He's seems to be enjoying himself.

Where is this going to end?
Holy moly the new young generation is exceptional!
Waut van Aert
Mathieu van der Poel
Egan barnel
Remco

All all but MvDP GC contenders (i see MvDP as a classics specialist/semi sprinter like Sagan)?

J-V manhandled that race and WvA is a beast. Was wondering why he was so far down the train; guess it should be obvious that he can win anything.

Froome falling off before Oss? That can’t be good. Whether he was dropped or had a rev limiter and sat up, to do so with 30 guys left speaks to his form. OTOH, Bernal is right there mixing it up to finish 3rd. Seems clear he deserves to be TdF leader.

How'd you like to be the reigning TdF champ and have there be any question? 23 years old.....

Froome is old and coming back from a devastating injury. He will find out he doesn't recover as fast at age 35 as he did at age 30.

But what about Wout! Too bad he'll be going to the TdF as a worker. If not, he could easily rip that Green Jersey off of Peter Sagan.

Some impressive riding by M vdP in Piemonte

edit: not as impressive as Bennett. Wonder why M vdP gave up the chase after he rode past Moscon and was only 2 seconds behind Bennett

MvdP enjoyed himself too much during the quarantine. He doesn’t have the fitness he had in 2019.

Actually reminded me a bit of Gilbert cresting Roche aux Faucon in 2nd place after Nibali at 2012 LBL and then decided to give up on the chase, except M vdP looked stronger here.

What a day for Bennett. What a few weeks for J-V. The look very confident and ready to take the fight to Ineos at TdF.

I sort of wonder if MvdP did too much last year and is paying for it with his body holding back. Impressive that he was there on that profile but he clearly doesn't have the legs (yet) he did in 2019.

I wonder if MvdP is focused on later goals (De Ronde and Roubaix) and so the form isn't there yet. Or maybe he was just in great shape coming out of CX season last year, and his body responds well to all that short/hard stuff, whereas perhaps this year he had a more road-focused leadup that's not paid off as well (yet). Probably both.

At this point Wout is just imposing his will on the race. He's untouchable. Really hoping he has good form for the northern classics (assuming they happen) and isn't peaking in August.

WvA is probably too heavy to be a GC contender. Except maybe for short stage races without major climbing. I imagine he's going to be dropped in Stage 2.

I am looking forward to watching the replay from Piemonte tonite!!!!

Good preview to the big one Saturday.

Indeed, both him and MvdP are too heavy to be real GC contenders. Paris-Nice however might be something he could try once he's content with his classics palmares?

Tbh I think he might be burnt up after the Tour and won't have the edge he has now in de Ronde and Paris-Roubaix.. Hes's obviously come in with great form, but are they really going to stretch that for 3 full months? They tried with Roglic last year.

Men from the Boys right now

Jumbo blows up Ineos and Bernal again! Sepp Kuss the MVP today!

Nobody else is close to Roglic and Jumbo. It's a bloodbath.

Young Sepp is looking very World Tour now.

Sepp and Roglic in beast mode. Ineos looked to be back on their old game of grinding peloton to dust but those guys closed the deal with authority. Super impressed that Sepp was able to shut Bernal down. Damn good riding.

Not only are they a force. But they know it. They look like they are having a blast.

Sepp looked awesome.

Honorable mention for Barguil and Quintana today

and some top trolling as well

Also, some sense from Lombardia, the climbs are to be closed off to spectators

https://www.cyclingnews.com/...e-to-covid-19-risks/

Both Kuss and Bennett have looked stellar. Which is bad news for other TdF teams. When Robert Gesink is maybe J-V's weakest climbing domestique, that's a strong-ass set of climbers.

That G. Martin kid from Confidis continues to impress and it was great to see Pinot looking competitive.

I honestly don’t get the fascination with Bernal. I can’t remember a single time that he has gone up against Roglic and been absolutely dominant. On the other hand Roglic always seems to be able to at least hang on the climbs and is likely to take at least 2 minutes out of him in a rolling TT. I just don’t see Bernal as a very complete Tour contender.

Huigita hitting the deck sucked and you wonder about EF’s grand plan. Having today be only the second day of racing for your Tour team seems a bit odd. This could be the new definition of racing into fitness at the Tour. If it works Allen Liam will be a genius.

Possesses above par tactical nous, at least compared to grand tour GC types or climbers. He does well rolling in an echelon, despite relatively diminutive size. Basically, stuff that will catch out the Schlecks and Dan Martins doesn't faze him.

Fiat point. Bernal has the talent and team to keep himself in contention and out of trouble on the flat or windy days. Though I isn’t quite as entertaining as watching Higuita and VanMarcke do that on the cold and windy flat stages at Paris Nice this year. There was something comical about watching a guy who rides a 48cm frame mixing it up with big classics riders.