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

Thanks for all the previews. I kind of feel the same. I'll keep watching it all the way till the end though. What else is there to do on a July afternoon?

I reckon Pogacar would have lost a bucket load of more time if he didn't have Marc Soler there with him

Ah, I'm not sure about that. When a rider pops that badly having a teammate is really just for show. Maybe he saved a little time on the descent though.

I'm praying he's riding himself into shape for the Vuelta 😄

I can't imagine that a rider like Jonas, in a team like JV doesn't know exactly how well he is going. Last year he seemed to be a more insecure rider - like the time of the three bike changes on the cobbled stage, he panicked. This year, any time Pog got away, you never sensed Jonas felt he was in trouble and just kept riding back up to Pog.

Spring campaign then the Giro next year maybe?

Ayuso will get the TDF with Yates I reckon.

He didn't know then though the level of challenger that he had. He probably thought that a good level of preparation was enough.

Maybe he had a better training schedule planned this year, which got scuppered.

It will be very interesting to see what he does next year. The problem with concentrating on the Tour though is that if he comes 2nd again, he'll have missed out on a classics campaign.

One thing outside of his control which should aid him next year is that there should be more than just himself that Vingegaard has to focus on. Remco, Ayuso, maybe Roglic in a different team. The cast of characters at the top should be better next year.

Back to the sprint stages tomorrow, but not a lot of big name sprinters actually left in the tour with Jakobsen, Caleb Ewan and Cavendish all gone. Hard to see past Philipsen adding to his tally, but Wout Van Aert will be licking his lips now that he’s freed from any domestique duties.

Pogacar is still the most complete cyclist in the world. Hard to say how he would have performed had he not broken his wrist.

I picked Ving to win but now I’m actually a little disappointed as what I really want is for Roglic to win the Tour. And I’m not sure he’ll get to go with Jumbo again.

Pogacar not at 100% healthy but is always a possibility in a 3 week tour come near the end.

This year Vingengaard has really laid down the gauntlet and took things to another level that no one thought possible. We all love Pogacar but this year Vingengaard has not put a foot wrong. Seen a different intensity from him which I hadn't seen before.