[PJay]

TdF '21 Discussion Thread Stage 18 Jul15 SPOILER ALERT

This is a 78-mile mountain stage. While the mileage is not too great, the climb is. THe sprinter points are at about mile 36. Then it is nearly 20 miles up Tourmalet.
Then, a long descent. Then, the second big climb of the day: Luz Ardiden. The final climb of the 2021 Tour. Eight or 9 miles. It levels off a bit in this ski town, but it is a mountain finish. The second in two days. These two days belong to climbers, and will be competitive.

Classically, it is a great all-around rider who wins, and this includes being able to perform well on mountain stages. Pogacar won the first time trial stage, and thus had not yet measured up to the view of the winner being dominant on a mountain stage. Now, he has. Like a champ. He and the rest of the MJ group could have let the two Fenchmen prevail, while checking each other. Pogachar likely would hold the lead all the way to Paris. But he rose to the occasion and won a mountain stage. A fierce, long mountain stage which finished in a very long, arduous climb.

Now, with a mountain win and a lead of more than 5 minutes over rivals. what will happen? Will anyone attempt to challenge the leader? Or, will the battle merely be hot for podium places two and three? Will Cavendish finish within the time allotment? -Frankly, I think he is intentionally taking all the time available to him, in order to not get worn out. It continues to look like he is planning on win in Paris to grab a record that would stand for a very long time.

 

[PJay]

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[PJay]

Dang! Is Pogachar planning to win the TT stage?

 

[rtso21125307]

I'm starting to wonder...easily wins mountain stages...leads in GC and Mountains points...hmmmm….and is fav to win TT.

Hmmmmmmm...where have we seen all this before....just can't put my finger on it - need some help.

 

[PJay]

I'm starting to wonder...easily wins mountain stages...leads in GC and Mountains points...hmmmm….and is fav to win TT.

Hmmmmmmm...where have we seen all this before....just can't put my finger on it - need some help.

I just went back and read his racing bio. The folklore is that a world class rider has to mature to be an all-arounder, including growing and developing to be a mountain rider - that you normally do not see this until the guy is at least 24, but more like 28.

He has been riding for years. Competitively, seriusly like 10 years. But LA and Landis - as do many - also had early starts as part of their back story. He is a good height and weight, and has a good team. He has pro level palmares for the last 3 years. He has been up in the mix. But still. Is he a young phenom like Tiger Woods? Or what?

 

[aclinjury]

I'm starting to wonder...easily wins mountain stages...leads in GC and Mountains points...hmmmm….and is fav to win TT.

Hmmmmmmm...where have we seen all this before....just can't put my finger on it - need some help.

Bernal won TdF at 22. Pogacar also won TdF at 22. And before this, both of them showed plenty of potential. And you can add Greg Lemond to this.

Guys like Lance, Landis, Wiggins, Froome didn't win until they're in their late 20s.

Only the dopers say talents don't develop until late 20s.

In the Olympics, talents come at an early age too. There's a 17 yr old 200m sprinter right now that is tearing it up.

In the NBA, the talented highschoolers coming into the league become dominant in 2-3 years.
Michael Jordan was already seen as gifted by 18 (though he decided to go go college).

Pogacar is hardly the only young talent alone in the athletic world.

What IS suspicious is when a person who has done nothing, show almost no potential to be great, when they were young, then suddenly dominants in their late 20s. That's not how talents work, that's dope at work.

 

[Opus51569]

White, Yellow and Polkadot… why no Green jersey? Slacker.

 

[PBL450]

White, Yellow and Polkadot… why no Green jersey? Slacker.

Hahaha! That’s hilarious!

I’m really starting to love the kid! He wants to win stages. He doesn’t stare down at his powermeter and ride technically good enough to win. I think Taddy makes the stages exciting, having the GC contenders racing for the stage instead of racing each other 15 minutes behind the breakaway.

I don’t like the doping references... I’m not being snarky, we have been conditioned in so many ways to be suspicious like that... He’s getting checked and if he can evade the tests so can Carapaz who has the best machinery in the business for maximizing “incremental gains.”

Taddy will have a legit stable of jerseys in a few days after winning 3/4 last year as well. I mean, he even has green this year as he and Cav swapped...


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[il sogno]

I’m really starting to love the kid! He wants to win stages. He doesn’t stare down at his powermeter and ride technically good enough to win. I think Taddy makes the stages exciting, having the GC contenders racing for the stage instead of racing each other 15 minutes behind the breakaway.

I don’t like the doping references... I’m not being snarky, we have been conditioned in so many ways to be suspicious like that... He’s getting checked and if he can evade the tests so can Carapaz who has the best machinery in the business for maximizing “incremental gains.”

Taddy will have a legit stable of jerseys in a few days after winning 3/4 last year as well. I mean, he even has green this year as he and Cav swapped...

I really like him too. If he's feeling good, he goes for it. He's a cannibal.

As far as the doping references go, Pog's been a hot talent for the last 10 years. It's not like he's an unknown cyclist who signed with Barloworld then all of sudden starts winning Tours when he gets signed to Sky.

 

[thatsmybush]

The doping references are just from fans being hurt one too many times. But something did strike me...in defense of today's riders, that was brought up on slowtwitch.

The mountain stages may very well be...less mountainy, this stage with 2 HC climbs. Years ago that stage may have had 3-5 difficult climbs, now it is shorter and only has the two. In short, it is possible that an actual human could do the current tour and still be spunky enough at the end to do the things the leaders are doing


Here is a snip from years past.

That said Pog's relationship with Gianetti a known drug offender gives me Michele Ferrari flashbacks.