Originally Posted by
PJay120
If you look at the overall standings for Stage 15, the day before the TT, many riders had nothing to gain from riding the route in 36 minutes versus 39 minutes. Most would get no notable benefit from moving up in rank from, say, 50th, to what? 45th place? So, as people are noting, yes, overall, the majority of riders do the work, but not like those in the top ten.
It is not so much that JV is super human, but that he was one of a few where riding all-out was worth the effort.
https://www.letour.fr/en/rankings/stage-15
Someone before made the estimate that 10% of the riders rode the TT to the best of their ability. Roughly speaking, that seems about right. After Jonas and Pogi, there were 13 riders within a minute of WVA. It seems reasonable to assume that all of those - and probably a handful of others - were giving it 100%. Battling for 45th place probably isn't happening, but the battle for top 10 is real.