Originally Posted by
Giacomo 1
Thank goodness for Alaphillipe and his race for KOM, because half way through the stage and no real racing, no attacks. Sky controls...again.
Alaphillipe is a neat guy. He's one of the riders who have made the mountain stages fun to watch. His consideration of Yates fall yesterday was very sporting too. He said once he passed Yates, he didn't continue his descent at mach 1 until he realized that Adam wasn't pushing. You could see that he turned and slowed after passing Yates. Then today as he passed Yates on the ascent, he patted him on the back and shook his hand. Very classy.
Originally Posted by
slcbob
"Just sitting" -- ha ha ha. There's a difference between wanting to attack and being able to attack.
The harder the race is, the more predictable it is that the toughest guy out there will win it.
Admirable unity of effort amongst Sky throughout and it looks like the road has finally made the decision amongst their top two. A couple of good digs by a couple of players, but darn if Kwiatkowski, Bernal, Poels, et al aren't pretty good at smacking them down.
I agree with your sentiment. Sky is so strong that their other riders are on the front pushing such a hard tempo that few really can attack. The ones who do and actually get away aren't contenders. Riders have tried multiple times to attack Sky, but if they are a danger, Sky reels them right back in.