I'd agree if it was anyone else doing the chasing but you never know with Sagan. The guy is obsessed with the green jersey. He's entering his forte now, intermediate sprints on the hilly/mountain stages is where he thrives. Never been the fastest sprinter so the flat stages drying up is only an advantage. Stage 13, 14, 16 are typical stages where he'll find the right breakaway, win the sprint and cut the gap significantly. On the other stages where the sprint comes before the climbs Bora will probably go with their all out attack strategy from stage 7 and try to shake off Bennett again. They don't have a horse in the GC so they'll do everything they can to get the green back.
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I'd agree if it was anyone else doing the chasing but you never know with Sagan. The guy is obsessed with the green jersey. He's entering his forte now, intermediate sprints on the hilly/mountain stages is where he thrives. Never been the fastest sprinter so the flat stages drying up is only an advantage. Stage 13, 14, 16 are typical stages where he'll find the right breakaway, win the sprint and cut the gap significantly. On the other stages where the sprint comes before the climbs Bora will probably go with their all out attack strategy from stage 7 and try to shake off Bennett again. They don't have a horse in the GC so they'll do everything they can to get the green back.
I thought he’d get punished for pushing van Aert but to be relegated to last and docked points...
Bennett needs to stay steady but tbh I don’t know enough about him to know if he can hold on. Sagan will be pushing hard alright as is his way.
Bennett needs to stay steady but tbh I don’t know enough about him to know if he can hold on. Sagan will be pushing hard alright as is his way.
Yeah agreed, it's the only thing they're in the Tour for so he'll do anything to get those points back on the course sprints, but it's quite a gap. Will be interesting. I think if he had already won one or more stages and was comfortably in green, he wouldn't have even attempted to go past Van Aert yesterday. He seems desperate.
He got off cheaply imo and could've/should've been ejected from the Tour entirely. The outcome was good yesterday because Van Aert stayed on his bike, but what if he went to his left because of what Sagan did, fell and took Bennett (and potentially Ewan) with him? The outcome of the violation should not determine the punishment but sadly it did yesterday. This fecking crap needs to be cut from sprinting altogether to make it safe again, now more than ever. If they wanted to make an example of it, he'd be on his way home right now. There's simply no time or place for that stuff during sprints and riders should be aware of the consequences by now when they do stuff like that.
It's not the first time this Tour Sagan has pushed other riders in preparation of the sprint. Anyone who thinks this is harsh is only looking at the consequences, as this time there were none. But if Van Aert loses his balance a little more and crashes, there's at least 10 other riders who're going 60+ km/h behind them who then have to try to avoid a crashing Van Aert. It could've been a complete disaster. In my opinion, they should've sent him home.
Bora keeping the breakaway close but I can't see Sagan surviving until the end in this one if I look at the profile of the stage. And he lost 2 more points on Bennett already.
Hirschi!!!
If anyone deserved a stage win, it's this guy. Still only 22, seems like a huge talent.
Not only his first tour stage, but his first professional victory full stop. That can't be usual.
He’s only 22 I think. His palmares is excellent for this stage of his career.
Oh yes, no doubt. U23 champ as well. I still think it's pretty interesting that the first professional win is such a big one, though.
Chuffed he won after narrowly missing out a few days ago.
Nice fight by Sagan as well
Nice fight by Sagan as well
This is a great race today, finally a breakaway with a big gap and lots of action. Hopefully some action at the final ascent from the main guys as well.
I’d like Bora to get the win today, but I think Martinez has got this.
Omg 
Bernal might take a 30sec+ hit here
What a final kilometer! Brilliant by Martinez and the 2 Slovenes. Serious blow to Bernal, I don't see him closing this gap.
It's impossible not to love Pogacar. He's so good and such an attacking rider. It'll be a joy to watch him in the coming decade. It already is of course.
It's impossible not to love Pogacar. He's so good and such an attacking rider. It'll be a joy to watch him in the coming decade. It already is of course.
Looks like Bernal`s only hope is that he has better endurance on the less steeper Alpine climbs in higher altitude (which should suit him as a Colombian). Rogic just looks way stronger right now and he`s the better TT rider. So far only threat to Roglic seems to be Pogacar.
Anything can happen in this last week. Top 3 within a minute, but have to agree Roglic looks mighty fine at the moment with time trial to come. All to do yet though.
Insane effort - going at 15+ km/hr at 12-13% ascents after 5 hours of grueling cycling...
2 Slovenians followed by 4 Colombians in the GC classification
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I like what Bora are doing, Bennett seems dejected.
Road furniture galore... glad they got through that section!
How did that happen? Shame on you peloton!
Sagan again with his head and shoulder against another rider in the sprint for second. He clearly considers himself above the rest. Needs to be sent home so he can come to his senses.
Bye bye Bernal.
Bernal in reverse here. Doesn’t look right, at all.
Van Aert dropping mountain specialists like they are club riders sums up the absurdity that is professional cycling. You need to completely suspend disbelief to enjoy the sport these days.
Good riddance to Sky/Ineos.
Nice to see Ineos go down, but gotta be honest, that was quite anticlimatic for their reign to end. Bernal cracked Indurain style, completely cooked. Although his interview afterwards was very likeable, no excuses or BS, very classy (btw: Any reason why his English is quite good for a Colombian? I was surprised).
Yeah, I mean its tedious to constantly be a cynic yet follow the sport, so I try to avoid the issue but Jumbo Vismas performance has Festina vibes. If it weren`t for Pogacars occasional attacks they'd just roll over the mountains with 3-4 guys all the time.
His values are in line with what you’d expect compared to those of last year and two years ago. Jumbo is just a better organized and more innovative team than the others right now.
I don’t see any riders spectacularly doing unbelievable things like in Saunier Duval/Telekom times in the past.
While the TDF is far from over I was surprised to see Bernal lose over 7 mins today. What’s happened to him?
He’s supposed to be getting stronger as he ages.
He’s supposed to be getting stronger as he ages.
Did you feel the same for Sky / Ineos or only non-British teams are suspect?
Had Pogacar at 14/1 before the tour started and don’t know whether to cash out now or not. He looked stronger than Roglic at the finish yesterday but Roglic is just stuck to him in every stage so don’t know if he can gain 40 seconds on him.
What would you get if you cashed out now?
Just over 3/1
That’s a tough one alright. I wouldn’t be surprised to see Pogacar in yellow in Paris. He looked good today but his team needs to support him better. If you feel they can then you have your answer.
You need to keep in mind Van Aert only maintains that tempo in a relatively short burst and not the entire duration of a climb. When his work is done, he's gone. By the finish, most mountain specialists finished around 7 minutes ahead of him.
Tbf to @Buchan if I remember correctly he has also been an avid sceptic of Froome, Wiggins and co. as well as being suspicious about Britain's performance at the home olympics 2012.
I mean there are certain aspects that might explain the fast times this year (no grueling race calendar leading up to the tour, lower temperatures in September than July) but given that a couple of riders beat Vinokourov's and Mayo's Col de Peyresourde record from 2003 and even more riders were faster than Armstrong, Ullrich and Basso than that certainly raises some eyebrows.
It's always dangerous comparing ascent times from different years. In 2003 they started at the foot of the Peyresourde after around 166 km and 5 rated climbs: two cat 2 and three cat 1 climbs. This year the ascent started after 121 km and one cat 1 and one HC climb. It also depends on how tough the race has been up to that point.