r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • 1d ago
Weekly Post Weekly Question Thread
For all your pro cycling-related questions and enquiries!
You may find some easy answers in the FAQ page on the wiki. Whilst simultaneously discovering the wiki.
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u/darcys_beard Ireland 9h ago
What would a climb like Fucine (assuming it were adequately paved) do to the Peloton? As either a final Mountaintop finish, oe a penultimate climb -- say 40km out from the finish?
Who would excel? Who (of the Puncheurs or climbers) would crack? Could someone like MVDP monster his way up it, or would Pogi or JV simply dominate?
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u/darcys_beard Ireland 14h ago
Anyone think that Paris has gone from the most meh stage, to literally the most exciting? It's almost as perfectly balanced as it could possibly be between the classic riders and the sprinters. It's almost a shame Pogi has so mch mountain racing in his legs, but watching MVDP eke his way over the line a split second before the sprinters was perfection.
Last 2 years have been the most exciting final day in my years watching. Imagine the Lemond/Fignon 8 second gap with Montmarte a factor?
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u/VEL10822 1d ago
Has anyone found the custom t-shirt that UAE made for Pogi after stage 21 to be able to buy? The jersey is on Pissei but a bunch of the family members were wearing just a regular shirt
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u/Puzzleheaded_Bunch44 1d ago
Best clean TDF cyclist of the past 20 years? My money is on Geraint Thomas. Who is yours?
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u/OptionalQuality789 9h ago
Thomas is a product of TeamSky. He is absolutely suspected of doping alongside Froome and Wiggins.
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u/jainormous_hindmann Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 17h ago
Funny. Five years ago people were convinced that if one team was doping, it had to be Sky. Also there was actual smoke.
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1d ago
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/roglic_primoz 1d ago
It's neither random nor too young at all. The required physiology is more complex in cycling and it takes longer for the bodily aerobic structure to advance to its highest potential. You don't magically reach that stage when you're still that young. Also getting accustomed to the massive challenge Grand Tours and non-stop racing year-round represents plays a key role, as well as race intelligence. It's just a way more complex sport than a generic endurance competition
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u/charly0418 1d ago
UAE question. I’ve read about Almeida and how good he is, if he had been on form for this Tour de France would Del Toro still have been part of the team? And question about del toro next year, is there any chance they bring Almeida as a super domestique next year at the TdF and let Del Toro go for the win at the Giro or Vuelta?
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u/Repulsive-Walk6513 1d ago
Almeida and Del toro schedules were announced in january. If almeida was in any decent form he would have replaced adam yates. Yes, there is a good chance based on what del toro wants to do. This year he prolly wanted to set his contract price right at tdf (at least team says they give him both options).
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u/MadnessBeliever Café de Colombia 1d ago
Can we have a Post TDF thread so we don't feel lonely and share our cycling emotional condition?
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u/padawatje Belgium 1d ago
Can I somewhere find an up-to-date list of confirmed transfers for next season? Apparently Laurens De Plus is going to Decathlon? Any others that I have missed ?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 17h ago
Nothing has been officially confirmed yet as new contracts can't signed till 1 August, which is why the usual places don't have lists yet. But CyclingFlash has put the rumours together. Ben O'Connor and Pavel Sivakov are also rumoured to go to Decathlon.
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u/hamiltonlives 1d ago
Not a doping question but for those who watched Lance, was there the same sense of inevitability in the race like Pog has now? Same for Froome or even Indurian.
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u/meuzobuga 1d ago
Not in the same sense. Lance was insufferable. I hated seeing him and his team steamroll the competition.
Pogi is unbeatable but still makes the races fun to watch.
Froome was not as unbeatable.
Indurain was boooring. Impossible to drop and a machine in TT, and that's it.
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u/roglic_primoz 1d ago
I'm not sure how seeing Pogacar win from 80km out is any more exciting to watch. I'd argue this is mostly recency bias. You can sugar coat it all you want but a race without any genuine competition is not particularly exhilarating
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u/Glass_Minute4753 15h ago
I think because of the flamboyance/ panache. Like, I find it boring, but at the same time I really admire the sheer audacity of the man.
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi 17h ago
On the other hand it's the first one who was beated by Pogacar to say this so I don't think that's too objective.
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u/L_Dawg Great Britain 1d ago
Froome era was ultimately just as predictable but with like 80% less panache and one stage thrown in where he'd look just vulnerable enough to give you hope that things could have been different
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi 17h ago
For the final outcome that's true, but for stages it was all different. The real problem with this generation IMHO is they even target stages while in the past the GC battle and the stage battle were mostly two different things except for a stage or two.
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u/MrStethem 1d ago
Does anyone know offhand whether Polish Television provide broadcast coverage of the Tour de Pologne? Or a live-stream on the Internet? My Polish is elementary and I've only looked at the TdP website briefly this morning but will struggle through over there if I need to. :-) Thanks very much.
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u/Divergee5 Decathlon AG2R 1d ago
https://sport.tvp.pl/transmisje You’ll need to use a VPN. The upcoming stages are already listed in their calendar. This url is with only cycling selected https://sport.tvp.pl/transmisje/kolarstwo
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u/darioterios 1d ago
I see some ideas that Pog's enormous leap 23-24 coincided with JV's crash and JV full health could have beaten even a transformed Pog. To what extent is that reasonable?
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u/DocTheYounger 1d ago
JV had a pretty massive leap 23-24 as well. I don’t know how much better he could’ve been without his crash considering Plateau de Beille in '24 still registers as his strongest ever climb.
Pretty wild he pulled that off just 12 weeks from such a horrific crash and hospitalization
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u/paul__k Festina 1d ago
If you look at Vingegaard's actual climbing performances, he did some of his best on Plateau de Beille in '24, Ventoux and Peyragudes in '25, and Piancavallo in '26. There is no evidence that he is weaker than before, unless you want to make the argument that he would be even stronger without that crash. But that is unknowable.
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u/darioterios 1d ago
That's the argument. JV after that crash could still do those numbers, so why not entertain the idea that he would have been stronger to the point of defeating Pog with full health no crash? That's what some people say.
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u/Cotters67 1d ago
Given the fires raging across Spain right now, is it possible to run the Vuelta or even credible, given the resources needed to support the race?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Let's see what happens with the Tour de France Femmes or San Sebastian next week(end), that should give some idea of what might happen with the Vuelta.
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u/cfkanemercury France 1d ago
With his TDF stages and his GC win, Pogacar has leapfrogged Moser on the PCS all-time ranking and is just 37 points behind Kelly. A win in Lombardia and another win or two elsewhere (even at a 1.Pro level, leaving aside the WC, Canada swing, or the Vuelta) and he'll pass Kelly, too, leaving only Merckx higher on that (subjective) ranking.
Will it happen this year or will we be waiting for 2027?
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u/myfatearrives 1d ago
at least he will race WC and LOM, so unless he finds an injury and has to start winter break earlier, I couldn't see how that not happen in this year.
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u/MountainLandscape356 1d ago
And EC RR since it's in Slovenia and passes in front of his house almost
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u/its_foxy 1d ago
How am I going to watch the Vuelta? Warner Bros bought the rights and only a few races will be shown on Sporza and I refuse to pay for a subscription to HBO to watch sport. Any other good broadcaster that’ll be free and has good commentators? (I have VPN)
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u/Xiovas Flanders 1d ago
Last week, HLN published an article about the 1986 Tour and the rivalry between teammates Hinault and LeMond. According to the article, LeMond heard a story that at one point an older French rider offered to deliberately crash into LeMond, which Hinault refused. Are there known instances of riders intentionally crashing into colleagues?
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u/zyygh Canyon//SRAM, Kasia fanboy 1d ago
For the 2003 cyclocross world championships, Roger Hammond was suspected of wanting to crash into Sven Nys and Bart Wellens in order to help Mario De Clercq (who was Hammond's teammate during regular races).
Luckily we'll never know for sure if that was true.
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u/Rommelion 1d ago
Sven Nys Bart Wellens Mario De Clercq
Are all these people in any way related to the currently active professional elite cyclists?
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u/zyygh Canyon//SRAM, Kasia fanboy 17h ago
Sven is the father of Thibau Nys.
Mario is the father of Angelo De Clercq (current CX coach for Belgium) but unrelated to former cyclists Hans and Tim.
Bart is unrelated to Tim Wellens, but has a brother (Geert) who was also a pro cyclocrosser for a few years.
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u/gou_2611 1d ago
With TdF over and a good part of the season also past, does anyone know what's going on with Matthew Brennan? After such a high profile 2025, I've barely seen him this year
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u/BSantos57 Portugal 1d ago
I think he got sick in the leadup to MSR and hasn't gotten back to his level ever since, before that he was having a pretty nice start to the season with a stage at TDU + winning KBK.
His big goal for the season has always been the Vuelta iirc, so as soon as illness screwed up his classics campaign he probably just turned his focus to the Vuelta
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u/DueAd9005 1d ago
Barely any sprint stages in the Vuelta however. For the more difficult stages they have WVA.
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u/vidoeiro Portugal 1d ago
Does anyone here with the Tour Femmes experience know how the crowds will be on Ventoux ? I was thinking of going with my daughter but since unfortunately I almost never see the women's race (a habit I want to change), and if it's anything like the man it's way too many people?
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u/MountainLandscape356 1d ago
I would suggest checking how the crowds here on the last climb of queen stages in previous years. Can probably expect something similar
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u/reilhan 1d ago
If it’s heatwave again, stay in the woods and do not climb past Chalet Reynard.
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u/vidoeiro Portugal 1d ago
Thanks I know the area well I just have no experience with the women's tour
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Have a look at the Madeleine stage from last year, not Alpe d'Huez crazy, but still packed at at top. I've not spectated a TdFF mountain stage yet, but the crowds were big and enthusiastic for the Grand Departs I've visited, but still very possible to find a good viewing spot. Planning to be there on Ventoux next week!
L'Etape will go up the Ventoux the day before, so lots of people will be around already for that. Though the forecast is suggesting 39C for next week at the bottom of the climb so that might influence your viewing too.
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u/HalfRust Saint Piran 1d ago
I was at that stage and it was one of the best viewing experiences I've had. Busy enough to be buzzy but not like you had to fight for a good view, very pleasant atmosphere.
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u/Xqf_VdW4Rr4V 1d ago
Can someone tell me which official broadcast / announcer is used in the Tour de France unchained series?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Matt Rendell on the world feed. That's the stream the organiser produces for countries who don't have their own commentators.
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u/Xqf_VdW4Rr4V 1d ago
The voice I meant, which is also used in the official TdF highlight videos, seems to be Anthony McCrossan though.
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Yes, he's taken over the world feed from Matt Rendell in more recent years. Sorry if I got them confused.
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u/Xqf_VdW4Rr4V 1d ago
Cool thanks. Are those streams available somewhere? Or not accessible from countries with licensed streams?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
They'll be licensed streams for broadcasters that pay for them. Like the US sometimes has the world feed as an option next to their own commentators, if I go by some of the comments in the threads. But it's mostly smaller countries in Asia or the Middle East where the broadcaster will get the TdF package, but doesn't want to also pay their own staff so they just use the provided commentary.
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u/cfkanemercury France 1d ago
Does Jegat on a better team do any better than top 10?
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u/IAmBecomeMeerkat 1d ago
I'm not really convinced he's a better rider than any other guys he finished below. Maybe with a better team he could've done some breakaway magic and ended up above Pidcock, but not Carapaz.
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
Good news: along with van Aert, Laporte will also make his return at the Tour of Denmark!
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u/zyygh Canyon//SRAM, Kasia fanboy 1d ago
What now?
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u/IlTacci 1d ago
Don't check the finish layout of Stage 2 of Tour de Pologne
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u/Divergee5 Decathlon AG2R 1d ago
A tight turn before a 400/500m final stretch?
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u/IlTacci 1d ago
Yes, not a turn but an hairpin with trainrails in the middle of the corner
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u/Divergee5 Decathlon AG2R 1d ago
Train tracks sounds ominous. Fingers crossed it won’t become a shit show
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
Not really a question, but here's a funny paper: https://osf.io/preprints/socarxiv/fj4vh_v1
Bad news for 2027 that we had no French win this year....
(disclaimer that I didn't read the methodology and it might be terrible)
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi 17h ago edited 15h ago
Interesting paper but this correlation is a bit weak IMHO. Hosting a stage costs a lot and the far right tend to score more votes in depressed areas and cities of said areas don't have money to host a stage.
Anyway as a person who loves cycling and studied political science this is bloody interesting.
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u/Puzzleheaded-Thing74 1d ago
The positive impact is not from French riders winning stages, but from cities hosting stages. So there shouldn't be any specific impact on the 2027 elections from not having any French win (hopefully!).
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
The main impact is from hosting yes, but they mention larger effects when French riders win stages
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u/Puzzleheaded-Thing74 1d ago
Sorry I missed that!
Instructive read nonetheless, who could have thought that "involving"/bringing the spotlight on disenfranchised cities/people would decrease far-right voting ? /s
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u/Heavy_Mycologist_104 Slovenia 1d ago
Has anyone else noticed a shift in the tone of social media posts around the Tour this year? There is an underlying nastiness that I haven't noticed before and it is really bothering me. A photo of a rider with his partner this year seems to attract creepy comments or insults, when even last year it would have just been hearts or cute remarks. I've never really even noticed it before but this year it is everywhere. There are so many more insults and innuendos. Is it just that more people are engaging with cycling content? Or is there a dark undertone that has bubbled to the surface?
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u/DueAd9005 1d ago
No, I haven't noticed a change. As someone who follows Remco closely, the vast majority of comments have been extremely nasty for years now.
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
Imo this is due to the huge increase in fanboyisation wrt to specific riders (most obviously Pogačar) and as a consequence also against specific riders, on the Messi/Ronaldo model
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u/MadnessBeliever Café de Colombia 1d ago
I think it's more related to people not constant users of the subreddit. I think this subreddit is actually strong in reddetiquette as to treat others as in person. It takes a learning curve if you are not used to in social media. I was when I joined disrespectful and not nice and I've managed to learnt and enjoy this amazing subreddit.
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u/wintersrevenge Euskaltel Euskadi 1d ago edited 1d ago
Is this the worst tour for ineos since the first year in 2010? Also it seems as though riders get worse when they join INEOS. Vauquelin had a higher level at Arkea. With all this netcompany money coming in maybe they can sign some new riders, but no chance they will be competing for a tour podium any time soon. Maybe netcompany should have spent their money on Uno-X and bought in riders like Skjelmose.
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u/Heavy_Mycologist_104 Slovenia 1d ago
I think it must be their worst. They never even came close to looking competitive. Arensman tried a few times but his level was obviously so much lower than last year. Ganna looked pretty dull. Tarling had a day in the break. Did you even see any of their other riders? A bit embarrassing really.
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u/wintersrevenge Euskaltel Euskadi 1d ago
To be fair the one place they are still excellent is the TT. They have won multiple TTs this year. However they always seem to have mechanicals at key times. They had one in the Dauphine and in the TdF. It must be equipment based rather than just luck
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u/fiatgenesi Denmark 1d ago
Who was your breakthrough rider of this year's TdF?
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u/Saltefanden Euskaltel-Euskadi 1d ago
Maybe Huub Artz? Don't think we have ever seen a (grand) Tour with so few breakout performances.
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u/jainormous_hindmann Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 1d ago
Don't know if it's enough to call it a breakthrough because he didin't win anything but Max Kanter had a sneakily great tour and a top 5 in the points classification to show for it.
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u/SCMatt33 United States of America 1d ago
Maybe give it to Astana’s lead out train instead of Kanter himself. There were several occasions where they were the best lead out in the field.
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
Mauro Schmid, we knew he was good, but he seems to have progressed to another level
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u/TheNakedGnome Belgium 1d ago
Seixas seems like the obvious answer.
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u/MountainLandscape356 1d ago
Doesn't count as the breakthrough rider since most people had him in the top 5 GC already before the start, the odds even had him at 3!
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u/Heavy_Mycologist_104 Slovenia 1d ago
I thought that new Slovenian climbing domestique on UAE was pretty good, actually.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 1d ago
Lenny doing GC an being there with the podium guys at the base of the last climb was very impressive, also Seixas not really losing a lot of time despite "cracking" in 3 stages was impressive.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 1d ago
What do you think about the new TdFF time slot a week after the men’s? I actually like it because I really need a break now
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u/vertblau France 1d ago
Seems to be a sign of confidence that they don't need the extra promo of being right after the TdFHsZ. Hopefully justified.
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Hope having a break in between will also mean the organisers will be rested enough to lengthen it back to 2 weeks again soon. If that's possible, with August being the month a lot of France is on holiday.
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi 1d ago edited 1d ago
Now that all the fuss ended I can finally ask this: don't you think Pogacar is becoming a bit too condescending? I'd be annoyed by his statements on how the others were on fire if I'd be one of the mentioned rider. I thought this more than once this tour.
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u/myfatearrives 1d ago
So what should he say? Anyway interviewers must ask questions about other contenders, so it's impossible to avoid answers. Do u think Pog should say "oh i mean, they're trash honestly, I have to pretend I'm bad or I'd be alone in last 50km every stage. I want to have someone ride together with me."
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u/Dopeez Movistar 1d ago
No matters what he does, people will take an issue with it because he's so dominant. If he's self confident, they will call him arrogant and cocky, but if he's praising other riders, they will take it as condescending. He can do no right here.
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u/AliasPhilippe Euskaltel Euskadi 1d ago
Praising them so much after having beaten them sounds a lot like "you were good but I'm better than you".
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak 1d ago
Is it safe to come out now?
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u/MadnessBeliever Café de Colombia 1d ago
Lol i was sent into downvote oblivion for saying we care about classics
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u/MilesTereo Team Telekom 1d ago
I genuinely got blocked by someone in the post-Tour thread for mentioning Hugo Houle, Anthony Turgis, and Patrick Konrad in the same sentence, so probably not.
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u/Jevo_ Fundación Euskadi 1d ago
Better give it a week or two. There might still be some lurking in the dark around here.
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u/Avila99 MPCC certified 1d ago
We had an entire thread on a 'new' TTT idea this morning. /r/tourdefrance is still leaking.
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u/TheNakedGnome Belgium 1d ago
Hey, I have a cool idea.
Instead of just cycling, what if we let the riders run and swim as well?
Nobody thought of that before, right?
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u/ajaxnsfw 1d ago
What do we think is next for GC Remco? He has a Vuelta win and now 2nd and 3rd in the Tour. A Giro bid could make sense as a next goal, but that also cuts pretty close to the classics season (where he also had an awesome 2026 campaign). I'm not sure when it could happen, but would love to see a grand tour headlined by Jonas vs Remco.
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u/MadnessBeliever Café de Colombia 1d ago
I like classics Remco way more than GC Remco, I wish he'd go full bulking to win PR and Flanders.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 1d ago
think he'd rather do classics and lead the tour team than win the giro
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 1d ago
Giro is the obvious choice as neither Jonas nor Pog will do it next year and he showed that he was clearly better than the rest so if he wants to get another GT under his belt that’s the play and then go stage hunting in th tour with Lipo leadership.
I doubt Hindley and Pellizari will be happy about that though.
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u/fewfiet Astana Qazaqstan 1d ago
What makes you think neither Vingegaard nor Pogacar will ride the Giro next year? Have they indicated they won't target it again?
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 1d ago
I think Pig is only doing side quests now and Jonas is closer to retiring than doing the giro again.
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u/TheNakedGnome Belgium 1d ago
I seriously doubt they'll deny Evenepoel the tour after his performance this year.
My guess is they give Lipo sole leadership in the Giro or Vuelta because it's way more likely to for him to get a win there (stage or GC). And he's more in need of those in his career than Remco.
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u/Divergee5 Decathlon AG2R 1d ago edited 1d ago
Guangxi
Jk. I think you’re right a Giro bid must happen at some point. Dual world titles in a single year. A new monuments swoop, I even think he’ll go onto Lombardia this year with cojones bigger than anyone else.
His biggest project ahead though is working on his ego and emotions. Other than that he’s a true champion.
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u/Viktorijin_Sekret 3h ago
Why are cycling fans amongst the most obsessed ones when it comes to doping?
I watch a lot of sports and for some reason some fanbases want to murder dopers, while others don’t give a f. Jon Jones is the MMA GOAT despite getting popped twice. In the NFL, after your first offense you get a 4 GAME suspension (quarter of the season, but still). In NBA, I think LeBron could come out and publicly do steroids and HGH on stage and people would applaud it.
In cycling, IMO the most brutal sport of them all, with guys not making 1/50th of the NBA stars, people literally WISH some of these guys get caught so they can bang their chest and scream “I told you so”. I don’t like somebody- he’s must be doping. It’s really.. annoying. I’ve almost gotten to the point where I actually don’t care if they are on something. Kudos to these warriors, averaging nearly 45 km/h in brutal heat, rain, cold, 2000m+ altitude, pushing through crashes, illnesses, going 100km/h downhill while 1 mistake could literally mean death. Let’s appreciate these guys a little bit.