Tour de France 2021

Lol, first ascent up Ventoux is a cat 1.

Its 5% for a long time, but still that is funny

I don't think Cav will struggle with the time cut today.

The doping questions seem to be raised for Cavendish too, as he’s had an amazing uplift in form.
To me, he is the least likely to be doping because:

1) sprinting has a huge skill and experience component, rather than thrashing people with a high FTP
2) He’s practically the worst climber left in the tour
3) He’s looking pretty lean for him, but he’s still probably the podgiest in the peloton
4) He can’t keep his mouth shut, so would have given the game away years ago
5) He is fortunate that most of his biggest rivals have crashed out or retired

It'll be interesting to see if there's any kind of strategy from the GC teams for dealing with Pogacar today. Tbh it's hard to say what that would be, short of pushing him off his bike, as he's the strongest climber there. Hard to see past Pog for the stage win unless someone well down on GC goes early and UAE are happy to let them go, but I reckon Pog has his eyes on killing the competition off completely today, especially as yesterday's crosswind section on the run in was the first hint of trouble for him and the team and he might want to have some time in the bank with some likely windy stages coming up..

It’s just a slightly bigger box hill 🤷‍♂️

Yeah I’d agree, think he also seems relaxed and happy again.

I quite like the grind from Bedoin. I guess it's a personal thing. Makes it feel like you've earned the good bits.

I'm like that with mountaineering too. Always seem to enjoy routes that have a grinding long and boring approach before the fun begins. Each to their own.

7 x box hill and 2 x leith hills in a row.
Easy when you break it down like that...

You missed

• his team is ridiculously effective
  

So pretty similar to the 2012 Olympic RR then? Does that mean we can expect Are Cav to be in with a chance of the win today to equal Merckx’s record?

The Quickstep “limousine to the finish line”.

He is fortunate that most of his biggest rivals have crashed out or retired

Michael Matthews must be spitting feathers. His best chance of stage wins and another green jersey and Cav decides to find his form again.

Can’t believe there isn’t an everesting stage to follow current trends

The current trend would be if a rider breaks their chain making them wait on the roadside for 3 months while the mechanic tries to source one from the distributor.

Lachlan Morton will ride Everest in 2022.

Yep - wasn't his final sprint only something like 14 pedal strokes yesterday?

Let me tell you about a little venture I heard about the other week…

53x11 on 28c * 14 revs = 144m

A+

Pls do not refer to Box Hill without using the prefix ‘iconic’. Thx.

" ... as yesterday's crosswind section on the run in was the first hint of trouble for him ..."

You mean the bit where he bridged the gap between the groups without any team mates like he was off to the shops for a loaf of bread?

More the bit where 'he ended up in the wrong position and bridged it easily enough but might have been in bother had the wind and pace not let up.'

Come on, I'm looking (read: desperately scraping around) for reasons why this might not be a total procession. Help me out here! :-)

Simon Yates blowin up at the Giro. All over it winnin stages for fun then crackin big time in the last week. It dose happen.

Les Gorges de la Nesque aren't to be missed either.

Seconded. Definitely worth doing. Tres scenic.

Yeah but we already know that Pog has the three week thing sewn up. He doesn't fade as the tour hits the final week.