Pro Cycling 2023

B20

HEY EVERYONE I IGNORE SOMEONE LOOK AT ME
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Roglic needs to find himself a new team. Too good to sit out the tour or be a domestique.
 

Mike Smalling

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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.
 

Mike Smalling

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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.
 

Samid

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Denmark stop winning ffs.

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

Ainu

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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.
 

Mike Smalling

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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.
 

Jev

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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.
 

Mike Smalling

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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.
 

Giggs' right foot

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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.
 

Mike Smalling

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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.
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.
 

whitbyviking

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Denmark stop winning ffs.

Those dark arts from Alaphilippe in the peloton though. Beautiful. Sole reason the breakaway wasn't caught :lol:
You should have heard the whining on the commentary in Denmark! It was fantastic, spluttering in fury about him.
 

whitbyviking

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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.
I hope we see a proper break today. No point following convention. Get away early, stay away and make Alpecin chase alone.
 

Mike Smalling

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I hope we see a proper break today. No point following convention. Get away early, stay away and make Alpecin chase alone.
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.
 

Giggs' right foot

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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.
Sure, that sounds reasonable for TJV - but surely Roglic would find it iffy, no?
 

Mike Smalling

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Sure, that sounds reasonable for TJV - but surely Roglic would find it iffy, no?
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.
 

Nani Nana

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Tour de France comes to an end.

Thanks Tadej for all the emotions! Time trial was a bit of a blow to the race.
 

RobinLFC

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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).
 

Jev

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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).
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.
 

Henrik Larsson

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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.
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.
 

Rams

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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.
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.
 

Ainu

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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.
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.
 

Henrik Larsson

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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.
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:
 

Rams

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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:
You mean Belgian cycling fans. In other countries no one gives a shit about Philipsen.
 

Ainu

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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.
 

NotThatSoph

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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.