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and we still have the long relatively shallow climbs of the Alps to look forward to
I was entertaining the same thoughts last night, then realised that the Alpine climbs this year are not long and shallow. The Grand Colombier tomorrow has plenty of steep pitches, then the Loze, the cycle path above Meribel, is meant to have pitches of 20% and the final major climb of Thursday's stage, the Plateau de Glières is meant to be one of the steepest climbs in the Alps.
Like you, I'm hoping there is some GC racing to come, but this year's route seems to mainly consist of punchy climbs which so far suit Roglic better than anyone else.
andyp
Howard
Seems to me Ineos are between a rock and a hard place. They can't just ride defensively with Roglic in the lead - they have to try and mix things up a bit and attack. Then again, they obviously don't have the strength in numbers to apply the old Sky Train approach, and just ride everyone else off their wheels en masse. The net result is that the end up adopting the EF approach - ride yourselves into the ground in order to provide your opponents with an ideal lead out.
Roglic and Pogacar are looking mighty at the moment, but it could still all change. The steeper shorter climbs we've seen so far will favour the punchier climbers, and we still have the long relatively shallow climbs of the Alps to look forward to. Roglic is definitely in the driver's seat, but I'd like to think it's not all over yet. Except for the French riders.