Tour De France 2020

The much vaunted French GC assault this year has really been a damp squib hasn't it? Guillaume Martin best placed now, in 12th.

And @Sumo 's quest for big winnings with his bet on Hirschi for the young rider's classification took a disappointing turn today, where he finished 31 minutes down on the stage winner, losing three places on young fella GC.

bardet looked wobbly when he got back to his feet. probably shouldn't have been let back on the bike tbf

Pro cycling doesn't really have a concussion protocol. The default action is always to stick the rider back on his bike and hope they get to the finish, then assess. Which is very dangerous.

I hope he recovers quickly.

You say disappointing, and he may now be 1oth but he's also under 1 hour down so it's a win in my eyes. I'm waiting for Pogacar to crash in to Bernal, that would do it.

edit - I read the website totally wrong again. Oh well. Come on Hischi.

I think they do have a protocol of sorts, but there is a very big difference in taking a player off a pitch for a 10 min assessment (with a temporary replacement) compared to pulling a rider from a 3 week tour. Not sure there is a good answer, sticky bottles are a 'grey area' never mind a rider sitting in a medic car for 15 mins and then being dropped back into the sharp end of a tour stage.

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.

Procycling and concussion is a bad combination. There must be loads of riders who probably should never have finished the race after a crash, who were just given a new bike and rode on without any checking.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2OnYxaEtD4

Watching that that footage again after the fact is really disconcerting. Clutching his head multiple times, stumbling, kind of nuts that the team let him continue, but what else says ‘I’m fine’ than riding the next 86km?

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.

The Grand Colombier

This one is a bastard I concur

I spent a week cycling based in Aix-les-Bains with some friends many years ago, and we passed the Grand Colombier one day, so I suggested we did that the next day. They hated me for it afterwards. Then, two days later, I dragged them up the Mont du Chat and they really hated me then.

I did a Larrington after trying the Selle de Fromentel West a mile after Virieu. @pastry_bot probably wins the I’ve done large chunks of what is left of this years tour cols in four days competition.

Culoz is a shithole though

Why go to the mountains with a bike if not to ride up them?

Did they only go for the sportive like amey?

@ludwig the only thing I'm winning is the King of the Sofa competition.

This was before you started going to the gym.

when @Fox rode bicycles?

:((

Video physio appointment on Tuesday after it took a full month for an NHS physio to call me and tell me the problem is my back and I need a scan.

If I sweet talk them I'll be allowed a face-to-face appointment which should finally let me get an appointment for a scan. Before Covid I could have got that with the first phone call.

I have secretly been riding my fixie quite a bit though and not putting it on Strava.

Why go to the mountains with a bike if not to ride up them?

For the gram, obvs.

Just catching up on yesterday’s action. Fair play to Richie Porte.

The time trial should suit him. He’d need a few riders to fall away but he could sneak into the top five.

pogacar losing that time on the crosswinds stage probably worst thing that has happened for bernal - has forced him to attack, and consequently roglic has followed and the gaps have opened. both of them might have been content to sit for the first couple of weeks, by which time bernal may have ridden into it and/or welcome the benefit of the longer alpine efforts

Sam Bennett’s legs must be screaming right now.

aaaaaand a minute down on yellow jersey group now
stayed the longest of the sprinters though

The gap wasn't big enough at the top so he'll get back on I reckon.

is tiz working?