Well well well..for a Tour that looked like it wasn't going to happen, I'd say it's been a great race thus far! Lots of surprises, great racing, and of course, drama. What happens in the Pyrnees over the next few days should be more of the same. The GC guys have no choice to come out and play if they want a chance in Paris. And will Sagan be able to hold and increase his points lead? He has a real battle this year, and his lead going into Saturday is very tenuous. He obviously isn't the Sagan of old...will we see THAT Sagan again this year or is that a sign of the inevitable aging cyclist? We will know for sure in 2 weeks. OK...going to go get dinner, just wanted to open up a new page for week 2...Barbara, great to have you back...and as always, Susie and Rae keep it coming!!
Game ON!!!
One thing I forgot to mention is how amazing the broadcast is. Somehow NBCSports has done the impossible and has their commentating team in three distinct locations (Phil is in London, Bobke is in Durango, and Paul/CVV and Chris are in the studio, wherever that is)...and the miracle: NO delay! It's so easy to forget during the broadcast that Phil and Bobke aren't sitting side by side in the on-site trailer...they are many thousands of miles apart! Serious kudos NBC! If it weren't for everybody wearing masks at the race you'd never know it's something drastically different than the normal July TDF!
ReplyDeleteHi, I haven't been commenting because I've had a hard time watching and focusing, but what I have seen so far has been great racing (and a bit of drama, which always helps, right?) Today's stage certainly didn't disappoint, either.
ReplyDeleteSo impressed with Powless, hoping he hasn't burned up his Tour quotient of matches - 2 rookie mistakes, but he really has done well despite!
It looks like we will have a real GC battle - so fun! But it has been an unusually hard first week, hasn't it? We will have to see what affect that has going forward. Rigoberto Uran did well today, although not making a splash -I hope to see that he has regained some of the 2nd place finish form that he had in 2017. His team has suffered from its usual bad luck, of course.
One thing - on the last mountain, I was distressed to see way too many of the spectators with their masks pulled down and getting in the rider's faces to yell. The equivalent of the stupid runners! They should all be fined - it didn't appear that they had enough course marshals there for the circumstances!
Just watching todaysreplay (Stage 8) and Phil mentioned that Sagan dropped his chain in the final sprint yesterday...AHHH! No wonder he had such a DISMAL finish...couldn't figure it out...his team really drilled it all day and I was sure he would be top 5 at the absolute worst. But he is in Green...will be interesting to see how the mountains affect Bennett and Sagan. Typical Peter would be he will be getting in breakaways and/or staying up front till after the intermediate sprints getting points nearly every day while the true sprinters are off the back conserving energy to survive. OK...back to the stage! (we are in a heat-wave this weekend...did a short 44mi ride this am and it was mid 90's which is quite hot for a place where very few have A/C in their houses (we have a portable I put in the bedroom so we can sleep in these rare hot days). Also got some haze moved back in from the northern fires...can't smell it but can definitely see it.
ReplyDeleteGreat stage today...and Rae, you are so right...up in the crowded summits (and elsewhere on the routes) the fans without masks-on really pisses me off! They are SO putting the riders AND their entire teams (and thus the entire race!) in jeopardy...how selfish can you possibly be?? 2 riders test positive on a team and the team is out....haven't heard what the criteria is to stop the Tour, but I'd think more than 1 or 2 teams out and it would be over. The masks AREN'T FOR YOU, you selfish pieces of shit...they are FOR EVERYBODY ELSE! (sorry...got kinda ticked there...and rightfully so...cuz I AM ticked!) I think the Gendarmes should be cruising around in large numbers and ask you once politely to put on your mask, and if you balk they'd simply taze you, and as you lie there shitting yourself they'd put a mask on you and say something like "don't make me come back"...and there would certainly be a hefty fine to go along with you needing a clean set of drawers. Refusing to wear your mask in public could rightfully be construed as attempted murder. And that goes for pretty much everywhere in the world right now...it IS a Pandemic after all.
ReplyDeleteOK..got that off my chest...calm...ohmm....ohmmmm....what were we talking about? Oh yeah...Stage 8! Powless...placed 4th on the stage?? Holy catsickles! Well done!! And as much as I don't think Yates should be in yellow, he's earned the right to keep it...surely he had wings today in it's defense at the end...can't believe he was able to come back and back and stay with the other GC'ers till the end. I can't help but wonder how much Roglic and Jumbo really wanted to take the jersey this early...very well might have been strategic to let Yates keep it, tho Jumbo has been on the front almost like they already have it, so don't really see a big change in what they are doing there. And hey...Porte and Landa came back and leaped off the bunch to gain time back, what a surprise! They both still have too much time to realistically get back, but it was still impressive. And then Al's attack which looked great, only to see him moments later dropping right out of the entire group. Didn't he learn anything from Powless's attacks the other day? I thought he really had something and was gonna take back some time (kind'a wish he did...would love to see him get it back, as I think taking it away was wrong). I think that punishment (taking a bottle or food out of the allowed area) should just be a monetary fine for the team. Time penalties are so unfair, as 99% of the riders could care less..it's not a punishment at all (there is a small fine of like 250 euros with the time hit).
Anyway...we have a pretty great race on our hands! Still about 4 or 5 guys who are truly in the hunt, and one bad day or moment of inattention could/will end that. Speaking of a bad day, sad to see Thibot Pinot today, looks like his Tour is over...he was in serious pain on the Perysourde and lost what, 10 minutes? His entire team was there but team sport or no, you can't will someone to the top of huge mountains if they just don't have it...and he didn't today. Very sad...I was hoping he would remain one of the hopefuls. And hey, that Nans Peters from AG2R who won the stage today, what an effort he did! He rode alone quite a ways after he broke away from the break. Reminded me of what's his face (sucks not remembering stuff!)...the French guy who was always attacking on hilly/mountain stages, sticking his tongue out all the time...loved to watch his solo attacks! Damn I can't remember his name...and I'm too lazy to look him up right now...(it's dinner time and I'm STARVED!) Grilling hamburgers tonight...didn't bother with steaks for this weekend...gawds, steak is now on par with GOLD price-wise (did our grocery shopping yesterday, mostly for Jeannie cuz I leave on Thursday for 8 to 10 days). OK...my tapeworm is getting antsy...the monsters just had dinner and I need to warm up the grill.
Oh gosh, I forgot to mention the return of Q! He and Roglic took off on that attack I was thinking GO GO GO! It was nice to see him pull away from the other GC'ers, if only for a bit. And hey, can't forget to mention Pogacar and Bardet...they both stepped up and finished strong! And I think I need to up my 'hopeful' list to about 7 to 8 guys. And last but not least, I didn't even mention Bernal...but he stayed strong and right where he was at 13 seconds...pretty much a snake in the weeds I think. OK...NOW it's time to get Grillin!!
ReplyDeleteOh, yeah, Thomas Voeckler! One of my favorites back in the day. Sigh, I'm getting nostalgic again. It is true, without the ability to see lots of races through the season, I don't feel like I much know the riders, or the teams, to have favorites.
ReplyDeleteLast year I used a VPN a few times, but was very disappointed to find that I still couldn't access English Eurosport - I enjoyed the commentary, and they showed so many more races too. I understand why cyclingfans has partnered with Fubu, but losing that access to Eurosport is a real loss to me.
VOECKLER!! Thanks Rae...that's the guy...LOVED watching his gutsy breakaways, and he lost a lot more than he won, but was never afraid to try. Boy, Stage 9 had no shortage of drama! Hirschi was phenomenal!!! Solo breakaway all day, won all the mountain points, and was only nipped at the end by a wheel by Pogecar (PoGotcha...I'll spell it so I can pronounce it and NOT forget it) and Roglic. And hey...you can't take ANYTHING away from Bernal! He was right there and wasn't afraid to take the front when it counted, and he worked all the way to the line with the other 3, no shadow-boxing at all...he just did the work. Seriously, as much as I don't want Ineos to win, I can't fault Bernal at all...he is a SERIOUS contender and showed it today. Honestly, I can't say Roglic is any stronger...I'd say they are quite evenly matched. Tho for the team I'd have to give the nod to Roglic...Wout and Kuss once again just killed it! And Porte and Landa...right up there fighting the good fight. And everybody knew Yates was going to lose Yellow at some point...but he is quite a fighter too and didn't give up even knowing the Yellow was already gone. What a stage...that seriously was one for the books! And finally...I just HAVE to gush a bit on Hirschi...1st Tour, smaller team (Sunweb), holy smokes! What he did today (well, technically yesterday...it's now Monday morning as I finally finished watching the stage), simply an EPIC ride! I think of Jensie when I see something like that...SHUT UP LEGS! Over those mountains all alone, cold, wet, NO HELP WHATSOEVER all day...and his descending?? DAMN!!! He was gapping the chase-groups all by himself on every descent! That he held the 4 GC chase-group off till the final 2k was just astounding...and even after all that he ALMOST was able to out-kick them. If there was such a thing as a "SHUT UP LEGS" trophy that Jens would give out he would be a shoe-in! (Jens needs to do that...like John Madden in Pro Football with is "All Madden team"). I tell you what, nobody will forget about this young man! Oh..just watching the stage highlights, when Roglic and Pogacar summited the final Cat1 and Pogacar veered wildly (looking back) and ALMOST wiped himself out on Roglics back wheel, I assume a panel will look at that video post race, just hope they don't go back and penalize Roglic...he didn't do anything wrong...looked like he totally held a straight line. So glad Pogacar didn't go down...that would have been tragic! And one final thought...IF Pogacar hadn't lost all that time in the Stage 7 I think crosswinds (his group was gapped and he lost like a minute), well...he would be in Yellow. In the past 2 stages he has clawed back over 50 seconds of that lost time! Have to break up my comment as it was too long...
ReplyDeletePart 2: So the GC top 10 standings going into the rest day: Roglic in Yellow, Bernal 21 seconds back, Martin 28 seconds, Bardet 30 seconds, Quintana 32 seconds, Uran 32 seconds, Pogacar 44 seconds, Yates 1:02, Lopez 1:15, and Landa at 1:42. That's SEVEN GUYS inside a minute! Seriously...that list of guys is really something! I can't recall a race with SO MANY serious contenders still this close this far into the race! (of course, I can't recall much these days...so there is that). Oh my gosh...the race that almost wasn't...and it's beyond words! So, all the teams get tested for Covid today (along with all the staff). Tomorrow morning's news will tell all. Will some of those selfish assholes out on the race route that REFUSE to wear a mask have doomed this race? It makes me sick to my stomach every time I see unmasked people in the crowds screaming (and spitting out hopefully NOT the dreaded virus) at the racers from a few feet to inches away. I'm just flabbergasted that they can be fans and still think it's ok to NOT wear their masks. It's an entirely different world we live in that 6 months ago. Well, it was 9 months to a year ago when the virus in China was raging and was still secret to the rest of the world...and we still have no real idea how bad it truly was in China as they don't tell.
ReplyDeleteOK...I hope to get out into the HEAT and ride today. Our heat wave is raging...yesterday it was over 100 here in Santa Maria (no AC in most homes). We had our little portable unit running all night so we could sleep, that little box is worth it's weight in GOLD a few times a year when we get hot. And this year we've had the most HOT days we've ever had...today is only supposed to be in the 90's thank goodnes! Enjoy Labor day everybody! Susie, hope you get to watch yesterdays stage (NBC Sports says over and over that all the stages and highlights are put on youtube, so even if you miss the broadcast you should be able to go back and catch them...but obviously knowing the results makes watching the stage less desirable). Barbara and Rae, hope you are getting to see all the action. Cheers and GAME ON!
Great news, no riders tested positive yesterday! Some kind of karma that Christian Prudhomme DID test positive.
ReplyDeleteMatt & Rae, I was thinking of Thomas Voeckler too, could see his face working so hard, couldn’t come up with his last name. Finally Googled “cyclist Thomas” and there he was. This senior citizen stuff (i officially became one last November) is not for sissies!
Oh yeah, KARMA came back ASAP to bite ole Prudhomme in the tuckus! And I BLAME HIM & the French govt for that TRAVESTY on the Peyresourde! Where the heck were all the gendarmes?! Up by the barriers where they were NOT needed! There should have been MUCH more barriers farther down the mt & many, many MORE police to insure the masks & that those IDIOT FANS STAYED THE HELL OUT OF THE ROAD! It's bad enough during a regular Tour but there was NO EXCUSE for what was ALLOWED to transpire! I was so disgusted & LIVID, I almost stopped watching the Tour entirely! Once they started the descent & got away from all those SELFISH IDIOTS, I calmed down & got swept up in the GC action again. Normally, I would have been very disappointed that BOTH Pyrenees stages ended on a descent or flat instead of a summit but in this case, it kept the riders from the horde & thus, safer. PLUS, there was actually GC action on both stages! I finally saw Quintana (still not a closeup yet) & almost went hoarse cheering for Hirschi on Sunday. POOR kid, rides like a maniac & ALMOST wins an epic stage at the Tour but got caught within 2K & then nipped at the line by the 2 strongest GC guys in the race.
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right, Matt - Bernal has barely made a splash & yet there he is, sitting 2nd overall! His team is definitely NOT the Team Deathstar of old, but he's still hanging in there. Right now, even though Pogacar is in 7th, it's looking like the podium will be some lineup of Roglic, Bernal & Pogo (my shorter nickname). Who knows in what order. And of course, there' still MORE than half the race to go with roads, crosswinds, errant fellow cyclists, 'regular' sickness, COVID & the Alps all still to navigate so ANYTHING could still turn it all upside down. One more Ineos positive test & Bernal will have to drop out! (If it's another support guy, do you think they will really make the whole team drop out?)
I am a little concerned that Jumbo has been using too much energy too soon. Basically, the 1st & 2nd weeks in the Tour swapped places this year & most GC teams rarely dominate ALL the 1st week stages as Jumbo mostly did. Usually top GC teams just ride to protect their GC man in the 1st week. But with the weeks "swapped" & all that energy spent early, will they still be able to dominate in the Alps in he 3rd week?
ReplyDeleteAnyhoo, the best news is that we seems to have a plethora of young Tour contenders for the next 5-6 years! Although, Roglic apparently is not really that young (he's 30 I think I heard Phil say!). I would love if Riggo could land on the podium again in 2 weeks time as I don't know how many more chances he'll have.
I wonder what the REAL story is with Dumoulin pulling like a domestique on Saturday? I'm thinking he realized he didn't have the legs to stay with the top GC guys & that's the only reason he "sacrificed" himself. Any thoughts? And I wouldn't be shocked if he ditches yet another team for one where HE will be the GC star.
Does anyone know if they will do another mass Covid test on the 2nd Rest Day? I can only IMAGINE participating in something as hard & stressful as the Tour with THAT threat hanging over your head too! I wonder if any of these guys will try to double up & ride the Vuelta too? HOW would anyone be able to do that?!
Crazy stage 10 today...what looked like it was going to be 100 miles of ho-hum flats turned into carnage! LOTS of crashes! It was like a first week stage...a lot of that was just the roads it seemed to me, but the on and off cross-winds didn't help any, and pretty narrow roads a lot of the time so the main bunch was pretty tight up there. A new sprint winner, and even tho Sagan got intermediate points and then 3rd on the stage, he is still down almost 20 points to the winner Bennett (didn't see how many points 3rd gets you but wow...dropped quite a bit points wise...even tho I thought he gave his best sprint so far this Tour).
ReplyDeleteBut it's not over...not that I've poured over the remaining stages...any 'hill' stages would be where Sagan goes out in a break and gets max points for the intermediate sprints...but by this time in past Tours he's pretty much a lock for the Green overall. I'd say not this year unless he improves more and actually wins a stage sprint.
Anyway, exciting race and tomorrow is mostly flat again...so we shall see how things go. Oh, and great news that NO riders tested positive! Whew...what a huge sigh of relief! I hope the race has noticed the issues on the Perysourde and have a plan to fix that in the coming mountains...that was disgusting even if it wasn't a pandemic-race! The simple fact that the entire race could be ruined by some selfish fans who are asymptomatic-positive and refuse to wear a mask (as they scream at the top of their lungs 2 feet from the riders) should give chills to the organization and teams. The riders deserve better. And now that rudhome has tested positive and is "self quarantined" for 8 days at his home...hopefully #2 steps up and fixes this.
They will test again on the 2nd rest day. At least now we have 10 stages complete, which means that if they have to cancel the whole thing we will have a winner. (Maybe that’s the Jumbo strategy, have the Jersey when it ends.) But that’s looking unlikely, I think we will go to Paris. I read that the riders have expressed concern about the Covidiot fans.
ReplyDeleteSusie, I don’t know what’s with Dumoulin. I just looked through the daily standings, and he was in the top 10 the whole first week. ??
I am very into Hirschi. Hated seeing him get caught on Sunday. What a ride!
Bernal hanging out in 2nd, Quintana hanging out in 5th. Waiting for the Alps?
I didn’t get to see much of today’s stage, just the last half hour, so will watch on DVR tonight.
Well...today we lacked the carnage of yesterday...and the sprint came down to a knife-fight. As of the end of the broadcast they still had Sagan taking 2nd...I will be surprised if that stands, but I can look at his shoulder/head bump either way...I just don't see how Sagan will be able to take the Green jersey back this year...the competition is too tough.
ReplyDeleteOK..gotta go finish packing and go to bed...tomorrow I"m back to "My bags are packed and I'm ready to fly" (again)...lots of nights in hotels this year, to the detriment of my cycling fitness. This one will be short tho...just 9 nights away and then probably 4 12-hr shifts after we come home...still will be 2 full weeks off the bike. Ahh well..glad this is the last one this year. And also sad that we aren't heading out for Munich here in 2 weeks like planned...life is certainly unpredictable...just need to roll with it and make the most of it.
Hopefully you've seen by now that Sagan was relegated so I don't spoil it for you. I wasn't sure what I thought at 1st because it was SO fast & didn't see all the angles. (I was in the office yesterday so was only able to see the final 15 minutes of the repeat afternoon broadcast when I got home). After looking a bunch of times since & especially after seeing those INANE (ironic) advert column things that stick WAY out into the street, well, I do NOT think he should have been relegated! Wout actually drifted over INTO Sagan's path by at least 2 inches & then those ridiculous things jutting off the barriers into the street where Sagan was trying to sprint, well, heck, no wonder Sagan leaned a bit left!
ReplyDeleteBasically, I think this is an overreaction by the officials to what happened to that sprinter at a race before the Tour: Gronenwegan egregiously barreled into a guy (Jacobson?) & the poor guy crashed severely & was very hurt. I think others crashed too. We've seen MUCH worse "aggression" in Tour sprints just the past 10 years & only SOME of the worst has gotten punished & this was far from the worst.
This pretty much takes Sagan out of the Green jersey running UNLESS Bennett can't make it to Paris & that 3rd week is supposed to be BRUTAL so who knows if he'll make it.
And I heard something interesting on Lance & George's webcast yesterday : Sagan is contractually to ride the Giro this year (i.e. get paid BIG BUCKS I assume) & was doubtful he'd even ride the Tour! Well, if true, no wonder he wasn't in tiptop shape here. They think he may even drop out of the Tour if it becomes impossible for him to win Green. I think the Giro starts 10/4, so there's not much time between the two.
And OMG, I forgot to wish you HAPPY BIRTHDAY yesterday, Matt! Hope you ate some scrumptious food & CAKE. :) How's it feel to be "OLD" now? I just think of myself as "59+" as I can't even mouth the word "siiii", see, I can't even type it! Well, hope your day was happy! :)
And I forget - where do you go on this work trip?
Hey Susie...I agree that I think he really got crushed by not only the relegation (taking away 30 points he won by placing 2nd) but fining him cash (I think it was around $500, which isnt really much) but THEN they took an ADDITIONAL 30 points! So a few years ago when Cav was trying to pass thru a spot that wasnt really there, Sagan (who was defending his position) was not just relegated, but DISQUALIFIED from the entire Tour! And now, SAGAN was trying to pass in a very narrow spot, and HE now bumps a guy and HE is relegated! WTH?? Be consistent judges! I dont think he affected Wouts sprint at all (he was being passed already by evrybody), all Peter did was move him over just a bit so he could get thru...in the sprinting world it wasnt much...just a nudge. I think they (the judges) took away any chance he had of winning the green..like they have decided somebody else needs to win it and to give them a little helping had. And yet Peter comes out today still trying!
DeleteAnd thanks for the Bday wishes...and Rae and Barbara too (on FB). It was a rough work-day, but when I got home Jeannie surprised me with Chinese takeout (Panda express...Walnut Shrimp...MMMM!) AND a white choc/raspberry/choc. cheesecake! And my bday gifts were all wrapped...it was nice! Of course, one of the guys at work asked if I was getting a Liverwurst bday cake like Sophie did just a week or 2 ago...I told him I hope not but the monsters were really rooting for it and hoping Id share (they both did get a bit of MY Cheesecake...it was YUMMY!) Now its in the freezer at home along with my Chinese leftovers.
Oh...and Im up in Sunnyvale (again)...this is a short one, we fly home a week from Friday (tonorrow) after a LONG day getting here today...I am charging 14 hours for today...it was BRUTAL! But Im safe and sound in a Residence Inn (so far I have OVER 100 nights in hotels so far this year!)...AND, they have NBCSports on my room tv!! So that and my Gold pass will keep informed...but our upcoming 12 hour days will be a bummer...work, eat and sleep (AND watch Tour stages!).
And hey...how about Hirschi today?? I just finished watching the stage as I gobbled down half an enormous pizza for a LATE dinner (didnt get to my room finally until after 8pm). Im beat...its bed time. Tomorrow will likely be 12...ugh...but its a short trip so ok. Good night all!
Oh boy, I was cheering for Hirschi like crazy! 3rd time's the charm! At least for the 1st half of this race, Hirschi definitely should win that Combativity award. VERY impressive & he's still so young!
ReplyDelete******SPOILER ALERT! SPOILER ALERT! for Today's stage 13 (Fri 9/11)*******
Again, since I won't be able to comment again till Monday, I just have to comment about today's action! 1st, YEAH to Dani Martinez for winning the stage & making EF's Tour a success no matter what else happens. But do you know what TIME it is? It's that time where susie b bitches about the French TV's obstinate refusal to use Picture-in-Picture at the Tour! Today, the cameras stuck on the 3 breakers in front as they fought it out for the win during the last 2-4K. Meanwhile, we did NOT see the GC guys for almost 5 MINUTES, which just happened to be the 1st half of the final climb! When last we'd seen the bunch, there was about 10-12 guys, next time we see them, they are scattered! It was exciting to see the final 1K between Martinez & the Bora guy but come on, I wanted to see what was going in with the GC fellas too!
Anyhoo, Bernal did NOT look good & dropped a chunk of time (36-38 seconds); he fell from 2nd to 3rd overall. The 2 strongest guys in the race since Day 1, Roglic & Pogo attacked & crossed almost together (Roglic 1st) but no bonus seconds as other breaker guys got those. Not too far behind R & P were Landa, Richie Porte (!) & can't remember the 3rd guy. Bardet had crashed earlier in the stage & he's now out of the Top 10. I didn't see Quintana at all but apparently he was in there & didn't lose too much time. Riggo is now up to 4th & Quintana in 5th. Pogo's efforts today leapfrogged him from 7th to 2nd! (See, there's a reason I nicknamed him "Pogo" :) ).
If this was just Bernal's "one bad day" at the Tour, it's still possible he'll be on the podium. But if he doesn't suddenly improve, he will be OFF the podium & replaced with Riggo or Quintana. I don't see Bernal winning unless BOTH Roglic & Podecgar either crash out or have to drop out due to COVID. And Ineos was NOT sandbagging us the 1st 12 days, they really are NOT the team of old.
And heads up for you, Matt but both this Saturday & Sunday's stages will NOT be on NBCSN but on CNBC. (Premiere League soccer takes over NBCSN on the weekend mornings now).
Thanks for the info on the 2nd batch of tests, Barbara. I read late yesterday that the current results will get reset to 0, which means the 4 teams that had support staff test positive will NOT have to leave if 1 other person test positive this time. Gosh, I REALLY wonder if they'd kick out Jumbo or Pogo's teams if 2 support staff test positive! Man, that would be heartbreak for those guys!
Well, I have to scoot. Have a great weekend everyone & SUNDAY especially looks AWESOME!
Wow, what a day of racing! I just finished the stage, and I cant recall seeing a stage where where the fight to win was fought SO HARD! I cant even imagine the pain the 3 guys were battling to stay away...on 15% grade! (Its hard to explain how difficult it is climbing 15% for more than just a few meters...one climb I do has 2 sections that are about a 1/2 mile each at that grade, and it is soul-shattering!) The pace they were holding is mind blowing! All 3 of them dug so deep that I cant believe the human body is capable of that! Hats off to all 3, but Danny Martinez on EF Education, WOW! I think that is the most well earned and spectacular win Iv'e ever seen! Every bit of common sense said that the 2 Bora guys had all the cards, no matter how it played out. But Martinez just out-powered them both to the win. I had goose bumps after he dropped Schachman (sp?) and then he and Kumna battled back and forth, and Martinez, after doing ALL THE WORK chasing down Sch., was somehow able to also beat out the snake-in-the-weeds teammate!
ReplyDeleteOK..I've gushed enough...all I can say is that I think this is the most exciting Tour I can remenmber! And then there is this final thought: This is only the 2nd week! The 3rd week is soul-crushing, and ANYTHING can (and will) happen! So this race is in NO WAY in the bank for Roglic/Jumbo Visma. This will be hard fought all the way I believe. No way Bernal gives up, and Pogachar?? What a beast! he will fight all the way and is likely the biggest threat to Roglic...but now that Roglic is in yellow, he has everything to lose and the final yellow in Paris to gain...and his top rivals will ride themselves inside out to take that away from him! WHAT A RACE!!
OH...and I will shorten Roglic and Pogachar even more to Ro and Po. They both are just amazing! And Richie Porte?? I truly hope he can end upon the podium...that would be so awesome! He rode like a champion today!
ReplyDeleteAll I have to say is, I agree completely that the relegation and penalties for Sagan were completely unjustified - I can't believe that the race jury really looked carefully at the video, since it seemed so obvious to an amateur such as I. But, even VdV and Horner disagreed with each other on this. And I just heard Phil say that he AGREED with the penalty!
ReplyDeleteI was jumping up and down and yelling for Dani yesterday as he fought off the TWO Bora guys!! Where would he be if he hadn't had such bad luck on stage 2?
I AM enjoying the race, so great to have so many contenders for both the green and yellow, and everyone so combative on every stage!
I was surprised to hear a few minutes ago that Ewan has lost so many teammates - somehow I had missed that. Will that hurt his chances for any other stage wins? Hopefully he has taken some lessons from Robbie McEwan on how to take advantage of other teams' efforts!
BTW, I am not watching the ad-free version on NBCSportsGold, so I have too many commercials repeating too many times, as always - but I have to say, the Geico commercials still have me smiling after 2 weeks! Not that I will love Geico, remember Janann's horrid experience with them years ago? I wonder if she is still loving cycling - it's been years since we've heard from her.
ReplyDeleteAnd off topic, let me tell you about my infuriating experience this week. Last fall I was using Playstation Vue as my streaming service (replacing cable) and really liking it, so I bought 4 PS gift cards (at a discount at Sam's Club) to use for it. Well, just after I bought them, PS announced that they were ending the service. I was able to use 2 of the cards without problem, but was stuck with the other 2 - I don't own a Playstation, and don't play online games.
I finally decided to try to sell them on ebay, and this week had someone buy both... I was SO SO fortunate in the buyer that I had, because it turned out that the cards came up when he tried to use them, as ALREADY APPLIED to someone else's account - and he did not demand a refund but cooperated with me as I tried to resolve this with Playstation. Of course it is still possible that he is the fraudster, but if so he is a very polite one - and I have his name and address from his ebay and paypal accounts... I had taken a photo both before and after scratching off the codes to prove that the cards were unused (by me, at least). Despite sending this proof and my receipt to PS, their response was only that they couldn't help because the cards had been applied to another account. NO apparent concern that SOMEONE other than my buyer or me had somehow, fraudulently managed to apply card that he didn't possess and didn't have the codes from to his account!! NO concern that I would be left with financial loss from the Theft/Fraud of one of their other account holders! NO explanation of how this could even happen!!!
I have asked PS to tell me WHEN the cards were redeemed, WHERE, and HOW - I am sure they won't tell me by whom, but I did give the name of my buyer just in case. No response so far!!
I did have a happy outcome, thought - I called Sam's Club, explained the situation to the manager on duty, and she REFUNDED me the purchase price for the cards - which I think was not strictly in line with the official policy. I then refunded my buyer, and all ended well for me - I even avoided the loss that I was going to take on the sale! - but I do intend to continue to try to escalate this with PS, because this was JUST NOT RIGHT!!!
So it's actually Sunday morning but I'm just now watching Saturdays stage (14). Yesterday was a LONG day of work...12 hrs on a Saturday...but we are right on schedule and Monday we hit it (I think we will be doing 12 hr days all week).
ReplyDeleteRight off the top, Bardet is out! That sucks...he was such a fighter. I didn't see him in Yellow in Paris but maybe podium. They said he got a concussion from Fridays stage in which he crashed. Cycling...tough sport.
And 2nd...Bennett/Sagan and the Green. Bennett leads by 66 points. Hmmm...Sagan's relegation and fine (for doing what all successful sprinters are required to do): 60 points. Yeah. RIPOFF!! The Tour wanted a new Green jersey wearer in Paris IMO. They could have just relegated him to last place on the day and called it even...he would have only lost the 30 points for his 2nd place. Even that would have been a pretty stiff penalty. But...my evil twin voice says that the refs were setting a standard, making an example of Sagan to stop all further argy-bargy for the safety of the sprinters now and in the future. I can see that too...Sagan was just the guy who made the obvious head-butt on camera and the refs laid down the law. Nuff said. Back to the race (with my tasty coffee in hand, slippers on (my hotel room is pretty chilly this morning).
Just watched Stage 14 intermediate sprint (so my intermediate comment): wow, cant take ANYTHING away from Sagan and the entire Bora team! They are killing themselves for Sagan for just a few points here and there. One thing of note: Phil (or Bobke) mentioned that Bennett finished LAST in Stage 13. Uhm, yea, there was a lot of climbing but no HCs or even Cat 1s...we have the ALPS next week! And to win Green in Paris Bennett has to still be in the race...I cant help but wonder if he makes all the time cuts in this brutal last week. OK...back to the race!
ReplyDeleteWhew...just finished Stage 14...a flat sprint stage...NOT! Gosh, I was SO rooting for Sagan to pull off the win and get 50 points! But it wasn't to be...too many spoilers left alive after an extremely punishing stage from Team Bora Hansgrove. You have to hand it to them...they just put themselves thru the cylcing wringer for Peter. I was wondering what the time cutoff was going to be (it was a flat sprint stage after all, typically the time cutoff is pretty short)...thinking of Caleb Ewan WAY off the back. Bennett wasnt that far back so will be safe...but NOW there are 4 High Alps stages for him to survive. And everybody else needs to survive it too...the entire peleton has worked a LOT harder than they wanted to in the prelude to the High Alps.
ReplyDeleteOK...gosh, this stage was so strenuous that I had to stop the video and take a nap (seriously!). Now I move right into today's stage 15...will have to get some dinner somewhere in the stage, then back to the room to watch the finish. OK. This ends Week 2...what an amazing Tour!