I said when watching stage 2, and I still believe that the gravel sector had no place in a road race. Period. Just listening to the freewheeling podcast yesterday, I feel terrible for the riders, that kind of organization has no place in a World Tour race.
I wanted an exciting race for the overall, but today’s stage is not the way I wanted that to happen…
I’m not generally opposed to gravel/cobbles sectors in stage races, but I don’t like the idea of a single 1km sector at the end of one of the biggest GC days having such an impact on the overall GC standings.
whynotboth.gif
The proper equipment for 15%+ gradients in gravel that chunky and deep (it looked pretty deep, from the footage I saw) is a gravel bike. It was not like Strade, and it was not like the cute lil’ segment in the Tour today. Although really, watching the world and European champion literally fall off and run made me feel a lot better about the gravel climbs I’ve had to walk up (my proper equipment nothwithstanding) 
The only two that would load for me from Tiz were from the GCN coverage, the standard highlights package of the start and the last ~20km. 
On a happier note, the written coverage from the Giro has been stellar 
And the Freewheeling podcast is brilliant. Tbh her sense of humour is brilliant and if ABI Mickey did a podcast on almost anything I’d listen, her Taylor Swift one was great and not something I would normally listen to.
FWIW - Quintana apparently fell into some poison ivy or something in one of his crashes and has been absolutely miserable / struggling to sleep since
Sounded like he landed in stinging nettles, and has had a horrible reaction to it, has had whole body hives every day. In addition to the crash damage, can’t imagine he’s feeling great.
Wish I could watch it! I’ve been following as best I can, which pretty much just means the Freewheeling podcast.
For those complaining about the lack of GC fireworks, at least enjoy all the escapades of the guys going for the stage wins. Hirschi alone has been worth the price of admission and I’m really excited to see what he ends up doing over the course of his career. And the fact that he bounced off the asphalt today at 60kph, fixed his chain, then got right back into the super-tuck was absolutely amazing.
its been a good TdF, I’ve been enjoying all the escapades and without the Olympics to fuel national pride I’m going to fly the flag 
and give a shout out to Neilson Powless (a local kid!) and of course the man from Durango Sepp Kuss.
Already done.
Agreed that Nairo won grand tours early in his career, but the last grand tour win was the 2016 Vuelta a España. Hence the “flamed out” comment. Since his 2016 Vuelta title, the best he’s finished is 2nd in the Giro in 2017.
They found the hamsters inside the frame giving Roglic an extra 100 W 
On a serious note though looks like the UCI damaged the bike. As if the stress isn’t high enough with a few days left.
"In a social media post, Zeeman said he became upset after a UCI official dismantled race leader Primož Roglič’s bicycle following the stage. The official wanted to independently disassemble the bottom bracket, Zeeman said.
“Primož’s bicycle was damaged during this dismantling. Despite this incident, I should have kept my cool and approached the UCI Commissioner respectfully. I regret not doing this,” Zeeman wrote on Twitter. “After this incident, I immediately apologized to the UCI commissioner concerned, who also accepted my apologies.
I am devastated, but our yellow dream lives on.”"
If Squirrley Bilbao shows up anonymously to your local hitters groups ride, does he get a talking to about keeping better control of his front wheel, yes or no, lol
Agreed - as i said, my view is that staying at movistar was a bad move - el tridente 
I’m so excited about the racing today I can’t handle it. Bora’s gonna light up the Tour, Giro Rosa is suddenly (and under terrible circumstances) wide open with a 3.3km@12.6% climb before the finish, it’s gonna be a DAY.
Also anybody know why that climb is uncategorized?
TdF Stage 14:
Giro Rosa Stage 7:
Giro Rosa Stage 8:
[e] WAIT I’m dumb, they’re counting the whole ending as one cat 2 climb, 5.6km at 8.1%:
Stage rolling out in neutral… lets get that chatter started!!!
Today’s winner: I don’t think a break survives unless the winds pick up and something goofy happens. We can hope… I’m pulling for WvA just because that would be great. But expect a bunch gallop so pick your favorite sprinter. I’ll go Bennett because Irish Eyes are smiling.
Overall: Am pulling for Porte to make the final podium. He’s on his best form in years and a good TT rider. But he’s 1:30+ back so that’s a tough ask. It’s not 1989 so don’t expect anything to really change in the GC from here out.
Green Points: Sagan is 52 back. Think this one is over.
Sagan needs to go home and reflect. He played the boo-hoo “they always pick on me” card after the relegation. But more realistically from this armchair: (a) he didn’t have the legs and was always fighting for position (b) he totally bungled the awesome team work on the windy stage coming out of the points in the final. It wasn’t a slipped chain or mechanical. He was way out of position and desperate at the end. Then bad stuff happens (c) the argy-bargy with WvA gave the jury almost no choice other than relegation. Take home is he rode himself out of the jersey and Bennet was there to take. I’m a Sagan fan and even have the T-Shirt. This train wreck was tough to watch.
Spots: doing some quick math, it’s not over:
Carapaz 74
Pogacar 72
Roglic 67
There is a cat 1 at the top of the TT so that is the bulk of remaining points (10, 8, 6…) . Two other cat 4’s (one point each) today and sunday. Assuming Pogacar is going to do a good TT but that Roglic will beat him, they could end up something like 80 to 77. Carapaz will need a good TT and to gather up the two Cat 4’s to retain the spots.
Reasonable chance of a tie on spotty points.
Nothing else to do until the final today. I’m going to work. You guys start typing!!!
Thee was no doubt Kwiatkowski was going to get the stage…Carapaz was taking the maillot pois, so Kwiatkowski gets the stage.
Carapaz practically has the jersey locked up now…only meaningful points are the climb for the TT, but it is based solely on your time during the climb, so while Rog and Pog need to ride all out the entire course, Carapaz gets to soft pedal to the climb and then give it everything he has.
Agreed with Darth that the break won’t stick today…
Is it really a train wreck or is Bennett/DQS just better this year or the route just didn’t suit Sagan as well as it had in prior years? In prior years, it seems that Sagan was often uncontested for the small potatoes intermediate points. Lately he’s had DQS riders screwing it up every day. Basically Sagan needed to win a stage and he came up short.
It could also be that Sagan couldn’t reach peak fitness under covid/lockdown and without racing into form.
Personally, I think he’s gotten tired of this grind. He doesn’t seem to have the same enthusiasm. If he hadn’t had a team built around him he might have quit already and tried MTB Olympics or something else.