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Well, you're right Klunk, but if it had ended like the previous stage (or worse if the jumbo plan worked out with Wout), it just might have been a procession for GC, with pog and the rest looking for stages</p>
James Shaw sounding like Ricky Gervais in that interview!
keep seeing this, he only has 4 less racing days that Jonas
Yes but Pog races far more, and raced the spring classics and thenthe problem is he wasn't able to train when his wrist was broken!
Loved the Jai Hindley interview..."was like a dream being in yellow but I got my arse handed to me to be fair" or something similar
So the Jumbo DS told Jonas on the Tourmalet "You've got him on the ropes!"
That was a great stage!
What a stage. That race taper for TP is clearly having an effect. Having broken WvA and Sepp K, and seeing Jonas look thoroughly human, I wonder what Jumbo are thinking next. Pog is most definitely “the racer’s racer”. He sprints for 32nd place “it’s a race, you always sprint at the end”. First time he’s dropped JV on a climb too.
That was great. It’s amazing how much better Vinnegard and Pogacar are than the others - even when another rider managed to gat back to them they were almost instantly dropped.
First time he’s dropped JV on a climb @ the tour too.
he dropped him quite comprehensively @ this years Paris Nice.
I wonder what Jumbo are thinking next
A couple of sprint days to get through (which should have little effect on GC) and then into the next summit finish stage, Puy de Dome. After that it's the rest day so I imagine it's a case of 2 "easy" days and then one where everyone will get a better idea of what's what.
Expect a fair bit of recalibration over the next few days, especially after Stage 9 and the start of Week 2.
That's insane, can you believe it's only been a week?! Feels like we should be coming to the last stage with the racing that's been going on!
You’ve got him on the ropes!”
Exactly what they thought, unfortunately they then decided that the best option was to respond by punching themselves in the face for the rest of the day.
Or you could look at it as Jumbo dispatching Jai, putting JV in yellow, finding out a load of useful info on pogs fitness in time to do something about it and still being 30 seconds up on GC whilst going into a couple of sprint days.
The last couple of days racing has been so good that I've watched the finish live and then again on the highlights show.
The last couple of days racing has been so good that I’ve watched the finish live and then again on the highlights show.
Ditto. Not sure today will be quite as enthralling, at least until the final 20km or so...
Exactly what they thought, unfortunately they then decided that the best option was to respond by punching themselves in the face for the rest of the day.
Rouleur have a blog post on that.
I have to say, I agree more with @winston . It's not a disaster for Jumbo or Jonas Vingegaard. Probably not ideal but they'll be able to take a lot of info from it, recalibrate a bit then work out what to do from week 2 onwards. There's a chance that the "back end" of the GC will start closing up a bit too; Ineos look to be riding into it a bit now they've sorted out the fact that Bernal is going to be nowhere near, they can put their efforts to Carlos Rodriguez and Tom Pidcock. Simon and Adam are both still putting on a strong show.
Anyone else watch Chris Horner's Butterfly effect on YouTube. He's a bit of a ****tish contrarian but I do enjoy his takes on things...Jumbo, knuckleheads...I agree this time.
they could have "skytrained" it to the final climb so they had numbers to deter/pull back any attacks to the last 500m but wheres the fun in that 😀
Rouleur have a blog post on that.
The benefit of hindsight is a powerful thing.
The 'skytain' is no longer. Ineos are actually having to ride (which I'm enjoying immensely).
I also enjoy the honest and open interviews by the younger riders.
This Grand tour is at such a pace, one can't help but wonder if most riders will be knackered by week 3.