITT - SPOILER ALERT
 

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inrng : tour de france stage 13 preview

This would have been one for Froome if he hadn't had his accident. Didn't stop him adding another GT to his palmarés this week though, being awarded the 2011 Vuelta.

Should shake up the GC standings although I don't see Alaphilippe losing the jersey today. First Ineos stage win of this Tour with Thomas?

DISASTER FOR VAN AERT! Oh my God he just caught the barrier, gashed his leg open!!

Major kudos to the fans for covering him up.

Just a fleshwound according to Belgian tv, but still sad. Maybe the banner was attached to the barrier with something sharp, or he caught the hook the barriers are connected with.

Tough scene

looked very bad....I kind of have a bad feeling it wasn't just a "flesh" wound. Looks just awful!

OK, I'm here for the advertised "spoilers"! Somebody lay some on me !! :D

What did I tell you? What are the so called 'experts' now saying?

Alaphilippe by almost 15secs from Thomas with de Gendt 3rd.

The experts forgot. Best drug ever is that yellow jersey. Worth at least a minute. (Sky is funding wind tunnel and other research to discover the secret to that fabric but hasn't found it yet. They've benefited in the past wearing it but still cannot duplicate it in other colors.)

Ben

I watched Alaphilippe in the spring classics he was awesome.

I'm very excited to see Uran do well!

That van Aert crash was brutal, shows how one day you can be on the top of the world and the next.... Hope he's not too badly injured and is back soon.

So as we head for the mountains this is how GC stands:

1 ALAPHILIPPE, Julian (DQT) 53:01:09
2 THOMAS, Geraint (INS) + 1:26
3 KRUIJSWIJK, Steven (TJV) + 2:12
4 MAS NICOLAU, Enric (DQT) + 2:44
5 BERNAL GOMEZ, Egan Arley (INS) + 2:52
6 BUCHMANN, Emanuel (BOH) + 3:04
7 PINOT, Thibaut (GFC) + 3:22
8 URAN, Rigoberto (EF1) + 3:54
9 QUINTANA, Nairo (MOV) + 3:55
10 YATES, Adam (MTS) +3:55
11 MARTIN, Daniel (UAD)+3:55

Will Alaphilippe be able to hold on till Paris? My heart says yes but my head says no.
Will Skineos win with Thomas or Bernal? before the TT I said their chances were better than even but now I put them just at even.

Van Aert just had surgery. No fractures, but muscle tissue is damaged too. Has to remain in hospital for a few days.

Meanwhile in the race for green...
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(Chris Graythen/Getty Images)

I wonder if INS still has two leaders?

hard no!

Bernal is their future no doubt but this year he is now a support rider.

Dudes got some serious bike handling skills to pull that on a TT bike.

Looked to me like he caught his bars in the banner which slammed the bar into his thigh causing the gash! Bummer!

Baring a catastrophe, I think he can. The guy has a lot of fight, determination ...and heart.

Love that quote! So true. :thumb:

Dan Martin is writing a Tour diary for the Irish Times and in today's edition talks about his goal for the Tour so far as having been to 'stay upright and healthy'. He seems hopeful for what he can do in the mountains. He classes himself as a non-TT specialist which I think is understating it but he says he was reasonably happy with his performance yesterday. As a former team mate of Alaphilippe he thinks he (Juju) can go on to win in Paris.

Tough crash. Hard to tell exactly. Looked to me like maybe his bullhorn got hooked behind the banner that was blowing out and then ripped him down hard.

Sucks. Kind of a freak accident.

Uran is probably too far down barring something catastrophic. The cross winds that one day are going to define this race.

The weird thing is that the supposed climber Juju actually picked up even more time over the others on the flat second half of the course.

Reported.