Jules said:

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)

Yes, I've read his claims.  Trying to get a little discussion going.  (I tweeted at Ross this morning)

mugwump said:

Jules said:

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)

Yes, I've read his claims.  Trying to get a little discussion going.  (I tweeted at Ross this morning)

Nice. I think he's just burned out from all the pushback he got the first time. He seems quite reluctant to go into it again, unfortunately.

ok, we need to wait for the Pandemic to be over, but once it is, then, then... let's go race bikes!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=di70oyTBvqw

Cav is in, Bennet is out. Us old folks are rubbing our eyes.

Lefevere does seem to be a first rate asshole. 

I cannot wait for the uphill finishes. This is going to be an absolute embarrassment of talent:

JA

Wow, the absolute determination of MVDP
The audacious attack for the bonus seconds 
and the raw emotion of the post stage interview

the beauty and drama of this sport knows no bounds 

@eloy
100% ,
also they went through a town St Eloy

Mark Taylor said:

Wow, the absolute determination of MVDP
The audacious attack for the bonus seconds 
and the raw emotion of the post stage interview

MVP working the peloton over like Hulk on Loki

The ALT TOUR

https://www2.followmychallenge.com/live/thealttour/?50.10462,-21.707265,4.32

Holy sh1t - that was a brutal watch. 

Every year I say that it is the same every tour, but, agreed, omg that was rough af crazy town harsh.

Wouldn't want to show the last few kilometers to someone that is new to the sport.

Sheriff got Marshalls.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vPrgmil1bg

https://cyclingtips.com/2021/06/reactions-the-tour-peloton-had-plenty-to-say-about-the-finale-of-stage-3/

Standout:

It was like watching a Mad Max desert chase scene... again and again.

Also I never know why I love the Onion so much - is it because it's funny as hell or because they're obviously cycling fans.

https://www.theonion.com/lone-wheel-from-pile-up-rolls-across-finish-line-in-tou-1847186520

I'd love to be cornering that fast on those tight turns.  It must be exhilarating.  That left downhill sweeper with 3km to go looked awesome, and I'm sure the right sweeper at the finish was similarly fast and fun.  But I don't want to crash.  

what's weird to me is that after all the armchair quarterbacking about whose to blame for most of the crashes, so little is said of Ewan's.  To me, it looks like he came under Sagan, trying to move Sagan out of the way, and then had Merlier swipe his front wheel as Merlier got out of the saddle.  I don't want to write Ewan is to blame, but he muscled his way into a close position, and then might have gotten too close.  

And only two people went down in that one.  

Also, if you watch the Velon video from today, Ewan was seen squeezing his way through tiny holes.  

I don’t really think any of the crashes , except maybe the Haig crash was coarse design

thought this was an interesting comment 
Success at @LeTour can change people lives… and we're allowing 184 riders to take yellow, win a stage, take jerseys on Day 1 when we all know that road is 8m wide.

generally agree with both comments...

Caleb was trying to push Sagan out of Merlier wheel, Caleb moving slightly left as Merlier went inside to the right, touching wheels

There was a bit of a cascade too as one crash created chaos, which pushed the next one etc...

I do think it is possible to come up with some general guidelines around safety, how wide the road needs to be on flatter stages, and even what is considered a flatter stage, some sort of standard that if the last 20 km have less than 500 meters of climbing, then the GC stops 5 km out... or some specific rules forcing time trial prologues and team time trials... Many of these finishes are downtown the host town, which is a bit strange... the race almost always has a neutral moment for start... etc etc...

One hates seeing riders hurt.

All we have to do is scroll up this thread to notice this happens every tour.

Agreed on all fronts. Watching MVP win twice yesterday in one race was amazing. That's what I tune in for, not seeing guys carried off in stretchers before the race even begins.

Listened to the the cycling podcast this morning talking about the pros and cons of mandating prologs etc.

Strikes me that there is a desire to ensure that the beginning of grand tours have enough drama to ensure it starts with a 'bang' (probably commercial pressures dictate this) so the days of a prolog, 10 days of flat, then into the mountains...It would seem sensible therefore to say, for the GC the finish line is 10km from the finish, allowing those teams to fall back and let the sprinters teams have the room to do what they need to do. This is probably going to need cooperation from the riders and DS' as if you keep the message the same as it is today (get to the front, stay at the front) you will get the same result, just 10km further out....

(But surely there should be some standards on road width, corner angles, volume of road furniture in the last 20km??)

@RichFreeman

My feeling is that if the riders really want separations, then they should have a hillclimb time trial of at least 30 minutes to get the necessary gaps.

But the problem is that even with that, you'll still have maybe eight teams going all-in  for the sprint finish and at least three teams all-in for the GC.  that's 11 teams fighting for position.  That's too big for anywhere but a highway.

I've been thinking of this for a while, so I wrote at length on teh topic

https://jralong.com/2021/06/29/tour-de-carnage/

THIS RACE IS MADE OF DREAMS.

What a goddamn rollercoaster! First, heartbreak for Van Moer and then tears of joy for Cav! 

Sometimes even cycling is “everything you want cycling to be™️“

Cyclocross is, look at the yellow wearer, the sheriff, and then look at Wout at 31 seconds, set for that TT tomorrow like the firah.

There's so much awesome in this last km clip

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VRkPSjKmFEY

Of notice, are all the riders that want to congratulate Cav past the line (the video is edited then, wish it wasnt)

In the finale of today's stage, the overhead shots tell an interesting story.  Bouhanni is all shoulders and elbows to move up, gets to the front but can't get past Cav'.  Sagan much less so, starts from way back, and seemingly sprints faster than most everybody, but starting from way behind.