Out of curiosity, is he an acquaintance?

Sure was. Looked like Ewan was shot out of a cannon at line.

Helps being as small as he is on an uphill, headwind sprint when some of the bigger guys go too early. He really had to maneuver and get a little luck with the holes he found, but he timed it well and benefited from no wind most the way to the line. When everyone else was already fading, he was still getting up to speed making it all that more spectacular looking.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

I didn't go back and analyze all the shenanigans before that point, but it was funny when Sam tried to lean in on Ewan just before the line, but Ewan was going so fast that Sam completely whiffed.

Also one of the earliest bike throws by him I have seen when his legs just couldn't turn anymore. He simply went too early - nothing wrong with that as sprints like that are so hard to time. No need to be salty after the stage (beyond being disappointed at coming so close) - at least he didn't go as early as Sagan.

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"It's good enough for who it's for" - Grandpa Wayne

Agree that most went too early.

Ewan is fun to watch. When he has a clear path to the line inside the final ~75m he's got a Cavendish-like lights-out quality to him.

Only acquainted through other people. I'm more connected to the TT than road race pros here and Sam isn't really one I've brushed up with much.

Rubber hits the road tomorrow (as opposed to more bodies, hopefully). Gloves off.

and a bit of this Mario-Kart dodg'em capability. Reminded me a bit of this sprint



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Also, they really "flogged" the poor dude in the solo break. His lead was down to ~2 minutes with 50 km left, and they just allowed him to stay out in front.

That looks vaguely familiar. Was that McLay?

Completely irrelevant, but who has the best kit this year?

My vote is EF Education with a special mention to B&B - Vital Concept.

Good memory. It was, indeed. Sprinters are such reckless sorts...


looks like a design that one of those ultra-premium brands (e.g. MAAP or Isidora) might use

Having Tony Martin and Wout van Aert kill it for you all day has to be the most reassuring thing as a cyclist. Regardless how things turn out for Roglic and Tommy D, their whole team is nasty. Kuss, George, Gesink...seriously an amazing force.

Isidora wouldn't surprise me. Great kit.

Who is going to win today? I have no real idea, but Higuita would be awesome. Also on this kind of short punchy climbs I could see Porte a la Willunga. Both will likely be very wrong.

Higuita is my fantasy road captain today on one of my teams, so I'll take that.

Benoot goes endo, over the rail. He'll keep that replay in his highlight quiver.

I'm going with Higgy today.

Ala will go down swinging. He wants the French record for days in yellow. And Higgy may keep his powder dry today.

Tim de Tank was up front all day, then pop, he's 4 minutes back cruising with Sagan. Cool job.

Jungels is doing some nice work. Van Aert too.

Roglic looked amazing today.

Not just Roglic, but WvA and Kuss were amazing.

Wout just shut that sh*t down. What a boss move.

Yes yes yes. It is so damn impressive watching Wout. Monuments? No problem. World class TT? No problem. Super domestique? No problem.

That was an impressive turn. Kwaitkowski must be counting his lucky stars that he got MSR and Strade before WvA showed up

Just awesome to watch!

I loved this graph (Weighted score based on past 6 years UCI results)

Can you provide link to that graph so I can see it?

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