P.S. I was slow to post and see the conversation moved along a bit.
surak , concur, Jakobsen losing the wheel of his train with the Ineos-involved split was an important event. I don't think it was inherently unrecoverable, but he didn't recover it. He clearly made a few pushes to close the gap and it was stunning he couldn't.
MinnMan 's "alleged mechanical" is a good phrase because it's such a convenient excuse for what might really be a mechanical or perhaps just a jour sans. On form, with a functioning bike, he closes that gap quickly when he made the push inside riders in front of him at one of those roundabouts.