Tour de France 2021

Something about youthful powers of recovery.

Of course, he might have gone in so deep today that he has completely ruined himself for tomorrow or the next mountain range.

Or tests positive for Covid.

The look

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So Pog beat Schleck and Contador’s time from 09 on Col de Romme – before Colombiere.

Training, diet, equipment, etc has improved a lot in the past 12 years. Hmm.

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I want to believe; but

.

equipment

There’s a joke there about the ‘gear’ being the same high quality, can’t find it though.

so has the steak...mmmm steak, clenbuteroly goodness

What stage in the race was that? What was the wind that day? Bio passport was in then so they can’t have been juicing too hard.

I did sense a note in Boulting and Millar’s commentary that they were having to suspend their disbelief somewhat.

Davide Formolo said in RAI, Pogacar told him to ride, that the attack wasn’t planned before the stage.

Would be convenient if dq'd

No roglic start today then .

Doping thread >>>>>>>

Let's keep the faith and suspend our disbelief in this one?

Especially when the only 'evidence' presented is that he beat everyone else. News just in: someone does that in the Tour every single year.

Who cares, doping, no doping, tour is exciting to watch!

Doping years were fun to watch too; I only see playbacks, live would have been mad too.

Lance won 7, then early invested in Uber and now sells wearables, glasses, alcohol-free beer and mattresses.

then early invested in Uber

As if he wasn't enough of a cunt already

Ineos will likely defend the GC position of Carapaz a bit … but I suspect they’ll try for more. Today will be difficult for UAE with breakaways so I’m guessing Porte (+22mins) or Tao (+51mins) will try and go away.

I think Tao looked happier yesterday. He seems very good on long climbs such as today’s finish.

Come on Tim!

I think the best Ineos can hope for is a stage win and a podium place for Carapaz. No-one else in the team has the legs.

If I had the time and the inclination, I'd do a bit of analysis on Ineos/Sky performances at the Tour over the past 5 years, because I think, even though they've won three of the last five editions, as a team they've significantly under performed at the race. Too many of their support riders have under performed and I have a theory, based on nothing more than observation, that they over train their riders ahead of the Tour so that many of them come into the race over fatigued.

The thing is, even if Pog is doping, I find it very unlikely that no-one else is, so unless he's on something new, it's a level playing field either way, sort of.

That was an Armstrong/Pantani - esque ride yesterday, mind you, and there's plenty of innuendo flying around French/Euro twitter. Most of it is Reddit echo-chamber style stuff, but some comments are just specific enough to hint that a few people know something.

Anyway, if Pogacar stays upright, he's won. Disappointing that this is over as a contest after week 1.

The thing is, even if Pog is doping, I find it very unlikely that no-one else is, so unless he's on something new, it's a level playing field either way, sort of.

This is a fallacy. If everyone was taking the same doses of the same drugs, it is still not a level playing field because there is not a uniform response to drugs.

Most of it is Reddit echo-chamber style stuff, but some comments are just specific enough to hint that a few people know something.

Lol. Of course they do.

Tad simplistic, that.

As is the "he beat everyone, therefore he's doping" stance.

Please. You may enjoy this thread

I think you’re the only person saying that.

Most people are asking questions and looking to justify his performance somehow, which is a valid exercise after riding away from the field.

Full power data from the stage would go someway to proving if it was a ‘superhuman’ effort or he’s still operating at close to 100% and the field is fatigued.

Please. You may enjoy this thread

While I totally get that people don't necessarily want this to turn solely into a doping thread, echoing/reacting to some of the comments being widely made in the cycling press, following a truly extraordinary performance, is legitimate as part of the race discussion.

I’m borderline happy to think he had a good day when everyone else was either a b lister or fucked.

3 minutes on Uran seems believable, Carapaz being knackered from his effort the day before.