2022 Tour de Francis

[Horn Dogg 4288]

The young guy didn’t follow the program correctly.  https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/michel-hessmann-suspended-by-jumbo-visma-following-anti-doping-positive/?utm_content=cyclingnews&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR2nKh9rc1XckhPfq_5SuL-91oRbkRgBfBCIooYlzDpfUu_urZMFV9e6gpk_aem_AQH1AnsTdbsuVqS_ZEgzF9YkBkrjreLsrE7zA88PiN4RsuSKSCnZ5I5jeUk1XwU0pQY#llejdaouv56hzg9dw0h

[Horn Dogg 4288]

On 7/9/2023 at 6:23 AM, Horn Dogg said:

WVA isn’t going to win shit this tour

WVA still hasn’t won shit this year.  2 races, he shouldn’t have gifted Gent Wevelgum to LaPorte.  

Imagine being better than almost everyone else but losing to the same dude your whole life.

[Horn Dogg 4288]

Vuelta time!  Thunderstorms and a TTT through the middle of Barcelona…..what could possibly go wrong?

[Whitewater Horn 972]

26 minutes ago, Horn Dogg said:

Vuelta time!  Thunderstorms and a TTT through the middle of Barcelona…..what could possibly go wrong?

What could go wrong, indeed.

Already the weather conditions, parcours, and even the damn starting ramp have proven treacherous, as we’ve seen multiple riders slide and have to recover. Fortunately no crashes yet. Hope everyone gets through it intact. Love a TTT, but glad this is a short one. 

[Horn Dogg 4288]

16 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

What could go wrong, indeed.

Already the weather conditions, parcours, and even the damn starting ramp have proven treacherous, as we’ve seen multiple riders slide and have to recover. Fortunately no crashes yet. Hope everyone gets through it intact. Love a TTT, but glad this is a short one. 

Yeah, that start ramp is a head scratcher.

 

[Horn Dogg 4288]

Whoever planned this thing to end at night should be fired.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

8 minutes ago, Horn Dogg said:

Whoever planned this thing to end at night should be fired.

Absolutely. What an inexcusable shit show. 

[Horn Dogg 4288]

Stage 2 - Barcelona and rain fucking things up again.

[G650 14437]

This race has been a fucking travesty so far.

[G650 14437]

Lmao

 

 

 

[Whitewater Horn 972]

Good thing the race organizers have the unimpeachable data from the spectators personal phones to figure out the bonus points. 
 

So far the only thing that feels like a grand tour is seeing Roglic hit the deck early. 

[elfenix 34744]

Win stage, eat shit sprinting into the crowd


Would make a good negged gif

[G650 14437]

They are going to run out of plot points in the first week at this rate.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

I get that space is limited on mountaintop finishes, but they should have known that the finish was likely to be contested at high speed, or at least high speed for a climb. Another literal bang up job by the organizers. Shake it off, Remco. 

[G650 14437]

This finish. Lol

[Hornius Emeritus 12796]

Could Kuss actually win the Vuelta?  I think it's possible!

[Whitewater Horn 972]

On 9/3/2023 at 9:23 AM, G650 said:

This finish. Lol

Could have been an exciting finishing climb if the weather and resulting road conditions weren’t shite. It was cool to see cell phones to record official times once again in this Vuelta. 

[Whitewater Horn 972]

4 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Could Kuss actually win the Vuelta?  I think it's possible!

It’s possible, but I’ll agree with Evenepoel and see Kuss as an outside chance for the GC. That said, I’d like to see what would happen if Seppy strapped in and made an earnest effort at keeping the GC lead. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12796]

Kuss still in red after the TT! 

So Jumbo Visma won the Giro (Roglic) and the TDF (Vingegard)  and Kuss is in the lead of the Vuelta after the TT.  If Vino and Roglic start riding for Kuss (they should, IMO), no way Evenepoel takes Kuss out.

Predicition: unless there's a wreck or a mechanical issue, Kuss will win.

[G650 14437]

Today is the reckoning boys

[G650 14437]

1 hour ago, G650 said:

Today is the reckoning boys

heh heh...

[Whitewater Horn 972]

Curious to see if Remco and Quick Step are actually having a bad day or maybe saving up for a monster effort on the Tourmalet. We’ll see shortly…

[G650 14437]

3 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Curious to see if Remco and Quick Step are actually having a bad day or maybe saving up for a monster effort on the Tourmalet. We’ll see shortly…

Oh he is definitely having a really bad day. It's just a question of can he recover enough to get back on.

 

Meanwhile, France Ving has shown up

[G650 14437]

5:30 now, yikes

[Whitewater Horn 972]

2 minutes ago, G650 said:

5:30 now, yikes

Holy shit. I took a few minutes to do some work and it went from 1:45 to over 5 minutes. Yeah, that changes things and makes a Kuss GC more likely if they can keep Soler at bay. 

[G650 14437]

5 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Yeah, that changes things and makes a Kuss GC more likely if they can keep Soler at bay. 

 

 

Soler? Sheeeeeit. Odds are now it's TJV 1-2-3 GC, just a question of which one.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

That is a legit possibility. Real Death Star shit. 

[G650 14437]

[G650 14437]

Roglic not looking so hot himself.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

There goes Carthy off the back. Wish I had a radio feed to hear Vaughters for the lulz. 

[G650 14437]

Knew this was coming.

[G650 14437]

Jonas is checking out looking like he is just riding Z2 lol.

[G650 14437]

Kuss!

[Whitewater Horn 972]

10 minutes ago, G650 said:

Jonas is checking out looking like he is just riding Z2 lol.

Col du Tormalet, no biggie. Moderate effort. 

[G650 14437]

Wow Kuss.

Might be a 1 2 3 finish if Roglic has the kick

[Whitewater Horn 972]

Kuss for real this time 

[G650 14437]

Roglic teleport. loooooooooooolllllll

[G650 14437]

That was the most dominant stage of cycling I've ever witnessed.

[Hornius Emeritus 12796]

Crazy. Jumbo Visma finishes 1-2-3 in the stage. Kuss looked strong at the end.  I think he's going to win it. Maybe Jonas gets on the podium?

[G650 14437]

Just now, Hornius Emeritus said:

Crazy. Jumbo Visma finishes 1-2-3 in the stage. Kuss looked strong at the end.  I think he's going to win it. Maybe Jonas gets on the podium?

He already is.

Barring crash Kuss got this, just question of Roglic and Jonas places.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

Just now, G650 said:

That was the most dominant stage of cycling I've ever witnessed.

Incredible. That has to be demoralizing to the other teams with GC and podium aspirations. 

[Whitewater Horn 972]

My god, just how far will Evenepoel fall? Completely out of it unless some absolute disaster befalls Team JV.  Edit - Never mind. He still has literally miles to climb with 14 minutes already elapsed behind the winner. That’s about as bad of a day you can have without a crash. 

Edited September 8, 2023 by Whitewater Horn

[G650 14437]

27 minutes back for Remco

[G650 14437]

Good to see Remco give it a ride after yesterday

[Whitewater Horn 972]

11 minutes ago, G650 said:

Good to see Remco give it a ride after yesterday

That’s real pro stuff. Hit the wall early one day falling out of GC contention, come back the next day and attack. Still stage wins out there. 

[Whitewater Horn 972]

Well, that was always going to happen. Thanks for playing, Bardet. 

[G650 14437]

Indeed.

 

Second time in two days Jumbo has had four dudes on final climb, and only one was a domestique.

[Whitewater Horn 972]

4 minutes ago, G650 said:

Indeed.

 

Second time in two days Jumbo has had four dudes on final climb, and only one was a domestique.

Several years ago, I didn’t think that anyone would be able to have a stacked team like the ones from Sky/Ineos. Now TJV has such an incredible roster that they can assemble these monster squads for grand tours that are proving to be almost unbeatable. If Kuss hangs on for the overall, they will have winners for all three grand tours on the same team. I never even consider that as a possibility on a single team. 

[G650 14437]

13 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Several years ago, I didn’t think that anyone would be able to have a stacked team like the ones from Sky/Ineos. Now TJV has such an incredible roster that they can assemble these monster squads for grand tours that are proving to be almost unbeatable. If Kuss hangs on for the overall, they will have winners for all three grand tours on the same team. I never even consider that as a possibility on a single team. 

Man it really is wild. And yesterday I say there was a domestique, but hell even that was Wilco Keldermann who was a GC leader before.

[G650 14437]

Jumbo bog giving Remco the rope today