Van Aert has been slightly off the mark this Spring. He struggled on the Poggio, couldn’t follow the surges of Pogačar and VdP on the cobbled climbs and is still in recovery mode from his crash last Sunday. Is the Jumbo-Visma team completely dedicated to his cause?
Read MoreA crash, a gap, now the sight of a chasing Tadej Pogačar, 29” down, led by two UAE teammates, while the race continued to set a record pace, almost 100 kilometers covered in the first two-hours.
Read MoreThe saving grace of cycling, the reason fans will stand for hours waiting to catch a glimpse, is that cycling almost always, no matter what happens in the race, offers up an exciting finish. A sprint from two to 180 riders is always thrilling.
Read More43-K to go and the Paterberg, the short, 20% cobbled beauty where Pogačar came out to play. He ripped up the climb, in the saddle while everyone else stood and danced for their lives, pulling out van der Poel and again, a trailing Van Aert, with Mohorič, after one of his patented descents, being the only one able to bridge.
Read MoreIt was clear, right from the first pedal strokes, why there’s so much hullabaloo surrounding tubeless. They are wonderfully lively and sing to you with a high-pitched ocean wave sound, certainly brought about by the fact that they are hollow with no tube to dampen noise.
Read MoreThe peloton raced to the base of the Poggio in the usual fraught manner with another US rider, EF Education-EasyPost’s Neilson Powless, staying in the front, another sign of his steady, superb progress. Five-men of Bahrain-Victorious, with their 2022 winner Matej Mohorić in tow, blasted through the tight entrance to the climb, holding the front until, with 2.5-k to the top, UAE’s Tim Wellens surged to the front with Tadej Pogača on his wheel, setting up the move anticipated by the entire peloton and viewing public, stringing out the bunch a long, suffering line.
Read MoreThe Stage 10 Time Trial showed us that we were witnessing something and someone very special. Evenepoel, using a 60-tooth front chainwheel (normal for TT’s is now 58…) redefined ‘warp speed’ in cycling by winning the 30.9-kilometer individual race by a whopping :48 over reigning Olympic TT champ Rogič at an average speed of 55.676 kph.
Read MoreAn attack on Van Aert or Vingegaard is an attack on the entire team, so closely do they all train, race and live together at altitude camps and stage races, making me wonder how Sepp Kuss must have felt reading this in what is essentially his hometown paper. Welcome home Sepp!
Read MoreIt began with UAE’s Marc Soler, alone, off the back, vomiting on the bike, clearly in extreme distress. Pogačar was now down to three.
Read MoreSmiling, devilish Tadej Pogačar suddenly has the stronger team in the mountains – it would seem anyway. Yank Brandon McNulty and Rafel Maijka both of whom have been fantastic this Tour, and the enigmatic Marc Soler give the Slovenian real power to call on for the climbs.
Read MoreSomeone forgot to tell Tadej Pogačar that the Merckx era was 50-years ago, and that cycling has changed so much that the old era is almost unrecognizable from the modern.
Read More‘The orthopedist surgeon of the Tour reveals to what point racing cyclists can suppress pain and under what conditions they perform their profession.’
By Alexander Roos, July 21, 2021
Read MoreTadej Pogačar, the ‘petite cannibal’ who devoured the Best Climber, Best Young Rider and the Yellow Jerseys, is an amazing figure, blessed with a maturity that belies his years.
Read MoreThe time trial confirmed the existing standing of the race, there were no great changes but the third-place performance of Vingegaard proved the young Dane’s worth, his second overall in this Tour an unexpected and delightful result for the understudy, thrown suddenly into a starring role with the crash of his leader, Primoz Roglič.
Read MoreIt’s so tough for the young riders of today; one feels that no one is standing up for them, no one willing to make the efforts to understand just how much they’ve been leading the entire world in changing the culture of professional sport.
Read MoreGaudu, who had vomited his way up Mount Ventoux and demonstrated fantastic resolve afterwards as his current 11th overall shows, held a 40” lead, alone on the Tourmalet, but behind the Ineos machine was in full gear.
Read MoreFrom the base of the Peyresourde, over the Louron and onto the final Portet, the UAE Emirates looked like the Sky of old. Dane Mikkel Bjerg’s face told the story of the effort, the 6’3”, 171-pounder hauling his carcass deep into the climbs.
Read MoreThe race was furious for the first 100-k until the break was finally established and the Yellow Jersey contenders, with an eye on today’s crucial mountaintop finish, sat up and let a 12-minute gap open.
Read MoreBy 22-years-old LeMond had won the Dauphinè and was World Champion, Pogačar at the same age already has a Tour de France in the pocket plus a Liège-Bastogne-Liège, but exact time/result comparisons can’t be measured because of the differences in eras.
Read MoreIn front, Wout van Aert began to contest the mountain points and a tremendous fight for Polka Dot broke out between the Belgian, Nairo Quintana, Mike Woods – in Polka Dot on the day – and Wout Poels.
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