@fredericknorton Skjelly looked more or less OK, he had a bandage on his hand but otherwise seemed good and seemed to be in really good spirits, haha yeah I was thinking of saying something to him about UNO X to him, but I knew that I would confuse Danish and Norwegians so I kept my mouth shut on that front, he seemed very genuinely pleased that I mentioned Amstel.
Yeah Mads had to pull everything back himself and still dusted everyone in the sprint.
I am still backing Vingo but I am very surprised at how close it is, I though that he would be up by 3-4 minutes at this pointā¦ so who knows, itās very much all to play for but Vigo has by far the more dedicated team, not stage hunters not KOM hunters, they are there for very much one thing.
It looks to me like Ving is playing things very, very safe. Itās kind of a disaster if he doesnāt win this race, and the only way he loses is if Almeida drops him. Attacking on the Angliru for a stage win just isnāt worth the risk of blowing on the Angliru and losing the overall, and while no one will really remember that he āonlyā won the overall by some small margin, coming second would be a giant black mark on his palmares.
@fredly - iād take that bet. I lose a lot of bets.
didnāt the Vuelta do this tt in GC Kuss year and Almeida beat Vinge by about 30 seconds?
itās always hard to know how close to full out these guys go if gc is not a clear ambition (Almeida at the Tour // to an extent Vinge at '23 Vuelta (though Vinge looked to underprepared in '23 and slowly getting better and better)).
Tomorrow is another up n down ambush type day (but much tougher finish). Can Pidcock create stage 11 like fireworks again???
More than 30, IIRC. But Vinge was definitely in domestique mode at that point in that race, with Kuss and Roglic 2+ minutes up on GC. I think he was saving up for the Tourmalet, where the three of them took something like 7 minutes out of Almeida.
I kinda think itās more likely we see Hindley try something than Pidcock. That third is a big result for Piddles, but 4th barely keeps Jaiās head above water with all the hitters on his team now.
Almeida us a great TTer. Jonas firing on all cylinders is better, but I wonāt be surprised at all if itās real close between them.
Will be interesting to see how Pidcock, Hindley and Gall go in the TT. None of them known for their prowess against the clock but probably Hindley has the edge here and should be able to move into podium position?
I agree with @fredly about podium (3rd place) - I think Hindley keeps looking to take digs at Pidcock for 3rd. Tomorrow might be all Hindley needs to move up, but 17 and 20 also offer possibilities.
I hope for the tension in the race - the battle for 3rd presents opportunities for Almeida and Vinge to take a few swings.
I think thatās all very on point, with the exception that I think we should probably give Gall (Unmitigated as a nickname?) the edge in the historic TT record. Thatās also part of why I think Jai is the most likely to try something soon.
Almeida is obviously on career best form, too. We donāt actually know how good Jonas is right now because heās been doing pretty much the bare minimum necessary to win.
Yeah, from what weāve seen so far, Vengaās form is in question - not that itās āquestionableā, just that he hasnāt yet shown his full strength. Whether thatās because he hasnāt had to (most likely) or because heās not quite there, weāll see. But Almeidaās looking great so the final red jersey is still up in the air until Jonas plays the cards to say otherwise.
At this point, it doesnāt look like you can plan on the race course actually being the race course. You just never know where the stage finishes are going to be.
Itās true - the circuit nature of the Quebec races makes for some interesting management of the protests and the race itself. I donāt envy the police or the race organizers and the task they will face. I just hope the protestors have the sense to stay off the road.
Crazy whatās happening at the Vuelta. But with Spain having a lefty government that has expressed a lot of Pro Palestine support, they are letting these folks get away with a lot of stuff without any repercussions. Romo didnāt finish the race due to injuries from his crash caused by these troublemakers.
The lead organizer of the protests in the Basque Region is a former ETA (the terrorist group), so they are dealing with professional troublemakers and there seems to be some serious funding, structure and organization. Some folks in this thread called me out for speculating who is behind it, but when it looks like a ratā¦
Would be curious to see what the organizers do for the Morredero, TT and Bola del Mundo.
Montreal is not a poster child for peaceful demonstrations. And there is momentum and visibility now. It has already started in Montreal.
I think Iām going to wear my Astana jersey
The PremierTech CEO has come out and said there is a need to separate sport and politics but I am not sure his message is getting through to everybody.
Does it ever get through? Certainly appreciate his comment, but at the same time slapping Israel on the jersey and team naming doesnāt really separate the two.
I donāt have a side beyond this is getting very old
Quebec in general knows a thing or two about violent protestsā¦ I still remember the FTAA protests in Quebec City back in 2001. Basically all through the early 2000s, if you were at a protest and the Black Bloc showed up (not necessarily from Quebec but usually) you knew stuff was about to get real.
). Win, they riot. Lose, they riot.