[Title edit] OT: Le Tour Epic Finish on Today's Stage
Vingegaard vs Pogacar in final 5km as they battle for the GC lead.
[Title and OP edited after seeing comments about spoilers in original title and post.
Friendly reminder to all: When posting about major sporting events likely to be viewed on tape delay or DVR, please refrain from announcing the results in the OP, also please post a "spoiler ⚠️ alert" warning if you do post results downthread. -rob f]
Who? What?
I thought this was the presidential announcement - was all set to be dejected that we're not getting an awe-inspiring beacon of good cheer for the Athletic Department. Thought it was some French guy that would surrender the Big House to a rival.
Alas, it has something to do with the Tour De France? Should've been marked OT. And should also include more supporting information - like WTF is Vinoguard and PogoCar? I mean, unless you're talking about Lance Armstrong I have no idea who rides a bike.
I have no idea who rides a bike
i do ... people who like to dress like lance and bike in the middle of a road in order to slow traffic to a standstill
i thought this was going to be about wine but boy was i wrong
"Le ̶g̶r̶i̶l̶l̶e̶ Tour? What the hell is that?"
Needy much?
Great ride by Vinegaard. I've never seen Pogacar dropped like that. I'm really hoping Covid doesn't come into play in the result of the race this year. Several of Pogacar's guys have tested positive. Hopefully, he just had a bad day on the bike.
Yes amazing ride and so great to see Pogacar finally challenged. Could be Covid now that you mention it
Sorry for the lack of spoiler alert in the headline and OP. I wasn’t able to correct it once up. Thanks mods. Again, my apologies for no spoiler alert
The post was meant for Tour fans as a previous post showed that there are many fans and non fans on here that watch the morning race.
I noticed there is a spoiler a few posts down from the top, so I will post here “spoiler alert” for what comes next in this post and what also was posted right after this post
For non fans:
Le Tour is what it is called in France. Just like the British Open is now The Open, for golf.
Pogacar has been Lance Armstrong dominant and unbeatable over the last two years
Lance was known as the Boss
To see Pogacar dropped like that by Vingegaard and be two minutes down in the GC was shocking.
Thus the original headline for tour fans: “Vingegaard is the new Boss”
Not a great OP.
Here's some backstory for you non-Tour types and why this has some general sports relevance to sports fans.
The Players:
Tadej Pogacar has won the last two tours and in pretty impressive fashion. He's Slovenian like Luka and it's kinda fascinating how this tiny country the size of Maryland is producing arguably the world's best in multiple sports. Tadej rides for team UAE.
Jonas Vingegaard was a relatively obscure rider until last year's tour when he came out of nowhere into contention. From that point he's been front and center as a contender for this year's race. JV rides for Jumbo Visma (a super team).
Today's stage finished with one of those face melting mind-curdling climbs that looks hard to watch from your living room couch much less try to athletically conquer it. It's the type of tiny french one lane road up the side of a mountain that make a Peugeuot scream, a tiny rail thin man on a bike? No chance. Except for these guys.
For each of the last two tours, Pogacar has dominated these climbs. While he may not have won all of them, he's never really be "dropped" from a group of leaders. In fact, just a few stages ago, Pog finished on a climb stage like this, blew by Vingo, and kinda gave him an "eff you face" as he blew by him at the very end.
Today the story was different. UAE is historically a decent team, but not as good as some of the other "super" teams. Already this year they've lost a couple, had another member severely underperform because he's recovering from COVID... basically they've been some help, but not a lot.
Today, Jumbo (Vingo and Roglic) isolated Pogacar, separated him from his teammates, then made run after run at him. Forcing Pogacar to expend huge amounts of energy to fight off their moves. With no real teammate support, he was all on his own. Eventually JV broke away, and for the first time in two years, Pogacar didn't have gas in the tank to close the gap and take the stage. In fact, he was "dropped" from a group of leaders and "stumbled" in the last of the lead groups. Losing a bunch of time, and dropping the Yellow jersey (leader of the tour) for today.
What does this mean? Maybe it's the passing of the torch. Maybe JV is now on his way to winning the tour and beating the man once thought unbeatable. Or maybe, it's the dark before Pogacar screams back. Tomorrow's stage is Alpe d'huez a famous mountain stage. (He who shall not be named) had an amazing stage on Alpez back in 2001. The tour is about halfway done. As of right now it's anyone's (read: about 2 or 3 guys) pedalgame.
Today was a fun stage and this year's tour has been especially interesting overall. If you can get over the hurdle of entry, it's a really fun few weeks during the summer sports doldrums I've found. Lot's of personality and palace intrigue. If you're an F1 guy, you might like Le Tour.
JV?
In between starts for the Astros and the AL All-Stars, Verlander's a top contender in the Tour de France?
It's simply amazing what can be achieved after Tommy John surgery and marriage to Kate!
LOL for you Bob... I'll take the metaphor even farther. In this international version, the Kate Upton of this story is Dutch speedskater Jutta Leerdam, fan, friend and also sponsored by Jumbo Visma. Here she is hanging out in one of the JV team vehicles in the middle of a stage a few days ago.
Thanks for the primer! As a sports fan, I'm interested - even if cycling isn't something I normally follow. But that OP was horrible!
BTW, that hill you pic'd, that needs to be ridden downhill, not up. Up is what cars are for.
Please change title so don't ruin the watch for those who have not seen yet!
Yeah this is a good point. Most people don't have the luxury of just watching it while they work, it's a widely viewed "on delay" event.
Suggestion for a Mom: OT: Le Tour Epic Finish on Today's Stage
Agree 100%. Reading the OP's title pretty much ruined my excitement to watch it this evening. So tonight I will not be appreciating Vingegaard's efforts, as much as I will be dissappointed by BoFan's Spoiler.
BoFan, please take note of JMo's suggestion and Ncblue61's non-spoiler title on the 8th:
Good suggestion, I'll go use my "mom buttons".
I rode 15 miles yesterday.
Me too... going for ice cream with the top down.
Odd amount of backlash to a post stating the name of the world famous event with one of its most famous participants. Picture included.
I got it.
?
100% agree. People eager to display a) ill humor, or b) their reactionary Amurrican bona fides. Criticism that OP gave away today's outcome, though, is germane.
I’m glad I didn’t see the original (spoilery?) title I guess … what an amazing stage, the best in a long time.
Mindblowing that Pogacar was dropped in the last climb. Was that just a “jour sans” for him or is he suffering from something? We’ll see tomorrow when they only go back up the Galibier, climb the Croix de Fer and finish atop Alpe d’Huez…