All Things 2025 Tour de France

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FinnGopher said:
It will be interesting to see if Pogacar gets help from his team (UAE) or if Vingegaard's team (Visma) is able to dictate pace and wear out Pogacar's legs.
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Visma is going to try to grind Pogacar into the ground. Campanaerts, Affini and Benoot will push the pace earlier when it's flatte (I think?) and Van Aert, Sepp Kuss, Yates and Jorgenson will push attack after attack on the climbs to try to break Pogacar down. Pogacar should be a little sore tomorrow.

Just as much as that, I'm looking forward to how things shake out among the next tier guys, with some youngsters like Oscar Onley, Florian Lipowitz, Vauquelin, et al. The grand tours need some new blood and those guys look pretty good so far.

Sounds like it's a done deal that Remco Evenepoel is going to Red Bull-Bora next season; it was rumored that with his Soudal contract expiring, it was down to Ineos or Red Bull.
 


Did you all notice the security take down of the crazy fan that jumped the barricade to celebrate as Abrahamsen and Scmid raced to the line?

 


Healy with his last day in yellow. I love watching the mountain stages. When I see the beauty of the mountains, it makes me want to visit France. Frankly, I couldn't care less about Paris or any of the major cities in France, but these rural areas are a delight to see.
 











The greatness of Pogacar, unfortunately, is really diminishing just how good Jonas Vingegaard is during this 5-year run for both of them.

Blew me away today that when it mattered, it was UAE that had lieutenants available for Pogacar and Vingegaard had basically no teammates. Rough day for Matteo Jorgenson, but there's a lot of Tour left.

Very, very impressive riding from Florian Lipowitz, the young German rider from Bora; clearly taking the mantle from Roglic this TDF, although it's still early.

Remco Evenepoel can be just maddening to watch. He's done this in previous Grand Tours before on some mountain stages; falls behind, looks like he's struggling, it's all over, then he battles back. I keep thinking that HAS to take a lot more energy but who knows. The best Time Trialist in the history of cycling, but I don't know if he can ever win a Grand Tour
 



The uphill climb Time Trial tomorrow will be kinda fun to watch. I doubt anyone in the field actually uses a TT bike, although I haven't heard any of the "experts" weigh in on that.

Lots of people predicting Pogacar to win, never a bad choice, but I don't know that you can rule out an effort from a few of the really small riders/climbers in the field? It's basically just a 30-min uphill FTP test, balls to the wall, everything you have for 30 mins (or whatever it's going to be? maybe even less). A small rider like Lenny Martinez (not predicting him but one like him) I could maybe see hammering out a really good uphill TT.

Should be fun to watch anyway, although I don't normally like shorter TT's.
 

It was interesting to see time trial bikes for some and traditional bikes for others. In the end, I don't think it made a difference. However, there was the benefit of going near the end so you could see which type of bike (and helmet) worked best.
What a grueling, 7 mile, time trial. Complete exhaustion at the top. If I heard right, it was a 14% grade to finish.
 

FinnGopher said:
It was interesting to see time trial bikes for some and traditional bikes for others. In the end, I don't think it made a difference. However, there was the benefit of going near the end so you could see which type of bike (and helmet) worked best.
What a grueling, 7 mile, time trial. Complete exhaustion at the top. If I heard right, it was a 14% grade to finish.
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Still surprised to see the top guys so much better than the rest. Happy to see the two Red Bull-Bora guys show well today, with Florian Lipowitz REALLY coming up big with the 4th best time today.

For me, regardless of how big a lead Pogacar has, still excited to see the rest of the race. There are 5 guys with 1:26 I think for 3rd place on the podium. Wide open race for the podium, and you never know what could happen with Pogacar or Vingegaard; one bad day can mean a world of difference. Jorgenson was in great shape before yesterday, and lost over 10 minutes yesterday alone. He said he knew it before they even got to the climbs that it was going to be a bad day.

4 stage wins already for Pogacar. Still a LONG ways from Cavendish for career Stage wins but he will climb the ladder for sure.
 

Ogie Ogilthorpe said:
Still surprised to see the top guys so much better than the rest. Happy to see the two Red Bull-Bora guys show well today, with Florian Lipowitz REALLY coming up big with the 4th best time today.

For me, regardless of how big a lead Pogacar has, still excited to see the rest of the race. There are 5 guys with 1:26 I think for 3rd place on the podium. Wide open race for the podium, and you never know what could happen with Pogacar or Vingegaard; one bad day can mean a world of difference. Jorgenson was in great shape before yesterday, and lost over 10 minutes yesterday alone. He said he knew it before they even got to the climbs that it was going to be a bad day.

4 stage wins already for Pogacar. Still a LONG ways from Cavendish for career Stage wins but he will climb the ladder for sure.
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Yes, Lipowitz was impressive today.
 

Last day in the Pyrenees tomorrow and the famous Tourmalet ascent, one of two HC climbs on the day. Pogacar again an overwhelming favorite. Good grief, that would be his 5th Stage win of this year's TDF and they haven't even got to the Alps.

Expect more electric action and some more devastation to the GC top 10. Looking for who in that GC 3rd to 7th position makes a move, or at least establishes themselves as a legitimate contender for the last place on the podium in Paris.
 

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