Agreed
Jumbos team’s climbers seem to be riding themselves into the ground on all the wrong occasions, 
Dumoulin’s decision to give everything the other day seemed noble but a little foolish 
Poj will beat Roj in the TT as he did in the National TT , going to be great until the next big test, round 2 of Covid tests😁

why is Trentin mixing it up on the green jersey competition? I kinda love it, but he’s currently in fourth place in those points, not clear that he can win it... and wondering if there’s another reason for him to mix it up. Sagan must be hating it... Exposure as he looks for 2021 sponsors? 

Trentin is off to UAE next year , so who knows why hes contesting , he's no where at the finishes

eloy said:

why is Trentin mixing up on the green jersey competition? I kinda love it, but he’s currently in fourth place in fhose points, not clear that he can win it... and wondering if there’s another reason for him to mix it up. Sagan must be hating it... Exposure as he looks for 2021 sponsors? 

There's money to consider--it pays everyone on the team.  His team isn't doing well in finances or winnings this year.  

And maybe he's thinking that at least Bennett won't make it through the coming mountains.  So then he moves up to third.  Second if Coquard can't make it.  

That''s why I'd do it.  

so sounds like, maybe he believes he can win it. #firah

It's just like PP - you never know when someone will sleep through their alarm.

mugwump said:

And maybe he's thinking that at least Bennett won't make it through the coming mountains.  So then he moves up to third.  Second if Coquard can't make it.  

That''s why I'd do it.  

That makes a lot of sense! I like him a lot, but Bennett was dropped like a rock on that day Bora decided to make the race super hard. 

Before the race, there was a joke that someone like Wout Poels is going to end up sprinting for the win in Paris after all of the sprinters are dropped. 

I must saying watching that finish , WTF was Sagan at , he's actually been barging folks around at every sprint , 

Sagan seems like a shadow of his former self. Maybe he is undercooked for the tour as he is doing the Giro, but that move probably came out of frustration. Good thing he didn't push Wout (or anyone else) INTO the barriers. less risk of carnage pushing into center of road

I like rooting for Sagan. I’m bummed he did that, and equally glad nobody got hurt.

Sagan busted that one big time, kudos on Wout for keeping it cool. All that Sagan achieved was getting no points and now Bennet has a mega lead. Trentin, btw, is now 5th place.

Well, he "mostly" kept his cool...

eloy said:

Sagan busted that one big time, kudos on Wout for keeping it cool. All that Sagan achieved was getting no points and now Bennet has a mega lead. Trentin, btw, is now 5th place.

True.

looking ahead, I don't think Ewan (currently 4th) will be contesting too many intermediate sprints.  For one, I'd think in the next few days, Lotto will want to go for the long breaks, particularly tomorrow.  Tomorrow looks like a day that's good for the likes of Sagan and Trentin, either by going for the long break, or barring that--if Quick Step rides for the intermediate sprint, the finish looks like one that's not good for either Ewan of Bennett.  

Also a chance Wout will be able to pick up some green Jersey points in the Hilly stages

Mark Taylor said:

Also a chance Wout will be able to pick up some green Jersey points in the Hilly stages

That would be interesting, but I doubt it.  In the hilly stages, chances are a long break goes early, which means he'll miss the early points and blown out for the finish.  

Wait what? Too busy celebrating the Korean rider winning a stage of the tour to notice the drama behind him...

mugwump said:

Mark Taylor said:

Also a chance Wout will be able to pick up some green Jersey points in the Hilly stages

That would be interesting, but I doubt it.  In the hilly stages, chances are a long break goes early, which means he'll miss the early points and blown out for the finish.  

Not always green jersey points on the line at finishes in the mountains , but like i said " a chance"

COLOMBIA!

well, at least in one of the groups today.

actually Colombia in all the groups, while I get no Colombian looks like they could win the whole thing. There are 4 Colombians in the top 6! w/ 2 Slovenians in the top 2!

btw, sidenote, Simon Yates kinda destroyed at Tirreno.

What a finish! DAMN that kid is tenacious. Loved every pedal stroke.

Bernal is looking to be in some big trouble!

While I loved seeing Powless strike out for glory, Schachmann rolling his head, Martinez clawing back and winning, and the GC battle (which we can only mostly imagine)...yes, great stage.  That final kilometer was painfully slow, and they were allegedly sprinting at 15kph (9kph)

I am keenly interested in seeing how Sagan can regain green.  

The Tour really contrived things this year to make it hard on him this year.  And it's going to be a big feat for him to win it, unless Bennett misses the time cut.  And that is looking possible

Here are the final finishers for today.

155	Niccolò Bonifazio (Ita) Total Direct Energie	00:32:52
156	Dries Devenyns (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep	00:34:12
157	Michael Mørkøv (Den) Deceuninck-Quickstep	00:34:21
158	Tim Declercq (Bel) Deceuninck-Quickstep	00:34:21
159	Sam Bennett (Irl) Deceuninck-Quickstep	00:34:21
DNF	Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo

Sagan and Coquard were over three minutes ahead.  That might not seem like much, but that could be the difference between finishing and not.

I wrote about the green jersey race here:  

http://jralong.com/2020/09/11/give-some-love-to-the-maillot-vert-the-most-complicated-race-in-the-tour/

This has been a pretty entertaining tour! I feel like even the boring stages on paper have been a lot of fun to watch. 

Another good one JP!

Matt Budofsky said:

Bernal is looking to be in some big trouble!

Agreed, even Uran looked better while crossing the line. If form stays at it is now (or barring something else crash, covid, doping, etc) this is Roglic & Pogacar race, obviously the best climbers.

Hopefully Bernal recovers, specially mentally, his body language pass the line was atrocious, others, like Uran looked "omg that was hard" Bardet and Quintana both looked disappointed "fuck crashing, no joda", but Bernal looked beyond defeated, like he had lost it all.

Definitely seems like Sky went a little too light on the jiffy bags this year.

@mugwump Bennet was still there at the bottom of penultimate climb, although he had tailed off the back a couple of times during the stage - he made it back on each time.
He also finished the stage well inside the time cut (which I calculate was 48m after the winner).
So at the moment I think he looks OK, although cumulative fatigue from a few consecutive hard days could ultimately see him have a shocker and be eliminated.

TBH I feel that Sagan is looking vulnerable this year. He clearly has the power and speed, but he doesn't seem to be enjoying his racing any more. I wouldn't bet against him doing a 'Kittel' and retiring early.

ian ellis said:

@mugwump Bennet was still there at the bottom of penultimate climb, although he had tailed off the back a couple of times during the stage - he made it back on each time.
He also finished the stage well inside the time cut (which I calculate was 48m after the winner).
So at the moment I think he looks OK, although cumulative fatigue from a few consecutive hard days could ultimately see him have a shocker and be eliminated.

TBH I feel that Sagan is looking vulnerable this year. He clearly has the power and speed, but he doesn't seem to be enjoying his racing any more. I wouldn't bet against him doing a 'Kittel' and retiring early.

Sagan is not quitting, he so clearly all in for green. He is definitely vulnerable, this year there's a couple of riders, specially Bennet, that know they can beat him.

i don't mean quitting the race. I mean ending his career earlier than one would expect.

Regarding Bardet, during the race Dan, Sean and Brian immediately thought he may have concussion and had an interesting discussion about how to assess that in the heat of a race.