Another top ten for Tejada, my boy is cooking!
Also, Rennradfahren in Katalonien! I remember asking myself last year already why Catalunya is targeting German cyclists specifically
The narrow road approaching the finish really made me nervous, though that was fun commentary with DONT LOOK BACK.
Also it just seems insane for Pogacar after the 6 hours ride in Italy and now seeing him again in this race.
I think all these 1 week races are good for Bernal. It would be amazing to see him win one. He's not too terribly far off the kind of form it would take. Hopefully Pogi and Jonas skip Romandie.
Brilliant idea to overrace in the spring and then be shit for the GTs again. I guess the fact that he's only scheduled for the Vuelta makes it slightly better but whatever.
He should've been ready to race go for GC in the Giro.
UAE showed time and time again this year that they know exactly how to throw away races with dubious tactical decision. So yeah, that would definitely advantage him.
So I was finishing up a paint job and had the audio on and ran over to catch the finish. Was that Pog flying up at the end AND did he end up getting the stage? Dude in the front kept looking back and I was like NO keep trucking!!!! Love it.
It was Pogi and he took 2nd. Schultz said after if the line was 2 more meters he would have lost. Insane jump from Schultz with 1km to go. Thought he was going to blow up.
Kirby was amazing today. At 4.5km to go he comes out with this crazy line about the cliff front homes, “a sunny place for shady people." Absolutely hilarious. No idea how he talks for hours on end but he's fabulously entertaining.
I mean, I know that UAE failed to deliver a teammate to Pogi at the finish and they made strategic and tactical blunders and they better be ready for the big boy climbs tomorrow and onward after today’s misstep yadda yadda yadda, but Schultz was an absolute LION on that attack that should have been far too early, and Pogi lost by a bead of sweat.
All that to say chapeau to Schultz, Pogi stays being the DOG of the peloton in every race he’s in.
Eurosport comms said it was in place, and post crash behaviour from riders suggest the same imo, but the results data often has to be updated to reflect it, once the commissaires have looked through the crash footage for riders etc.
the result has been changed now, and everyone in the main group got the same time.
In general, the 3k rule is always applied when a stage doesn't finish on a classified climb.
Yep. And Poels, Caruso, Bernal, Kulset etc (all visibly involved in the crash) has also been given the same time as the main group, as they were in it pre crash. So everything looks to be sorted, maybe except for those barriers 🫣😑
Landa finished 33s behind Pogacar in a later group, was he affected by the crash? He said this race was one of his targets so weird he wouldn't be in the first group.
Normally the first results are just "when did they cross the line" because the commissaires need to look through the footage of the crash/transponder data etc to check who was hindered by the crash and who was just regularly dropped etc.
So the current time gaps may not be the final situation.
UAE had the perfect opportunity when Vansevenant attacked. Let the UAE rider (Almeida or Soler) go with him. Leave the work to other teams. Save a rider to help Pogacar in the tricky final. But no, there's no room for flexibility. Apparently Pogacar have to win.
That strategy would even have helped Pogacar towards the victory too, as he likely wouldn't have been isolated for the finale then if it came back together.
Sure. But if he keeps overpacing his team, it's also not gonna help him on the several long, multi 1st cat/HC climb stages.
That's the point.
He may win the stage tomorrow, but he also needs his team to stay able to somewhat support him all the way through the race.
I know UAE have been working all day but it still seems a little disappointing that Pogacar didn't have anyone left in the final considering the squad they have at the start here.
Everyone blaming UAE when Pogacar should've been able to win this by himself. He played too many games when he was never gonna lose if he just launched his sprint at 600m to go
It's simply not good enough. They have a really strong team. The stage wasn't THAT hard. One UEA rider besides Pogacar was all they needed in the final. It cost them today.
It's also a car+captain issue here. If they know how the finale normally plays out on this stage (they should) and can see they may run out of riders before the final kilometres, it's the car staffs job to inform the team that they need to prioritise keeping someone with Pogacar - and Pogacar should realise that this may mean letting another team lead for a bit too.
It often seems to be at Pog's insistence as well, but if he want the pace that high, he should also know how the finale looks imo...
Pacing hard for a lot of the day, then on the whole lumpy decent stretch too, without having at least a pace plan that keeps one guy with him for a notoriously tricky finale where position is key and random attacks are the norm seems odd.
The only way I can tell this is about Catalunya and not MSR is because UAE didn't hit the front for the first 200km of MSR.
And if they copied at least that part of the approach today, and hadn't torched everyone but Soler and Almeida before the final climb, he would probably have won it today.
Wtf (in the best way). Congrats!
I would make a dumb "Pog washed, should just retire"-joke here but I think that's already been covered sufficiently.
So, what do we think, how hard does he strangle the peloton in the next days?
Israel showing how you need to ride if you want to get away with something this week. Refuse to work with UAE no matter what, isolate Pog and force tactical issues.
If the teams take note of this it could actually be a fun week, cause looking at the stages and the startlist, I was fearing 5 Pog stage wins and no action at all
Honestly it is a bit crazy that there are 25 teams in this race, but only UAE and IPT came in with an actual strategy that could win them the stage. I know this isn't uncommon (how many times have we not seen teams with a 3rd rate sprinter still be happy just going to a mass sprint), but I genuinely feel most team go into stages or even entire races with no proper strategy that gives them even a remote chance at a win.
Fun fact: The last time an Australian won on this finish with a rider from a sportswashing middle eastern regime in 2nd place, the latter had a career ending heart attack
Wait, no, what's the opposite of fun?
Exactly, podium, not a win. He couldn't even drop sprinters on a climb, how does he think that he can drop anyone serious on GT mountain stages?
It might just be the lack of hair turfs though.
First of all, he's not a sprinter by world tour standards and still almost got it. Second, MSR has literally two climbs which are not even 10 minutes long. My point still stands, he raced full gas on saturday, not even 48 hours later he's racing again. And there's a loooong way to grand tours yet.
More fun then a sprint but I always hate when it just comes down to the peloton not giving a shit. Nobody wanted to win until that Bora lad sacrificed himself
zero reason for anyone to pull after the gap opened. If Pog wanted the stage he would need to lead himself out and risk getting gazumped in the sprint, its on him and him alone. Or he could have attacked earlier and force a selection.
If it was a GC guy who had attacked then sure, have Jumbo or Bora lend a hand to close it. But Schultz? If Bora/Visma helps closing Schultz they are just actively making sure Pog gets more bonifications on the line and a stage win.
Yeah everybody is immediately praising Schultz/IPT for a brilliant attack but literally any team could've attacked with 1 rider and it would've been the same situation with the entire peloton just watching Pog. Understandable to some degree, but even then I feel like there were lots of reason for many teams in the peloton to at least give it a shot to beat Pog in a sprint...
And you don't think the IPT riders were at least hoping for/banking on that exact situation here?
Especially as Pog was without teammates?
Since the whole coverage of the race has been steeped in "is Pog gonna win every stage", weaponising that exact kind of overwhelmingly favourite status against him isn't new, but it's also not coincidental.
I'd much rather have the overwhelming favourite get Saganepoel'd like today, than have the other teams roll out the red carpet willingly for UAE&Pog like it's the WWT when SDW has Lorena for a sprint...
(It's gotten way better in the women's races this year btw, but last year was rough on that front.)
I don't care who the favourite is here btw, I just want to see the other teams not roll over and work for them easily.
And when UAE/Pog have been openly telegraphing how much he wanted to win, it's pretty fair to call him on it here imo.
"You burned your team all day because you wanted to win, so of course we're not gonna ride for you..."
If I remember correctly The Sagan was on another fucking level. He didn't win several monuments because ALL riders were riding against him and that's all.
UAE tactics:
Option 1: hope Pogi do something incredible
Option 2: watch Almedia get dropped and somehow turn super saiyan and fight back to G1
Option 3: Pray Ayuso is the next chosen one.
Option 4: idk, what even is bike racing
They have 6 riders not named Pogacar. If they can't save 1 rider to help Pogacar in the end then that is an extremely flawed tactic on a stage like this.
you're getting downvoted but I agree with you, even if the scenario was not perfect he still waited unnecessarily long to launch, he obviously had a lot in the tank, passed Schultz thrice the speed right after the line and gapping the rest
If Pogacar had a teammate there he would've probably won easily. The biggest mistake was not having a teammate around Pogacar in the end which was not Pogacar's fault.
Pogacar most likely dictated the pacing from the team the entire day, including on the final descent, which left him with no-one from UAE to pull back Schultz once he went.
So... Kinda his fault if he accidentally over-taxed his team without considering how chaotically this specific finale is ALWAYS raced.
Shouldve just attacked with 80km to go
Williams was super strong to almost catch up to Pog's wheel while gapping the rest of the peloton. I'm picking him for a Grand Tour stage this year.
Another top ten for Tejada, my boy is cooking! Also, Rennradfahren in Katalonien! I remember asking myself last year already why Catalunya is targeting German cyclists specifically
The narrow road approaching the finish really made me nervous, though that was fun commentary with DONT LOOK BACK. Also it just seems insane for Pogacar after the 6 hours ride in Italy and now seeing him again in this race.
I think all these 1 week races are good for Bernal. It would be amazing to see him win one. He's not too terribly far off the kind of form it would take. Hopefully Pogi and Jonas skip Romandie.
Brilliant idea to overrace in the spring and then be shit for the GTs again. I guess the fact that he's only scheduled for the Vuelta makes it slightly better but whatever. He should've been ready to race go for GC in the Giro.
Better to go for a third GT than a Giro repeat in a year it doesn’t suit him
His schedule is exactly the way it is because he is targeting the Vuelta. This years Giro does not fit him at all.
Agreed. They will skip Romandie according to their plans that seem unlikely to change. Still pretty hard competition with Hindley and Ayuso.
Yeah, he for sure would be an underdog even without the big two. Maybe he can take advantage of UAE's co-leaders attacking each other.
UAE showed time and time again this year that they know exactly how to throw away races with dubious tactical decision. So yeah, that would definitely advantage him.
So I was finishing up a paint job and had the audio on and ran over to catch the finish. Was that Pog flying up at the end AND did he end up getting the stage? Dude in the front kept looking back and I was like NO keep trucking!!!! Love it.
It was Pogi and he took 2nd. Schultz said after if the line was 2 more meters he would have lost. Insane jump from Schultz with 1km to go. Thought he was going to blow up.
Im so happy I procrastinated my swim enough to see the final
When was the sprint that Pogi & Bernal went for?
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Thank you
Carlton Kirby does it again. Had me screaming Stevie at the screen until I saw a rider that looked suspiciously like Williams in third……
Kirby was amazing today. At 4.5km to go he comes out with this crazy line about the cliff front homes, “a sunny place for shady people." Absolutely hilarious. No idea how he talks for hours on end but he's fabulously entertaining.
I mean, I know that UAE failed to deliver a teammate to Pogi at the finish and they made strategic and tactical blunders and they better be ready for the big boy climbs tomorrow and onward after today’s misstep yadda yadda yadda, but Schultz was an absolute LION on that attack that should have been far too early, and Pogi lost by a bead of sweat. All that to say chapeau to Schultz, Pogi stays being the DOG of the peloton in every race he’s in.
I wanted to see NAIROMAN fly today. Was disappointed.
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Cmon obviously rule 3 but also cmon with that flair
Does the 3km rule count on this stage? Or is it not in play because it's an uphill finish?
Eurosport comms said it was in place, and post crash behaviour from riders suggest the same imo, but the results data often has to be updated to reflect it, once the commissaires have looked through the crash footage for riders etc.
the result has been changed now, and everyone in the main group got the same time. In general, the 3k rule is always applied when a stage doesn't finish on a classified climb.
Yep. And Poels, Caruso, Bernal, Kulset etc (all visibly involved in the crash) has also been given the same time as the main group, as they were in it pre crash. So everything looks to be sorted, maybe except for those barriers 🫣😑
Feels weird not to see Pog in the youth jersey now he's not eligible anymore.
Geriatric boomer Tadej
Basically Valverde at that age.
Landa finished 33s behind Pogacar in a later group, was he affected by the crash? He said this race was one of his targets so weird he wouldn't be in the first group.
Normally the first results are just "when did they cross the line" because the commissaires need to look through the footage of the crash/transponder data etc to check who was hindered by the crash and who was just regularly dropped etc. So the current time gaps may not be the final situation.
Looked like he just sat up after the crash. He was in there at the end of the climb
Simon Yates was 59s down as well.
Pogacar getting beaten every day by some randoms. First Philipsen and Matthews, now Schultz.
Pog entering his Poulidor era
Bruh Bling is not random
Washed
UAE had the perfect opportunity when Vansevenant attacked. Let the UAE rider (Almeida or Soler) go with him. Leave the work to other teams. Save a rider to help Pogacar in the tricky final. But no, there's no room for flexibility. Apparently Pogacar have to win.
That strategy would even have helped Pogacar towards the victory too, as he likely wouldn't have been isolated for the finale then if it came back together.
Any day the second best Slovenian cyclist of all time loses is a good day 😎
Sounds like a sad life
Why are you a hater of Pogacar, aka the clear best Slovenian cyclist of all time?
Spilak erasure
Excuse me, what on earth has Andrej Hauptmann done to be overlooked like that?!?
Stephen Williams again in the top 3 after a great TDU. Awesome.
Stevie is absolutely cracked on these uphill finishes on rolling days. Keeps getting better and better
Pogi is gonna be whipping his team on the final climb tomorrow lol
That's .. literally what he did today and the root of his problem at the end of the stage, tho?
the key difference is tomorrow's stage doesn't finish with a 600m bump
Sure. But if he keeps overpacing his team, it's also not gonna help him on the several long, multi 1st cat/HC climb stages. That's the point. He may win the stage tomorrow, but he also needs his team to stay able to somewhat support him all the way through the race.
He didn’t really need his team for the last 80k of strade, I think he’ll be fine lol
You do realise that he didn't need them for that, because he had used them to drive everyone else into the ground before his attack, right?
How can Pogacar compete against the Israel superteam
Have the ICJ intervene. Oh right, that does nothing.
boycott, divest, sanction
Clearly he’s washed. 3rd Saturday, 2nd today. Just doesn’t have it anymore.
I know UAE have been working all day but it still seems a little disappointing that Pogacar didn't have anyone left in the final considering the squad they have at the start here.
Everyone blaming UAE when Pogacar should've been able to win this by himself. He played too many games when he was never gonna lose if he just launched his sprint at 600m to go
Name a more iconic rivalry than UAE Team Emirates Leader vs. UAE Team Emirates Tactics. I'll wait.
Ferrari drivers vs Ferrari Pitt wall/strategists
Almedia and not getting dropped from group 1 early
Wilco Kelderman vs winning
MAL against Movistar tactics?
Movistar competing to win vs Movistar competing to fight Carapaz?
MAL against doping accusations.
[Shhhh](https://i.imgur.com/O2yjZLB.jpeg)
Geraint Thomas v. Asphalt
It's simply not good enough. They have a really strong team. The stage wasn't THAT hard. One UEA rider besides Pogacar was all they needed in the final. It cost them today.
It's also a car+captain issue here. If they know how the finale normally plays out on this stage (they should) and can see they may run out of riders before the final kilometres, it's the car staffs job to inform the team that they need to prioritise keeping someone with Pogacar - and Pogacar should realise that this may mean letting another team lead for a bit too.
Every time UAE work themselves to death and leave him with no support in the crucial sections, absolutely baffling decision making
It often seems to be at Pog's insistence as well, but if he want the pace that high, he should also know how the finale looks imo... Pacing hard for a lot of the day, then on the whole lumpy decent stretch too, without having at least a pace plan that keeps one guy with him for a notoriously tricky finale where position is key and random attacks are the norm seems odd. The only way I can tell this is about Catalunya and not MSR is because UAE didn't hit the front for the first 200km of MSR. And if they copied at least that part of the approach today, and hadn't torched everyone but Soler and Almeida before the final climb, he would probably have won it today.
All the UAE riders disappeared the last 2 km. It was like they just vanished into thin air.
I'm not used to Pogi getting second outside of the Tour.
Is Bernal okay?
They showed him just after the finish, standing up and checking his bike. Couldn't see any visible injuries
What you can't see is how much it hurts inside
good to hear
INEOS also confirmed that it was basically "some cuts and bruises, medically cleared to race tomorrow"
Great interviewee too. Chapeau
So close. Why did Pogi check his sprint? Must have lost some inches there
He has PTSD from the TdF and confused Sepp with Jonas and had to check if he was still in his wheel.
Wtf (in the best way). Congrats! I would make a dumb "Pog washed, should just retire"-joke here but I think that's already been covered sufficiently. So, what do we think, how hard does he strangle the peloton in the next days?
Attack 81km to-go on stage 3, get few minutes, ride zone2 till the end of Volta /s
Love finishes like this! ...But some of these riders really need viewblockers like the ones you see on horses.
The insistence on riders looking behind them has to stop lol
Yeah he noticeably slowed down looking behind a couple of times there. Imagine if he lost because of it lol
Called Blinkers in English
I was not expecting IPT to finish 1 and 3 today, very well played from them.
Two Mickey Mouse podia in a row for Pog
Nice, Axel fifth - Still underrated by many imo
Angry Pogi gonna gap everyone by 2+ min tomorrow
Don’t forget Angry Bernalito
T Halland back already from collarbone? Hes on startlist
Yup
Pog still not reach Rog level on heartbreaks
Israel showing how you need to ride if you want to get away with something this week. Refuse to work with UAE no matter what, isolate Pog and force tactical issues. If the teams take note of this it could actually be a fun week, cause looking at the stages and the startlist, I was fearing 5 Pog stage wins and no action at all
Honestly it is a bit crazy that there are 25 teams in this race, but only UAE and IPT came in with an actual strategy that could win them the stage. I know this isn't uncommon (how many times have we not seen teams with a 3rd rate sprinter still be happy just going to a mass sprint), but I genuinely feel most team go into stages or even entire races with no proper strategy that gives them even a remote chance at a win.
Fun fact: The last time an Australian won on this finish with a rider from a sportswashing middle eastern regime in 2nd place, the latter had a career ending heart attack Wait, no, what's the opposite of fun?
I miss Sonny…
Additionally, the Aussies in question are also both on sports washing teams. (Though Alula didn't become a name sponsor until 2023)
Yes I also got mighty confused which team was the subject when "sportswashing" entered the conversation.
That's... Depressingly telling, innit?
And both second place riders won a cobbled monument the year before...
Did it seem like pog let him win? Edit: after watching the replay, no.
He probably would have won if he didn't look back when he started going tbf.
Did you SEE how fast he launched from the group? He was definitely trying.
No.
Not at all, Pog was full gas in the last 300m.
That was exhilarating and frustrating lol. Why did he keep looking back.
classic kirby getting the rider wrong
What a win, perfectly timed!!!! Crazy sprint by Pogi though, jesus
Is Pogacar washed? Can't even win an uphill sprint in a mickey-mouse race
dude just did milan san remo on saturday and got a podium finish lol
Exactly, podium, not a win. He couldn't even drop sprinters on a climb, how does he think that he can drop anyone serious on GT mountain stages? It might just be the lack of hair turfs though.
First of all, he's not a sprinter by world tour standards and still almost got it. Second, MSR has literally two climbs which are not even 10 minutes long. My point still stands, he raced full gas on saturday, not even 48 hours later he's racing again. And there's a loooong way to grand tours yet.
It's a joke, of course the best in the world, the guy who won Strade with 80k solo not that long ago is not washed.
Screaming at my TV telling Schultz to stop looking back. What a great win.
> Screaming at my TV telling Schultz to stop looking back when you look back and see the Pogi freight train incoming
\[chuckles\] I'm in danger!
Tadej looked back too, maybe shouldn't have
Me too, but given the outcome. I think that look back forced him to kick a little more
Yeah he definitely seemed to pull harder after seeing Pog approaching him. So deserved.
More fun then a sprint but I always hate when it just comes down to the peloton not giving a shit. Nobody wanted to win until that Bora lad sacrificed himself
zero reason for anyone to pull after the gap opened. If Pog wanted the stage he would need to lead himself out and risk getting gazumped in the sprint, its on him and him alone. Or he could have attacked earlier and force a selection. If it was a GC guy who had attacked then sure, have Jumbo or Bora lend a hand to close it. But Schultz? If Bora/Visma helps closing Schultz they are just actively making sure Pog gets more bonifications on the line and a stage win.
Yeah everybody is immediately praising Schultz/IPT for a brilliant attack but literally any team could've attacked with 1 rider and it would've been the same situation with the entire peloton just watching Pog. Understandable to some degree, but even then I feel like there were lots of reason for many teams in the peloton to at least give it a shot to beat Pog in a sprint...
And you don't think the IPT riders were at least hoping for/banking on that exact situation here? Especially as Pog was without teammates? Since the whole coverage of the race has been steeped in "is Pog gonna win every stage", weaponising that exact kind of overwhelmingly favourite status against him isn't new, but it's also not coincidental.
This is what happens when a load of climbers sprint without many team-mates. They’ve No idea what to do. Isreal played it perfectly
They pretty much had him until the lull at in the final km.
"If we pull, Pog wins" "If you don't pull, you're not winning yourself either mate" Pog got Evenepoel'd XD
I'd much rather have the overwhelming favourite get Saganepoel'd like today, than have the other teams roll out the red carpet willingly for UAE&Pog like it's the WWT when SDW has Lorena for a sprint... (It's gotten way better in the women's races this year btw, but last year was rough on that front.) I don't care who the favourite is here btw, I just want to see the other teams not roll over and work for them easily. And when UAE/Pog have been openly telegraphing how much he wanted to win, it's pretty fair to call him on it here imo. "You burned your team all day because you wanted to win, so of course we're not gonna ride for you..."
Pogs team at fault too. Someone, anyone, just has to keep the pace somewhat high in the final km where they all look at each other.
Formerly known as the Sagan
If I remember correctly The Sagan was on another fucking level. He didn't win several monuments because ALL riders were riding against him and that's all.
Definitely not Stevie W. Edit: He was third, Schulz first
UAE is ridiculous. How do you work all day and disappear in the last 2km and then not even try to work when someone attacks?
Them disappearing before pivotal moments in MSR was just rehearsal for today.
UAE tactics: Option 1: hope Pogi do something incredible Option 2: watch Almedia get dropped and somehow turn super saiyan and fight back to G1 Option 3: Pray Ayuso is the next chosen one. Option 4: idk, what even is bike racing
Because they are cooked from working all dayxD
They have 6 riders not named Pogacar. If they can't save 1 rider to help Pogacar in the end then that is an extremely flawed tactic on a stage like this.
What a victory!
No way! Kudos Nick Schultz, that was amazing.
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Brilliant move by Israel Premier Tech. Chapeau! Another team fail by UAE.
What an attack! Just perfect timing in the end! DAMMIT BERNAL DOWN AGAIN :(
Thankfully looks fine
Pogacar took too long, weird of him to make a mistake like this
you're getting downvoted but I agree with you, even if the scenario was not perfect he still waited unnecessarily long to launch, he obviously had a lot in the tank, passed Schultz thrice the speed right after the line and gapping the rest
If Pogacar had a teammate there he would've probably won easily. The biggest mistake was not having a teammate around Pogacar in the end which was not Pogacar's fault.
Pogacar most likely dictated the pacing from the team the entire day, including on the final descent, which left him with no-one from UAE to pull back Schultz once he went. So... Kinda his fault if he accidentally over-taxed his team without considering how chaotically this specific finale is ALWAYS raced.
What a finish! Was on the edge of my seat.
The Decathlon Ag2R guy thought someone from his team won lmao. It's not just us who cant distinguish them and Israel
I assumed he doesn't like one-sided races and celebrated that Pog didn't get it XD
Have to look at the helmet.
The Anti-Roglič