Aero, big tyres, fuelling, training, heat acclimatisation, team pacing strategies etc, all getting them to the base of the climbs in much better shape to hit their fresh threshold numbers. The gc teams are so much deeper in strength than they ever were.
What makes this podcast great is you never know where it’s gonna take you. One minute they’re talking about Pogi smashing the tt, the next they’re wondering why Hawk Tuah girl isn’t at the race. lmao
I’m totally fine with Carapaz winning combativity. I disagree with Patrick’s take on the point of the prize. Combativity should go to riders who are both aggressive and successful. Exposure breakaways will happen regardless of combativity existing. But maybe if combativity were a slightly more illustrious prize given to riders who are both aggressive and successful, we would more good riders attacking great riders and making the race interesting. But even if you don’t agree with that, without Abrahamsen the first week would’ve been just as entertaining. But without Carapaz, the last week would have been significantly more boring.
Chapeau gentlemen! Appreciate all the coverage and analysis. Your podcasts add valuable insight to race strategy, and cycling news that is difficult to locate in the US.
Re: discussion about GC consolidation around 17:15 , UAE did absolutely nothing new this year. 2021 is the only year in the past 10 that had 10 different teams in the top 10. And this isn’t just super teams that get multiple top 10 riders: Movistar had 2 riders in 2015 and 3 in 2019, though obviously they were a much better team than they are now.
7 out of 10 ??? Wow. Tough crowd. Could've done without the 1 boring sprint stage where they hardly raced & the TT's - but otherwise enjoyed the racing each day.
This tour, in the context of the last 4 years, roglic 2020/21, remcos first appearance and the battle of the two favourites 4 years in a row, the uncertainty before and up too week 3, this is the best you're gonna get even if it wasn't that close in the end. Same as last year. The last 5 years, easy 9/10 combined
pat wasn't saying jumbo were greedy when they took 7 stages. disappointing to hear him have this take. especially when it's not uae hard pacing every day to close the break, other teams were setting the pace and you cant expect pog to gift stages and watching him do that would suck. every rider should be giving 100% to win. that makes the best racing and if it means 1 rider wins 6 stages boohoo the other riders need to find a way to win.
Power files are just XML or something aren't they, these can be pretty easily be manipulated so publishing those won't solve anything. You also run the risk of everybody suddenly switching to Shimano power meters ;-)
@@rein2523 You sure? I looked into it a couple of years ago when I wanted to combine 2 activities, I think I used Golden Cheetah and the file structure seemed pretty straight forward. Anyways you just need one person making a small app and we're back to the same discussion.
Thank you for the coverage. Great mix of humour and analysis and I love the short recaps on the main channel too. Can’t wait to see what happens at the vuelta this year.
@@pingogpong Thats your opinion, if u buy the best riders in the world... In that team there is about 5-6 people who could be a captain in other teams.... So i hope there will be a sallery cap like in NBA....
I hope, looking back in 10 years, this tour won't be historic and memorable because it was the beggining of near decade long period Armstrong-esque Pogacar domination.
Thanks for the coverage guys, always brilliant to hear your analysis. In terms of performances this year it feels like something has changed. Not an accusation against anyone but the top three all made significant gains that seem like outliers. Remco was getting dropped a few weeks ago in Dauphine, Jonas was severely injured 3 months ago and un-raced. Pog genuinely looked like he could have gone harder. Not sure what the breakthrough is and it could be legal/ natural but something has clearly shifted.
I remember Patrick saying Jonas would put 2-3 minutes into Pogi on stage 15 to Plateau de Beille, and then Pogi put up the two best climbing performances of all time within a 5 day span.
Jaser Philipsen was relegated on stage 6 for an irregular sprint i.e deviating from his line. Which I agree with, however Cavendish on stage 5 shouldered a couple of riders almost causing a crash then went from one side of the road to the other, to have a part in Mads Pedersen's crash. My question is, why wasn't he relegated for an irregular sprint?
I don't understand how knowledge of Pogacar pushing 7w/kg for 40 minutes can help anyone how to drop him xD Power data from races doesn't reveal any sensitive info imo. Training data is something else and it can be helpfull, so here I fully understand why teams don't want to share the data.
It is admirable the two of you addressed and questioned the huge increase in watts. Nobody else in the industry will talk about it on air. They avoid the topic or talk about nutrition, bike technology, training, etc. You handled it well... we don't know. Just my two cents... yes, a number of riders showed improvement. Yet, only one was able to explode at the top of long climbs and appeared fresh at the finish as well.
It seems that Jonas needs to get stronger in the 10-30second sprints/burst to minimze the damage from Pogi kicks/attacks. Not sure how much opportunity there is for that without putting on some weight.
Well, at least some of that lacking kick this year is down to the crash and limited preparations after -- he said just at the beginning of the Tour that he hadn't had time to train his 'kick'. So the muscle mass just wasn't there, I suppose. I'm still not sure that would have made a much of a difference this year with Pogi looking like he just arrived from another planet.
We're lucky that Pogi actually likes to race. Imagine someone as talented as him who was conservative. If Jonas hadn't hurt himself and was fully fit and didn't fade in the last week, then this tour probably would've been a banged for the GC.
Some of the pro peloton may have figured out a new special sauce, but Ineos and Red Bull Bora Hansgrohe probably didn't get the recipe if the performances of Rodriguez, Bernal, Pidcock, Hindley, Vlasov etc. were anything to go by
As usual, these podcasts are an extension of the stages for me. I watched every one, and managed to listen to several Live pods. Highlight for me was wAtching my mom become enthralled with the sport! Thanks for handling the doping question so well. There are no answers right now, so for me, I'll just watch and enjoy and play ostrich! Thanks for great tour coverage. You guys are the best. ❤
Personally, I find the fact that everyone is so fast very sketchy. It is not just an anomaly, every year since 2020 they seem to be breaking records. Which, incidentally, was a time when almost all anti-doping activity shut down. And guys who were good before that have been almost invisible since then. I really hope it's not systematic doping, but I must say for the first time in years I am becoming sceptical.
It's a bit scary seeing that literally half of top 8 in GC were domestiques. This less than a year after one team wins all 3 GTs and locks up the podium in the Vuelta. It will be interesting to see if the UCI will actually do something about the super teams. I'm not holding my breath though
My perception of Remco has definitely improved a lot, I think he has matured a lot and is not as controversial. Not afraid to speak his mind still but now in a way i appreciate
