Meh…July is still 4 months away. I’m not gonna put too much stock into what happens this week as it pertains to Le Tour.
It is clear that Pog is intent on chasing every second available while Fishboy is racing more “traditionally”. I feel pretty certain that Pog is gonna come out on top here, but that won’t necessarily be indicative of this summer. Last year alone proved that.
ETA - but yeah, the new TTT format should be interesting to watch.
To your point, last year Pog whipped Vingegaard handily in Tirreno at this exact time of the year and we know how that worked out.
Shockingly, turns out a few shorter, punchier, and low altitude climbs are not representative of decisive mountain stages weeks into a GT.
Watching Tirreno at the moment and I’ll catch the Paris Nice either after that or during my work out tonight but although the TdF is months away could it be as simple as Vingegaard is letting Pogacar burn him self out?
Could be…could also be JV letting Pog think he has the edge while keeping their powder dry for when it really counts. Could just be that Pog is simply better right now.
Looking at these gaps, race might be decided by the TTT
Thanks for mentioning it, I’m working from home and can’t believe I wasn’t taking the opportunity to have it on in the background.
I quite liked that format it seemed to give a more exciting finish than the standard march to the line.
Agree, the format has potential to change things up in a positive way.
I’m always a fan of huge TTT stages with teams built around pounding our a 60-70km/h stage, but this, if used in the future, could help with some of the less deep teams etc.
I really thought it was going to be just another stunt but it was actually pretty cool with some different tactics.
I liked the different makeups of the teams having different plans for their GC guys. Pog going at it on his own at the end but Yates and Vingegaard getting a tow.
I liked the new format but to steal some of the things they mentioned on LR, this format could be incredible on more varied courses. Imagine you had a decent climb in the middle, do you launch your GC but then he has to solo entire second half or do you pace it slower than his max but have some team to rotate with?
Outside of the format discussions, I think this GC is Pogs to lose. Jumbo didn’t take enough time today and there are are at least 3-4 more bonus second opportunities that are tailor made for him. I personally am not a fan of how skewed the GC is going to end up being towards intermediate sprint bonus seconds but hopefully we still end up with a good show.
Any Danes here can help with a pronunciation question? Confused on the pronunciation of Vingegaard. I thought it was “VING-E-GAR” but in the Paris-Nice coverage, Bob Roll keeps pronouncing it as “VING-E-GO”. What’s proper?
Really? Considering the startling strength of TJV, and the fact that Jonas really hasn’t wasted too much energy, I think he is the favorite to bring home GC.
With that said, I haven’t scanned the profile of the upcoming stages, but I feel whatever Pogi does, Jonas can match it, if he chooses to.
I personally hope Pogi wins the yellow jersey, as he is a far more exciting rider to watch than Jonas. But maybe Jonas is the smarter one?
I wholeheartedly agree this, and wouldn’t mind seeing go away from pro cycling all together. Time from start to finish line should be all that matters.
I’m thinking this as well.
And this.
Pogi is much more of a fighter that Jonas, wanting to win every single stage, no matter the cost. Jonas seems more controlled and strategic.
I dunno, i see it differently. I think intermediate sprints, time bonuses, etc all add additional strategy and tactics to bike racing. I’m just as interested (perhaps more so) in HOW a rider got to the podium beyond a simple exercise test. Leave the finish line single-variable racing to Zwift, imho.
Or just the reality that Pog has a better Sprint then Jonas and a better Sprint then most of the Field and JV as a team… They also bottled the intermediate sprint on Stage 1 where Jonas wasn’t in good position and got pinched…
The TTT was a huge win for UAE they didn’t loose that much time to JV and seem to have the stronger Team for Stage 7 and 8. Jonas will need to drop Pog on Stage 7 to win the overall else Pog can take it with bonus seconds, but we shouldn’t forget Yates he could profit from their fight…
Overall as long as one doesn’t look really bad on the last two stages it won’t tell us much about their chances at the TDF.
The “aa” or å in danish is much like the o in english “or”. So I would say VING-E-GOR.
While I agree whole heartedly that personality is a factor in this, so is ability. Pog is a better all around bike racer than Jonas by a considerable margin.
I’m choosing my words wisely here, that doesn’t mean that Jonas can’t beat him at the right race with the right course profile, but Pog maintains a higher level for more races than we’ve seen Jonas be able to maintain to date. Pog is also much stronger than him in certain areas, most notably sprinting.
I say all of this as a fan on Jonas, he’s more my style and I find the freak of nature, show up and win at nearly any race at any time nature of Pog to be somewhat off-putting. I find people who have off days and more normal peaks and valleys to be a lot more relatable.
I’m not against them in principle but they are running an experiment in this race by doubling the amount of bonus seconds at intermediate “sprints” and it all just adds up to a ton of time for a 1 week race. Pog is likely going to end up with 20 or more bonus seconds based on intermediate “sprints” that were all but designed for him.
I certainly agree though that it creates tactical decisions. JV could have brought a team to try to contest the intermediate points but they brought the TTT team instead. While it’s hard to call winning the stage a failure, they didn’t live up to expectations.
What a finish today !
Pog : 1, Jonas : 0
POG untouchable. Martínez disappointing. Vinegar, as expected.
The surge was impressive