Tour de France 2024 SPOILERS

[T4tomo]

yes I reckon a good sized break up the road and plenty of people motivated for a stage win. Remco to TT away from Vingo to take more time off him.

He's going to need to though as the final TT is only 33km, difficult to see him taking more than 1 minute or so unless Vingo has a total meltdown

 

[Domus]

I wonder if I could get a bet on Pog winning La Vuelta this year?
I know Froome held all three titles at once but has anyone won them all in a calendar year?

 

[biking_fox]

I wonder if I could get a bet on Pog winning La Vuelta this year?
I know Froome held all three titles at once but has anyone won them all in a calendar year?

Pog has said it's very unlikely he'll ride Vuelta this year. But given he's also unlikely to attack, perhaps that means it's a certainty.

 

[T4tomo]

I know Froome held all three titles at once but has anyone won them all in a calendar year?

no

 

[Dogtrousers]

I wonder if I could get a bet on Pog winning La Vuelta this year?
I know Froome held all three titles at once but has anyone won them all in a calendar year?

Here's a thread with lots of stats about how close people have got
https://www.cyclechat.net/threads/de-tour-giro-vuelta-treble.296736/

 

[mjr]

I wonder if I could get a bet on Pog winning La Vuelta this year?
I know Froome held all three titles at once but has anyone won them all in a calendar year?

It wasn't really possible until 1995 when the Vuelta moved to late summer instead of overlapping with the Giro in spring. The "triple crown" of cycling is Giro+Tour+Worlds, done only by Merckx in 1974 and Roche in 1987. So far.

 

[Dogtrousers]

It wasn't really possible until 1995 when the Vuelta moved to late summer instead of overlapping with the Giro in spring. The "triple crown" of cycling is Giro+Tour+Worlds, done only by Merckx in 1974 and Roche in 1987. So far.

It was possible in the 50s. Geminiani 1955 and Nencini 1957 both managed top 10 in all three GTs.

Not disputing the bit about the triple crown

 

[mjr]

It was possible in the 50s. Geminiani 1955 and Nencini 1957 both managed top 10 in all three GTs.

The Vuelta was a diddy two week race until some time in the 1960s, so I say not a Grand Tour as we know them.

 

[Dogtrousers]

The Vuelta was a diddy two week race until some time in the 1960s, so I say not a Grand Tour as we know them.

If we take that view the only rider to have come close is Sepp Kuss last year. He's the only post-1950s rider to have finished all 3 and won at least one in a season. He won the Vuelta and was 14th and 12th in the Tour and the Giro

 

[mjr]

What about today then?

View attachment 737998

Got to be a breakaway Shirley? Or a Pog solo attack from the brilliantly named Cote des Demoiselles Coifees. And he wheelies all the way up the final climb. Last 2k no handed wheelie.

Long way from the final classified climb to the finish. Last km is near-flat too (7m elevation gain). Difficult for GC contenders to keep a split of any size today.

So almost certainly another Pog attack taking time, then!🤣

 

[mjr]

Vingo's response may resonate somewhat with followers of British politics:

🤣

Also echoing British politics, a day later and Pog admits to using the same training device!

“Yesterday, I didn’t quite understand the question,” he said. “The team said to see how you respond to altitude, you need to do this test." in Classy Carapaz claims Tour de France stage 17 win after fiery return to Alps | Tour de France 2024 | The Guardian – https://www.theguardian.com/sport/a...e-france-stage-17-report-richard-carapaz-wins

 

[Aravis]

The Vuelta was a diddy two week race until some time in the 1960s, so I say not a Grand Tour as we know them.

This is an oversimplification. I don't believe it has ever been diddy.

The shortest ever was 1964 when Anquetil won; I wouldn't be surprised if he negotiated a shorter than usual race in return for gracing the event with his presence. Even so there were 17 stages in 15 days, and I don't know how many of those were boring and flat.

Getting a complete picture of what the races were like in the 50s and 60s isn't easy. It might be interesting to gather together all the information about a single edition from that time and see whether we have something that looks and feels like a proper grand tour.

 

[Grant Fondo]

Plenty of lumpy stuff next 2 days, have Jonas and Remco got a shout?

 

[mjr]

Breakaway 12 mins ahead of the peloton containing all leader jersey wearers with 30km to go. I think the winner might come from that! Three off the front, groups containing Hindley and Carapaz within 35secs. Looking great in 15Mbps HD on ARD. Much sharper than 9Mbps itv4 HD.

 

[mjr]

Plenty of lumpy stuff next 2 days, have Jonas and Remco got a shout?

Not unless Pogačar has extreme unluck.