Before we get into today, what about yesterday!?
I’ve been watching the Tour for over 20 years and in recent times have become accustomed to ‘watching’ stages start to finish – but only really paying attention to the final 20 or so kilometres – when the action kicks off.
In the last few years, with a new generation of riders coming to the fore, the stagnant, controlling ways first adopted by US Postal and optimised by SKY have been summarily slapped aside. The young-guns have got back to racing. Taking opportunities, at times upsetting the established order in the peloton, and firmly grasping the nettle.
Yesterday’s masterclass from Jumbo, demonstrating what can be achieved if you just take the risks and deviate from the established norm, was an absolute joy to watch.
Marry that with an unparalleled level of rider fitness and you have fast, unrelenting and engaging racing that forces you to be present for whole stages – and that more importantly, excites!
Long may it continue. We love it
Anyway – back to Jeandre’s delicious chunks of Tour tidbits!
Dave
13/07/2022 – Tour de France 2022 – Etape 11 – Albertville / Col du Granon Serre Chevalier (151,7km) – VINGEGAARD Jonas (JUMBO – VISMA) – Vainqueur de l’étape © A.S.O./Charly Lopez
Grab the popcorn because today will be epic!
It’s Bastille Day in France and we have three HC climbs to tackle, finishing on Alpe d’Huez!
Every French rider with any climbing ability will be looking to get into the break today along with with Simon Geschke in his slinky silver shoes, looking to secure the Polka Dot Jersey.
Despite not being the official Queen Stage of this year’s Tour it is likely to be even harder for the sprinters as the we head heavenwards straight out the gate and back up the Col du Galibier after about 10km. Wout Van Aert will certainly look to get the jump on the other sprinters and add the 20 points on offer at the intermediate sprint at 11.8km. Given the nature of the start there will be very few “passengers” in today’s break and this may go a long way to securing potential success for those that snap the elastic.
Jumbo are likely to want to let the break go as they look to control Jonas Vingegaard’s lead and remove the chance of the bonus seconds going to the other GC threats. Tadej Pogacar will very likely be looking to grab any advantage he can but with a weakened team, that we saw heavily exploited yesterday, he will most likely have to play along with Jumbo’s plan until he can make a decisive attack. The prospect of a hungry-for-revenge Tadej on a day like today is almost too good to be true, whether he will make any inroads on Jonas’ lead remains to be seen because leading up to today Vingegaard was the one rider he couldn’t shake.
The tour is still long and Tadej will have to be smarter than he was yesterday but one thing is for sure that you never write him off. Yesterday’s result was potentially the best thing that could have happened from a spectator’s point of view.
I can see the break making it and given his recent form I really hope that Thibaut Pinot can pull it off. Should the break be caught I think we will see Tadej taking the win with Jonas hot on his heels.
Top Picks Today:
Thibaut Pinot
Tadej Pogacar
Jonas Vingegaard
Outside Picks:
Nairo Quintana
David Gaudu
Romain Badet
Our Winner:
Thibaut Pinot 🤞
