USAZorro

Thor was awesome, and I remember watching these stages and cheering for him. Definitely impressive, but I think what Wout did today is a little bit more so.

MinnMan

Froome was an obvious error. they could have done much better without him on their payroll

sincos

Well, if you're going BITD, Hinault did the triple in 1979: he won a Pyrenean stage to Pau including the Peyresourde and Aspin, a 205 km sprint stage, beating the likes of Didier Thurau and a young Sean Kelly, the final down the Champs Elysees (in a breakaway, though), and all the time trials. In 1970 Merckx won a 236 km stage (these days considered an "endurance slugfest") in the Vosges in a sprint, most of the time trials, an Alpine stage, and the stage that ended at the top of Mt Ventoux.

seypat

There you go. The initial question has been answered. It has been done before. Probably will be done again. That's the great thing about sporting contests.

MinnMan

Not really. The historical perspective of BITD is much appreciated and awe-inspiring. But the "initial question" was in the present tense. "Who else CAN....".

I don't know if there are any, but I'll be happy to witness such heroism going forward.

GrainBrain

A fantastic day for Cavendish! That was a pretty incredible final kilometer especially the last few hundred meters. Mørkøv was a huge, huge part of it but in the end Cav maneuvered so well, it was like a washing machine there!!

Also Rohan Dennis apparently delivered banana bread to Lachlan Morton and I wonder if this will take him off the "dead to me" list for some? https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/lac...our-de-france/

Eric F 

One of the things I really like was Cav's patience and trust in Morkov even when they were getting swamped by riders coming by. Experience and great execution on display with that duo.

GrainBrain

Stage 15 - where's Sepp Kuss? Maybe it'll be a big one for smiling Chavez!

one4smoke

There he is! Love it...

Caretaker

Great win and especially as he denied doper Valverde the stage.

diphthong

seppuku time! shame about roglic leaving and i know kuss is still supporting the team’s gc rider in jonas v. still…nice to see some of the “bridled” talent get unleashed once in a while. hoping a few of the top climbing lieutenants such as kuss and dani martinez get to shine and perhaps ride for themselves in the vuelta…whether from the get go or race/team attrition.

slcbob

In the time of our great western heat wave, it's might nice of Sep to crack a long American drought. Well played, young man.

I've still got the last 30k to watch today as rest day filler. The start of the stage and the climb into Andorra have been some searing racing. I haven't seen riders weave across the road at such right angles as they did with that wide road and blistering wind on the 10%+ grade, shortly after the border control station.

I've got to get retired soon and buy a motorcycle to leave in Europe. That will happen. The bigger question is what am I going to be able to negotiate with my wife for looking after the dogs. Crack that nut, and it'll be me and the tifosi and the schmeldricks or whatever Yiddish Bobke used to throw around.

MinnMan

great call

one4smoke

Going with Alaphilippe for stage 16.

GrainBrain

Sepp's second home in Andorra paid off - would be wild to have that win near his apartment!

DQ have the team to support Alaphillipe, I'm throwing out a name I haven't seen mentioned in Fuglsang.

diphthong

going with wout on sweet sixteen. love the predictions. misery loves company...

slcbob

I don't think I've ever seen such and abundance of prognostications in our little forum here. It must make ooga-booga's heart race. Or is that still yesterday's bike ride?

I'll mix it up some more with Higuita as my pick. He's been scrappy and almost there for a few days.

I'd like to see Cattaneo do something but it's going to be a win from a break today and I don't think they'll let him away. With the cooler temps and rain, I'll be stunned if Pogacar cracks and we might even see him stretch his legs a bit unless he's already tapering for the Olympics.

In Tissotville, after a coin flip, I put the bonus multiplier on Mohoric today. Which bodes well for Woods sweeping up some summit points.

diphthong

konrad would have been my 30th-35th pick. *shrugs*

Eric F 

Watch out for Cobrelli as a future green jersey contender. He's shown remarkable climbing ability for someone labeled as a "sprinter". As Sagan was able to do in his prime, he can steal points on stages where the typical sprinters are in the grupetto.

slcbob

^ I'm kind of surprised he's not more of a green jersey contender this year. He's 80+ points down on Cav who has really only shown up for 4 stages, albeit with a vengeance. He's behind Matthews, too, who has been more under the radar. I'm not sure why he was MIA for those other scoring opportunities -- can't recall and haven't done the research.

Maybe now he's convinced himself he can do it. At 31 years old, the clock is ticking. Here's to a good 2022 for Sonny.

slcbob

I see that nobody has bothered predicting the obvious for today's mountain top finish.

GrainBrain

^^ The race just started and Pierre Roland is trying something, but I wonder if Quintana might nab it today and secure the KOM jersey. Cold and rainy so Pogacar should be at 100% ...

... I'm saying Vingegaard takes it and moves into second over all.

dstrong 

Ya got half of it right! Nice job!

MinnMan

The Principal of Least Astonishment applied

GrainBrain

I'm pretty sure you get disqualified by riding against the race direction, but Rigo seems to have done that today - shedding an absolute crushing 9 minutes to Pog and Co. Still in the top ten (just) but wow - 5 minutes back to 16 minutes back now. It was nice to dream a little, right?

Most disappointing today was watching Dan Martin try and catch backup to the leading Trio - would've been a feel good moment for sure.

Mas tried some late attacking for the stage, but Pog was invincible. Too bad JV didn't do more to protect Vingegaard earlier.

EF, Ineos, Moviestar have had their Tour goals absolutely smashed to bits, abysmal for sure!