Tour de France 2021

10 minute delay to the start today due to winds

E
C

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I dunno what I did there but it looks cool! Skinny spanish climbers E & C grovelling in the gutter

I think there was someone before me? Wouldn't want to be deported on a half empty plane-waste of good British tax payer money...

Put [code] tags around the whole thing and it'll work better, I think.

Arguably he didn’t need to follow, but he did try, then fell back (for whatever reason) to Uran and Carapaz.

“It was a hard pace on the climb and in the end, Vingegaard attacked and I couldn’t follow all the way up … It was just a little bit too much and I exploded a little bit, but managed to save it in the end with Richard Carapaz and Urán,”

But did he really fall back or just decide/realise he didn't have to follow?

Maybe his directeur sportif told him on the radio: 'Just rein it in a tad, eh?'

I guess we’ll never know.

I think if he were feeling super strong he would have stayed on the wheel of Vingegaard as that would crush all hope.

But yes, it was predictable it would come together on the decent unless Vingegaard had more time (or someone to ride with him).

'Just rein it in a tad, eh?'

Good god, Oliver...

Podge could have sat on and let Uran and Carapaz pull tbh.

But did he really fall back or just decide/realise he didn't have to follow?

No idea how honest he was being but in an interview on itv I thought he said he couldn’t hold vinegaard’s pace so dropped back to conserve energy. He’s got a 5 minute buffer so can afford to be a little bit relaxed.

It's OK, I do get called a good god from time to time. :)

BuT cAN't YoU sEE TEh cHEmtraILs?!?!1!?

First Pinot, now Gaudu. How do FDJ keep finding climbers who don’t like the heat?

Was it just me or did the finish on the descent take a bit of the drama out of the way?

Cross-posting with another thread, but I was amused this morning to read that SRAM have chosen Mollema, of all people, to be the only rider to test their new blip shifters.

Sagan out with knee pain

https://twitter.com/lpfrileux/status/1413087815106277388?s=21

Yesterday really seems to have taken its toll.

is echelon on drinking game?

.

It's worth watching The Butterfly Effect today just to hear Chris Horner repeatedly attempt to pronounce Kenny Elissonde

Just what the riders will have wanted from the start after yesterday!

Breakaway is a who's who of people I hadn't realised were at this tour

ARE mark tipped his helmet to ARE Tom Simpson on ventoux yesterday! Salute.

Hard to see this break coming back, can’t see who’s got the team to a) be bothered and b) have the legs.

Can’t wait for the Vuelta TBH.

There’s some big engines in it.

Not quite sure who’s going to want to pull that back. All the teams with a sprinter seem to have a guy there. Hard to see DSM having the strength to work all day.