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Tour De France starts tomorrow

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Ridley said:
It’s way too early, anything can happen.
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"The consensus is that, unless the defending champion crashes or gets ill, victory is already assured. It’s a measure of his superiority that with only six stages of 21 raced so far, the conversation has already moved on to the fight for second and third place."
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www.theguardian.com

Tour de France 2026: Tim Merlier powers to stage seven victory after Bordeaux sprint – as it happened

Tim Merlier won the seventh stage of the Tour in a sprint finish while race favourite Tadej Pogacar kept the yellow jersey
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
 
Shit happens.
The "best" don't always win.
That's why they line up and go.
If it was a foregone conclusion that "the best" will automatically win, there wouldn't be any point in any competition.

Sometimes the competition is to find out who is "the best", other times it is clear, but you still have to Make it to the finish to finish first
 
augustiron said:
Shit happens.
The "best" don't always win.
That's why they line up and go.
If it was a foregone conclusion that "the best" will automatically win, there wouldn't be any point in any competition.

Sometimes the competition is to find out who is "the best", other times it is clear, but you still have to Make it to the finish to finish first
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Exactly

Exhibit A: Super Bowl XLII (2008)
 
figured that exhibit A would have been the guy in the yellow jersey on the ground, yesterday, and out of the race, today? :laughing :angel
 
I kinda expected Visma as a whole to put up more of a fight. But only Sepp was there with Jonas and he couldn’t help enough. Or maybe they are saving it for later.

For about 2min, I was wondering if Tadej was going to tow Del Toro to 2nd (in the GC).

The gap between the stars and their lieutenants is rather large. So crazy.

Del Toro’s nickname is Torito, which is awesome.
 
Jasper Disaster looked like an amateur sprinter today 😳. The last lead out man didn’t really slingshot him forward. It seemed very poorly timed and Jasper’s legs could make up for it.
 
Today was an awesome breakaway day. I love the suspense of will-they-won’t-they stay away from the peloton. The announcers have started suggesting the breaks are more likely to stay away these days and I really wonder if so and why. Can I blame sugar again?
 
I totally thought UAE was going for the stage win, yesterday. was nice to see the breakaway prevail by six seconds at the line. :laughing
 
SFMCjohn said:
I totally thought UAE was going for the stage win, yesterday. was nice to see the breakaway prevail by six seconds at the line. :laughing
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Indeed, I thought they wanted to put the nail in the coffin but they have plenty of other chances to do that starting tomorrow.

Was nice to see the breakaway survive.

And all the riders for that matter; brutal heat.
 
my favorite, Mr Jonas, is going to have a tough day if Mr Tadej decides to treat Tuesday’s stage like a one-day classic by trying to run away from everyone, as it seems like he can do if he chooses.

I have a vague plan to be off camping, tomorrow, so I’ll be relying on YouTube and this thread to keep up with the race, rather than getting up at 4am to watch on Peacock. :laughing
 
SFMCjohn said:
my favorite, Mr Jonas, is going to have a tough day if Mr Tadej decides to treat Tuesday’s stage like a one-day classic by trying to run away from everyone, as it seems like he can do if he chooses.

I have a vague plan to be off camping, tomorrow, so I’ll be relying on YouTube and this thread to keep up with the race, rather than getting up at 4am to watch on Peacock. :laughing
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IDK, looks too "easy" for UAE to take control; they will wait is my guess after looking at the route.

b41c5
 
yes, looking at Tuesday’s stage profile my fantasy is that Mr Tadej would just go off the front at the start, and let UAE try to slow things down behind him.

would certainly be a “greatest of all time” performance, which as has been pointed out, Mr Tadej seems interested in demonstrating at the 2026 TdF.

never going to happen tomorrow, for sensible reasons (and the heat, maybe), but what glorious chaos if he tried to do such a thing, which I think he could, if he wanted. :ride
 
SFMCjohn said:
yes, looking at Tuesday’s stage profile my fantasy is that Mr Tadej would just go off the front at the start, and let UAE try to slow things down behind him.

would certainly be a “greatest of all time” performance, which as has been pointed out, Mr Tadej seems interested in demonstrating at the 2026 TdF.

never going to happen tomorrow, for sensible reasons (and the heat, maybe), but what glorious chaos if he tried to do such a thing, which I think he could, if he wanted. :ride
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Evidently there is a wildfire in Paris!

I guess they didn't rake the forest enough. :laughing
 
Well, as the race went on yesterday it became apparent that Pogacar would take a shot and he did.

Vingegaard had nothing to fight back with.

Pogacar may win by double digits.
 
stage 10 was certainly entertaining … Mr Tadej sez the fans were booing him. :laughing

was certainly spectacular the way he ran down Mr Carapaz … I thought for sure Mr Tadje had left it too late, and would have to get him on the next climb, but no!

Mr Jonas still thinks he may have something for Mr Tadje on long steep grinders in the Alps. we’ll see I guess … :dunno
 
SFMCjohn said:
Mr Jonas still thinks he may have something for Mr Tadje on long steep grinders in the Alps. we’ll see I guess … :dunno
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IDK, he was 7th yesterday and lost another 44 seconds.

Least impressive finish I can recall for him when chasing Pogacar.
 
yes, Mr Jonas’s finish on Stage 10 was brutal to behold for his fans. :(

Mr Jonas may not win the 2026 TdF, but I’d love to see him beat Mr Tadje for a stage win on an epic and heroic mountain stage.
 
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