All that could be true. Problem is he unnecessarily used energy and didn’t have enough at end, and shipped time to Pog yesterday and again today. Could be deja vu all over again.

Yeah, that was my take on the situation.

He didn't need to launch at ~600 m to go, but he did. Eyes on the ball, and all that. Pogacar will be his main headache, not the others...

I hope he holds on to his lead, but with Pogacar chipping away at things, and with so many mountainous stages left, it could be a tall order. Hopefully his DS has told him that letting a large break sail away isn't exactly a bad thing, as it puts the initiative on Pogacar to claw back the seconds.

While it’s fun to chirp about temperamental riders, etc, there’s no schadenfreude for me here. I hope that Bouhanni gets his head together and keeps competing. He’s immensely talented, if eccentric, but the racial stuff is just wrong.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...tatement-of-support/

Yeah, I mean that scenario was for Pog to do the work in order to get bonus seconds and claw back time. Interestingly, at UAE Tour Pog sat on Yates all the way up climb on queen stage and then closed the deal. Rog needs to take a page out of that book, otherwise it’s little bits here and there and then a chunk.

You all remember the last time Rog let Carapaz go up the road because he wasn't a threat, how'd that work out for Rog?.
Carapaz is just too talented of a rider to let fly.

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I assumed the entire time Cav was playing sweeper and keeping the fight off Bennet's wheel given Bennet's recent complaints about that. Cav isn't scared of using his elbows and head in the mix so seemed like a good role for him assuming he could hold the wheel (which he pretty much did). Of course, that doesn't explain what he was doing at the finish there sprinting so close - from one angle it looked like he almost helped box Bennet in momentarily by simply having his front wheel too far forward.

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

Yes, and I remember it wasn’t with 2k to go with a 2+ minute lead. Remember Rog chasing everything down at the Tour last year? How’d that work out?

You’re right, he said in an interview he was sweeping. He also said he saw Bennett get squeezed and eased up to let him in but it was too late. That’s very heads-up riding. Guess it’s tough with Morkov and Bennett being such a potent tandem, and not wanting to disrupt that by sticking Cav in there.

Another huge day for Vingegaard. Closed down Landa and McNulty at a critical time, letting Roglic chill.

Roglic apparently reads this thread because he's been much more patient today, letting Bam Bam get up the road (with Vingegaard).

This is shaping up to be a great finale. Lot going on.

Crazy finish. Backfired on Roglic letting that go.

Exciting finish! American in the GC lead!

Ineos might have been the team to drop the ball - Carapaz probably would have been allowed in the lead group if he'd been able to.

That was nuts—monster ride from Bam Bam.

It looked like JV wanted to hand over jersey. Otherwise Vingegaard could have dropped back and helped chase with other guy that was with Rog to limit loss. Ineos seemed glad to take part in stare down too.

Today, yes. But with two more very hilly stages to come, all to play for.

Nothing is set in stone yet. Now UAE has to try to protect its lead.

Name the last American to have won the overall here

And it was sort of interesting watching Pogacar. He seemed to get pretty uncomfortable once it was clear Roglic wasn't going to chase, did a sort of quasi attack and looked back wondering why no one was helping him. (Though later a few guys chipped in to limit the gap). I think it was the right move of J-V to call the UAE bluff.

I can't without the Internet. I'll take a random stab in the dark. Talansky.

Edit: Nope, but my 2nd guess was the guy.

I agree - don't think Roglic cared or is scared of McNulty. Roglic and Pogacar are the class of the race and I wouldn't expect to see McNulty holding on when those two set off on the coming climbs. While it sort of gives UAE two cards to play, it also makes them have to control the race letting JV sit in and mark Pogacar.

In any event, makes the coming days more interesting I think. This race is very entertaining - more Catalunya like thankfully and less Paris-Nice.

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

Horner?

That's the one. As it happens, also the only one to date.

I remember it, as it happened on the same day as the first two bike races in which I participated. My team was traveling and checking into a motel, and I was scrolling through cyclingnews when I found out (didn't have a smart phone then, had to rely on motel wireless).

that would have been my guess as well.

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

I haven't seen anyone mention it since all the talk has been about McNulty (and for good reason), but Rogs teammate was also in that same break and has quietly slipped into third place while Pog is down to 5th.
Now Jumbo gets to chill in the pack tomorrow while UAE has to ride the front, then Jumbo gets to fire cannons on Saturday.
I don't think Rog regrets for one second letting McNulty get the jersey today.

Good catch. And he can climb too.

I'm not sure I understand the logic of sending Vingegaard up the road, but I definitely agree that Roglic is in a great position for the win. On the other hand, McNulty is no slouch on a bike, UAE has proven multiple times to be very crafty and McNulty also has a somewhat notable Slovenian climber as a teammate at 20 seconds behind Roglic... It will be interesting to see how UAE plays this and how Jumbo responds. I think we can all agree that Sunday's stage is going to be an absolute barn-burner.

I think the logic is that now Vingegaard is ahead of Pogcar, and is most likely a better climber then McNulty so if he goes up the road on Saturday Pogcar has to chase him and Rog basically gets a armchair ride to the win.
At least that's how I see it, Granted Pog is a stronger rider then Vingegaard, no question about that, but he still has to watch him.

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