Quick corrections: @Nina P Just had a great point. QuickStep were riding the front to keep the time gap close before the climb started for Fabio to make the time gap. GREAT eye, Nina 👀 👊🦋
@@cyclingfan7303 I think everyone in the peloton is doing their best to optimize their performance. Whether it is legal or not, that is for the UCI to decide. Whether they are doping or not, it depends on what you believe. The truth is, I don't really know for sure because I'm just a spectator watching from the sidelines. As such, I just enjoy the race and at the very least we can all agree that this is some spectacular racing.
Jonas and Tadej are a clear cut above the rest of GC, but Wout is the dominant star of this tour. Some have criticized him for not consistently playing the role of a proper domestique for Jonas; this channel certainly seems to have had that expectation. But he's such a talented rider that it would have been a waste to use him solely as a domestique in support of the GC competition. He has achieved multiple stage wins and at least four second places, plus the points jersey (overwhelmingly) and, almost, the mountains jersey - all while, indeed, serving as a willing and incredibly effective domestique at many critical points of this race - not least in this stage 18. That's a huge amount of success for the team and attention for its sponsors. Jumbo have played their strong hand incredibly well in this Tour.
Wout is a cycling version of Superman. I predicted yesterday that he would be there to help Jonas at a critical moment on the Hautacam and there he was!
I have to admit that WVA has such dominance and ability to recover and utter confidence there was a moment it made me wonder if he's getting some sort of medical enhancement the others aren't. I love his relentless drive but its a curiosity how it makes it all work.
Keeping the team together would not be good since half the JV team cannot climb, so they would be dropped early and thus useless during most of the stage. Had to send someone up the road to at least get over that first climb for support on the other side. Great tactics by JV. This is a new generation of racing, and when you have Wout, you do not keep him on a leash.
I agree, but I would even go one step further. On a flat terrain, you need to keep your team together, to keep your frontman out of the wind. In the mountains, it's a fight against gravity and the gain of having a teammate pulling hard in front of you is very small. So in that sense, the attack may be the best defense, by driving your competitors crazy with organized chaos. Besides that, with Wout in such form I don't think that he would drop that fast
The point that Chris always makes is that you keep some of your team together with your leader in case your leader flats or has a mechanical. Sure you need them for the wind in the flats, but that’s not the point. He’s right they took an unnecessary risk, but they had some time to play with so I guess they thought it was worth it. Plus it DOES make the racing exciting and who can complain about that?!
@@rogierbesselink9364 speeding up mountains with 15-30 km/h being able to draft behind someone does make a difference. Also having someone to hand you a bottle or anything to eat without needing to go to the car is another reason to send a rider up the road to profit from later in the stage. See what happened to Pogi in stage 11.
@@mikhailway Yeah, even Chris had to admit how exciting JVS has been this year for “fans on their chesterfields”. 😅😅 Chris absolutely right on the tactics to protect the yellow jersey, but wow has this been fun!
Can't remember a Tour de France where the so-called domestiques had so much freedom. The result was a race from km 0 to the finish almost every stage. No snoozefest stages, this was a great Tour de France!
I think if the team goal for the Tour is to just win the yellow, then it makes sense to keep the team altogether as much as possible. But if the team’s goals are to win every classification then Jumbo’s tactics further those goals. As a spectator it is boring to watch some days when every team plays defense as soon as they get in yellow. I think this style of tactics will appeal to a wider audience and is good for the sport as a whole.
Anyone saying team must stay together is a near complete moron. This is only true if NO ONE else is racing. Last I checked... everyone else is racing too. The ONLY place "KEEP the TEAM together" can be partially true is on the long FLAT stretches for water/GU purposes where one rider can go back and get said water/GU and bring it forward again. This is impossible in hills/curves as all the riders have different tempos on hills depending on gradient.
Wva and the other got send in the attack because they can be satellite riders there, if they stayed with Jonas they would be dropped on the earlier climbs sooner
@@tiely13 The others probably. But Wout Van Aert has monster form today. He would not have been dropped. If he did not attack as hard in the beginning and followed attack more wisely, he could well cross the line with Vingegaard holding arms in Dauphine Roglic+Vingegaard style. 😆
The look of determination on Sepp's face going up Hautacam was priceless, you just knew he was going to do something special. Stages 11 and 18 will live on in TDF lore.
I hope Sepp Kuss can have a future in riding for GC one day. His consistency in his performance reminds me of Daniel Martinez helping Bernal last year. Maybe Sepp Kuss can more or less be like Daniel Martinez and get into a good GC role
@@jsmack3856 So have I, to be honest 😅 and I think he's been kinda right, regarding the difficulty of the job Jumbo is doing. What we could not foresee is that they would handle the situation so succesfully.
@@EgeBerkGonul JV lost the last two TdF's by playing it safe with conservative, traditional tactics. They might finally win by taking chances. Good on them.
@fensterfred you must be smoking your chamois cream! There is nothing lucky about Roglic’s crash or Jonas’s mechanical! There is nothing lucky about the crash that took out the other rider earlier this week! Look at the team’s results and the manner in which they took and held the yellow jersey! You sound like Chris who seemingly never gives the team credit! GC winner, climbing jersey, green jersey, most prize money won, multiple stages won, multiple seconds place finishes! Which race were you watching!
This was an amazing stage. First, it proved that Vingegaard is the best climber in this year's Tour. Jonas won the two hardest mountain stages. And Wout Van Aert is a beast! Wout is definitely the best all around there is. I loved seeing the yellow jersey, the white jersey, and the green jersey finishing in order! BTW, I think Valentin Maduoas is one of the best domestiques around. And back a while I did say that Nathan Van Hooydonck would surprise people. He has been solid.
By my count, TJV has finished 1st or 2nd in 16 of the last 30 stages at TDF dating back to stage 10 last year. And all that with Roglic only riding and healthy in 4 of those stages. Incredible dominance.
An incredible achievement for Jumbo Visma to hold the green, yellow, and polka dot jersey at the end of today's stage! What superb short-term and long-term tactics in this race! I thought that Chris might finally admit that the Jumbo Visma directors know more than he does. They know the abilities of all their riders and executed their plan perfectly.
If they tried something out of the playbook once and got away with it, then I might agree with Chris. But when they do it over and over - and wind up with at lkeast 5 wins and three jerseys, then it might be time to admit that you are not the smartest person in the room.
Great tactics by TJV in this Tour, although they got a lot of doubters at the start :) WVA rides smart, he doesn't go all out all the time and knows how far he can carry it. And yes, he dropped Tadej going all out for a few km, setting the pace for Vingegaard, but if you look at the total ascent times, he's always minutes behind the top climbers, which is normal considering his build. I developed a software for training and coaching which was used by some teams (cycling vlaanderen, belgian cycling federation, some cyclocross teams, and also TJV during their blanco/belkin/early lotto jumbo years). WVA's power numbers were already spectacular during his very early years. The W/kg we see from riders these years are not in the 'ET' territory anymore though like we saw you-know-when. Climbing stages have also become shorter (which is a good thing)
I was so impressed by the sportsmanship Jonas showed by sitting up and waiting for Tadje. I am very impressed with the Americans in tour. I would love to see one of them to become a GC contender.
After thinking about this for a couple of hours: Jonas has teammates catching up from behind and up in front. It's no big loss to wait for Tadej to catch up and it helps his teammates help him.
Also Jonas doesn't attack because he doesn't want to be talked about negatively for the next twenty-five years like Alberto Contador attacking Andy Schleck.
Glad to see Horner put in a word to help clear up the ongoing slander against Nibali's 2014 Tour win. Nibali had Froome and Contador beat from the get-go at that Tour and the history re-writers who say he only won because Froome and Contador exited early clearly weren't watching or have bad memories.
@@melwoods7041 Damn my first tour I watched start to finish was the 1997 one. I'm from 1989. I was in the early 2000's massive fan off Beloki and I.Gonzalez de Galdeano and Ullrich.
Just abit of a disservice not to mention Fuglesang had Nibali in his pocket through the cobblels. Domestics are often the most important on stages like that, like we saw with WvA this year
WVA may be the strongest rider I have ever seen in all the years I have been following racing. Maybe the tactics are wrong, but WVA is one of the greatest of all time.
I stopped counting all the "WTF" moments for this year's TDF and am absolutely enjoying the chaos that Jumbo Visma is creating. It's like them throwing hard 8's at the roulette table and hitting them continuously, especially at this stage. It was a glorious ending to a phenomenal stage. Jonas is absolutely benefitting by having an all-star team of domestiques working for him. Contrast that with Pogacar's depleted squad and one can see that no matter how phenomenal a rider may be, he still needs a solid team to keep the leader in the hunt.
You also gotta admire Pogacar for trying and trying and trying and giving it everything he's got, even with such a depleted team and even alone, just going at it.
Makes it a lot more exciting when we can use covid tests to eliminate crucial team mates from the dominant race leader that depends on his team, doesn't it? SO glad they have those test strips, cheers!
Great race and great analysis as always Chris! Really excited for all the young Americans in the race that have contributed to making this a great tour. Kuss and McNulty doing powerhouse work for their leaders in the mountains. Simmons, Jorgensen and Powless animating the race and getting in breaks. Good to see American cycling in such good hands. Wish Varmaerke wouldn’t have crashed out and look forward to seeing the talent of Magnus Sheffield in the future.
I f*ckin' LOVE bike racing. This stage had it ALL. The GC heavyweights attacking mano a mano, leg numbing ascents and harrowing descents, wipeouts, sportsmanship, and this is ALL without Wout who needs a channel all by himself!!
Wait, you say ALL? You obviously you missed the three rider join up with WVA himself setting the final KEY tempo effort pull that ended this race. Strategic up the road TEAM positioning at its finest! LOL Chris forgot team radios got this coordinated. At the end. Why was WVA at the perfect 5Km point to launch this.
@@robertm1552 you can't coordinate something like this just because of radios. Way too many variables, all those other riders. If it was just radios, then this would happen all the time. What happened today basically never happens.
@@S0ulinth3machin3 I guarantee you JV had the 5km to go spot marked months ago. Sure a lot of variables have to play out and they did. Why was WVA sitting on the break during the first half? To get JV to close the gap? Why did WVA attack at the 9km spot? To ensure he got to 5K and hit the final slope with two in tow. How did he happen to be at the right spot at the right time? Radio coordination with the DS who had the separation calculations in hand. Can’t wait for the JV YT documentary to come out and prove us all wrong!
I’m convinced that WVA must be part bicycle based on the way he absolutely dominated everyone today. I don’t see how the Jumbo Visma DS could endorse today’s tactics unless WVA came up to them saying “I’m endorsed by Red Bull and today you’re going to see my wings” but that’s exactly what happened. The mad lad went for sprint points for fun, went for KOM points for fun, had the energy and power to drop Pogacar like he was standing still and then still finished the stage at 3rd. What an absolutely crazy display from WVA and congrats to Jonas for keeping the cool head and cool hands all throughout.
Yeah "red bull" I'm Belgian myself and that guy is doped asf probably. Next year there comes a new test too see if you use genetic EPO or not. Look up on the internet. It's only 100euro and you have EPO for years.
@@Karincl7 Maat ik heb zelf gekoerst. En moeten stopped door chronicle ziekte dat ja opkwam. Ik ben er 32 nu. Echt ik zie alle koersen sinds 1997. Dus... We zullen zien he als de nieuwe test er is. Iedereen zei Armstrong was clean ik zei van 1999 al van niet! En 100 euro ja Lees artikel. Echt met u een gewone discusssie voeren gaat ook niet precies. Ook zo dweis als iets. Tot als er iemand gepakt word. Mah whatever...
@@Karincl7 Doping via DNA: Voor 100 euro kan je je lichaam jarenlang epo laten aanmaken Gendoping, epo of andere prestatiebevorderende middelen via DNA je lijf binnensmokkelen, is eenvoudig, goedkoop, effectief én niet op te sporen. Reken dus maar dat het gebruikt wordt, maar bewijzen daarvoor zijn er nog niet. Het Wereld Anti Doping Agentschap (WADA) is volgend jaar klaar met een test die het epo-gen kan opsporen en heeft al een tweede, accuratere, test besteld.
@@starkparker16 it looked spectacular on tv and Wout is a monster. But make no mistake it was Jonas doing the cracking this tdf. With out his ability to do more w/kg than pogacar on long climbs, this would not be possible.
@@Kn0s imo jonas is weaker than tadej but jonas has the better team who constantly could attack tadej on the first stage he won as no uae member could follow them and now tadej was injured with just 2 teammates left
@@saveligulas5847 you can think whatever you want. But why do you think Pogacar is lying to you? He said it himself. Jonas is the strongest climber in the world (30min+). Pogi is fantastic and has done everything he can, where he is the best. Smaller climbs with steep sprints, flat (cobbles) first TT, everything. But when Jonas does 6.5 w/k after 30 minutes we see pogi's limits, it's the third time, so absolutely no surprise.
This stage had it all! Great coverage of one of the greatest, if not the greatest stage I've ever seen of the TDF! Hat's off to Jonas, and of course Wout! What a race!! Thanks for all your insight Chris, great video.
Chris, when do you ever see the green jersey and the yellow jersey, both worn by riders on the same team, (let alone the polka dot jersey as well, which would’ve been on either one of those guys who finished first in this stage), summiting together on the last climb of the Tour de France with the entire field behind them? Never! Team Jumbo Visma is a Ferrari (or whatever metaphor one would like to use here). Their strategy was to take it out for a spin and show everybody how it looks when it’s firing on all cylinders. Let the old Team Sky and all those others show you how to be safe and secure with the yellow jersey. I like the way Team Jumbo Visma lights things up.
I think Chris is just stating the risk there to show how crazy the stage has been. If Steven or Roglic have stayed, Chris would have agreed to it as one more rider means being safer.
Vingegaard sitting up waiting for Pogacar was not just gentlemanly, it was also incredibly savvy tactically when considering he had 2 teammates less than a minute back. Him sitting up is what ultimately allowed those teammates to latch back on, giving him 2 guys to pull for him and another teammate further up the road. Cheers!
Yeah, a few technical reasons this made sense beyond sportsmanship: 1. Jonas is lighter, so Tadej will likely be able to catch up anyway 2. Give Wout more time so they come together further up the next climb 3. Allow Sepp and Benoot to get back on and give him some support in case of a mechanical or feed/water
Better to have Pog still riding the front with Jonas sitting on his wheel then everyone riding on Benoot wheel. It really looked like Jonas was waiting. But you could be right. 🤔🦋👍
@@mar_man813 the other observation was it put pog in an awkward situation. I guess pog was looking for a jonas mechanical or crash on the downhill , but with jonas stopping there's no way pog could have not stopped likewise for rest of dh this negating pogs downhill tactic .
What a great TdF - Jumbo Visma defeating the invincible Pogacar, a strong Vingegaard holding off all the attacks from Pogacar, Froome back in good form on Alps d’Huez, touching moment when Houle winning Stage 16, show of sportsmanship when Vingegaard waiting for Pogacar……we still have 3 stages and there may be more to come!
Today was WILD…. Absolutely wild! WVA, jumping out on everyone… then Bauer(sp) running into the back of the UAE car… Jonas Vingegaard almost losing it on the decent, then waiting for Tadej Pogačar after he crashed… that was a great display of sportsmanship by Jonas… what a memorable Stage 18… 😎🍻
It didn't make much sense for Jonas to ride hard on the descent anyway. He got a lead of more than two minutes, HE doesn't have to take risks on the descents, so a wild chase down the hill is not in his interest. I think that also played a role in Jonas' decision to wait for Pogacar.
@@chrisko6439 I really dont think you can think that strategically in that moment, with max pulse. In the end, Jonas just didn't wanna be "that guy" that won the tour because of a crash, at least that what he said after the race. And I believe him. If you lead with 2+ mins, and is the strongest climber, why risk having your tour victory "stained" by a crash? Nobody wants to win by having your opponent crash out.
TJV seems to have taken the incredible tactics that bora used with Lenny kamna and jai hindley in stage 20 of the giro and taken it a step further with teej dropping out if the break to pull jonas up the second last climb and then wout dropping back on the final climb to hammer it up the final climb to drop tadej and launch jonas into an extra minute advantage and win the tour. We are just not used to these tactics. Great seeing wva pumping the fist knowing that it had worked.Bora/TJV may just have changed cycling forever. The old sky train may just be a thing of the past. Love seeing any sport evolve but especially my favourite...cycling. Congrats to the entire TJV team for making this the most exciting edition I've seen and never backing down. Remember back to stage 8/9 when most were saying it's all over and that pogi is just to dominate? Great fight boys and thanks Chris for the fantastic analysis and even admitting to your error in judgement over tjv tactics.
I took mild interest in TDF when Greg Lemond was racing. After that my interest wained, until Armstrong came on the scene. Now I haven't missed the TDF since. It doesn't matter where these riders are from or what team. I get so dammed excited at 69 with a weak bladder I almost pissed my pants today. Chris, I think your videos are the best. Keep it coming.
WVA is such a beast throughout this year's TdF, at first I think he'll fade out on the 2nd week but he's been spectacular on almost all of the stages! Kudos to TJV as well they are a very strong team all of them are consistent as well. And for JV hands down he's just stronger than Pogi this year.
He almost won KOM and the Sprint Jersey. That's just bonkers. If Tadej hadn't caught up to him, or if he didn't lead out Vingegaard, he easily could have kept enough distance to win the last climb. He knew his role was to protect Yellow at all cost, but to have the chance to win both jerseys is just impossible to consider
Today was ridiculous. How on earth can someone who has been in breaks most days go from Km zero, several attacks, then as a non climber gets over penultimate climb, attacks on the last, then somehow manages to drop Pogacar after such a hard stage? I love the way he rides but today's ride makes no sense. If today was genuine then WVA could easily win all jerseys.
@@0ldw3lshm4n Non climber? You didn’t pay attention the last few years… WVA won the Ventoux stage last year. He was on the podium of L-B-L. Won Silver in Japan on a mountainous terrain
@@donadams5094 I have been rooting for Pogacar to crack to be very honest. He has been there for so long. But nevertheless, all the respect for his attitude and sportsmanship
Chris I watched you live buddy and the whole time I’m yelling at Van Aert for his bone head tactics. Totally agreed with everything you were saying. And the WVA did WVA things and dropped the best bike rider in the world going up the final climb. I think it’s safe to say it’s been a very long time since we last saw a rider like Wout if ever before. Great job commenting on the TDF I’ve enjoyed watching you live and tuning into your recap everyday this year. 👊
Please stop referring to WVA as if he is the one coming up with those tactics. read my post where i explained each time he went in those breakaways he was ASKED by the team management to do so, and not only in this stage but in the other stages as well. I do agree that the tactics are one thing, but the outcome was oc never a certainty. But in the end, if WVA or the other riders aren't strong enough to 'deliver', the worst case scenario is TP just sprinting to another stage win with JV in the wheel. That's why they threw away a certain victory for WVA in order to increase the margin to be sure of no possible repeat of Planche des belles filles since that one still keeps them up at night i imagine
In no way shape or form is JV team director instructing him to sprint for sprint points or KOM points in the stage. You’re right that the team is asking him to get in the breaks and he’s doing what he’s asked but he has a much longer leash than other domestiques to do what he wants.
I missed that part about Jack Bauer losing his bike for a moment on the live feed. Must have rung his chimes a bit hitting the deck via a very stupid car/moto interference amongst road furniture. Glad no one was seriously hurt! I don't think TJV is in it to play the safe cards, more like wild ones, but can't fault the outcome. Has made for a more exciting tour than I thought a few weeks ago and have appreciated all the coverage here on the 🦋
Bauer wasnt the only 1, Eekhoff from DSM was crashed off his bike too by a moto at the same time just a few meters ahead of Bauer. My guess is, there will be 2 less motos in the peleton for the last few stages, coz they completely disregarded the rules on several points, that are there to protect the riders and make sure, the motos do not interfere in the race.
Chris you and I were both thinking Wout could be too wild of a card and could be a potentially dangerous rider for JUMBO's yellow but little did we know he was the one that would win it for Vingegaard with that amazing pull. Made even my mom wonder if Wout could win a stage race or dare we say more than just a sprint jersey with the right team. Your coverage this year has been sooo good! Can't wait for the finish and the next big edition of the butterfly effect 👊🏼
Wout van Aert for me is the most complete cyclist I ever seen, the guy can win any stage of any bike race with any profile, it's absolutely stupid power and will and technic and pasta, I guess, I don't even know 😳😳😳
@@Kvs-vf9nt please i pray for a lot of testing to get the cheaters out but Wout isn t one that just arrived he dominates cyclo cross for a long time and is still progresing, every cycler every cycling fan is a fan of more testing, the cheaters must stay out of this beautiful sport
This years TdF is the tour of the domestics. Sepp Kuss today, Brandon McNulty yesterday, Christophe Laporte on several occasions. Big respect to the GC guys, to Jonas... but all hats off, salutes, kudos and standing ovations to those guys who enabled their leaders in such an unbelievable fashion!
I was like what the hell is Van doing taking off! I was thinking they would keep the team together!! But boy was I wrong!! The gamesmanship was awesome with Jonis waiting for T.P. !! Sep Rode strong and G.T what a tour he had!! And Chris listening to you gets me more worked up then watching the race!! Lol Great job Thank you for all the hard work you put in for us!!🤪🤪👊👊
Pogo had the mental and muscular advantage to decide when to make the sudden strikes/moves and they where impressive but that Vingegaard each and every time so solidly where able to glue himself to his backwheel are simply so impressive that it elevated the race to new heights. This years TdF are the best in decades. AND it promises that the next years could be at same level with at least 2 very strong teams and captains in head to head fierce racing. In Trumpian times it are spirit lifting to watch Vingegaard´s honourfull sportsmanship waiting for Pogo. I watched interview with Vingegaard after the stage where he named and thanked each and every rider on his team calling them instrumental for his victory. Vingegaard clearly are more introvert than the average team captain but what he says and does are intelligent and strong. What a likeable guy that truly deserves to be at the podium in Paris. What a contrast to Lance´s "get your hate up".
People keep talking about Jonas waiting for Tadej and how incredible it is, and it really is, but the first thing my husband said when Tadej got back on his bike was that Jonas would sit up and wait for him and I think Bob and Phil said something similar. This is something I heard several times from Phil and Bob during the race regarding these situations. If something similar happens to the yellow jersey the peloton will not necessarily sit up and wait but they'll let him through to get back to where he was. When Majka's chain broke Jonas and Sepp didn't attack Tadej. When in the neutral zone the race doesn't start until all riders are on their bikes after suffering mechanicals. A lot of times where situations call for certain behavior and that's the norm. There's a word for it that keeps slipping my mind. We don't see much of it in sport anymore and I guess that's why Jonas waiting AND Tadej getting the handshake in were so, well, incredible.
Exactly ... racing has evoveled sooo much. Sorry, but it's like apples to oranges (or whatever combination you "don't" like 😛) Still love your reactions but, sorry, you're stuck in time ...
You know what gets me is that you all are sheep, the race is scripted , the clown was explaining how the road surface was just repaved , and its still dangerous to descend and we may see a crash , and wouldnt you know two minutes later pogo car crashes , clearly ordered to do that , many instances through this years tour .and tours of the past where the announcers are fortune tellers and rubbing their ballz to see into the future... Wake Up...
For an old-timer to be surprised by the GC leader, Jonas V, the Great Dane, waiting for Pogacar when the latter had the mishap, is a surprise to me! Jonas does not want to be remembered taking advantage of Pogacar's misfortune!
This tour humanized Pogacar. Everyone though he was some sort of robot or heavy heavy doper. Now I believe people can actually see him as a brilliant and ENTERTAINING athlete.
You can't be good from UAE tour win it, strade win it, and Tirreno win it and 4th Tour de Flanders. It's just stupid. Or it's due Corona he didn't want to bet on one race otherwise he rides the UAE and Ardennes classics and then the Slovenian tour and then the tour. But no he has to extend his first forrmpeak for a time that's too long while Vingegaard wasn't even top at Pays Basque.
Quickstep didnt care about not being in the breakaway. They just couldnt let a big group ride away and get a huge gap and have Fabio start with a disadvantage. He would have fallen for the time limit
Nina. You got a good eye there. I’m going with you on this. I didn’t even think about that angle. I saw them with six at the back all around Fabio when the climb started and just assumed they had one up front still but they only have six left in the tour. Thanks for the post 👀👊🦋👊👊👊👊👊👊🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
😊 well can we then also shame the two jumbo helpers on the side of the road who back to back denied G some water. They took their hand down when he approached them on the second last climb. It was not a good look.
Just More strange, considering those helpers gave a bottle to Bardet a few seconds earlier. After seeing them give a bottle to another team, that's is probably why Geraint asked for water as well. Curious for the reason behind deining.
Jumbo was on form and so was Chris, epic commentary. Good story in the nuetral start but I thought you had gone early with the energy and enthusiasm and couldnt possibly keep it to the end. Clearly, the previous 17 stages have only ridden you into form as the pace was furious all the way till the end. Chapeau!
What a race! WvA a super crazy rider. I was lucky that this stage is close to my home and i went to hautacam via spandelles on bike. Spandelles is a great climb quite regular. But the road surface was renewd in a cheap french way... They pour bitumen and then spread gravel on it... The result is weakly bound gravel which can be torn easily out. This explains the problems on that descent. Yeah and hautacam is monstrous... Very irregular so dificult to keep pace.... And at noon already tons of people everywhere... Really a nice celebration of cycling. And the cherry on top - the butterfly analysis! Thanks Chris!
You can't really have safe tactics and a spectacular stage in one package :) Let's be honest, Pogačar and JV made sure that this year's TdF was one for the ages.
im danish..and saw the stages live..and all the tv hype everyday here in denmark and often also the race in replay at evenings..but. love to hear you go through the stages, you are doing a great job. and about tactics and wout...i think he is such a big star, that he pretty much can do what he feels like. dont mean in a bad way, but i really think he didctates much about thet tactics. i also feel they were pretty confident in jonas's strenght compared to pogacar.
Im so pumped for Jonas Vinegaard!The Jumbo Visma squad as well what an epic race today.. as long as Jonas can hold out next couple of days he's got this in the bag all day long!
In the military, we were presented with situations that were guaranteed for us to lose. We had to learn how to work with less and minimize those losses. And those were some crazy situations. I have to imagine that TJV ran through scenarios and saw, during training, their riders do some pretty amazing things. Yes, WvA is beyond words, but other TJV riders have been pretty insane as well. It seems that the team knew what they were capable of.
I think : Wout Van Aert had to take the KOM points lest Thibaut Pinot would be getting into the Polka dot jersey IF he also goes on to with the stage . Pinot had 45 points already before Spandelles . Now if he takes 10 ( on spandelles ) and goes on to win on hautacam and gets 20 more , that would make it 75 ( 45 +10+20) . Assuming only Pinot went all the way and Martin and Wout didnt , and also assuming Vingegaard dropped Pogi to take 2nd on stage , ( Vingegaard had 52 points already before Hautacam ) , that would make 52 + 15 ( 2nd on hautacam ) = 72 , three less than Pinot's 75 . Wout " Watt" Aert , by sprinting for KOM instead , let's say , either he is trying to win it "OR" vingegaard , thus effectively killing Pinot's would-be-possibility by nipping it in the bud . I believe JV had certainly an eye on grabbing Polka Dot jersey too , although wout van aert sprinting for it might not be the initial plan .
Is it just me or do I miss the ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC RESPECT that JONAS VINGEGAARD DESERVES??? It's like all commentators and "experts" only focus on Vingegaards fantastic team? Only focus on how strong that Wout Van Aert are??? Only focus on WVA is dropping Tadej Pogacar??? Instead of the absolute dominans and strength of Jonas Vingegaard??? Vingegaard is in Tadejs back wheel every time he is attacking. Tadej could not shake Jonas one time in this tour. Jonas Vingegaard follow and leave the "best" riders in world (Pogacar and WVA) behind. How can all "experts" miss this fact????? Jonas win the 2 most insane stages I have ever watched in my life (I started watching since 1993). Jonas Vingegaard wins Granon and Hautacam. CONGRATS!!!!!!
great video Chris, but were in the time of giants, WVA may be the most complete cyclist of all time, of course, not a pure climber, so this is what GOAT looks like, having WVA go up the road waiting for Jonas, who has been amazing,. Welcome to the new world Chris, JV rocked this tour, why not go for it.
Absolutely crazy stage. I loved seeing Vingegaard wait up for Pogacha after his crash. I also loved Pogacha congratulating Vingegaard in the cool down area. Both riders have a lot of class and respect for each other. I guess I can’t claim my lack of KOMs are due to my “non climbing physique” as I weigh about the same as Van Aert.
Let's face it, this 2022 Tour was the Wout Van Aert show.... You could not have imagined if it was he that crashed instead of Primoz, the dynamics of the race would have been completely changed out of Jumbo's favour. Jumbo's risk and reward strategies paid huge dividends, even when they were two riders down, their aggressive and outside the box tactics left UAE all at sea, and Ineos wasn't even on the same page this year, G got his podium, 8 minutes down, and Pidcock did a amazing stage win. I thought Wout was amazing last year's Tour, this year he showed such incredible resiliency and character to bend the race to his will... I cannot remember a Tour this exciting, maybe 1989 with LeMond and Fignon, just superb racing...!
You said you loved the stage. Most people because it was incredibly spectacular. On the other hand, you would like that the yellow jersey team stays together for safety. That's what happened in most Tours over the last 30 years, and it was boring. People like WVA, MVP and POJ like to race from their feelings and less from their minds. That's what people are crazy about. It's not only about winning, it's about the juice. Thanks for pointing out the efforts of WVA, which some analysts forgot.
If you watch this channel long enough, you'll catch CH explaining that he has tactics that he approves of, but as a fan it's a lot more exciting when his preferred tactics aren't used. So, I think he'd agree with you. Most of the time on this channel, he's talking with his tactician hat on, but he'll definitely let fly with his fan hat, too :)
Jonas was clearly the strongest rider today and had the support of his team throughout, unlike yesterday. He also showed great sportsmanship in waiting for Pogacar, after the latter crashed on the Spandelles descent. It also gave time for the likes of Benoot and Kuss to catch up, which was key for the last climb. The heat was also a factor today, with Pogacar - likely due to his greater body weight - seemingly more affected by it than Vingegaard. He looked distinctly uncomfortable. Though the GC is now more or less decided, Pogacar will nevertheless go all out to win the ITT for pride.
Hi Chris, I love you commentary/review/analysis. It's very difficult to watch the whole stage and very often the highlights omit so much of the important details. This video is on my playlist every morning when I get on the indoor.
WOUT is a BEAST. Jonas displayed INCREDIBLE SPORTSMANSHIP today waiting for Tadej. That's the way sports should be. I feel bad for Promoz. He may be on a different team next year to chase,his TDF Dream! It wouldn't be such a bad thing for him to stay with TJV. If he stays he would gave a SLIM chance of winning the TDF Yellow Jersey. But you never know when injuries strike.
I’d love to see Wout’s power file for that ride. Also, they should make a rule starting in 2025, all riders in all WT 2.1 races will publish their power files for public viewing.
Wout's watts/kg for the entire tour has to be 25-50% higher than any other rider. He's been in so many breaks, climbs, sprints.. hard to imagine he hasn't been able to power a small city the past 3 weeks
I want Wout to win EVERY stage and jersey. :D I was hating Jumbo and Kuss when they rode after Wout. If he had won the stage, he would taken home two jerseys (Green and Polka) and that woulda been deserved. His performance today was extraterrestrial. He was pulling all day long and was pulling even harder on the last climb so he could take over from Kuss at the perfect moment. And then he dropped Pogacar...
Thanks Chris for the great insightful commentary and the hard work it takes you and Garrett to put these reports together. Your review of the Jack Bauer crash was excellent - I had not seen the DSM rider's crash in front of that UAE car that forced it to brake hard which then meant that Moto behind it had to go for the narrow gap and in turn forcing Jack to rear end the UAE car.
Every day this week, Phil starts the NBC broadcast with "we're already about 15 minutes ahead of the fastest expected completion time for this stage" and I know things are going crazy.
Chris, great analysis again but I'm glad you're not the Jumbo teamleader :) Glad TJV is not turning into the boring sky train, even if that would be less risky. It's so much more fun to see a team race to win, instead of not to loose. We've seen that too often in the past. Besides, this team is so monstrously strong (can you imagine having Kruiswijk and a fit Roglic with them on top of these 6), they can afford to send 1-2 guys ahead, and the remaining 3-4 can help Vignegaard when needed.
Great job, Chris! Wout van Aert is an absolute beast and his signature is all over this Tour. Yes, hard to imagine the team meeting, "Wout go out and own the stage from start to finish and pop Tadej for Jonas." Makes me wonder what he was thinking or what instructions he was getting. Jonas sitting up for Tadej, wow!
In the dutch interview he said the order were to get as far as he could in the race so he could help Jonas from that point. I think the plan was quite clear when they had 2min at the bottem of mountain. GC wiil catch up everytime so at that point it's just positioning well on the mountain to help your gc guy.
Vive Le' Tour De France... It's been AWESOME so far. Still have tomorrow and a 40km time trial... never give up.!!! shame about Majka breaking his chain, Pog and him work well together, but we did get a chance to see what McNulty could do.. Hoping UAE do well in the time trial... Hated losing riders due to Covid.. That SUCKS.!!!!
Dear Chris, from the beginning of the tour you expressed your theorie that Wour van Aert is going to cause problems within the Jumbo Visma. Looking back: how solid has that theory been? Within TJV the motto is 'winning together'. What we have seen is a very strong team work.
JV have copped up so much criticism for having too many ambitions (yellow and green) and van Aert-ism. Many humble pie will be swallowed following on 3 jersey wins. All 8 of them including the DS have been great
Disagree on the WvA tactics Chris - there's no way Wout follows Tadej up Spandelles today. I think Jumbo knew that was going to happen, so they had to deploy him as a satelite rider.
Gotta agree with Chris on this one. Imagine if WVA had been told "Stay behind Jonas -- except on the descents and the final climb. " Assuming the stage otherwise went the way it did and WVA hit the base of the final climb with all that energy he used out in front all day. They could have buried TP much earlier maybe putting 5 minutes in him. And maybe Jonas eases up just a bit at the line and WVA wins on Hautacam. Not as much fun to watch, to be sure, but much better strategy overall. Thanks for the great vids, Chris!
@@Kvs-vf9nt WVA is not a pure climber and while he can do short bursts of 2-3 km but he cannot keep it up for 10+ KM and thats why you send him ahead to wait on the next slopes half way up
Quick corrections:
@Nina P Just had a great point. QuickStep were riding the front to keep the time gap close before the climb started for Fabio to make the time gap.
GREAT eye, Nina 👀 👊🦋
Yeah, they actually said b4 the stage, that they would do that.
Heard GCN say that ahrite!!! Can’t wait for today’s stage already!!
Everybody's burning their matches. Wout freaking brought a flamethrower. Insane performance.
Best comment 😂
Do you think he is doping ?
@@cyclingfan7303 I think everyone in the peloton is doing their best to optimize their performance. Whether it is legal or not, that is for the UCI to decide. Whether they are doping or not, it depends on what you believe. The truth is, I don't really know for sure because I'm just a spectator watching from the sidelines. As such, I just enjoy the race and at the very least we can all agree that this is some spectacular racing.
whoa, Wout simp fanboy club!
@@michaelsteven1090 wow you are so special wow wow wow
Jonas and Tadej are a clear cut above the rest of GC, but Wout is the dominant star of this tour. Some have criticized him for not consistently playing the role of a proper domestique for Jonas; this channel certainly seems to have had that expectation. But he's such a talented rider that it would have been a waste to use him solely as a domestique in support of the GC competition. He has achieved multiple stage wins and at least four second places, plus the points jersey (overwhelmingly) and, almost, the mountains jersey - all while, indeed, serving as a willing and incredibly effective domestique at many critical points of this race - not least in this stage 18. That's a huge amount of success for the team and attention for its sponsors. Jumbo have played their strong hand incredibly well in this Tour.
Wout certainly entertained us all. 😳🦋🧨
Dynamics of tdf has changed me thinks , wva is great
Wout is a cycling version of Superman. I predicted yesterday that he would be there to help Jonas at a critical moment on the Hautacam and there he was!
Jumbo’s massive gamble has paid off so far.
I have to admit that WVA has such dominance and ability to recover and utter confidence there was a moment it made me wonder if he's getting some sort of medical enhancement the others aren't. I love his relentless drive but its a curiosity how it makes it all work.
Keeping the team together would not be good since half the JV team cannot climb, so they would be dropped early and thus useless during most of the stage. Had to send someone up the road to at least get over that first climb for support on the other side. Great tactics by JV. This is a new generation of racing, and when you have Wout, you do not keep him on a leash.
I agree, but I would even go one step further. On a flat terrain, you need to keep your team together, to keep your frontman out of the wind. In the mountains, it's a fight against gravity and the gain of having a teammate pulling hard in front of you is very small. So in that sense, the attack may be the best defense, by driving your competitors crazy with organized chaos. Besides that, with Wout in such form I don't think that he would drop that fast
The tactic of sending riders up the road isn’t new. JVS did not need to do it, except to steal KOM points trying to win the polka dot.
The point that Chris always makes is that you keep some of your team together with your leader in case your leader flats or has a mechanical. Sure you need them for the wind in the flats, but that’s not the point. He’s right they took an unnecessary risk, but they had some time to play with so I guess they thought it was worth it. Plus it DOES make the racing exciting and who can complain about that?!
@@rogierbesselink9364 speeding up mountains with 15-30 km/h being able to draft behind someone does make a difference. Also having someone to hand you a bottle or anything to eat without needing to go to the car is another reason to send a rider up the road to profit from later in the stage. See what happened to Pogi in stage 11.
@@mikhailway Yeah, even Chris had to admit how exciting JVS has been this year for “fans on their chesterfields”. 😅😅 Chris absolutely right on the tactics to protect the yellow jersey, but wow has this been fun!
Can't remember a Tour de France where the so-called domestiques had so much freedom. The result was a race from km 0 to the finish almost every stage. No snoozefest stages, this was a great Tour de France!
that's what happens when your team is ridiculously strong. You can afford some freedom to your star all rounder.
Excellent point. Gone are the days of sky train. Everyone races for themselves it seems.
I think if the team goal for the Tour is to just win the yellow, then it makes sense to keep the team altogether as much as possible. But if the team’s goals are to win every classification then Jumbo’s tactics further those goals. As a spectator it is boring to watch some days when every team plays defense as soon as they get in yellow. I think this style of tactics will appeal to a wider audience and is good for the sport as a whole.
Anyone saying team must stay together is a near complete moron. This is only true if NO ONE else is racing. Last I checked... everyone else is racing too. The ONLY place "KEEP the TEAM together" can be partially true is on the long FLAT stretches for water/GU purposes where one rider can go back and get said water/GU and bring it forward again. This is impossible in hills/curves as all the riders have different tempos on hills depending on gradient.
Wva and the other got send in the attack because they can be satellite riders there, if they stayed with Jonas they would be dropped on the earlier climbs sooner
@@tiely13 The others probably. But Wout Van Aert has monster form today. He would not have been dropped. If he did not attack as hard in the beginning and followed attack more wisely, he could well cross the line with Vingegaard holding arms in Dauphine Roglic+Vingegaard style. 😆
The look of determination on Sepp's face going up Hautacam was priceless, you just knew he was going to do something special. Stages 11 and 18 will live on in TDF lore.
I hope Sepp Kuss can have a future in riding for GC one day. His consistency in his performance reminds me of Daniel Martinez helping Bernal last year. Maybe Sepp Kuss can more or less be like Daniel Martinez and get into a good GC role
@@Peter-hz3vs ye but in the giro dani martines was sometimes better than bernal something that didnt happen between vinegaard en kuss
@Arthur i also recall kuss doesn't cope well with gc role
What made Jumbo win le Tour is not only the tactics, but also the way they managed the egos.
And yet Chris has taken jabs at Jumbo on several occasions
@@jsmack3856 So have I, to be honest 😅 and I think he's been kinda right, regarding the difficulty of the job Jumbo is doing. What we could not foresee is that they would handle the situation so succesfully.
@@EgeBerkGonul JV lost the last two TdF's by playing it safe with conservative, traditional tactics. They might finally win by taking chances. Good on them.
@fensterfred you must be smoking your chamois cream! There is nothing lucky about Roglic’s crash or Jonas’s mechanical! There is nothing lucky about the crash that took out the other rider earlier this week! Look at the team’s results and the manner in which they took and held the yellow jersey! You sound like Chris who seemingly never gives the team credit! GC winner, climbing jersey, green jersey, most prize money won, multiple stages won, multiple seconds place finishes! Which race were you watching!
vingegaard will always be remembered for waiting. pure class
What makes a campione a campionissimo.
This was an amazing stage. First, it proved that Vingegaard is the best climber in this year's Tour. Jonas won the two hardest mountain stages. And Wout Van Aert is a beast! Wout is definitely the best all around there is. I loved seeing the yellow jersey, the white jersey, and the green jersey finishing in order!
BTW, I think Valentin Maduoas is one of the best domestiques around. And back a while I did say that Nathan Van Hooydonck would surprise people. He has been solid.
I agree with you on Valentin. Super job 👊🦋
This guy talks more in about 20 Minutes that I can in a entire week. impressive.
By my count, TJV has finished 1st or 2nd in 16 of the last 30 stages at TDF dating back to stage 10 last year. And all that with Roglic only riding and healthy in 4 of those stages. Incredible dominance.
Incredible. Thanks for info 👊🦋
Roglic rode in at least 11 stages just this year.
@@Dunc2222 an edit mistakenly took out “and healthy.” He has only been fully healthy in 4 stages during the streak I mentioned, which was my point.
@@donadams5094 Ah, thanks for clarifying. That makes sense.
An incredible achievement for Jumbo Visma to hold the green, yellow, and polka dot jersey at the end of today's stage! What superb short-term and long-term tactics in this race! I thought that Chris might finally admit that the Jumbo Visma directors know more than he does. They know the abilities of all their riders and executed their plan perfectly.
JVM has set to new bar and tactical riding style that Chris in his time never experience.
If they tried something out of the playbook once and got away with it, then I might agree with Chris. But when they do it over and over - and wind up with at lkeast 5 wins and three jerseys, then it might be time to admit that you are not the smartest person in the room.
Great tactics by TJV in this Tour, although they got a lot of doubters at the start :) WVA rides smart, he doesn't go all out all the time and knows how far he can carry it. And yes, he dropped Tadej going all out for a few km, setting the pace for Vingegaard, but if you look at the total ascent times, he's always minutes behind the top climbers, which is normal considering his build. I developed a software for training and coaching which was used by some teams (cycling vlaanderen, belgian cycling federation, some cyclocross teams, and also TJV during their blanco/belkin/early lotto jumbo years). WVA's power numbers were already spectacular during his very early years. The W/kg we see from riders these years are not in the 'ET' territory anymore though like we saw you-know-when. Climbing stages have also become shorter (which is a good thing)
I was so impressed by the sportsmanship Jonas showed by sitting up and waiting for Tadje. I am very impressed with the Americans in tour. I would love to see one of them to become a GC contender.
Me to 🤞👊🦋
Think Jonas knew he had them beat
After thinking about this for a couple of hours: Jonas has teammates catching up from behind and up in front. It's no big loss to wait for Tadej to catch up and it helps his teammates help him.
Also Jonas doesn't attack because he doesn't want to be talked about negatively for the next twenty-five years like Alberto Contador attacking Andy Schleck.
@@andreapickett3676 I hardly think that went through his head in the heat of the moment. He’s just a great sportsman.
Glad to see Horner put in a word to help clear up the ongoing slander against Nibali's 2014 Tour win. Nibali had Froome and Contador beat from the get-go at that Tour and the history re-writers who say he only won because Froome and Contador exited early clearly weren't watching or have bad memories.
Benji will be pleased! ;)
🤣 certainly
2014 was the first TDF that I watched start to finish; I still dream of Nibali in yellow ;)
When Froom and Contador whent home they were 3 min down.
@@melwoods7041 Damn my first tour I watched start to finish was the 1997 one. I'm from 1989. I was in the early 2000's massive fan off Beloki and I.Gonzalez de Galdeano and Ullrich.
Just abit of a disservice not to mention Fuglesang had Nibali in his pocket through the cobblels. Domestics are often the most important on stages like that, like we saw with WvA this year
WVA may be the strongest rider I have ever seen in all the years I have been following racing. Maybe the tactics are wrong, but WVA is one of the greatest of all time.
I stopped counting all the "WTF" moments for this year's TDF and am absolutely enjoying the chaos that Jumbo Visma is creating. It's like them throwing hard 8's at the roulette table and hitting them continuously, especially at this stage. It was a glorious ending to a phenomenal stage. Jonas is absolutely benefitting by having an all-star team of domestiques working for him. Contrast that with Pogacar's depleted squad and one can see that no matter how phenomenal a rider may be, he still needs a solid team to keep the leader in the hunt.
WTF - Wout Tours France
is that WOWT the F?
You also gotta admire Pogacar for trying and trying and trying and giving it everything he's got, even with such a depleted team and even alone, just going at it.
Jonas was missing 2 of his 3 mountain domestiques - the only one left was Kuss
Makes it a lot more exciting when we can use covid tests to eliminate crucial team mates from the dominant race leader that depends on his team, doesn't it? SO glad they have those test strips, cheers!
Great race and great analysis as always Chris! Really excited for all the young Americans in the race that have contributed to making this a great tour. Kuss and McNulty doing powerhouse work for their leaders in the mountains. Simmons, Jorgensen and Powless animating the race and getting in breaks. Good to see American cycling in such good hands. Wish Varmaerke wouldn’t have crashed out and look forward to seeing the talent of Magnus Sheffield in the future.
I f*ckin' LOVE bike racing. This stage had it ALL. The GC heavyweights attacking mano a mano, leg numbing ascents and harrowing descents, wipeouts, sportsmanship, and this is ALL without Wout who needs a channel all by himself!!
🧨💥👊🦋
Couldn’t have said it better! BOOYA!
Wait, you say ALL? You obviously you missed the three rider join up with WVA himself setting the final KEY tempo effort pull that ended this race. Strategic up the road TEAM positioning at its finest! LOL Chris forgot team radios got this coordinated. At the end. Why was WVA at the perfect 5Km point to launch this.
@@robertm1552 you can't coordinate something like this just because of radios. Way too many variables, all those other riders. If it was just radios, then this would happen all the time. What happened today basically never happens.
@@S0ulinth3machin3 I guarantee you JV had the 5km to go spot marked months ago. Sure a lot of variables have to play out and they did. Why was WVA sitting on the break during the first half? To get JV to close the gap? Why did WVA attack at the 9km spot? To ensure he got to 5K and hit the final slope with two in tow. How did he happen to be at the right spot at the right time? Radio coordination with the DS who had the separation calculations in hand. Can’t wait for the JV YT documentary to come out and prove us all wrong!
I’m convinced that WVA must be part bicycle based on the way he absolutely dominated everyone today. I don’t see how the Jumbo Visma DS could endorse today’s tactics unless WVA came up to them saying “I’m endorsed by Red Bull and today you’re going to see my wings” but that’s exactly what happened. The mad lad went for sprint points for fun, went for KOM points for fun, had the energy and power to drop Pogacar like he was standing still and then still finished the stage at 3rd. What an absolutely crazy display from WVA and congrats to Jonas for keeping the cool head and cool hands all throughout.
Roglic once said, that WVA is part motor, part human 😁😁
Yeah "red bull" I'm Belgian myself and that guy is doped asf probably. Next year there comes a new test too see if you use genetic EPO or not. Look up on the internet.
It's only 100euro and you have EPO for years.
@@Kvs-vf9nt ervaring mee ? Geen hol verstand van de koers , nooit cyclo cross gezien ?? En jonas rijdt ervan weg , extra 100 euro gegeven dan ?
@@Karincl7 Maat ik heb zelf gekoerst. En moeten stopped door chronicle ziekte dat ja opkwam. Ik ben er 32 nu. Echt ik zie alle koersen sinds 1997. Dus...
We zullen zien he als de nieuwe test er is. Iedereen zei Armstrong was clean ik zei van 1999 al van niet! En 100 euro ja Lees artikel. Echt met u een gewone discusssie voeren gaat ook niet precies. Ook zo dweis als iets. Tot als er iemand gepakt word. Mah whatever...
@@Karincl7 Doping via DNA: Voor 100 euro kan je je lichaam jarenlang epo laten aanmaken
Gendoping, epo of andere prestatiebevorderende middelen via DNA je lijf binnensmokkelen, is eenvoudig, goedkoop, effectief én niet op te sporen. Reken dus maar dat het gebruikt wordt, maar bewijzen daarvoor zijn er nog niet. Het Wereld Anti Doping Agentschap (WADA) is volgend jaar klaar met een test die het epo-gen kan opsporen en heeft al een tweede, accuratere, test besteld.
The Wout Van Aert show has been something else this TdF.
It's hard to believe he cracked Tadej Pogacar. 🛋️🦋
@@starkparker16 it looked spectacular on tv and Wout is a monster. But make no mistake it was Jonas doing the cracking this tdf. With out his ability to do more w/kg than pogacar on long climbs, this would not be possible.
@@Kn0s imo jonas is weaker than tadej but jonas has the better team who constantly could attack tadej on the first stage he won as no uae member could follow them and now tadej was injured with just 2 teammates left
@@saveligulas5847 you can think whatever you want. But why do you think Pogacar is lying to you? He said it himself. Jonas is the strongest climber in the world (30min+). Pogi is fantastic and has done everything he can, where he is the best. Smaller climbs with steep sprints, flat (cobbles) first TT, everything. But when Jonas does 6.5 w/k after 30 minutes we see pogi's limits, it's the third time, so absolutely no surprise.
This stage had it all! Great coverage of one of the greatest, if not the greatest stage I've ever seen of the TDF! Hat's off to Jonas, and of course Wout! What a race!! Thanks for all your insight Chris, great video.
Chris, when do you ever see the green jersey and the yellow jersey, both worn by riders on the same team, (let alone the polka dot jersey as well, which would’ve been on either one of those guys who finished first in this stage), summiting together on the last climb of the Tour de France with the entire field behind them? Never! Team Jumbo Visma is a Ferrari (or whatever metaphor one would like to use here). Their strategy was to take it out for a spin and show everybody how it looks when it’s firing on all cylinders. Let the old Team Sky and all those others show you how to be safe and secure with the yellow jersey. I like the way Team Jumbo Visma lights things up.
Chris has been and is still in noltalgia when all old teams tended to ride safe for the boring wins.
I think Chris is just stating the risk there to show how crazy the stage has been. If Steven or Roglic have stayed, Chris would have agreed to it as one more rider means being safer.
Vingegaard sitting up waiting for Pogacar was not just gentlemanly, it was also incredibly savvy tactically when considering he had 2 teammates less than a minute back. Him sitting up is what ultimately allowed those teammates to latch back on, giving him 2 guys to pull for him and another teammate further up the road. Cheers!
Yeah, a few technical reasons this made sense beyond sportsmanship: 1. Jonas is lighter, so Tadej will likely be able to catch up anyway 2. Give Wout more time so they come together further up the next climb 3. Allow Sepp and Benoot to get back on and give him some support in case of a mechanical or feed/water
Better to have Pog still riding the front with Jonas sitting on his wheel then everyone riding on Benoot wheel. It really looked like Jonas was waiting. But you could be right. 🤔🦋👍
It certainly looks like good tactics and it was great p.r.
It's extremely good situational awareness by Vingegaard.
@@mar_man813 the other observation was it put pog in an awkward situation. I guess pog was looking for a jonas mechanical or crash on the downhill , but with jonas stopping there's no way pog could have not stopped likewise for rest of dh this negating pogs downhill tactic .
What a great TdF - Jumbo Visma defeating the invincible Pogacar, a strong Vingegaard holding off all the attacks from Pogacar, Froome back in good form on Alps d’Huez, touching moment when Houle winning Stage 16, show of sportsmanship when Vingegaard waiting for Pogacar……we still have 3 stages and there may be more to come!
Today was WILD…. Absolutely wild! WVA, jumping out on everyone… then Bauer(sp) running into the back of the UAE car… Jonas Vingegaard almost losing it on the decent, then waiting for Tadej Pogačar after he crashed… that was a great display of sportsmanship by Jonas… what a memorable Stage 18… 😎🍻
Very. 👊🦋💥🧨🔥
It didn't make much sense for Jonas to ride hard on the descent anyway. He got a lead of more than two minutes, HE doesn't have to take risks on the descents, so a wild chase down the hill is not in his interest. I think that also played a role in Jonas' decision to wait for Pogacar.
@@chrisko6439 I really dont think you can think that strategically in that moment, with max pulse. In the end, Jonas just didn't wanna be "that guy" that won the tour because of a crash, at least that what he said after the race. And I believe him. If you lead with 2+ mins, and is the strongest climber, why risk having your tour victory "stained" by a crash? Nobody wants to win by having your opponent crash out.
TJV seems to have taken the incredible tactics that bora used with Lenny kamna and jai hindley in stage 20 of the giro and taken it a step further with teej dropping out if the break to pull jonas up the second last climb and then wout dropping back on the final climb to hammer it up the final climb to drop tadej and launch jonas into an extra minute advantage and win the tour. We are just not used to these tactics. Great seeing wva pumping the fist knowing that it had worked.Bora/TJV may just have changed cycling forever. The old sky train may just be a thing of the past. Love seeing any sport evolve but especially my favourite...cycling. Congrats to the entire TJV team for making this the most exciting edition I've seen and never backing down. Remember back to stage 8/9 when most were saying it's all over and that pogi is just to dominate? Great fight boys and thanks Chris for the fantastic analysis and even admitting to your error in judgement over tjv tactics.
Yaah its Bora giro tactics used there
WVA is the best athlete I’ve ever watched. What he does is simply unbelievable.
I took mild interest in TDF when Greg Lemond was racing. After that my interest wained, until Armstrong came on the scene. Now I haven't missed the TDF since. It doesn't matter where these riders are from or what team. I get so dammed excited at 69 with a weak bladder I almost pissed my pants today. Chris, I think your videos are the best. Keep it coming.
WVA is such a beast throughout this year's TdF, at first I think he'll fade out on the 2nd week but he's been spectacular on almost all of the stages! Kudos to TJV as well they are a very strong team all of them are consistent as well. And for JV hands down he's just stronger than Pogi this year.
He almost won KOM and the Sprint Jersey. That's just bonkers. If Tadej hadn't caught up to him, or if he didn't lead out Vingegaard, he easily could have kept enough distance to win the last climb. He knew his role was to protect Yellow at all cost, but to have the chance to win both jerseys is just impossible to consider
Today was ridiculous. How on earth can someone who has been in breaks most days go from Km zero, several attacks, then as a non climber gets over penultimate climb, attacks on the last, then somehow manages to drop Pogacar after such a hard stage? I love the way he rides but today's ride makes no sense. If today was genuine then WVA could easily win all jerseys.
@@0ldw3lshm4n now there's no doubt that WVA > MVDP
@@0ldw3lshm4n Non climber? You didn’t pay attention the last few years… WVA won the Ventoux stage last year. He was on the podium of L-B-L. Won Silver in Japan on a mountainous terrain
@@renzohorner2542 i think he meant that WVA is not primarily a climber. Anyway he's just a beast of a rider.
It's a new day, Chris. Wout is Superman. Just give him the love he deserves. :)
Hi John. At this moment if I had a team. I would just sign him a give him the team and say go win. 😂👊🦋
@@ChrisHornerCycling he IS three guys so you wouldn't have to think TOO hard on filling the rest of the slots. 😄😄
@@ChrisHornerCyclingFair enough!
This tour has been incredible! 🔥🦋🔥❤️🔥🦋🔥
🔥❤️🦋👊🔥
I've been rooting for Tadej this year but now I can't root against Jonas. What a rider. I foresee a few years of Tadej vs Jonas in the TDF!
Let’s hope so 👊🦋🤞
Im the reverse: root for Jonas, but like and respect Pogacar. Amazing athlete, great sportsman.
@@donadams5094 I have been rooting for Pogacar to crack to be very honest. He has been there for so long. But nevertheless, all the respect for his attitude and sportsmanship
Wout doing Wout things! I love him! Go Jonas! Go WvA! Go TJV! 👊🦋❤️
Chris I watched you live buddy and the whole time I’m yelling at Van Aert for his bone head tactics. Totally agreed with everything you were saying. And the WVA did WVA things and dropped the best bike rider in the world going up the final climb. I think it’s safe to say it’s been a very long time since we last saw a rider like Wout if ever before. Great job commenting on the TDF I’ve enjoyed watching you live and tuning into your recap everyday this year. 👊
Thanks Michael. Man are we all lucky to have Wout throwing in some entertaining moments. 👊🦋
Please stop referring to WVA as if he is the one coming up with those tactics. read my post where i explained each time he went in those breakaways he was ASKED by the team management to do so, and not only in this stage but in the other stages as well. I do agree that the tactics are one thing, but the outcome was oc never a certainty. But in the end, if WVA or the other riders aren't strong enough to 'deliver', the worst case scenario is TP just sprinting to another stage win with JV in the wheel. That's why they threw away a certain victory for WVA in order to increase the margin to be sure of no possible repeat of Planche des belles filles since that one still keeps them up at night i imagine
In no way shape or form is JV team director instructing him to sprint for sprint points or KOM points in the stage. You’re right that the team is asking him to get in the breaks and he’s doing what he’s asked but he has a much longer leash than other domestiques to do what he wants.
I missed that part about Jack Bauer losing his bike for a moment on the live feed. Must have rung his chimes a bit hitting the deck via a very stupid car/moto interference amongst road furniture. Glad no one was seriously hurt! I don't think TJV is in it to play the safe cards, more like wild ones, but can't fault the outcome. Has made for a more exciting tour than I thought a few weeks ago and have appreciated all the coverage here on the 🦋
Bauer wasnt the only 1, Eekhoff from DSM was crashed off his bike too by a moto at the same time just a few meters ahead of Bauer. My guess is, there will be 2 less motos in the peleton for the last few stages, coz they completely disregarded the rules on several points, that are there to protect the riders and make sure, the motos do not interfere in the race.
Chris you and I were both thinking Wout could be too wild of a card and could be a potentially dangerous rider for JUMBO's yellow but little did we know he was the one that would win it for Vingegaard with that amazing pull. Made even my mom wonder if Wout could win a stage race or dare we say more than just a sprint jersey with the right team. Your coverage this year has been sooo good! Can't wait for the finish and the next big edition of the butterfly effect 👊🏼
What a stage 👊🦋
Hope everyone finishes safe and healthy in Paris!
Exactly 🤞👊🦋
I love this coverage, many thanks for sharing your experience and racing insight!
👊🦋❤️
One of the craziest and most enjoyable stages I've watched in a long time! Great stuff Chris 👍
Chris, thanks for today's entertaining race summary. I haven't had a good laugh in a while. The green jersey was on fire. Unbelievable 🤣🤣🤣🤣
Wout van Aert for me is the most complete cyclist I ever seen, the guy can win any stage of any bike race with any profile, it's absolutely stupid power and will and technic and pasta, I guess, I don't even know 😳😳😳
Yeah, he could win ANY stage, ANY race.
@@andreapickett3676 I never said that 😂
@@artursilva6189 my apology it wasn't intended for you. I clicked on the wrong comment.
And something else probably too.. Next year new test for genetic EPO.. Look up on internet.
@@Kvs-vf9nt please i pray for a lot of testing to get the cheaters out but Wout isn t one that just arrived he dominates cyclo cross for a long time and is still progresing, every cycler every cycling fan is a fan of more testing, the cheaters must stay out of this beautiful sport
This years TdF is the tour of the domestics. Sepp Kuss today, Brandon McNulty yesterday, Christophe Laporte on several occasions. Big respect to the GC guys, to Jonas... but all hats off, salutes, kudos and standing ovations to those guys who enabled their leaders in such an unbelievable fashion!
I was like what the hell is Van doing taking off! I was thinking they would keep the team together!! But boy was I wrong!! The gamesmanship was awesome with Jonis waiting for T.P. !! Sep
Rode strong and G.T what a tour he had!! And Chris listening to you gets me more worked up then watching the race!! Lol Great job Thank you for all the hard work you put in for us!!🤪🤪👊👊
Slayer 👊🦋🦋🦋
thank you Chris for these images. Several key moments were not shown on TV via Eurosport, VRT and NOS here in Europe
Pogo had the mental and muscular advantage to decide when to make the sudden strikes/moves and they where impressive but that Vingegaard each and every time so solidly where able to glue himself to his backwheel are simply so impressive that it elevated the race to new heights. This years TdF are the best in decades. AND it promises that the next years could be at same level with at least 2 very strong teams and captains in head to head fierce racing. In Trumpian times it are spirit lifting to watch Vingegaard´s honourfull sportsmanship waiting for Pogo. I watched interview with Vingegaard after the stage where he named and thanked each and every rider on his team calling them instrumental for his victory. Vingegaard clearly are more introvert than the average team captain but what he says and does are intelligent and strong. What a likeable guy that truly deserves to be at the podium in Paris. What a contrast to Lance´s "get your hate up".
People keep talking about Jonas waiting for Tadej and how incredible it is, and it really is, but the first thing my husband said when Tadej got back on his bike was that Jonas would sit up and wait for him and I think Bob and Phil said something similar.
This is something I heard several times from Phil and Bob during the race regarding these situations. If something similar happens to the yellow jersey the peloton will not necessarily sit up and wait but they'll let him through to get back to where he was. When Majka's chain broke Jonas and Sepp didn't attack Tadej. When in the neutral zone the race doesn't start until all riders are on their bikes after suffering mechanicals. A lot of times where situations call for certain behavior and that's the norm. There's a word for it that keeps slipping my mind. We don't see much of it in sport anymore and I guess that's why Jonas waiting AND Tadej getting the handshake in were so, well, incredible.
Exactly ... racing has evoveled sooo much. Sorry, but it's like apples to oranges (or whatever combination you "don't" like 😛) Still love your reactions but, sorry, you're stuck in time ...
You know what gets me is that you all are sheep, the race is scripted , the clown was explaining how the road surface was just repaved , and its still dangerous to descend and we may see a crash , and wouldnt you know two minutes later pogo car crashes , clearly ordered to do that , many instances through this years tour .and tours of the past where the announcers are fortune tellers and rubbing their ballz to see into the future... Wake Up...
Chris, Wout doesn’t get tired. He is a machine!
Ever 😳🦋👊
Jumbo Visma is the new Sky but more aggressive. WVA is not human. Sepp Kuss deserves a shot at some more grand tour stages in the future.
For an old-timer to be surprised by the GC leader, Jonas V, the Great Dane, waiting for Pogacar when the latter had the mishap, is a surprise to me! Jonas does not want to be remembered taking advantage of Pogacar's misfortune!
This tour humanized Pogacar. Everyone though he was some sort of robot or heavy heavy doper. Now I believe people can actually see him as a brilliant and ENTERTAINING athlete.
You can't be good from UAE tour win it, strade win it, and Tirreno win it and 4th Tour de Flanders. It's just stupid. Or it's due Corona he didn't want to bet on one race otherwise he rides the UAE and Ardennes classics and then the Slovenian tour and then the tour. But no he has to extend his first forrmpeak for a time that's too long while Vingegaard wasn't even top at Pays Basque.
you can now officially 'slaughter' the name Jonas VineGOLD!
The tour top 3 is settled, great tour, even greater with Chris comments.
Love it VineGold 😂👊🦋
Quickstep didnt care about not being in the breakaway. They just couldnt let a big group ride away and get a huge gap and have Fabio start with a disadvantage. He would have fallen for the time limit
Nina. You got a good eye there. I’m going with you on this. I didn’t even think about that angle. I saw them with six at the back all around Fabio when the climb started and just assumed they had one up front still but they only have six left in the tour. Thanks for the post 👀👊🦋👊👊👊👊👊👊🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋🦋
😊 well can we then also shame the two jumbo helpers on the side of the road who back to back denied G some water. They took their hand down when he approached them on the second last climb. It was not a good look.
Just More strange, considering those helpers gave a bottle to Bardet a few seconds earlier. After seeing them give a bottle to another team, that's is probably why Geraint asked for water as well. Curious for the reason behind deining.
@@MrKennet28 I didn't see that Bardet got a bottle. That would make an even worse look.
What a stage!! What a day. Jumbo (Jonas, Wout, Sepp...) put on a great show. And Jonas makes Denmark very happy!!!
Jumbo was on form and so was Chris, epic commentary. Good story in the nuetral start but I thought you had gone early with the energy and enthusiasm and couldnt possibly keep it to the end. Clearly, the previous 17 stages have only ridden you into form as the pace was furious all the way till the end. Chapeau!
Gracias por haber comentado este Tour .
Been waiting all day! But have to wait to watch in full! 😃👍😃🦋🚴🏼♂️
Gobears 👊🦋
@@ChrisHornerCycling I was about to ride and while I was out someone shouted it at me! Wearing my Cal jersey, Gobears! 👍🦋🚴🏼♂️
What a race! WvA a super crazy rider. I was lucky that this stage is close to my home and i went to hautacam via spandelles on bike. Spandelles is a great climb quite regular. But the road surface was renewd in a cheap french way... They pour bitumen and then spread gravel on it... The result is weakly bound gravel which can be torn easily out. This explains the problems on that descent. Yeah and hautacam is monstrous... Very irregular so dificult to keep pace.... And at noon already tons of people everywhere... Really a nice celebration of cycling. And the cherry on top - the butterfly analysis! Thanks Chris!
You can't really have safe tactics and a spectacular stage in one package :) Let's be honest, Pogačar and JV made sure that this year's TdF was one for the ages.
im danish..and saw the stages live..and all the tv hype everyday here in denmark and often also the race in replay at evenings..but. love to hear you go through the stages, you are doing a great job. and about tactics and wout...i think he is such a big star, that he pretty much can do what he feels like. dont mean in a bad way, but i really think he didctates much about thet tactics. i also feel they were pretty confident in jonas's strenght compared to pogacar.
Im so pumped for Jonas Vinegaard!The Jumbo Visma squad as well what an epic race today.. as long as Jonas can hold out next couple of days he's got this in the bag all day long!
In the military, we were presented with situations that were guaranteed for us to lose. We had to learn how to work with less and minimize those losses. And those were some crazy situations. I have to imagine that TJV ran through scenarios and saw, during training, their riders do some pretty amazing things. Yes, WvA is beyond words, but other TJV riders have been pretty insane as well. It seems that the team knew what they were capable of.
I think : Wout Van Aert had to take the KOM points lest Thibaut Pinot would be getting into the Polka dot jersey IF he also goes on to with the stage .
Pinot had 45 points already before Spandelles . Now if he takes 10 ( on spandelles ) and goes on to win on hautacam and gets 20 more , that would make it 75 ( 45 +10+20) .
Assuming only Pinot went all the way and Martin and Wout didnt , and also assuming Vingegaard dropped Pogi to take 2nd on stage , ( Vingegaard had 52 points already before Hautacam ) , that would make 52 + 15 ( 2nd on hautacam ) = 72 , three less than Pinot's 75 .
Wout " Watt" Aert , by sprinting for KOM instead , let's say , either he is trying to win it "OR" vingegaard , thus effectively killing Pinot's would-be-possibility by nipping it in the bud .
I believe JV had certainly an eye on grabbing Polka Dot jersey too , although wout van aert sprinting for it might not be the initial plan .
Love the Buttermilk Pancake Show and Mr. Horner’s swell analysis-the guy is no knucklehead! 🤣
I’m a knucklehead all the time, so my wife tells me. I just love bike racing. 😂👊🦋
Thanks for so much great commentary but especially for explaining the strategy (or lack thereof).
one of the best tour stages I have ever seen
Is it just me or do I miss the ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC RESPECT that JONAS VINGEGAARD DESERVES??? It's like all commentators and "experts" only focus on Vingegaards fantastic team? Only focus on how strong that Wout Van Aert are??? Only focus on WVA is dropping Tadej Pogacar??? Instead of the absolute dominans and strength of Jonas Vingegaard??? Vingegaard is in Tadejs back wheel every time he is attacking. Tadej could not shake Jonas one time in this tour. Jonas Vingegaard follow and leave the "best" riders in world (Pogacar and WVA) behind. How can all "experts" miss this fact????? Jonas win the 2 most insane stages I have ever watched in my life (I started watching since 1993). Jonas Vingegaard wins Granon and Hautacam. CONGRATS!!!!!!
great video Chris, but were in the time of giants, WVA may be the most complete cyclist of all time, of course, not a pure climber, so this is what GOAT looks like, having WVA go up the road waiting for Jonas, who has been amazing,. Welcome to the new world Chris, JV rocked this tour, why not go for it.
Absolutely crazy stage. I loved seeing Vingegaard wait up for Pogacha after his crash. I also loved Pogacha congratulating Vingegaard in the cool down area. Both riders have a lot of class and respect for each other.
I guess I can’t claim my lack of KOMs are due to my “non climbing physique” as I weigh about the same as Van Aert.
Wout is just a amazing rider ! ! He can do it all in worlclass ... Cyclocross, TT, climb, sprint, 1 day races, Big tours all on worldclass level .
Let's face it, this 2022 Tour was the Wout Van Aert show.... You could not have imagined if it was he that crashed instead of Primoz, the dynamics of the race would have been completely changed out of Jumbo's favour. Jumbo's risk and reward strategies paid huge dividends, even when they were two riders down, their aggressive and outside the box tactics left UAE all at sea, and Ineos wasn't even on the same page this year, G got his podium, 8 minutes down, and Pidcock did a amazing stage win.
I thought Wout was amazing last year's Tour, this year he showed such incredible resiliency and character to bend the race to his will...
I cannot remember a Tour this exciting, maybe 1989 with LeMond and Fignon, just superb racing...!
Imagine the Netflix series that has been filmed during this year's TDF... will be very interesting to follow back stage stuff
Thanks Chris...what a race !
You said you loved the stage. Most people because it was incredibly spectacular. On the other hand, you would like that the yellow jersey team stays together for safety. That's what happened in most Tours over the last 30 years, and it was boring. People like WVA, MVP and POJ like to race from their feelings and less from their minds. That's what people are crazy about. It's not only about winning, it's about the juice. Thanks for pointing out the efforts of WVA, which some analysts forgot.
Pidcock and the other 1 stage winners have been awesome too
If you watch this channel long enough, you'll catch CH explaining that he has tactics that he approves of, but as a fan it's a lot more exciting when his preferred tactics aren't used. So, I think he'd agree with you. Most of the time on this channel, he's talking with his tactician hat on, but he'll definitely let fly with his fan hat, too :)
Jonas was clearly the strongest rider today and had the support of his team throughout, unlike yesterday. He also showed great sportsmanship in waiting for Pogacar, after the latter crashed on the Spandelles descent. It also gave time for the likes of Benoot and Kuss to catch up, which was key for the last climb.
The heat was also a factor today, with Pogacar - likely due to his greater body weight - seemingly more affected by it than Vingegaard. He looked distinctly uncomfortable.
Though the GC is now more or less decided, Pogacar will nevertheless go all out to win the ITT for pride.
Hi Chris, I love you commentary/review/analysis. It's very difficult to watch the whole stage and very often the highlights omit so much of the important details. This video is on my playlist every morning when I get on the indoor.
Exciting stage! Loved how Seth Kuss brought TJV to WVA and then WVA kept that insane pace wearing himself and Pogacar out!
How amazing must WVA be for the Eagle to trust him more for the last 5K than he trusts himself.
WOUT is a BEAST.
Jonas displayed INCREDIBLE SPORTSMANSHIP today waiting for Tadej. That's the way sports should be.
I feel bad for Promoz. He may be on a different team next year to chase,his TDF Dream!
It wouldn't be such a bad thing for him to stay with TJV. If he stays he would gave a SLIM chance of winning the TDF Yellow Jersey. But you never know when injuries strike.
I’d love to see Wout’s power file for that ride. Also, they should make a rule starting in 2025, all riders in all WT 2.1 races will publish their power files for public viewing.
Wout's watts/kg for the entire tour has to be 25-50% higher than any other rider. He's been in so many breaks, climbs, sprints.. hard to imagine he hasn't been able to power a small city the past 3 weeks
Why?
I mean why mandatory?
Yes why not share it , I dont see why it should be a secret , we get f1 speeds real-time data , does f1 drivers no harm
I love to see power numbers. 👊🦋
I want WvA to win the rest of the stages. That would really cap off one of the most incredible Tour rides ever
I want Wout to win EVERY stage and jersey. :D I was hating Jumbo and Kuss when they rode after Wout. If he had won the stage, he would taken home two jerseys (Green and Polka) and that woulda been deserved. His performance today was extraterrestrial. He was pulling all day long and was pulling even harder on the last climb so he could take over from Kuss at the perfect moment. And then he dropped Pogacar...
Thanks mr. Horner for these wonderful videos. 👌🏻
It was touching to see the mutual respect and sportsmanship, shown between Vingegaard and Pogacar. They’re on another level than everyone else.
Thanks Chris for the great insightful commentary and the hard work it takes you and Garrett to put these reports together. Your review of the Jack Bauer crash was excellent - I had not seen the DSM rider's crash in front of that UAE car that forced it to brake hard which then meant that Moto behind it had to go for the narrow gap and in turn forcing Jack to rear end the UAE car.
Every day this week, Phil starts the NBC broadcast with "we're already about 15 minutes ahead of the fastest expected completion time for this stage" and I know things are going crazy.
I watched the replay later, and he said the expected finishing time was 4.5 hours. Jonas finished in roughly 3:59. Insane.
Chris, great analysis again but I'm glad you're not the Jumbo teamleader :) Glad TJV is not turning into the boring sky train, even if that would be less risky. It's so much more fun to see a team race to win, instead of not to loose. We've seen that too often in the past. Besides, this team is so monstrously strong (can you imagine having Kruiswijk and a fit Roglic with them on top of these 6), they can afford to send 1-2 guys ahead, and the remaining 3-4 can help Vignegaard when needed.
Thanks for covering the whole tour
Absolute class act by Viny on the decent.
Great job, Chris! Wout van Aert is an absolute beast and his signature is all over this Tour. Yes, hard to imagine the team
meeting, "Wout go out and own the stage from start to finish and pop Tadej for Jonas." Makes me wonder what he was thinking or what instructions he was getting. Jonas sitting up for Tadej, wow!
In the dutch interview he said the order were to get as far as he could in the race so he could help Jonas from that point. I think the plan was quite clear when they had 2min at the bottem of mountain. GC wiil catch up everytime so at that point it's just positioning well on the mountain to help your gc guy.
Vive Le' Tour De France... It's been AWESOME so far. Still have tomorrow and a 40km time trial... never give up.!!! shame about Majka breaking his chain, Pog and him work well together, but we did get a chance to see what McNulty could do.. Hoping UAE do well in the time trial... Hated losing riders due to Covid.. That SUCKS.!!!!
Dear Chris, from the beginning of the tour you expressed your theorie that Wour van Aert is going to cause problems within the Jumbo Visma. Looking back: how solid has that theory been? Within TJV the motto is 'winning together'. What we have seen is a very strong team work.
Yes, this analyst said tjv should take Rohan Dennis instead of Wout 🤣🤣🤣🤣
JV have copped up so much criticism for having too many ambitions (yellow and green) and van Aert-ism. Many humble pie will be swallowed following on 3 jersey wins. All 8 of them including the DS have been great
A magical stage in an amazing Tour!
i'm seeing a lot of impressive high performance throughout the stages from Wout Van Aert, a champ in my book.
Thanks for all the great analysis!
What a great TdF 👊🦋
@@ChrisHornerCycling 100%
Disagree on the WvA tactics Chris - there's no way Wout follows Tadej up Spandelles today. I think Jumbo knew that was going to happen, so they had to deploy him as a satelite rider.
Finally someone that understands cycling.
Thanks for providing this content! Also, you look great for 50 years old.
Thanks 👊🦋
Jonas deserved a praise for waiting his rival Pogacar; that's quality racing spirit!
Gotta agree with Chris on this one. Imagine if WVA had been told "Stay behind Jonas -- except on the descents and the final climb. " Assuming the stage otherwise went the way it did and WVA hit the base of the final climb with all that energy he used out in front all day. They could have buried TP much earlier maybe putting 5 minutes in him. And maybe Jonas eases up just a bit at the line and WVA wins on Hautacam. Not as much fun to watch, to be sure, but much better strategy overall. Thanks for the great vids, Chris!
If WVA was there Pogacar woikdn't do all the attacks on the spinellle.🤦♂️
@@Kvs-vf9nt WVA is not a pure climber and while he can do short bursts of 2-3 km but he cannot keep it up for 10+ KM and thats why you send him ahead to wait on the next slopes half way up
@@epincion I know. But he can do more than only 2-3 km.. More like 5-6
and don't forget stage 5 when WvA pulled Vingegaard back to near the front through the cobbles. Incredible.
I love stages like this. MVDP went home but Wout also dont follow rules we used to and makes racing so exciting :)