Kevindale

I won't give any spoilers, but the first three stages have had great finishes. First two stages were sprint stages, today's had four cat 1 climbs and a steep uphill finish. Definitely worth checking out.

You can catch the ends of the races at Tiz-cycling, spoiler free.

There's been discussion here of shorter stage races and shorter stages with challenging climbs. That seems to be the model here. Not quite the same competition as in the TdF, but some great racing.

Cigarguy

Shorter stage races and shorter stages works for non-Grand tour events. Shortening TdF to a week will produce some action too. Still don't get all the man crush for Sagan. You'd think he invented the wheel and cycling.

Kevindale

No one's suggesting shortening the TdF to a week, or shortening it to few stages. The discussion was that the TdF tends to be boring, and in part that seems to be because the race is so long (# of stages, and length of stages) that it discourages risk taking, since over taxing oneself will lead to complete failure.

The man crush for Sagan is because, among all the current riders, he consistently does things that are amazing. Today he did it in the Tour of Poland. He's simply fun to watch, and he seems to have fun riding. Double win.

gpsblake

I think what would bring more racing is to introduce two or three stages in the Grand Tours of around 100km max. They did one stage this year in the TDF that was under 100km and it had some great racing. Teams and people willing to take more chances on a short stage knowing they are less likely to blow up the following days.

Kevindale

I agree. Today's stage in the Tour of Poland is 130km, which is shortish as these stages go. Four categorized climbs in the second half. There's already a breakaway with Tejay Van Garderen in it, which I assume isn't a "TV breakaway."

gpsblake

Sagan kicking butt there. Is he doing the Vuelta?

Kevindale

I can't imagine he would, unless it's just to do the first week or so to grab a stage or two. I think the Vuelta is too close to the World Championships for him to make a full effort in the Vuelta, though those who know racing (and recovery times) better than I can give better odds.

Kevindale

More excitement in the Tour of Poland. You don't see this at the TdF. .

gpsblake

Well, Sagan cracked big time today.


Around the 34:57 mark.

Pemetic2006

I don't think Sagan is doing the Vuelta. Tejay is. Nice to see him in the break on Wed and softening up the bunch a bit on Thursday's stage into Zakopane.
I've never seen the Tour of Poland before and I'm liking it a lot.

Kevindale

I can't imagine why Sagan would do the Vuelta this year, since I think it's too close to the World Championships. Tejay had some really nice rides in this Tour, especially today, acting as a super domestique. Sagan was epic today, after cracking yesterday. I can't believe he was there almost to the end after all those climbs. He actually picked up 35 mountain points, giving him fourth in that category. This was really an excellent, high quality, entertaining race. A dozen guys with a legit shot at winning on the final stage. Three seconds between first and third places in the GC at the end- that's incredible.

Pemetic2006

Yea, the Worlds are the weekend after, I believe.
We (my wife and I) watched the race on youtube (Eurosport feed) so I only see about the last 50k or so. Not sure when Peter got in the break yesterday but I imagine it was early and I thought he might win the stage. I thought it was interesting that Nibali didn't attack...or maybe he did earlier and it just didn't work out. I assume he's thinking about the Vuelta.
Anyway, great race. Can't wait to see the Vuelta.

gpsblake

Sagan joined the breakaway and had the lead going into the last mountain after climbing quite a bit. An amazing effort. I figure Nibali had no interest in the overall or a stage win and thus didn't feel the need to spend energy going for it.

The crowds were insanely out of control on the last climb of the day, worse than anything I've seen in the Giro or TDF on TV. But I admire how the Poles have embraced this race.

Dylan Teuns of BMC, who I admit I never heard of, won the yellow.

Excellent coverage by the cameras.

Mo06

"The crowds were insanely out of control on the last climb of the day, worse than anything I've seen in the Giro or TDF on TV."

Did you watch the scenes on Mont Ventoux in 2016 ?

Crazy indeed.

Pemetic2006

Crowds were pretty bad. On Wed's (or maybe it was Thur) stage they did a circuit the last part of the race and each time through there was a guy spraying the riders with what looked like an industrial strength water hose. I'm surprised he wasn't stopped from doing that.

Kevindale

That guy's efforts might have been appreciated on other days, given how hot it was (the spray hose was putting out a mist cloud, not an actual spray of water). However, he was spraying them while it was raining! As one of the commentators said, it was surprising that he didn't get a water bottle in the teeth.

gpsblake

Sagan follows this up by winning the first stage of the BinckBank Tour which included Marcel Kittel among other big names. He's on a roll now.

Kevindale

And the roll continues. After an impressive rain-soaked TT yesterday, he made it look easy today for #99.

gpsblake

And he's beating some of the best sprinters in the world, Greipel and Kittel are in this race.

Plus he cut his hair.

Kevindale

Oddly, Kittel and Greipel haven't even contested either sprint finish so far. They haven't even been in play. Either their lead-outs are failing, or there's some other issue. I suspect that will change today, with a somewhat less technical finish than stages 1 and 3.

gpsblake

Greipel of all things was in the breakaway in stage 4. EuroSport commentators were speculating he wasn't following team orders and was freelancing.

Kevindale

Greipel went into a breakaway again today, in stage 5. And then he managed to be in the lead group at the end, but had apparently spent himself, and didn't even seem to try for the finish. He finished 12th. He seems lost, and admitted as much in an interview a few days ago. It goes to show how much elite sports are a mental game.

Otherwise the Binckbank Tour continues to be fun. It was lame seeing everyone in the lead group except Sagan just sit back, allowing Lars Boom a fairly easy win. And Boom's obscene reaction at the end of the race! Never seen anything like it. I understand it earned him a 1000 Swiss Franc fine. Very bush league.