tour de france 2021-straight...no fantasy chaser
#76
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I will say that ever since he came to my attention winning the Tour of California, Pogacar has shown impeccable racecraft when the stakes are highest, an absolute focus, and a killer mentality. It's just that he's gone from winning to winning emphatically, in a manner that raises more questions than the answers UAE supplies.
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dunno what happened to démare the other day on stage four but stage six would seem to be tailored for him.
picking démare (again) for the stage six horrible prediction. if he doesn't have a good showing w/o a significant reason
on this stage, writing him off for this tour. don't make me pick air cav.
picking démare (again) for the stage six horrible prediction. if he doesn't have a good showing w/o a significant reason
on this stage, writing him off for this tour. don't make me pick air cav.
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I hope he's OK and shakes it off.
dunno what happened to démare the other day on stage four but stage six would seem to be tailored for him.
picking démare (again) for the stage six horrible prediction. if he doesn't have a good showing w/o a significant reason
on this stage, writing him off for this tour. don't make me pick air cav.
picking démare (again) for the stage six horrible prediction. if he doesn't have a good showing w/o a significant reason
on this stage, writing him off for this tour. don't make me pick air cav.
However, I will be happy as long as they all stay upright and we don't fill up the crackerbox again. And as long as someone, anyone, crosses the line in front of Boubou.
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There was due puzzlement on the GCN feed and on Orla's couch about what the heck he was doing going hard. In the wet there was no chance of stage win, only extra risk that was doubly unacceptable because his job is to shepherd Pogacar. He had one job...
I hope he's OK and shakes it off.
I hope he's OK and shakes it off.
I remember in Adriatico MvdP bested Pogacar (barely) for a stage, now he has denied him yellow. Or has he? It's become very clear that Pogacar is sandbagging to the max!
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Holy moly!! Cheers to the old dude...again.
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I love it. I haven't generally been a big fan of Cav in the past, but I can't help cheering for him this year. That said, the Alpecin team is riding really well. I love seeing MVDP in yellow taking a pull on the front of the sprint train in the final K.
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Yes! He may not be able to hold the yellow when it hits the climbing stages but it's been really great seeing MVDP with it on. I've been really enjoying this years tour so far (crashes aside).
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MVDP is no climber, but I love how he animates races that are within his range. Alaphillipe, too. Tomorrow's stage might be another opportunity for those guys to put on a great show.
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Horner went on about this also. But McNulty is an ITT specialist, and the team might have figured that the TT was his chance to shine. If the TT effort were to tire him, he'd have two days of flat sprint stages to sit in before the mountains. Crashing was not in the game plan.
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Watching the overhead replay, Philipsen lost the race when he had to take the power off the pedals to avoid colliding with Cav. Seems like he took a poor line and paid for it.
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Also, DQS just rules sprint lead outs, year after year. Whether their lead man is Bennett, Viviani, or Cav, whomever has that train working for them has a leg up.
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Seemed like Aplacin had the better leadout today. They just don't have the same caliber closer. Cav is a savvy sprinter and took advantage of the free ride from the Alpacin duo.
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Horner went on about this also. But McNulty is an ITT specialist, and the team might have figured that the TT was his chance to shine. If the TT effort were to tire him, he'd have two days of flat sprint stages to sit in before the mountains. Crashing was not in the game plan.
I get it re the ITT worthy goal for McNulty. You're spot on re the recovery opportunities. But once it got wet, the risk-reward calculus completely flipped and I think it was a bad call to pursue.
Fingers crossed he'll get a good dry run at TT 2.
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daily/nightly horrible prediction for stage seven...aranburu.
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not surprisingly no aranburu but nice to see mohoric get a well-deserved win.
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I absolutely love that MVDP is active in animating and shaping the race while wearing yellow. There is zero expectation that he will be able to keep the jersey for much longer, but it's been a pretty exciting first week.
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#96
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there hasn't been a good track record of sprinters as of late, after having wild success with dqs, leaving for other teams and having any portion of that success
elsewhere. viviani and trentin immediately come to mind. bennett could buck that trend. even with ackermann and sagan on the bora squad, he may have had more success with bora.
he's definitely been competitive with dqs but not quite the lay-up/shoo-in for the win we may have been expecting with the move to dqs. heck, dqs resurrected
cav so is it the system or the rider or a little of both? has bennett been fighting the dqs system/way a bit? if sagan did end up at dqs, would we see him winning
again vs his 3rd-8th place showings? for 2022, it will be interesting to see if bennett races more and ends up being more of a factor elsewhere than he has been with
dqs.
to be fair, dqs has been loaded the last few years so it's not like a golden goose/caleb ewan at lotto situation. it's been similar to the ineos gt protected rider situation...
too many cooks in the kitchen.
Last edited by diphthong; 07-02-21 at 02:18 PM.
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there hasn't been a good track record of sprinters as of late, after having wild success with dqs, leaving for other teams and having any portion of that success
elsewhere. viviani and trentin immediately come to mind. bennett could buck that trend. even with ackermann and sagan on the bora squad, he may have had more success with bora.
he's definitely been competitive with dqs but not quite the lay-up/shoo-in for the win we may have been expecting with the move to dqs. heck, dqs resurrected
cav so is it the system or the rider or a little of both? has bennett been fighting the dqs system/way a bit? if sagan did end up at dqs, would we see him winning
again vs his 3rd-8th place showings? for 2022, it will be interesting to see if bennett races more and ends up being more of a factor elsewhere than he has been with
dqs.
to be fair, dqs has been loaded the last few years so it's not like a golden goose/caleb ewan at lotto situation. it's been similar to the ineos gt protected rider situation...
too many cooks in the kitchen.
elsewhere. viviani and trentin immediately come to mind. bennett could buck that trend. even with ackermann and sagan on the bora squad, he may have had more success with bora.
he's definitely been competitive with dqs but not quite the lay-up/shoo-in for the win we may have been expecting with the move to dqs. heck, dqs resurrected
cav so is it the system or the rider or a little of both? has bennett been fighting the dqs system/way a bit? if sagan did end up at dqs, would we see him winning
again vs his 3rd-8th place showings? for 2022, it will be interesting to see if bennett races more and ends up being more of a factor elsewhere than he has been with
dqs.
to be fair, dqs has been loaded the last few years so it's not like a golden goose/caleb ewan at lotto situation. it's been similar to the ineos gt protected rider situation...
too many cooks in the kitchen.
I have a hard time picturing Sagan working with a disciplined lead out train - it's so not his style. But it would be interesting to see.
I do have a nagging suspicion that Cav is winning now in part because there's a momentary lack in super-pumped sprinters in the field in this TdF. Who else is really on form and not hurt? Bouhani? Philipsen and Merllier are impressive but Cav's challenge is not the same as it would be if Ewan were in the mix.
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Bennett won tons of races this spring, so DQS was working fine for him, until whatever happened with his knee or attitude or relationship with management once he decided to seek greener pastures.
I have a hard time picturing Sagan working with a disciplined lead out train - it's so not his style. But it would be interesting to see.
I do have a nagging suspicion that Cav is winning now in part because there's a momentary lack in super-pumped sprinters in the field in this TdF. Who else is really on form and not hurt? Bouhani? Philipsen and Merllier are impressive but Cav's challenge is not the same as it would be if Ewan were in the mix.
I have a hard time picturing Sagan working with a disciplined lead out train - it's so not his style. But it would be interesting to see.
I do have a nagging suspicion that Cav is winning now in part because there's a momentary lack in super-pumped sprinters in the field in this TdF. Who else is really on form and not hurt? Bouhani? Philipsen and Merllier are impressive but Cav's challenge is not the same as it would be if Ewan were in the mix.
I would agree that Cav may be having more success than he would if Ewan was his opponent, but there's no doubt that Cav is in great form, has high motivation to prove his value (to himself, as much as to the team, probably), and is savvy as hell in finding a way to win. Soft competition or not, I'm enjoying watching Cav more than I ever have before.
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#99
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stage eight looks to be a barnburner. tons of curves along the route along with some big climbs/descents.
and, afaict, looks to be a pretty decent chance of rain on the second half of the stage. wishing all the boys
make it thru the proceedings safely. something tells me that won't be the case but hoping for the horrible
prediction streak to continue.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race...today/profiles
and, afaict, looks to be a pretty decent chance of rain on the second half of the stage. wishing all the boys
make it thru the proceedings safely. something tells me that won't be the case but hoping for the horrible
prediction streak to continue.
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race...today/profiles
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Have to give Mohoric props for the win today. And for nabbing stage wins in all three GTs on their longest days.
Even though his name is familiar, I don't know much about him and he doesn't get much written about him when crazy descending and the supertuck aren't discussed. Reading some post-stage quotes and maybe his low-profile is undeserved. He played it tactically smart today -- by attacking and staying away with 88km still to go! "It was full gas all day, which meant I don't think we even did six hours, so I don't think it counts as super long" he says, after the longest TdF stage in 21 years!
Even though his name is familiar, I don't know much about him and he doesn't get much written about him when crazy descending and the supertuck aren't discussed. Reading some post-stage quotes and maybe his low-profile is undeserved. He played it tactically smart today -- by attacking and staying away with 88km still to go! "It was full gas all day, which meant I don't think we even did six hours, so I don't think it counts as super long" he says, after the longest TdF stage in 21 years!