While I do agree with the assessment, that the person couldn't wait to cross the street raises the negligence level.

Reminds me of one pedestrian who cluelessly tried to cross the street during a Tirreno ITT.

Maybe it’ll be a catalyst to dispel the notion that hooks will hold a tire on. And also that a big part of the issue lies with wheel manufacturers having ETRTO standards to adhere to where tire manufacturers do not (I.e. same tire manufacturer as Lotto).

Is it too late for me to get my picks in?.
I was at my sons baseball game today and missed all of the mid stage banter.

That was just pick 'em prologue.

Still time.

Wait, did I miss something? Have we got something semi-official going on?

I thought I'd been keeping up with this thread, but apparently I got dropped while I was taking a nature break. I might need a sticky bottle from the commissioner to get back to the tail end of the peloton.

We have GC winner picks, stage picks day by day, jersey picks and whatever else. All picks welcome. None are for real I don't think.

The Giro Dog is valid IMO. I'll take Giro Dog early on without a major incident!

So just the general smack-talking then. Excellent, thank you!

How hard will Ineos try to defend the jersey tomorrow? I think probably not too hard - GT is playing the waiting game. UAE will do most of the work to shred the peloton. Breakaway will be kept on a leash like Giro Dog.

Meanwhile, elsewhere, Cosnefroy showed (again) that he can sprint uphill. Not the deepest of fields, but he did beat Zingle, De Lie, and Venturini pretty handily. Decathlon having a great year despite the lack of brown shorts!

So I went out for a ride today and when I got back there was a package waiting:

So here it is, the podium chug:
https://youtube.com/...?si=bbbkPPrX30FJcStf

Thanks WannaB!

Well done! Very fine work by both you and WannaB.

Dah! That isn’t a Belgian goblet.

But that is a Belgian chug!

10, chapeau CD

Nicely done! :)

Ok, my GC picks
It's hard to look beyond Pog and Thomas for 1 & 2, 3 I'm going with O'Conner.
Schamann and Cian for my wild cards.
Groves for the sprint jersey

Mike W for the climber's jersey and a stage :-)

Seconded.

Nothing official here, picks wise. Just an opportunity for flexing.

Giro Dog is only getting started, methinks.

Ineos said they would be aggressive and they were. All Arensman needed to do was stay on. He didn't need the team to do that. Dad needs to zip it.

The other guys look like shlubs compared to Orla. Would it kill em to iron a shirt?

Ferris didn't seem supernatural to me yesterday. I think he's vulnerable. Seems off. Tired maybe.

How long has it been since we've seen Ewan win a sprint?

The slip inside said "Belgian beer glass" so probably meant for like a farmhouse ale or a Saison... so it was a bit of a travesty I put a pilsner in it, but it's what I had on hand.

If we're including 2.Pro, I'm seeing Stage 1 of the Tour of Oman this year, over Coquard and Kristoff. And the Aussie nationals crit.

Well, one puncture and all of a sudden things are exciting.

ETA: OK, not that exciting. All back to normal now.

I think he’ll have to burn one more match than planned in order to get back up to the peloton, but he’s got so many more matches than most, it’s not a huge GC impact.

the tufts of hair were/are an indication Pog was ready to go today

He doesn’t look near his limit.

Ben blew up bigtime; that was a surprise.

G. riding smart - never hit the wind all day long.

Trying to follow Pogacar is a dangerous game, GT rode smart.

At 25 years old Ferris has completed the GT stage win hat trick…

Same as Martinez, and managed to get some bonus second. G talked a lot of entertaining shite in one of those podcasts about challenging Pogi, but talk is cheap, everyone called it and it is really evident now that the only real race is for second place.

Having the fewest bad days is always the Thomas play, and certainly the only hope this time again is for Pog to somehow implode. Only Pog could crack like he has vs. Venga and probably still cruise on Thomas' wheel.