Tour de France Femmes 2024 SPOILERS

[Cathryn]

Was NOT expecting the drama today! Big crash with 6km to go…Demi down and looked in a lot of pain once she got going! And then it all got interesting!

Why did SDWorx not send everyone (maybe not Vas who was in the mix at the front) to help her? Isn’t yellow their main goal? She looked terribly alone until Bredewald found her!

Really pleased for Vas who came 4th at the Olympics despite having done a massive part of the work to get away!

Really thrilled that my fave Kasia is now in yellow with a big margin but there’s chuntering on Twitter that Canyon pushed after Demi crashed instead of waiting for the yellow jersey. I’m probably biased because they’re my fave team but it’s never made sense to wait for the favourite to catch back on. It’s a race! I think pushing was the right thing to do. I don’t think women’s cycling should necessarily keep all the traditions of men’s cycling…although I suspect some will disagree!

So Kasia is in yellow. Good to see for this shameless fangirl!

 

[Dogtrousers]

I'm off sick today so a golden opportunity to watch the racing. Unfortunately I actually am sick so I slept through it all.

Just caught up on D+ last 15km

Horrible for Vollering but if you look at the stage standings only Vas and Wiebes from Sdworx finished ahead of her. That suggests that the others were either behind the crash or, like Bredewald, couldn't keep up with Vollering's chase so couldn't help. Vas said her radio wasn't working. Bredewald said she didn't understand what was going on at first so maybe Sdworx have comms problems.

I'd ignore people complaining about "unwritten rules". Most of it is cobblers. If yellow stops for a pee or has a mechanical in a quiet section it would be a poor form to initiate an attack. But if the racing is full on, then it continues.

 

[mjr]

Why did SDWorx not send everyone (maybe not Vas who was in the mix at the front) to help her?

DS error? Compounding the error of not flagging that bizarre splitting roundabout exit as a place for the yellow jersey to be up front, rather than place 20-35 where a crash would take her out?

If there are time bonuses (I think there are) then Vas nicking some was good and maybe worth as much as if she'd dropped back. As for the others 🤷

Shouldn't be any requirement to wait for that crash. Racing incident and dodgy team decisions. Well done Kasia!

 

[Mike_P]

Why Discovery Plus is crap Chapter 479

Just went to watch stage 3 (the ITT). It was nowhere to be found. Stages 1 and 2 were visible on latest. Stage 4 on upcoming. But no stage 3.

When a program transitions from being available live to being available to stream it disappears from the listings. Sometimes it eventually appears. Sometimes you can find it by searching for it by name.

I noticed this during the Olympics.

They sent me an questionnaire, got as far as the type of subscription I have which they say is not advert free. Olympics were appalling with E2 coverage with ads forced on you unless you dug around and found the ad free version. Surely there should have been a single entry which when chosen offered the choice depending on your access.
Seems to be a joint highlights package for Stages 2 and 3. The full coverage of the stages is also showing.

 

[Aravis]

Blanka Vas has been a favourite of mine since she won a stage in last year's Giro, so naturally I was delighted she won. Given that Wiebes was out of contention for the stage and better placed to help Vollering, it would have seemed very negative thinking if they'd tried to pull Vas back as well. And as pointed out above she stops Kasia getting the 10 seconds which helps Vollering.

You have to think, though, that if you were in the lead group with a few kms to go, knowing you have a good chance in the sprint, you might not want your radio to be working properly.

Whichever way you look at it the race has become a lot more interesting. Not that it wasn't already good.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Lanterne Rouge on YouTube, stirring the pot, claims it was Wiebes who bought Vollering down in the first place. This is based on the fact that Wiebes was on Vollering's wheel immediately before the crash, and the blobby footage of the crash shows that the rider who brought Vollering down had a sort of Sdworx coloured jersey.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Gripping. I love a good solo break and chase, especially when the break stays away.

First French stage winner too.

 

[geocycle]

Pfieffer Georgi fract her neck and hand, ouch. Hope she is ok.

Sorry for all who came down yesterday but it has certainly opened up the race. I’d still back a fit Vollering to be first up the Alpe.

 

[Cathryn]

It’s hard to see past Vollering but it would be a good fight anyway! Great stuff for Cedrine!

 

[Supersuperleeds]

Pfieffer Georgi fract her neck and hand, ouch. Hope she is ok.

Sorry for all who came down yesterday but it has certainly opened up the race. I’d still back a fit Vollering to be first up the Alpe.

Her team reckon she will only be off the bike for four weeks. Tough as nails professional cyclists.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Kool abandoned

 

[figbat]

I’ll ask here since it is an ongoing race, but it applies to all stage races. Does every team have a yellow (or whatever colour) jersey or skinsuit for every rider just in case? Or do some not bother as they either aren’t chasing the yellow (or whatever) or aren’t in with a chance?

There must be a load of unworn coloured jerseys/skinsuits, no?

 

[Dogtrousers]

I’ll ask here since it is an ongoing race, but it applies to all stage races. Does every team have a yellow (or whatever colour) jersey or skinsuit for every rider just in case? Or do some not bother as they either aren’t chasing the yellow (or whatever) or aren’t in with a chance?

There must be a load of unworn coloured jerseys/skinsuits, no?

No. The "special" skinsuits are provided by the organisers, which gives rise to chat sometimes that so&so would rather not be in yellow as they would prefer to wear their team's multi zillion pound aero suit in the upcoming ITT rather than the supplied one which was knitted by the race director's nan

 

[TomDW]

Kool abandoned

She'd already nailed it!

 

[Dogtrousers]

She'd already nailed it!

I suppose as a sprinter with 2 wins in the bag the idea of toiling up mountains for two days all for the privilege of watching Marianne Vos win the green jersey isn't all that appealing.