Most prestigious? Pfft. Call me when he takes the Alpe du Zwift.

Quite possibly.

I missed all this during the live broadcast, but apparently when Ewan was off the back after a crash, a bunch of team cars (not just Lotto) conspired to help bring him back to the peloton. Including intentionally blocking a commissaire moto from reaching Ewan to monitor the help he was getting.

Words and gestures were exhanged between the commissaire and some of the cars!

But kind of cool to see other sprinters' teams helping out Ewan (to no avail this stage).

Wow I did not catch that, but it makes sense. The sprint teams needed Ewan back on so that Lotto would keep riding and bring things back for a sprint. Without those Lotto boys pulling that break wasn't coming back (if they would have anyway).

Pedersen has won a race every month starting in February, albeit not WT races. Was also strong in Denmark. Simmons was dropped because he buried himself for the break and Pedersen.

Interestingly, Pedersen thought being in the break was a mistake as the gap was stuck at two minutes and change. Caleb Ewan's crash made the difference. At the time of the crash, Bike Exchange was about to come to the front but then waited, thinking it was a bad look to chase while Ewan was off the back. BEX's delay probably the factor that probably let the break stay away.

Simmons meanwhile having a very impressive first tour as the youngest rider in the race. Looks much older with that beard.

---

________
It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Didn't take long for this stage to get aggressive and nutty. Which, is par for the course here and now. I love it.

Poor Caleb Ewan.


In addition to the 1000CHF of fines doled out to Alpecin-Deceuninck, Ewan received a time penalty of a minute in the general classification as well as 10 points in the points classification and a single point in the mountain classification to accompany his 500CHF fine.

Not that he'll be too upset with the 500CHF fine, the time penalty, nor the points lost ("Dang, there goes my shot at winning the KOM this year.") Throw in his struggles today (18 minutes back of the leaders, hoping to survive the time cut) and it's not been a great 24 hours for him.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ewan-alpecin-deceuninck-fined-for-drafting-after-tour-de-france-crash/

---

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Kind of a dick move by Simmons to take a KOM point from Powless. Looks like Powless is paying him back by not contributing to Simmons' attack.

Jacobsen was struggling too and Lotto went to the front and picked it up and had help from Alpecin. DIdn't see a lot of extra help for QS.

This has been hot and hard and then the Pyranees. It'll be interesting to see who makes it through the mountains. I'd rather have Cav cajoling and ham and egging it through to Paris. He was on great form. Still a head scratcher.

Curious move by Matthews to go long.

I have Wout and MvDP in his generation (all in their 20's) But if we're talking 20-23,4, neo pro types then he's #2 behind Pogacar who has 2 GT's, 8 stages, stages in Vuelta, Lombardia, LBL and I think, Strade?
All due respect to CX and MTB, World Tour road is the gold standard.
Pidcock has a lot of top 10's and now a stage win, so when (not if) he gets a monument and/or a GT and WC, then yes. He's surely brilliant but has screwed the pooch in a few races with some wacky tactics, maybe youthful exuberance, fog of war and whatnot. He's learning, and fast, maybe like a genius, but team tactics are huge in road.

He's been close lately. In fact he always seems to be in the mix and close.

Simmons is a knucklehead.

When was the last time we saw the green jersey tow the yellow jersey team around like this?

Bling earned that one for sure.

Yeah, props to him.

His first TdF stage since going on that long range attack with GvA and Sagan back in 2016?

Nico even said that if he was drafting on his OWN car, he'd certainly get fined, but not sure what would happen if it was ANOTHER TEAM helping him out

It was incredibly blatant though

That was a weird scenario: Lotto guy goes straight at the left hand turn; Caleb goes down "Where the fuck are going?"

Then, no one from Lotto goes back and he has to motor- pace as best he could until the red-hats say " No buddy, you're in your own"

I imagine his first words to the team were "Hey guys - I'm back --- so what the FUCK was that about?"

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Stage 15 (tomorrow) could be interesting. 200 km in 40 degrees C temperatures, with firetrucks spraying to roads to keep the road surfaces "cool". Maybe the riders will call a truce until the final 10 km?

The final run-in could be sketchy if the sprint teams all think they have a shot at the stage win. Two 120-degree turns in the last km, one of them with 200-meters to go. Ouch.

On the run-in to Carcassonne along the Canal du Midi, the peloton has to negotiate a roundabout with 3800 metres to go, then there is a sharp turn just before the flamme rouge followed by two 120-degree turns on the final kilometre, one about 600 metres from the finish, the other with 200 metres to go.


https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-de-france-2022/stage-15/preview/

---

"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

This idea is Caleb Ewan-approved.

I'm loath to defend Simmons, but he does have a teammate up there in the KOM standings. May have simply been team orders to keep the points away from Powless.

That's a good point, didn't realize Ciccone was in the game.

Looks to be Taco Sunday.

I’d rate Tadej #1 and Wout #2 in today’s riders. Pidcock has crazy talent but other than Olympic gold, his palmares aren’t in the same discussion as Wout. Not to mention that he’s a far more valuable teammate.

Stop the presses. Wout is in the break again, but thankfully it looks like the team might be asking him to sit up.

I'm Wout #1 Tadej #2
Pidcock has potential to be the best and is certainly at the pointy end of the pointy end. At everything.

Gravity problems today

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

Kruiseship and Rog out for Jumbo COULD be problematic. If Wout stays strong and Kuss as well, this can be mitigated.