2021 TdF - A really open year again ?

[foo on patrol]

Pogacar looks far and away they/ strongest in the race so far.
Combine that super impressive climbing in that stage, with the tt stage win.
Not even close.
Very impressive, even more so when only 22.

Yes, he got into the zone very quickly and just destroyed them.

Foo

[Arbuckle23]

Van Der Poel making future fans and maybe riders

https://twitter.com/mathieuvdpoel/statu ... 29474?s=21

[AUbicycles]

Well… this is interesting…. Could be very interesting.

Nairo is sucking wheels and not taking any turns

[foo on patrol]

Hearing on the 4am news that young Ben O'Connor has won last night's Stage. How bloody good is that!

Foo

[am50em]

https://www.strava.com/activities/5575272763/overview includes power data.

[Mr Purple]

Goosebump moment there - watching Ben O'Connor finish in the pouring rain. 344W weighted average over 4.5 hours - 5.2W/kg; almost enough to finish in the top half of a Zwift race!

Lots of talk about Pogacar's performance yesterday being a little bit too good to be true. Unfortunately after so many years of artificially boosted winners there's going to be that little bit of doubt when someone dominates so absolutely. Hopefully that isn't the case though.

[warthog1]

There is that, and backed it up today by riding everyone off his wheel.
Hopefully not, however it is difficult not to see it as a possibility/probability

What mountains have they got in WA? Ben sure can climb!

[JPB]

What was the reason for all the withdrawals on yesterday's stage?
Missed time cut, Tokyo bound or something else?

[Mr Purple]

Combination of Tokyo bound and a bunch quitting at the Alps I imagine! To be fair I probably wouldn't want to do 4500m elevation in a day either.

Yep. Pogacar climbing 9% gradients in the big ring 53-29 rings a few alarm bells!

[Warnesy]

Another top stage. Great to see some good news for the Aussies finally after a tough tour for our contingent.

[NASHIE]

What mountains have they got in WA? Ben sure can climb!

Genes, can thank his parents. No Mountains/long climbs in WA, but easy to do 2000-3000m climbing through the hills. Would say he has been living in Europe the last 5-6yrs.

[warthog1]

What mountains have they got in WA? Ben sure can climb!

Genes, can thank his parents. No Mountains/long climbs in WA, but easy to do 2000-3000m climbing through the hills. Would say he has been living in Europe the last 5-6yrs.

Of course he can
Was good to see.
Seems like a nice young bloke from the interviews I've seen, but don't know alot about him.

[fat and old]

Combination of Tokyo bound and a bunch quitting at the Alps I imagine! To be fair I probably wouldn't want to do 4500m elevation in a day either.

Yep. Pogacar climbing 9% gradients in the big ring 53-29 rings a few alarm bells!

Yeah I see that, but there are freaks of nature every generation. Jan Ullrich was one. Eddy Merckx was one. Fausto Coppi another. I can’t find anything on Merckx quickly, but Coppi rode a 50/24 up The Peyresourde in 1949. On unsealed roads. On the way they went over the
Aubisque, Tourmalet and Aspin….on wooden rims.

[Retrobyte]

Yeah I see that, but there are freaks of nature every generation. Jan Ullrich was one. Eddy Merckx was one. Fausto Coppi another. I can’t find anything on Merckx quickly, but Coppi rode a 50/24 up The Peyresourde in 1949. On unsealed roads. On the way they went over the
Aubisque, Tourmalet and Aspin….on wooden rims.

Interesting that you included Ullrich in there given the cloud over his use of EPO?

[foo on patrol]

There is that, and backed it up today by riding everyone off his wheel.
Hopefully not, however it is difficult not to see it as a possibility/probability

What mountains have they got in WA? Ben sure can climb!

There is an article by his coach, stating that he only produces 30-40% of the lactic acid that normal athletes produce.

Foo

[warthog1]

There is an article by his coach, stating that he only produces 30-40% of the lactic acid that normal athletes produce.

Foo

I give that little credence sorry.
His coach is not exactly a neutral observer and I've heard plenty of stories before for previous athletes.

Anyway he is riding very very well.
Happy to leave it there.

[find_bruce]

What was the reason for all the withdrawals on yesterday's stage?
Missed time cut, Tokyo bound or something else?

Van der Poel (Tokyo) & Roglic (injured) didn't start, 3 didn't finish & 7 outside the time limit - 37:20 - Campenarts, GVA & 2 others made it by 5 seconds. Chapeau to Nic Dlamini who insisted on finishing 85 minutes after O'Connor.

[fat and old]

Yeah I see that, but there are freaks of nature every generation. Jan Ullrich was one. Eddy Merckx was one. Fausto Coppi another. I can’t find anything on Merckx quickly, but Coppi rode a 50/24 up The Peyresourde in 1949. On unsealed roads. On the way they went over the
Aubisque, Tourmalet and Aspin….on wooden rims.

Interesting that you included Ullrich in there given the cloud over his use of EPO?

Cloud? Pea soup fog more like Drugs notwithstanding, a freak is still a freak. Ullrich was no one hit Bjarne Riis type. He ground that big ring year after year trying to beat Armstrong (auto correct gave him a capital A lol) for how many 2nds? No Merckx to be sure, but still a freak of nature. IMO anyway.

And drugs in cycling? Meh, the only new thing was and still is the name. Romanticising any particular period or person as some great religious second coming is silly. We have the greatest athletes in the world, all trying it on to some extent to gain an edge. What’s so hard to understand there?

[Retrobyte]

Drugs notwithstanding, a freak is still a freak. Ullrich was no one hit Bjarne Riis type. He ground that big ring year after year trying to beat Armstrong (auto correct gave him a capital A lol) for how many 2nds? No Merckx to be sure, but still a freak of nature. IMO anyway.

I hear you - I was in awe watching Indurain for the same reason. That mountain stage where he stayed seated in the big ring on a 10% climb and left all the established climbers in his wake was a memory I'll never forget watching late at night in the pre-HD TV days

[fat and old]

Indurain. Another one. I remember reading a claim that Ullrich’s blood vessels stood out through the Lycra shorts. That’s some serious strength

[P!N20]

I remember reading a claim that Ullrich’s blood vessels stood out through the Lycra shorts.

They glowed in the dark, too.

[Retrobyte]

Drugs notwithstanding, a freak is still a freak. Ullrich was no one hit Bjarne Riis type. He ground that big ring year after year trying to beat Armstrong (auto correct gave him a capital A lol) for how many 2nds? No Merckx to be sure, but still a freak of nature. IMO anyway.

I hear you - I was in awe watching Indurain for the same reason. That mountain stage where he stayed seated in the big ring on a 10% climb and left all the established climbers in his wake was a memory I'll never forget watching late at night in the pre-HD TV days

Found it .... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=StJ8Qjl0qPI

[AndrewCowley]

Yep. Pogacar climbing 9% gradients in the big ring 53-29 rings a few alarm bells!

Alarm bells ... Yes he was cross chaining.

[vosadrian]

Dissappointing to see the PEDs conversation come up on Pogacar. It has been obvious he has been a beast for some time. And he has progressed... not just appeared out of nowhere.

This year he has also been lucky. The contenders who may have been able to stay with him have not been so lucky and have copped injury or time loss due to crashes. So it is really only the 2nd tier riders that are attempting to challenge him. Roglic and Thomas well short of top form and Richie in a support role. Carapaz duck deep (for no benefit) on the stage before he tried to stay with Pog so was more fatigued. Pog managed himself well and when he went, he made it count. He has stayed out of trouble and avoided efforts unless it was going to count. Of course PEDs can never be ruled out, but do we need to jump to that conclusion so quickly?

[ausFred]

Yes, PEDs does need to be discussed as he is breaking new ground with ease. He is rewriting the rule book in a sport with a long history of drug use. To me, it seems like he's almost faking being fatigued after an effort (see time trial earlier in the Tour), crosses the line looking very relaxed and they all of a sudden is heaving. Very different look to all other riders.

An interesting take:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/de-gen ... de-france/