Pro Cycling 2023

Roglic needs to find himself a new team. Too good to sit out the tour or be a domestique.
 
Wout going home for the birth of his child. Shame he didn’t get a stage win. He probably would have gotten maximum freedom for the next two stages given Jonas’ gap as well.
 
That was a thrilling finish! Love to see the breakaway win a stage like that - especially when Philipsen is pretty much guaranteed a win, if the peloton caught up.
 
Denmark stop winning ffs.

Those dark arts from Alaphilippe in the peloton though. Beautiful. Sole reason the breakaway wasn't caught :lol:
 
I missed yesterday's stage, Philipsen has really outed himself as a fecking asshole this Tour. I wasn't exactly a fan after the first few stages but now I've really had enough of him. Can't imagine the rest of the peloton thinks highly of him either.
 
Massive respect to Ben O'Connor for riding his chance in that group even though he would have known his chance to win was small.
 
Surprisingly exciting stage today, great tactical stuff in the breakaway groups. Impressive ride by Asgreen who looked like the strongest in the three-man group, in fact he probably should have won again but seemed like he opened the sprint a little too early.
 
Good to see Pogacar being back to his normal self today. Leaving the Tour with two stage wins, second in GC and the white jersey is still not too shabby. Just goes to show how thin the margins are - no room for even a single bad day.

Now we just gotta hope for a non-Philipsen win tomorrow to wrap up a pretty amazing TDF.
 
Vingegaard wil participate in the Vuelta in august. Wonder what their tactics are here? Surely he’s not there NOT to win it, but surely Roglic isn’t either. Exciting.
 
Giggs' right foot said:
Vingegaard wil participate in the Vuelta in august. Wonder what their tactics are here? Surely he’s not there NOT to win it, but surely Roglic isn’t either. Exciting.
Click to expand...

Similar approach to last year's Tour probably? Go with two captains and see who has the better legs. Also, you have a spare in case one of them crashes out or something.

In any case, TJV are looking good for the Grand Tour GC sweep this year. I wonder if any team has done that before.
 
Samid said:
Denmark stop winning ffs.

Those dark arts from Alaphilippe in the peloton though. Beautiful. Sole reason the breakaway wasn't caught :lol:
Click to expand...

You should have heard the whining on the commentary in Denmark! It was fantastic, spluttering in fury about him.
 
Mike Smalling said:
Good to see Pogacar being back to his normal self today. Leaving the Tour with two stage wins, second in GC and the white jersey is still not too shabby. Just goes to show how thin the margins are - no room for even a single bad day.

Now we just gotta hope for a non-Philipsen win tomorrow to wrap up a pretty amazing TDF.
Click to expand...

I hope we see a proper break today. No point following convention. Get away early, stay away and make Alpecin chase alone.
 
whitbyviking said:
I hope we see a proper break today. No point following convention. Get away early, stay away and make Alpecin chase alone.
Click to expand...

That'd be great and I would hope the other sprinter teams would follow this strategy. It's a different situation to most years, since one sprinter is just so much better than the rest. Groenewegen hasn't had much of a sniff this year, and Pedersen can't beat Philipsen in a normal flat sprint. Maybe if teams like Jayco-AlUla and Lidl-Trek can get someone in the break, they can sort of bet on multiple horses.
 
Mike Smalling said:
Similar approach to last year's Tour probably? Go with two captains and see who has the better legs. Also, you have a spare in case one of them crashes out or something.

In any case, TJV are looking good for the Grand Tour GC sweep this year. I wonder if any team has done that before.
Click to expand...
Sure, that sounds reasonable for TJV - but surely Roglic would find it iffy, no?
 
Giggs' right foot said:
Sure, that sounds reasonable for TJV - but surely Roglic would find it iffy, no?
Click to expand...

Yeah, in my opinion Roglic should find a new team for next year - INEOS would be a good shout. I haven't seen the stages for the Vuelta in detail, but right now Vingegaard is just the best Grand Tour GC rider in the world. Roglic might have an advantage of not having ridden TDF though. Will be interesting to see what they do.
 
Tour de France comes to an end.

Thanks Tadej for all the emotions! Time trial was a bit of a blow to the race.
 
What a sprint today. Both Philipsen and Meeus rode for Balen BC in the same team when they were young, so it’s not too sour a defeat for Philipsen today.

Pogi of course bringing the heat, what a legend.

Great news also that Vingegaard is confirmed for the Vuelta. Should be a good one with Roglic, him, Remco and Ayuso (Thomas as well? Not sure).
 
RobinLFC said:
Great news also that Vingegaard is confirmed for the Vuelta. Should be a good one with Roglic, him, Remco and Ayuso (Thomas as well? Not sure).
Click to expand...
Yeah, Thomas is confirmed I think. Will be a very interesting race, looking forward to seeing Vingegaard against an in-form Remco and seeing what Ayuso can do. Vingegaard said on Danish TV he's going for the double so in his mind he's not there to support Roglic.
 
Ainu said:
I missed yesterday's stage, Philipsen has really outed himself as a fecking asshole this Tour. I wasn't exactly a fan after the first few stages but now I've really had enough of him. Can't imagine the rest of the peloton thinks highly of him either.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I've noticed that there's a lot of negativity towards Philipsen and I can understand why to a certain extent, but still it's somewhat suprising to even see someone Belgian react like this. I figured you'd at least be very proud of your fellow countryman.

Personally I've both been very impressed and really enjoyed Philipsen this tour. Also comes across as a down to earth and sympathetic guy in interviews. He might not be eligible for the Fair Play award this year, but this wasn't some charity event, it was the Tour de France. Doesn't get more competitive than that, and you have to be absolutely ruthless otherwise someone else will feck you over.

There was a great opportunity for him to win the green jersey and I've got massive respect for the way he went for it and sealed the deal.
 
Mike Smalling said:
You not watching Tour de France Femmes Avec Zwift then?

But yeah, I get you. Not that long until the World Championships and then the Vuelta.
Click to expand...

Looking forward to those. Think the new set up of the WC and holding all of the cycling events together is exciting. And all the top GC contenders apart from Pogi in the Vuelta should be great as well. Evenepoel, Thomas, Roglic and Vingegaard, brilliant stuff!
Stating the obvious, this post is one long cliché.
 
Henrik Larsson said:
Yeah, I've noticed that there's a lot of negativity towards Philipsen and I can understand why to a certain extent, but still it's somewhat suprising to even see someone Belgian react like this. I figured you'd at least be very proud of your fellow countryman.

Personally I've both been very impressed and really enjoyed Philipsen this tour. Also comes across as a down to earth and sympathetic guy in interviews. He might not be eligible for the Fair Play award this year, but this wasn't some charity event, it was the Tour de France. Doesn't get more competitive than that, and you have to be absolutely ruthless otherwise someone else will feck you over.

There was a great opportunity for him to win the green jersey and I've got massive respect for the way he went for it and sealed the deal.
Click to expand...
Normally I'd be extra sympathetic towards Belgian riders but I'm not going to support someone blindly just for being from the same country as me. I could've overlooked Philipsen's antics in the sprints, I still have soft spots for Cavendish and Sagan for example, and they've done worse. But that move on Eenkhoorn was just incredibly arrogant, aggressive and unsportsmanlike, almost Armstrong-esque. If he would've admitted he got carried away afterwards, that's one thing, but all he said was he didn't see anything wrong with what he did.

So yeah, I really can't root for a guy who does shit like that. He can be the nicest guy off the bike, but I can only judge him as an athlete by his behaviour during races. And it's not pretty.
 
Ainu said:
Normally I'd be extra sympathetic towards Belgian riders but I'm not going to support someone blindly just for being from the same country as me. I could've overlooked Philipsen's antics in the sprints, I still have soft spots for Cavendish and Sagan for example, and they've done worse. But that move on Eenkhoorn was just incredibly arrogant, aggressive and unsportsmanlike, almost Armstrong-esque. If he would've admitted he got carried away afterwards, that's one thing, but all he said was he didn't see anything wrong with what he did.

So yeah, I really can't root for a guy who does shit like that. He can be the nicest guy off the bike, but I can only judge him as an athlete by his behaviour during races. And it's not pretty.
Click to expand...

Fair enough, it was hardly the most sympathetic move! Though he did mention talking it over with Eenkhoorn the day after.

The reactions though, for example on Dutch and Belgian cycling websites... Philipsen apparently is the dirtiest rider in Tour de France history. He ruined the whole experience for everyone this year, and it's impossible to enjoy Alpecin-Deceunick ever again because they are affiliated with Philipsen...

I guess I had just never fully realised what a bunch of extremely over-dramatic cry babies some online cycling fans are, my word. Fits perfectly with all the stereotypes :lol:
 
Henrik Larsson said:
Fair enough, it was hardly the most sympathetic move! Though he did mention talking it over with Eenkhoorn the day after.

The reactions though, for example on Dutch and Belgian cycling websites... Philipsen apparently is the dirtiest rider in Tour de France history. He ruined the whole experience for everyone this year, and it's impossible to enjoy Alpecin-Deceunick ever again because they are affiliated with Philipsen...

I guess I had just never fully realised what a bunch of extremely over-dramatic cry babies some online cycling fans are, my word. Fits perfectly with all the stereotypes :lol:
Click to expand...

You mean Belgian cycling fans. In other countries no one gives a shit about Philipsen.
 
Remco with yet another win in San Sebastian, seems too easy for him. Three starts, three wins and already equalled the record of most wins. I wouldn't be surprised to see him hold on to his rainbow jersey next weekend.
 
Very cool gif of Vollering crossing the finish line at the Tourmalet.



TdF should be a three week race, but this was a great stage. Finishes with a TT later today, which will be a fight for the podium. The winner was decided yesterday, as long as no accidents.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.