Tour de France 2023 ***spoilers*** Warning in OP

retalivity

Chaves and Uran lost 5mins today, they are out of the GC picture. Don't think Powless has it in him for GC, He lost 1.40 today, should just lose more time and go for stages/the KOM jersey.

dahat

Mas is such a huge loss to the Tour as he can genuinely put it up to both favourites. For me the GC race is even less interesting now.

The hope now is Hindley has the form to challenge for the podium.

Daroxtar

Mas and Carapaz are two really big losses. While some say he's a bit of a wheel sucker I think Carapaz has an incredible knack of knowing exactly when to attack. Mas has kind of underperformed considering the great attacking game he had right at the start of his career but he has definitely shown himself to be a top class cyclist. Hard to know if anyone else can put it up to Jonas/Pog. Bernal is still unproven since his injury

Daroxtar

Also....😄https://twitter.com/Domestique___/status/1675211371066060803?s=20

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793312#Comment_120793312

Martin Brundle used to maintain that if you couldn't be a frontrunning team in F1, you were better at the back as your sponsors would be visible every time you got lapped.

Mefistofelino

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120792309#Comment_120792309

I don't think he's ever been quite the same since hjs LBL crash last year. 2022 and 2023 have been fairly sparse for him.

breezy1985

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793260#Comment_120793260

Both good bets for a Vuelta podium now if they are fit.

dastardly00

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120770231#Comment_120770231

Corrections corner... The highlights show on TG4 is in Irish; apologies!

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793565#Comment_120793565

That's new, it used to be just the world feed. Great that they are as I go from mere understanding to throwing it into conversation over the tour in work. Missed it today due to stupid amounts of driving for club and family. Is the live coverage the normal TG4 duo?

eagle eye

Stage 2

There's a lot of people suggesting this is a climbing sprinters stage. WVA is one of them and I expect him to be involved but not Pederson or Phillipsen.

To me it has the look of a classic stage and I expect this to turn out as a fight between Wout and MVP. Girmay is another contender if he can stay with the attack from the two mentioned above. Pidcock and Aranburu are dark horses as is Magnus Cort if he can get away early.

I'll pick Van Der Poel for the win. I expect him to kick for home at the start of the Jaizkibel which runs at 5.2% for 3km and then try and drop everybody in the second part of the climb which is 3.5km at 7.4%.

eagle eye

Gutted for Mas and Carapaz. As said above, Mas has always made it interesting as he keeps the favourites honest.

Incredible effort from Carapaz to finish the stage with a fracture in his knee. You could see how much pain he was in and we now know how much resolve the man possesses.

Here's hoping they are both in the Vuelta and make the podium.

Mefistofelino

Today would be good for Neilson Powless. He shipped over a minute and a half yesterday so no immediate GC threat. Only issue is if he spends the day chasing KOM points.

Raoul Duke

Some quick thoughts on yesterday before the 2nd stage gets going.

Lots of guys who were expected to do better didn't feature at all. Today we ill find out whether yesterday was just too hard a first day for some. If van der Poel and Girmay et al don't feature today, I would fear the worst for them and for the Tour as a spectacle.

I'm not sure if Pogacar went 100% full acceleration on that last climb. If that was his max, then I would be worried about any bets I would have made on him. To my eyes he looked below his Spring form.

It was great to see both Yates brothers on form. And any day when someone wins their first Tour de France stage is a good day. There's just a better quality of delight on their faces.

CantGetNoSleep

I saw on the Alpecin Deceuninck Instagram that they have 48 road bikes, 20 TT bikes and 60 wheelsets at the tour. I was always wondering how many bikes each rider had but an average of 6 road bikes and 2-3 TT bikes is more than I would have expected

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794552#Comment_120794552

Thats a lot considering you are likely to lose a rider as easily as a bike. Carapaz has 5 bikes left in the truck now that could be reconfigured if the frame is right, but i suppose you dont want to be the cycling team that runs out of bikes!!

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794552#Comment_120794552

That seems excessive, they can overnight a bike any time they want.

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794542#Comment_120794542

Pog is smart enough to know that its the last day of the race you want to be in yellow not the first, you dont win the tour on the first day!

The giro showed the tactical advantage to not being in yellow and you would have to think most GC contenders know that being in yellow outside of the end of the race is a disadvantage in many ways

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794721#Comment_120794721

I actually thought the pace set on the climbs by UAE was to protect Pogacar from the attacks. If he could have stayed with Yates, I think he would have. I was fully confident he was sandbagging before the tour, after yesterday I’m not so sure.

Raoul Duke

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794721#Comment_120794721

Yes, but it was set up for him to launch on that last climb and he tried a bit until he saw that Vingegaard wasn't dropped. If Vingeggard had been dropped, Pog would now be in yellow probably.

The question, to my mind, is whether he tried full blast or not. It didn't look like he did and as it's the first day out, he's not race fit. If he did try his best, then he will need to get better to beat Vingegaard.

lawrencesummers

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794749#Comment_120794749

Maybe so, he might find his legs during the tour.

If yesterday has been an ITT we might know for sure but he can stay in the peloton most days until the closing stages and there is no TT until stage 16.

Brian?

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794776#Comment_120794776

There are high mountains in a few days, I think we’ll know pretty soon.

billyhead

ITV4 highlights show is frustrating. Too many ads.

Daroxtar

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793465#Comment_120793465

Hopefully. Flights booked last Friday, I'll be on the Angliru in a Clonard jersey 😁

Mefistofelino

UAE spaffing away energy with the entire team riding for Yates. Should have cut a deal with Jayco to unload the jersey in return for help closing down the break.

Doc07

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120793902#Comment_120793902

Yes it’s the same lads, I only understand about half of it but I like them, casually chatting away about Ineos their use of Ketones , not a hope you’d hear that on a mainstream feed. I also love that they get the cyclists names wrong all the time or mix up between team members.

lawrencesummers

Its a tough gig commentating on a sporting event where so little happens for so long but they do a good job alright on TG4 and its good to listen to the cupla focail

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120794552#Comment_120794552

3 climbing bikes and 3 aero bikes per rider I’d imagine, super excessive but I guess if you’re insistent on using a climbing bike for mountain stages and aero for flat/sprint ones then you need at least a spare bike for each and then a reserve if there’s a crash

eagle eye

We might get get attacks here I think.

retalivity

You'd think Adam Blythe had never watched Pog before the way he is talking about him

Squidgy Black

Surprised to see UAE so far back here, would’ve expected them to be right up the front alongside Jumbo but they seem to be sitting in behind a fair few teams