Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/15/2021 05:42 PM |
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Now the top 3 is set. Uran may be feeling effects of imperfect preparation and covid.
JV should have sent Kuss up the road instead of pacing towards the foregone conclusion. Then again, Vingegaard was not on a good day he said post-race so maybe they were playing it safe and steady. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/15/2021 05:43 PM |
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Posted By Cosmic Kid on 07/15/2021 05:20 AM
Police raid Bahrain-Victorious hotel…..
https://cyclingtips.com/2021/07/police-search-bahrain-victorious-tour-de-france-team-hotel/
They did something similar with Quintana, was it last year? And found nothing in the end, so this doesn't necessarily mean anything. Time will tell. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/15/2021 05:44 PM |
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Posted By Cosmic Kid on 06/22/2021 09:57 AM
My podium:
Pog
Carapaz
Maybe Lopez?
Green:
Sagan
Mountains:
Who knows...some GC favorite who needs to redeem himself.
Rog crashes out in the first week. Thomas flops in the mountains. MvP takes an early yellow jersey (not much of a prediction...first two days are perfect for him and he wants yellow to honor Poulidor).
Pretty close, with obvious miss of the fish guy as surprise this year. And Cavendish coming out of retirement of course. Lopez, when he won the Ventoux event earlier, I observed that riding fast uphill is one thing, but you have to still be fresh by the time you reach the mountains. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 07/15/2021 09:51 PM |
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IN another prediction thread on the trainer Road forum, I had the 3rd podium slot going to an unknown....so I kinda had it covered. 
(or maybe it was in a text to a buddy.....I forget)
But definitely one of my better year for predictions!! Extra credit for the Rog prediction.....for a guy that used to be a ski jumper, his bike handling is awful. (But I guess his ski jumping control wasn't much better  ) |
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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6ix
Posts:485
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| 07/15/2021 10:55 PM |
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Question. Knowing what we do now about so many riders in the past (ahem, LA, Contador, Riis, Ullrich, Pantani, Froome, etc.), how can you enjoy watching the complete BS we've witnessed over the past few days in the Tour? This kind of domination is what LA used to do and we all know how that ended.
I don't know...I was just left shaking my head today when Pog basically coasted through the final turn before the finish and didn't even look that awful tired.
I always go back to my argument that these are the best 200 cyclists in the world. Out of nearly 8 billion people on this planet, here are the top 200. They are all freaks of nature yet this 22 year old blows the best of the best of the best out of the water. Come on! We've all seen this before.
Am I just too cynical now? Obviously, nearly all of them are using products that bend the rules or are just good at covering their tracks. But good grief people, at least keep it looking realistic enough to be somewhat believable. |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 07/15/2021 11:25 PM |
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"But definitely one of my better year for predictions!! Extra credit for the Rog prediction.....for a guy that used to be a ski jumper, his bike handling is awful. (But I guess his ski jumping control wasn't much better )"
Guess that's why he left the sport. Lot higher to fall from.
As for doping I have no Idea. If one is. the majority of the contenders must be, just as in the past. So again the past theory was LA had the best so maybe TP has now. And I listened to someone say the only way they can beat Pogaca is in the first week before everyone is on the same level. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/16/2021 12:31 AM |
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In the LA years we had an entire team on the sauce and towing the peloton for a lap around France.
Don’t know if kid is clean or not but as a team I doubt UAE we’re on the sauce. Pog was often fending for himself.
That is a massive difference with those days. Realistically Pog lost his main competitor Roglic. No 2 on podium is a newbie who lost time waiting for Roglic. Carapaz alone is no match and Ineos multi head dragon also became a snail with crashes in week one. I’d like to see Pog go up to a full strength field and in heat we never had. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/16/2021 01:53 AM |
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We also had the case of Uran. He rides for a believable team. He was sitting pretty in second until last two days not that far off. We know why he fell back. Had Covid, which made his preparations so so. In the end you pay the price.
Kelderman in 5th. The guys got talent but how many times can you crash yourself in three weeks. Flat on his face yesterday for no apparent reason.
I don’t think we witnessed anything super abnormal this year. Maybe I’m wrong but I was entertained. |
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Dale
Posts:1767
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| 07/16/2021 02:57 AM |
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Time to revisit the jersey topic. When you lead the GC, Climbers, and Young Rider category you need a jersey that reflects all three (or whatever number someone leads) like it was back in the day. Give a modified white or polkadot jersey to whoever is in 2nd place if you wish but quit the nonsense that someone is leading the points when it's really the guy in yellow.
White jersey with a black band around the chest or something to designate 2nd place in the competition. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3189
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| 07/16/2021 10:31 AM |
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Interesting developments and somewhat weird coincidences with the host cities. Drugs, Pau. We've seen this before. Cav with a shot at surpassing Merckx. Start kicked of from Mourenx, cite of Merckx's incredible solo, kicking off on Tourmlalet, soloing over the next pass and finishing 8 minutes up after 140 km t double his lead. "Cannibal" was coined here. 1969 when I believe he was a Tour rookie.
And random comments. All the talk of Pogacar's performance and the certainty by many of drugs ... pales in comparison to that young Merckx and this year's field is so decimated that there is nobody in Pogacar's league left with anything of a team. (Also more than a few riders clearly haven't done their (training) homework and Pogacar obviously did.) I'm not saying I "know" Pogacar is clean but I haven't seen damning evidence.
The photo of Cav and Merckx with their arms over their shoulders ... all the talk's been about Merckx's terse summary of his accomplishments. I'm betting that quote came after the journalist prodded him to react to Cav's tying his TdF stage record. (Have we ever seen Merxkx to be short with the media?  ) But face to face with a world class rider ... issues like that just don't matter.
And last - Pogacar nearly got DSQ'd today. 5 minutes from not making the time cut. (Along with about 120 other riders including all the contenders for all the jerseys). |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/16/2021 02:02 PM |
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Posted By Orange Crush on 07/16/2021 01:53 AM
Kelderman in 5th. The guys got talent but how many times can you crash yourself in three weeks. Flat on his face yesterday for no apparent reason.
JFC, he crashed again today. What the hell. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 07/16/2021 03:12 PM |
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| Interesting, the current top 14 is riders from 14 different teams if I am looking correct. |
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huckleberry
Posts:824
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| 07/16/2021 04:34 PM |
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I'm with 6ix. I feel that Pog let up on stages that he could have won merely for public strategy to make it appear he is mortal. He never had any issue dragging himself back up to the leaders, despite what the commentators were trying to say that he was put in difficulty. It feels like the LA years all over again. Spread the love around the peloton to different riders, to different teams to keep everybody happy...
Call me cynic, but LA made me that way ; ) |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2886
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| 07/16/2021 08:12 PM |
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| Slovenia suddenly produces dominant racers. Sure, why not. |
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mondonico
Posts:158
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| 07/16/2021 08:32 PM |
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| OK all you racers help me understand a few things. One. Mahoric breaks away with what 15 miles to go. The other nine piss on each other. Attacking each other and as soon as they get a small separation turn around and look back. Three get a gap and don't work together. So you drag someone and they win the stage yo'ur still first loser. And lastly why the going from one side of the road to the other. I ran track many many years ago and was told by my coach I needed to work on not running like a duck. Every 1/4 mile I was losing a few inches. If your in the last mile or so and fight for the stage as a group I get it. Not ten miles from the finish. Just the most annoying stage I have seen in some time. Good for Mahoric. |
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