you say it’s too little, but bear in mind that this is a third of the consumed calories during the stage. If they have the same rates of fat vs carb consumption at a given percentage of FTP, but such a higher FTP, it could be the case that they get more energy from glycogen stores and fat than we would think.
For someone who can consume 1500-1700 calories during the riding, and who has a basal metabolic rate of perhaps 3000 calories (it is that hight due to the daily hard exercise), that would mean about 7-8000 calories to be consumed. If you distribute it among breakfast, pre-race meal, post race meal, dinner, etc… I think it is doable, if a bit tiring. I guess that they are sipping recovery drinks all the time, snacking regularly, and that may take some of the volume off the main meals.
With so many sprinters out, I wonder if there just won’t be enough teams that want to chase the breaks on the “flat” stages coming up. Paris might be the only bunch sprint left. Just like there was a time when nobody wanted to do the work to bring Sagan to the line, I think DQS will get no help until Paris. So, I think 35 is not going to happen. Maybe 33 will be it.
Oh I don´t doubt that it is possible. It´s pretty evident, since they can absolutely blast it up those mountains at the end of long stages. I´m just amazed that it is possible.
It also puts into perspective how careful the riders have to be about burning matches. One big, long effort in the beginning of the stage and you´ll never catch up with the carbs.
For US viewers of NBC - what is going on over Steve Parino’s right shoulder? Steve gives the in-car updates. He is sitting in a UK spec car, so he is in the left seat. Over his left shoulder we can see the view out the window. Over his right shoulder (center of car) it looks like there is a mirror behind him and we can see through the windshield. What’s up with that?
I think later in the race it can be easier for them to find other allies though. E.g. Bahrain might be more likely to help close down a break for Colbrelli now that Poels is out of GC contention. Same for JV and Bora for WVA and Sagan respectively if Vingegaard or Kelderman were to drop out of top 10. Cav is also pretty popular in the peloton which helps when trying to recruit helpers (he’s ridden for about half the teams there!). Also a good chance that at his age and having not expected to go to the Tour that he’ll fade in the second half of the race, certainly teams won’t be thinking he’s so unbeatable that they won’t want to drag him to the finish.
Also, it´s hard to overstate HOW MUCH teams want to win a stage. If there is a team that missed the breakaway and thinks they have even the slightest shot at winning a sprint, they are gonna pull. And specifically because many sprinters are gone now, their maybe-not-the-best-in-the-world guys have a better shot.
You see that quite often. That teams are pulling like crazy and going for the lead out and then their guy comes in at 12th place.
Colbrelli and Mathews look like they might be thinking about the Green Jersey, so maybe those teams will be more willing to pull to the line, but I think Colbrelli was working the intermediate sprints for his points.
I wanted to alert you nerds of the Watts Occurring podcast. It’s Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe talking shop. For me it’s honestly one of the best pro cycling podcasts because you get the real insider’s perspective.
They seem way less filtered than you’d think they would be at times. You learn amazing crap like Carapaz is nicknamed “Billy” in the team because they already had a Richie (Porte).
I thought their best episode was some time back when they interviewed Rohan Dennis just after he joined Ineos. They gave him a really hard time, then Rohan proceeded to talk about his OCD (like counting windows as he rode a TT). I love the way they “take the piss” out of each other. It’s like being on the team bus eavesdropping
WVA was never going to contest the GC. The climbs were always going to get him and we saw that on Stage 9. As far as I know, he’s still in the race (haven’t seen abandon news about him). And yes, MvDP left for the Olympics like he said he would before the Tour started.
