jookey
Posts:200
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| 06/29/2024 06:35 PM |
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Forum has been quiet, but I’ll say this was an awesome first stage. It would not have stuck without the sacrifice of the young gun… |
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zootracer
Posts:835
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| 07/01/2024 09:55 AM |
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| We subcribe to Peacock TV. They show the stages live starting at 0 dark thirty. Later on in the afternoon they show the complete stage start to finish. I usually fast forward to the last 30K if nothing exciting is going on. I wonder if Canvendish is going to finish. He has a terrible problem dealing with heat. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/03/2024 11:29 AM |
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This Tour is starting off great! Loved seeing two Frenchmen winning the first stage. Cavendish retching, hanging on and making the cut. (I wasn't at all sure he could recover enough to continue, knowing what was in store the next day.) Frenchman wins Stage 2. Cav finishes comfortably. Pogacar and Vingegaard set the tone. Evenepoel shows hes a player also.
Stage 3, Girmay! Brilliant sprint to become first Black African ever. (First Black ever?) (And I thought this might be Cav's hope; blown for having to go around a crash.)
Stage 4, Pogacar! Stage 5, Cavendish pulls off the win with a classic sprint. No trickery. Just a great sprinter lead out by a great team and holding off a powerful rider for a win that wasn't close. (CN live report. Didn't see it so correct me if I am wrong.) For number 35. Yes, I am a little sad that the great Merckx isn't #1 anymore but records fall. And we all know that Eddy's record of wins includes solo wins and mountaintop wins and a minor count of 5 yellow jerseys worn into Paris. (And I believe he has combined those jerseyed rides into Paris with P-R, the WC and the Hour Record - though not all the same year! He is remotely human after all!)
It's only 5 days. Is it possible to cram more good stuff in? And we have a TT coming up that matters. Evenepoel 45 seconds down on Pogacar. Fun!
Christmas in July! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/06/2024 10:39 AM |
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Day 7, Remco! Day 8, Girmay again! And Girmay in the green by a lot. (Yes, granted, Pederson crashed out and Philipsen relegated himself a bunch of places but still, Girmay has simply been doing what needs to be done with complete (and excellent) support from his teammates. For a Black in the pro ranks, huge!)
Too much good candy! |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/10/2024 10:02 AM |
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Spoiler! Stage 11 - more good racing! The little guy did what I expected and neutralized Pogacar. Remco impressed me. Roglic needs to keep his bike upright. Will he pay tomorrow?
Fun having a real horse race where it isn't just "will so-and-so have a bad day?" |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/11/2024 10:25 AM |
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Spoiler Stage 12 - Girmay again! Loving how this Tour is playing out. But Roglic; that rider has a nose for crashes. Can sniff them out and be there. And if they aren't to be had, creates them. 2 finishing miles crashes in two days. Yesterday the race officials gave him a gift, same time, when he wasn't caught up in a crash but did it all on his own. That's kinda like gifting a TT rider with the seconds he lost crashing.
Roglic and Bora need to do some hard looking at where Roglic chooses to place himself in the peloton, who he rides near and take on the old motorcycle mantra about keeping the rubber side down. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/16/2024 11:31 AM |
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I have no thoughts on Thinline's cruuuunch so I'm going to talk TdF.
Tough for me to read about Girmay's crash. I was rooting for him to win. But far bigger, I hope he can continue and hang on to enough of his 30 point lead to wear green in Nice. He certainly deserves it. Philipsen even said as much. "He's climbing really well. I just hope he's OK after the crash, because he doesn't deserve yet to lose like this".
Girmay has been doing the solid work to build a lead that can handle a bad day. Riding the Tour like a seasoned pro who knows what has to be done. Now, can he stay close enough in the last few intermediate sprints to hang on? Here's to a solid night's sleep, best possible healing and a healthy dose of good luck. And lots of grit for tomorrow and Thursday. Friday and Saturday may simply be the biggest hell he has ever had to see but I trust if he can get that far and still have the lead, he'll make it. He strikes me as having a Merckx-like heart only he's not the Cannibal, he the hero of a continent. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/17/2024 11:43 AM |
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Yeah! Doesn't look like that crash slowed Girmay down at all. And Remco is firing on all cylinders. Making Vingegaard look quite human.
I wonder how much Vingegaard is paying for having to operate above his comfortable (and powerful) diesel comfort zone on the gravel stage, in the TT and at other times. And how much he paid for having not having teammates around him until Laporte dropped back from the break. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 08/18/2024 08:56 PM |
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Glad to see this forum is alive and well!
I'm still amazed at the massive superiority of the top 3. I truly hope it's all legit. Ditto Remco in Paris, although that was less superhuman than the Giro and Tour stormings by Pod. Regardless, that's in the books. Bring on the Vuelta and the UCI Worlds!
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