Cofidis has a chance to get a rider onto the GC podium position
Will we have a vampire on the podium in paris?
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Mollema winning a TDF stage without a head unit in 2021 lol
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I lived in proper mountains for about five years. Even with a couple decades of riding and racing before that time, it was still tricky to bomb those mountain road hairpin descents. The radius of the turns arenât always ârightâ and there is more off chamber stuff than one would think. Not to mention gravel and sketchy surfaces.
No excuses for a world tour level pro to not be âgoodâ, but descending quickly and smoothly is definitely a skill set to be admired.
The couple times Iâve tried to follow real pros on road or mountain bike descents the feeling is always: holy crap these guys are damn fast!!
TL;DR It is much harder than it looks. But yeah, some of these guys need a skills camp 
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Yeah, also he did his trademark attack that he used to win Lombardia in 2019 and Laigueglia this year. You know heâs going to win when he attacks like that.
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I expect weâll see a lot of what we saw today on tomorrowâs stage. With the descent finish, GC attacks are likely to be neutralized unless a satellite rider is allowed up the road to give the attacker a chance on the descent to hold a gap. The climbs are long but are not very steep (they average around 6%) except for the final climb (8.5% avg) which has early pitches over 10%.
I expect Woods out front defending the dots, and perhaps we see WVA or Tao up there if they are allowed to satellite. Stage looks good for Alaphilippe, as well, since thereâs only really one steep bit toward the end of the stage where he can show his world class puncheur status followed by his really strong descending skills. But if what we saw today continues, he may not even be let go.
I think thereâs a bit of nonsense talked about various riders including Woods - if the commentators didnât know he had a running background, would they pick up on his descending skills? Do the data show that he crashes any more often than other riders? I can think of riders whoâve been at it since they were kids who seem to crash a fair amount, one previous GC winner particularly 
Itâs easy for armchair spectators here to comment on descending skills without knowing anything of the race or road conditions at the time.
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I
âM not certain who was watching the international feed (on Peacock in rhebUS) but Tour Radio warned about melted pavement at that exact spot that Woods went down.
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What was the thing hidden under a cover on his fork? Any idea?
Timing chip.
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It is very easy, itâs kind of the reason people comment on a forum post about a race they could never participate in (maybe some of you could, not me) but the fact remains that some guys go down more than others but all the riders are subjected to the same road and if you watch many races season after season, whether itâs a mix of luck and skill, you canât overlook the skill aspect because thatâs the part that a rider can improve. But you know that there are you dudes with more skills than others.
Pierre Latour openly talks about not liking going downhill. Ilnur Zakarin: https://youtu.be/9X5LAIH1Z58?t=92
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I remember Emma Pooley talking about how she was really shit at descending. So much so that she lost races, even though she was first at the top. So she got a coach and practiced and became good enough, that at least it wasn´t a limiting factor anymore.
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A tweet from his teammate:
well the translation isnât very good:
Bauke is the dude who asks every 15k how many miles are left in the stage, because he has been riding with no head unit for the last 2 years. but we forgive him. 
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Yeah, all the romanticizing of his not having a cycle computer had me rolling my eyes. Alright you nostalgic old farts, we get it!
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#garminForLife
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Did he or anyone else say why he doesn´t use a head unit? Seems a bit odd to be honest.
Looks like the breakaway is gonna take the stage today. Any guesses about who? There are quite a few capable climbers in the group.
I say the old man is gonna take it today 
He does use it, but keeps it in his back pocket so data can still be analyzed post ride. He finds it distracting during his ride. Old school.
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Bouhanni is out!
The door is even wider for Cav now.
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Whatever he prefers I guess. Still seems odd that he has to rely on his team to be informed about important points in the race. But maybe that´s how it is anyway in the race, no idea. Dude won a stage, so who am I to judge. 
Cav is still in the peloton, so he will certainly manage to finish in the time cut. That´s one big obstacle out of the way for him!
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