The helmet, the arms out , he looked shabby 

Campagnolo /Colnago wins the tour , when was the last time that happened 🤪

That helmet was absurd. There has to be a story.

Mark Taylor said:

The helmet, the arms out , he looked shabby 

Campagnolo /Colnago wins the tour , when was the last time that happened 🤪

Campy, last in 2015, under Nibali.

Colnago? Maybe under Merckx for one of his wins.  Campy, of course.  

Ernesto!!!!

btw this is the first time a yellow jersey rides Colnago in Paris
ie, first colnago win.

eloy said:

btw this is the first time a yellow jersey rides Colnago in Paris
ie, first colnago win.

Colnago has said over the years that he built frames for Merckx, it's featured prominently on the Colnago website, suggesting he built the hour record bike and much more, even though the bikes had the Merckx logo on them.  To be fair, DeRosa has made the same claim.  

Now is the time in the tour when the old men with their onions start in...
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/eddy-merckx-jumbo-visma-rode-tour-de-france-stupidly/

Bennett post race interview 
 so great , 

Sam Bennett’s ability to deliver and then be amazed of his victories is everything awesome, also mega sharp 

It was just a couple of years ago he was worried about not getting a contract.

Jules said:

Now is the time in the tour when the old men with their onions start in...
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/eddy-merckx-jumbo-visma-rode-tour-de-france-stupidly/

well, yeas, everything is easy in hindsight.

That said, in mega dramatic fashion, Pogacar ultimately wins the tour with the oldest of cycling strategies: Ride wheels, let those wheels do more effort, and pass them right before the line.

Myself and others even commented on it on this forum. As long as Jumbo rides the way they are riding Pogacar doesn't need a team, he's the best climber, doesn't need a team.

In other words: With the expection of those crosswinds on week 1, Jumbo didn't know it and didn't mean to, but they were riding for Pogacar.

Merckx's point, for Jumbo to ride this way, they needed more time on Pog. Again, easy in hindsight.

(caveats for doping)

Bennett’s description of the sprint was so amazing , it’s appears chaotic and all a blur in TV , but he made it so apparent how super aware of all scenarios the riders are 
want to also say how impressive michael Mørkøv was , leading him out but also strategically grabbing points on the intermediate sprints by placing himself ahead of Sagan 

Jules said:

Now is the time in the tour when the old men with their onions start in...
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/eddy-merckx-jumbo-visma-rode-tour-de-france-stupidly/

No doubt, that after Bernal faltered it was Jumbo's race to lose, but I can't really figure out what they could have effectively done differently. Sure they could have attacked Pogacar more, but do we really think that he would have cracked?

Jumbo was not nearly as dominant as Sky used to be, but then again even Ineos is not as dominant as they used to be. I suspect that Roglic did not have the ability to take a huge time gap attack in the first week like Froome used to do. Even if he did, I suspect Pogacar would have been right there with him as he was on several occasions. Jumbo was probably betting on Pogacar and others having a bad day (as many did), and Roglic equaling Pogacar in the TT. 

With 20/20 hindsight, Roglic "should" have attacked harder earlier in the race, but this assumes that he had the legs. There was talk of Roglic holding back. Maybe he was being careful that he didn't implode like Simon Yates at the 2018 Giro (and to some extent himself at 2019 Giro). But I don't think he had the legs. 

In retrospect Pogacar had several things going for him: Even when isolated in most mountains he never had a bad day, a mechanical, or crashed out like Porte (of old). It is amazing to me that this 21 year old had a FLAWLESS (with the exception of the crosswind day) three weeks. In fact it probably helped that he lost time on that stage as he was never in the lead, so he and his team never had to defend.  

So aside from opinionated Eddy, what would YOU have done if you were the Jumbo DS and wanted to get rid of Pogacar these past few weeks? 

I'll get it started: If Dumoulin was till in contention in the last week, he and Roglic could have taken turns attacking, forcing Pogacar to chase and hopefully crack. Problem with this is that this year's course was not ideally suited to Dumoulin's strengths and he was not at 100%. 

In the end, Pogacar was the strongest guy in the race, had very good luck (or more specifically almost no bad luck at all), and was able to ride Jumbo's coattails. Kudos to him. It was a beautiful victory

Dumoulin diving 200% that day and effectively eliminated to two prong attack was a mistake 
Sepp Kuss was wasted , clearly the best climber , but sat on Roglic wheel the whole race , let Bennet sit there for a bike issue 
get Sepp to blow the race up 

they figured the way to win was the sky model Pojacar , threw the rule book out 

Jumbo also could have gotten off the front, forcing others to ride, specially UAE, The thing about second or third place is that they are at risk way before first place. 

Hindsight is 20/20 

I don't think there was much Jubmo could have done. They tried their best to ride him into the ground but at the end of the day he was stronger. Yeah if Jumbo had kept Tom in contention *maybe* they could have sent him up the road but Pog was a lamprey - nothing was going without him. What could Sep have done? I think Roglic needed him everywhere so sending him up the road might not have worked out.

What a fantastic, dramatic tour.

I really think it’s great that Poj won with out a team,
shows that the “sky” way it’s not the only way ,hope the 
Bernal v Poj Battle goes on and on 
(caveats for doping)@eloy

also , god dam I love bike racing !
still ,worlds , the giro , the vuelta , Roubaix , Flanders 

🤞🤞🤞🤞

^wow

Spectacular race to watch. 6.5-7w/kg for 15 is complete outlier—edge of the solar system, closer to deep space outlier. Try clocking 1 or 2 minutes of it and see how you feel. 

JohnMalcolmson said:

Spectacular race to watch. 6.5-7w/kg for 15 is complete outlier—edge of the solar system, closer to deep space outlier. Try clocking 1 or 2 minutes of it and see how you feel. 

“Alien?”

Nathaniel Miller said:

The answer: Allan Peiper. Watch this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2JkjMN-dZg

I feel like I'm stating the obvious... but Peiper is generally considered one of the top most bike racing experts, his reputation, basically, no one can read a race better than him.

It is crazy to me that I can feel both put off by the TJV tactic of strangling the race and heartbroken for Primoz for losing it all in the final stage.  

RobertMullen said:

It is crazy to me that I can feel both put off by the TJV tactic of strangling the race and heartbroken for Primoz for losing it all in the final stage.  

no.

Jules said:

JohnMalcolmson said:

Spectacular race to watch. 6.5-7w/kg for 15 is complete outlier—edge of the solar system, closer to deep space outlier. Try clocking 1 or 2 minutes of it and see how you feel. 

“Alien?”

Back in 2008, Allen Lim said of Riccardo Ricco's 6.7w/kg ascents in the pyrenees  

“That was black and white. That was 6.7-watts-per-kg for 12 minutes. No one else has done anything else that in the Tour. Not even close. Everything has been tactical. Getting time before the climb. Riding at 5-watts-per-kg moving in the peloton to 5.5 to 5.7-watts-per-kg in the final 10km, maybe just under 6 watts in the final 5km. That’s normal physiology. Talk about a guy doing that for 10 minutes, 6.5, 6.7, you’re smoking crack or you’re some sort of man-greyhound hybrid.”

Because VeloNews no longer or maybe never had it online, I scanned the page it was written on.

Is it possible for the limits of human performance move upward by 5% or more in 12 years?

mugwump said:

Is it possible for the limits of human performance move upward by 5% or more in 12 years?

No. Ross Tucker talks about this a lot. People have been asking about a sub 2:00 marathon forever, and what people don't seem to realize is that it's a quantum leap. (disregard shoes that might add 5% or more advantage)