Today though he got dropped…didn’t even take his turn, dropped out in the middle of the Ineos train w/ 4K to go.
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Sep Kuss looks really good today!
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Wow…Roglic with a strong finish. Bernal cracked, barely finishing in the top 10, I think.
J-V played it cool, let Ineos set the pace and finished it off. But both Dumoulin and Krujswiek were gone before the final selection, so that isn’t a great sign.
I kinda have a a feeling that Roglic is looking like Iban Mayo in 2003…won the Dauphine but peaked too soon and was nowhere in the Tour. And he kinda did the same thing in the Giro last year.
We’ll see…but I like the competition!
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Another great finish today!
I saw Wout race Jingle Cross a couple of years ago. Really nice, approachable guy and obviously very talented. He really worked his butt off since his injury. Bravo to him!
And today, another win for Jumbo Vista. They’re the team to beat.
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What TJV is doing right now is insane and i don’t think even ineos was this dominant if you look at how strong their riders are individually.
They just brought in Kuss for the Dauphine and he looked crazy strong. The guy he replaced won the Gran Piemont meanwhile…
We shall see whether it transfer to tour de france dominance.
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Holy molly, I did carpathian peak while watching this dauphine stage 2. The time Roglic attack and Bernal failed to follow I became speechless. What a scene! Performance of Sepp Kuss was also wonderful.
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Ineos has absolutely been this dominant in the Tour before. Pretty regular during 2013-2018 for them to have 3-4 riders left in a select group while their rival GC contenders were either dropped or hanging on without any support. They’ve never had a guy like WVA, but then neither have most teams! I think the teams are going to largely cancel each other out at the Tour and it will come down to which GC contender is in the best form. Which right now looks like Roglic, but as above we’ve seen him peak too early before, and Ineos have a hell of a track record of getting their top guys to peak at the right time.
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By the time he was dropped that lead pack was down to ~20 riders and some pretty big names like Alaphilippe, Barguil, Dumoulin, had already been spat out the back or were about to be. Froome is likely to get stronger and stronger over the next few weeks, and he seems pretty relaxed with being a domestique and to have accepted he’s not in form to be a contender - he was smiling and giving the thumbs up as he dropped back. I think they’ll take him, and I think he’ll bury himself for Bernal and Thomas.
Rowe will go for sure, he’s their road captain and has a big role to play on flat stages and early on the climbs. Froome seems to be in contention with Amador and Tao Geoghegan Hart for the last place. Rest of the team being Bernal, Thomas, Castroviejo, Kwiatkowski, Van Baarle, Sivakov.
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Yeah, I wsa really just drawing a distinction between yesterday and today. he clearly sat up yesterday but today he was dropped. COuld he have gone a bit longer if he dug down? Probably…I still think we will see Froome at the pointy end on one stage in an effort to cement a Tour position.
He needs to do everything possible to convince management that he 1) has the form and 2) will work for Bernal so he gets picked…You can’t win the Tour if you aren’t on the start line!!
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Well, guess this explains why the feed went dead shortly after the finish (and that loud crack of thunder!). Glad the leaders missed it and were able to finish.
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Every Stage I watch of the Dauphine I get more excited for the Tour! What a fight.
Ineos and Jumbo-Visma are for sure the two top-contenders. But I’m also curious for the performance of Pinot and If Buchmann maybe can sneak onto the podium this year.
(bottom line, I just really, really hope the tour goes ahead and can finish 
)
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As an American, it was cool to see Sepp Kuss shut down Bernals attack. Hopefully more from him at the tour.
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Any idea why Roglic was wearing a different jersey to the rest of his team? They were in the 2020 team jersey, his was navy and yellow instead of black and yellow, and had what looked like mountains on it.
It’s the Slovenian national champion’s jersey.
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This was the hail storm damage 
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I think it’s great!
Also really like Higuita’s Colombia champ jersey.
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Luke Rowe will definitely go to the TdF.
I think Froome will ride into form, will go there to win and if/when it is clear he can’t then he will bury himself for G/Bernal. He’s a top class professional.
What he did with Wiggins was different, he could and should have won that race and was hamstrung by the team but got in line when pushed. If he can’t win he won’t throw the towel in.
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I also wonder if Froome isn’t playing a mental game and trying to make himself look weaker than he is while he rides himself into form. Him showing the pain in his face is a very rare sight. He’s usually cool as a cucumber, even when suffering and going deep. I’m not an Ineos fan, but I think writing off Froome has generally backfired in the past.
Apparently NBCSG has some kind of exclusive rights in the USA that seriously reduce what FLO can show. I hate having to pay for two subscriptions. I’m hoping the GCN app eventually comes around and gives us everything in one place.
It will be nice to watch today’s stage without hearing “Richie Porte might win this stage!” every minute too. Roglic literally just rode away from the pack and then eased to the finish yesterday. Incredible form. Can he hold it for over a month?
Based on what we saw on the route de l’occitanie, and yesterday, i wouldn’t discount Pinot.
I think he missed the boat yesterday when Roglic attacked, but he was probably expecting Bernal to not crack and close the gap.
Once the gap was there, he was the best of the rest.
His team is lacking, esp. with Gaudu sick, but the road hasn’t gone up as much as he likes. He also bypassed l’Ain, which means he’s not as much on the sharp end of his fitness as Roglic (whom I think might be peaking too early)
Really exciting prospects for the tour all things considered. I can’t remember when was the last time I felt it was that open!
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