Group of 2.
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Looks Nairo should have eaten one or two more gels.
Cav (again) barely makes the time while Demare and Coquard did not. Can we talk about 35?
Funny note in this morningās pre-race. Apparently the former GC greats were in the autobus yesterday and complaining about how miserable it was to work so hard for so little. Cavās response was basically, āThis is my life in the Grand Tours.ā
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Nairo wasnāt interested in the stageā¦he just wanted the mountain points. Sure, if he could have gotten the stage, that would have been great, but that wasnāt his goal today.
One of the reasons I have come to dislike the maillot poisā¦it rewards burnout breakaways and is not even close to representing the ābestā climber. The whole system needs to be overhauled.
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I wonder what would work better? 
Reverse enduro?
The most common proposal is to base it on timeā¦.a series of cumulative KOMās if you will.
Iām not certain that is the best solution because it doesnāt factor the overall race into it. For instance, you could be in the groupetto, but then kill it on the climbs, sit up and recover, repeat.
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Thatās what I meant by reverse enduro. I was hoping the smart money had something better 
It would certainly be a more accurate measurement but not nearly as fun as watching two or more great climbers battle it out while repeatedly attacking and dropping each other.
I guess the green jersey has the same problem for you?
I think the solution to making the polka dot jersey more of a real climberās jersey is to decrease the value of intermediate climbs, and increase the value of the final climb - and make it even more valuable if the stage finishes on the climb.
This would reduce the chance of someone going out and getting points on early climbs, only to fade before the final climb. This would also make the polka dot jersey more tactical:
- go out early and mop up the early, but not worth as much, mountain points?
- Wait till later in the stage and hope to get points on the final, more valuable mountain
You could even weight mountains towards the end of the tour higher than mountains earlier in the tour. This could allow someone (e.g., GC contender who drops out of contention part-way through) who wasnāt going for the polka dot jersey initially, think that they have a chance of winning it part-way through the race. Which would add a whole new dynamic.
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OK. I mean I get what youāre saying, but Iām not sure where youāre going. Any time someone performs really well we have to ātalk aboutā whether heās doping? Iām not saying heās clean, Iām not saying anyoneās clean, but I donāt think we āhaveā to talk about anything unless thereās some bit of evidence to talk about.
His strength over the other GC riders this year is for pretty obvious reasons. Josh Poertner actually had a pretty interesting discussion of stage 20 last year, showing that if Roglic had done some of the small-gains things that Pogacar was doing, heād have been right there with Pogacar and kept yellow.
I donāt mean this to you personally, but I just think the race to say someone must be doping always feel easy and cynical. No one will ever be proven āclean,ā so either they get popped and the naysayers are right, or they donāt and the naysayers say neither did LA.
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We moved that conversation here: Tour de France 2021 - Speculation and Gossip
Depends on how you view the green jerseyā¦ā¦it was originally conceived as a prize for the most consistent finisher - the rider who finished near the front of the pack everyday. Hence the reason there are green jersey points available, even on mountain stages. The long defunct red jersey was the jersey for intermediate sprints.
Over the years, it has morphed into a āsprinterās jerseyā, but the overall concept is basically the same, just mixed in a bit with the intermediate sprints.
Overall, I think the system works fineā¦.but they need to settle on what they want the jersey to represent. I prefer it so that the points are weighted towards the finish of the stage so it is truer to the idea of the most consistent finisher.
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In my mind thereās gotta be some balance to the distribution as well. Part of their role is to make the middle of the race more interesting by giving motivation to attack when there otherwise wouldnāt be much incentive to do so. If all the points are at the end, then itās just another GC battle (so whatās the point for anyone else?) and the stages will be boring until the final 10 km.
I think the Polka dots jersey as it stands now is fine if they just frame it as a different thing and not āthe best climber.ā Like keep the system but call it something else and still keep the animation in the race. Iāve got no clue what to call it though.
How about points given for the biggest gaps created at the front of race anytime during each stage. A kind of ābreakaway jerseyā if you will. It would keep that uncertainty around whether they are going for points or the stage win or both. We finally have the technology for it.
Could you please please start a new thread with your highly scientific Bike Calculator āIām certain heās dopingā posts.
Thereās plenty of people you can engage with on Reddit.
We were talking about the race.
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A little late the party, huh?
Oh yes I think that would be a good idea.
You have two scenarios with the current system. Either the Overall winner snatches it basically accidentally. Or not the best climber gets it.
But that the jersey exists is still great. It adds some live to the earlier parts of a mountain stage. ItĀ“s also why you often get such big breakaways. People who want to go for the stage. Some sprinters for the first intermediate sprint (and some time in the bank to loose on the climbs) and the polka-dot contestants.
Overall their is always this issue, that there are so many different competitions in one race. Sometimes with awkward overlap, like GC teams fighting for front positions in sprint stages.
But itĀ“s also what makes it exciting. Not saying we shouldnĀ“t change anything, but itĀ“s also quite exciting as it is.
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Have you heard of the ā90 gr. of carbsā per hour crowd? I guess that if they get 90 grams per hour, every hour (even when they are riding relaxed), they can just about keep from bonking, then there are the meals. 90 grams per hour on a 5 hour stage would be about 1700 calories consumed during the stage.
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Sums up my feelings nicely. Gotta be a pity to watch the amazing performances weāve seen this year and not be excited. Iām just happy to be able to watch and experience an awesome talent .
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That sounds like so little. According to Strava Thomas de Gendt burned just over 5000 kcal on yesterdays stage. that leaves him with a deficit of 3000-3500 kcal. Truly bananas what the body is capable of.
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Thatās just GC with extra steps.
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I feel bad for you then.
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