Latest comments
- My Stage 5 prediction came true: Remco goes off the back on the final climb, and Lipo overtakes him on GC.
- The rider doth protest too much.
- I really don't think that there are too many people who are suspicious of the state of Jonas' marriage.
- Great for JV and his Giro aspirations and hopefully keeping TP honest.
But WTF with the handlebar and ring kissing? Every. Fvcking. Time. He's not the only rider in the peloton who's married, but he's taking the performative family-man image-making to a new level, and only raises suspicions about the state of his head and his marriage.
- Remco Gone Gone Gone. Whats the excuse now?crash?
- Giulio Ciccone is hunting down Veistroffer's jersey. The French man went in the breakaway on all of the previous stages and won almost all the KOM sprints. He has 39 points. It's the first time Cicco is going in the breakaway but he already has 15 points. If he wins the remaining two mid-stage sprints he'll have 35. He needs 4 or more on Coll de Pall (meaning that he'd have ti finish at least 4th - a big ask). And even if he doesn't tomorrow is a big day too.
- Has this stage actually been shortened? I still see the full 153km being shown on Pro Cycling Stats, with the finish on the Coll de Pal.
- Finally we have a top notch breakaway! Tbh Lipowitz and Riccitello had no chance of staying away but it's good to see they're making their presence felt
- Perhaps they confused de Toro with del Grosso
I think thr podium will be:
Pogačar (again, to equal the record)
Pedersen (wins the sprint for 2nd again)
Van Aert (outsprinted by Pedersen)
When Pogačar attacks they'll be strung out. Pedersen will be dropped first, then van Aert, then van der Poel. They'll then regroup but not catch him. Van der Poel will miss the podium.
- Col du Granon was affected by bad tactics but not caused by them. It gave him a big warning and that's why he started trying harder. In 2023 he was on another level. He dominated Paris-Nice [although that had little significance as he'd done that in Tirreno in the years before], but the real change was seen in the classics. While in 2022 he was 5th at MSR, 10th at DDV, 4th at RVV and 12th at FW, in 2023 he was 4th at MSR and 3rd at E3 before being unbeaten through RVV, Amstel and FW. The crash at LBL derailed him. It would be unfair to Jonas to say that Pogacar would've won the Tour otherwise but it would also be unfair to Pogacar to say that he didn't try much harder. But the 2023 Tour de France lit the fire for what came next.
Let's hope that in 2026, after two years of dominance [just as he'd done in 2020-21], he doesn't get complacent.
An interessting note is that after the 2023 Tour de France Pogacar abandoned cyclocross
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