Tour de France 2020 | Stage 18 (Méribel - La Roche-sur-Foron, 175 km)

Dodge

dastardly00 wrote: »

Ewan almost 9 minutes down

Sam's group over 7 mins down too. A pig of a day

bazermc

Just flicked it on for me lunch.

Ineos much more active last few days, it’s not as if they were minding Bernal before.

dastardly00

It's a pity that when Kwiatkowski is finally allowed to go in the breakaway, he still ends up being on domestique duty

MPFGLB

lawrencesummers wrote: »

On Newstalk or gameon radio sport show someone was interviewed about how the lockdown would effect performance, one thing that I remembered amongst a lot of waffle was how he was saying older athletes would find it harder to get up to speed, how the pausing of competition and time to get to top speed again is longer the older the person is.

Cycling could be the perfect example of younger riders being fresher But getting back to “fighting weight” faster and the older being more effected by the lay-off.

I agree with this ...alot of older riders need time and/or racing to get to form and it takes longer ...Valverde is an good example of this

On the flipside older riders have more stamina but unfortunately for them this season is very short

n this Tour we alot of younger riders who are very fast on climbs ...I wonder would they be so fast if they had several races in their legs all year

This Tour is unique in many ways

lawrencesummers

MPFGLB wrote: »

I agree with this ...alot of older riders need time and/or racing to get to form and it takes longer ...Valverde is an good example of this

On the flipside older riders have more stamina but unfortunately for them this season is very short

n this Tour we alot of younger riders who are very fast on climbs ...I wonder would they be so fast if they had several races in their legs all year

This Tour is unique in many ways

It seems to be playing out that way alright, Younger athletes are doing better than the older ones, but exceptions exist like Johnny Sexton in the rugby probably the oldest 10 in Ireland but played the best so far.

As time goes on it will be interesting to see if it happens in other sports. Maybe it’s more for sports of individual performance or ability.

Eamonnator

I am certainly in the category of older rider. I have been cycling for 35 years or so, late starter.
I find that it takes me longer to build up my fitness after injury or lay off than it used to. When I'm fit, on a long hard day, my endurance is as good or better than lads 20 years or more my junior. But it takes me longer to recover from those hard spins , than it used to.

Inquitus

Eamonnator wrote: »

I am certainly in the category of older rider. I have been cycling for 35 years or so, late starter.
I find that it takes me longer to build up my fitness after injury or lay off than it used to. When I'm fit, on a long hard day, my endurance is as good or better than lads 20 years or more my junior. But it takes me longer to recover from those hard spins , than it used to.

Excuses, HTFU!

Eamonnator

Inquitus wrote: »

Excuses, HTFU!

Rule #5 all the way

MPFGLB

Crapaz must be getting frustrated ..


Hirschi beating him on climbs today and Kemna beating the other day


Still I think he is the best option for INEOS to win the Tour next year

MPFGLB

Eamonnator wrote: »

I am certainly in the category of older rider. I have been cycling for 35 years or so, late starter.
I find that it takes me longer to build up my fitness after injury or lay off than it used to. When I'm fit, on a long hard day, my endurance is as good or better than lads 20 years or more my junior. But it takes me longer to recover from those hard spins , than it used to.

Its like drinking :pac:

It takes longer to get drunk (and more money)

You are drunk longer (or so it seems ) and the hangovers are more horrendous

dastardly00

Nasty crash for Hirschi

Randy Archer

redlead wrote: »

Whats Alaphalipes game? He seems to throw himself into every breakaway and for the lack of a better way of putting it, blow his load early for no real reason. It just seems like there is no real strategy for him and he's allowed do what he wants. He's explosive but only in short bursts.

Playing to the cameras ? Him getting the combative award the last day was a joke. That should have gone to Carapaz

lawrencesummers

dastardly00 wrote: »

Nasty crash for Hirschi

Carapaz disposed of that banana skin nicely

Spudmonkey

What's broken on the bike?

dastardly00

Spudmonkey wrote: »

What's broken on the bike?

Maybe left STI lever that controls front brake and front derailleur

Subpopulus

15 mins back to Sam - is that a worry?

CMcsporty

mcgratheoin wrote: »

I'm going to try to keep an eye on Ewan's gap at the top to see how much he pulls back on the descent.

Sam about 6'30" down and Ewan another 2 minutes back at the top

I hope Ewan makes it to Paris. & Sam of course.

To beat Ewan on the Champs Elysees would be befitting.

He really came from "Absolutely Nowhere" last year. A great win

lawrencesummers

dastardly00 wrote: »

Maybe left STI lever that controls front brake and front derailleur

You would hear about carbon bikes breaking from far lesser

happytramp

Subpopulus wrote: »

15 mins back to Sam - is that a worry?

Probably not. The CAT 1 they're about to climb is literally half as hard as the CAT 2 they just went up. Bizarre grading.

retalivity

2 of Ewan's teammates are 3mins behind the grupetto.

Macy0161

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Cycling could be the perfect example of younger riders being fresher But getting back to “fighting weight” faster and the older being more effected by the lay-off.

In a cycling context, they're probably more open to using the Turbo as well. iirc from following them on strava, a lot of the younger guys were pre-covid turbo users. Some of the older ones always outside.

happytramp

retalivity wrote: »

2 of Ewan's teammates are 3mins behind the grupetto.

Yeah, they've been sacrificed to save ewan. They might finish the race with only 3 team members. If it wasn't for Sam I'd be dying for Ewan to win in Paris.

retalivity

for about the 10th time during this tour, C'MON HIRSCHI!!!

Chris871

retalivity wrote: »

for about the 10th time during this tour, C'MON HIRSCHI!!!

He's been so so good to watch

dastardly00

lawrencesummers wrote: »

Carapaz disposed of that banana skin nicely

He has a banana in his back pocket now... Maybe for Caruso

EDIT: Bilbao I meant

Dodge

Nearly 22 minutes for the Sam group now (14 to peloton). Still a HC climb to come. Ouch!

lawrencesummers

dastardly00 wrote: »

He has a banana in his back pocket now... Maybe for Caruso

The way the tour is going for Ineos he will probably take Kwitkowski out with it!

Inquitus

Subpopulus wrote: »

15 mins back to Sam - is that a worry?

The Grupetto are masters of calculation, they very very rarely fail to make the cutoff.

lawrencesummers

Carapaz is riding very impressively for me, he’s been out front for the last few days and dropped a lot of good riders along the way, putting in a big effort again today and unlucky not to have anything to show for it so far but the KoM could be his consolation prize if Jumbo decide to reel them in and he can’t get stage honours

happytramp

Inquitus wrote: »

The Grupetto are masters of calculation, they very very rarely fail to make the cutoff.

Yeah there's 20 DS's who know exactly where they need to be and are letting them know... If they weren't going fast enough it would start to break up with the slower riders getting left behind.