MinnMan

Horner had a good analysis of how Philipsen got boxed out.

Shadco 

And that gentlemen is why you stay towards the front of the pack. Thought he might have figured that out yesterday.

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slcbob

From the previews, it seems tomorrow may be carnage. Fortunately, after a few days of being mobile, I'm going to be working from home with a few screens up and running and able to wallow in the echelons.

surak

The end was frantic today, saw Ineos apparently reverting again to their TdF tactics on the final climb very briefly only for the Slovenian favorite to easily squash their guys.

Great win by Magnus Cort, it looked like he would get mugged before the end, but he really dug deep the whole way up.

Shadco 

Bernal lost time where was Carapaz?

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ooga-booga

stage eight...philipsen.

MinnMan

Ah well, it does seem to be a menu with a small number of choices.

GrainBrain

Been keeping up with LR and GCN highlights, need to checkout Horner. Peacock highlights with van valde and bobke pretty bad

Super disappointed about Valverde that was a freak accident (knicked a pot hole?). Wish I would've known that Hugh had complications from covid vaccine? Sweet win for Cort!

rein taaramäe not keeping red but pegging the meter at 2.0 Geraints was the letdown that is 2021

Why the heck was Molano relegated? Probably won't ever know. Fabio had to dig in for that win, great indication of his form!

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GrainBrain

I'm using expressVPN and just setting my location to London. I watch on my smartphone, and recently I've had to start disabling "location services" (Android).

MinnMan

So tomorrow the smart money is on Roglic. My guess is that he takes it, but that Bernal marks him and doesn't give away too much time. The Bernal/Ineos plan has got to be to gain a bunch of time on a couple of the mountain stages in the last week - enough to neutralize the minute or two that he'll lose in the TT at the end. With the stronger climbing team compared to JV (Kuss doesn't seem to be on form), Ineos will be best off waiting until Roglic is tired and has few teammates to help.

But maybe Slovenians never get tired.

MinnMan

Horner is not for everybody. For one thing, he has no video rights, so all the illustrations are still photographs (screen caps). Also, he has a very characteristic style that could either charm or be a big turnoff. His habit is to repeat the same stock phrases (e.g.,"knuckleheaad", "putting nails in his legs", etc.) and that might grate. Of course, he's highly knowledgeable and knows many in the peloton personally. I like it and learn a lot. Not everybody would agree, I think.

ooga-booga

coming in third does seem to be my specialty...

ooga-booga

stage number nine number nine number nine...roglic "gifts" the win to kuss.

slcbob

Well said. When I have time, I tolerate Horner's presentation style for the knowledge bombs that he drops. I wish there was a Cliff Notes version.

MinnMan

So, this was all wrong except for about Roglic

ooga-booga

yet another horrible prediction...stage ten....aranburu.

slcbob

I would be giddy to see Narvaez make the break and contend for the stage.

GrainBrain

Wild looking break underway!

Excited for G. Martin and C Eiking!

I literally just saw Lawson Craddock look at the camera and mouth "Thanks for not picking me GrainBrain"

GrainBrain

30 minutes into the LR rest day podcast there's a good interview with Jay Vine. I thought it was a very interesting perspective from someone who just turned pro, so he seems less cagey about things. He mentions Lawson Craddock abit, and how Bora cost Großschatner from wearing the red jersey.

Maelochs

I don't wan tot be the guy apologizing later for posting spoilers .... but .... ahem .... Interesting stage and and potentially ridiculous level of risk-taking by a rider who Really shouldn't have .... but anything which adds drama to the race overall, I guess.

surak

I don't think there's any spoiler issues in this forum or thread.

Roglic proving that he has more Geraint in him than not. I should add that a Geraint unit is made up of sub-Geraints, much like there are different types of quarks making up particles. The strange Geraint covers bizarre incidents like sliding over ejected water bottles, while the down Geraint are the self-inflicted kind on descents that Rog has lost quite a bit of skin on this year (maybe he's not finding the Cervelo as controlled on descents as the Bianchi TJV used prior).

Edit to add: the charm Geraint is the self-deprecation we get to enjoy in the post-race interview, the "I feel like a right tosser" and "no risk no glory eh" along with a half-hearted chuckle.

MinnMan

I agree that the ground rules here are spoilers are OK inside threads, but not in thread titles. If you don't want to know what happened in today's race, don't open this kind of thread.

dstrong 

I picked him...and he's contributed 126 points to my middle-of-the-field total.

I swear, I chose this team on my phone, at the last minute, while traveling for vacation. One pass and I hit submit. I looked at the standings on the second day and was firmly planted at the bottom. I didn't check again until a few days ago and was pleasantly surprised to see me breathing down slcbob' s neck for fourth place (pending today's outcome). Maybe I should not overthink things like I did for the TdF.

MinnMan

And as far as red is concerned, I'm again at "who?"

slcbob

Nicely observed by the GCN commentators: for years we complain about no bold attacks from the leader, and now we have a leader who attacks and we ask what was he thinking?