Can anyone catch... (spoiler inside)
 

Pagacar? After today's showing, well, It sure looks like the kid is on the way again. Granted, it's early, but damn, what a showing.

Pogacar is the only one that can beat Pogacar. Something bad would have to happen for him not to win. Otherwise he cruises.

He doesn't have a tendency to play it safe, but if he does, then the GC competition could be pretty dull from here on out.

Sure looks that way, and he's got a strong team as well. And he's still eligible for the white jersey? Damn.

yes

no

All the crashes this past week has eliminated the other teams leaders to challenge Pog
This year it’s enjoy each day’s race for itself and don’t worry about the Yellow jersey this year. While Pog will win the yellow jersey this year it be due to the field being being weak.

He reminds me of a previous yellow jersey winner who is not listed as a winner. Am I the only one?

After today's stage.... Ben O'Connor is the only chance unless someone has a "Contador steak".

I've seen this a few times now. But they would never DQ him. They only DQ Americans winners.

Contador.

Ah, right. The backdated rug test. But how about Pantani? Oh, well.

Looked like he had pretty good support for the majority of today's stage. Only until the very end was he on his own. Maybe not the strongest team, but not bad.

I guess we'll see as the race progresses. Was funny today that Cavendish needed two rider to escort him to the finish. But hey....sprinters.

DQ'ed from the 1999 Giro.

And then dead 5 years later. .

So many race altering crashes early on.... :(

Captain Beefsteak.

.

It's the dominance TP showed in the last 2 stages, just motoring away from everyone - gaining 2minutes in the last few km yesterday going up a mountain. Maybe he's that much better than everyone else. The lesson of history, however, not to mention probabilities, says he's probably about as good as other top riders.

Never could figure out why they didn't strip him of his title. Clearly cheating.

Maybe you should read up on the history and learn how it all went down. Meanwhile, your original assertion about "only Americans" is ridiculous.

Not that bad. Since that Frenchman in 1904, 2 of the three who had their titles stripped were Americans. And from what I've read, many, many riders tested positive during Armstrong's wins, so why no punishment for them?

Mercxx 1969
Pollentier 1978
Pantani 1999

So now you're at 2 out of 6, proving mostly that you don't know your history, but surely not interfering with the narrative you are clutching.

I'm done with this one..

I know of four riders who have had their titles stripped after the fact. Who are the other two?

MinnMan you lasted longer than this thread deserved after it went sideways.

Questioning the results with science and analysis is worth the bandwidth.

Grinding an axe with disbelief and ignorance is unworthy.

We saw both kinds in the Lance era. Unfortunately, both kinds feel vindicated by his result. I don't know if I'm more sorry for the zealots who can't believe there's a clean rider out there who does great things, or the other zealots who contributed to the Floyd Fairness Fund and such.

The truth can be elusive but some table stakes facts are just a Google away.