TdF 22:00

[el Galactico]

The Tour will have it even harder this year to compete with the Giro. The Late Giro edition was just too good.

However lets make the best out of it and hope we get a nice group.

With just 12 riders left I don't have a lot to think about with my lineup. Only real question is cheap or expensive lineup.
At the moment it looks like just one spot is still undecided.

Sure spots:
#1 Luca de Marchi
#2 Mbuto Agonago
#3 Taison Souza
#4 Jhonatan Aguilar
#5 Pedro Castello Ruiz
#6 Francisco Guerra
#7 Tom Lombaerts
#8 Daniele Marcolli

#9 could be Vizcaino, Wallnöfer or Vega.

Roux is out.

Goals: win stages, try GC and have fun again!

Who will join??

[Pokemon Club]

No restday TDF!

But no idea of the lineup yet

[Bear]

I am in with a cheap team. Will be off first days for sure and not sure about the rest. Have to check day by day.

[Gipfelstuermer]

Nice to be starting in this 13 teams peloton!

Let's do a quick favo check based on rider skills.

Maillot Jaune:
***** Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
**** Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari), Milan Tille (Idefix), Gorka Mendelez (Confidential Era)
*** Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
** Bana Hamawandi (Team Toto), Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
* Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer), Mbutu Agonago (Los Galacticos), Johnny Thunders (olafscelts), Ikoba Nanumaga (Ferrari), Hanamichi Sakuragi (Pokemonogatari), Dayenne Huipen (Team Toto), Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)


Maillot vert:
***** Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
**** JuanJoya Borja (Pokemonogatari), Tim Lod (Bonebreakers), Bartlomiej Dragowski (Team Toto), Ferdinand Hoogervoorst (NoPikouze)
*** Maliga Nfulu (Ferrari), Bernard Causse (Idefix), Jean Deluze (lesossies)
** Dries VanDerVeen (Gipfelstuermer), Artems Son (Bonebreakers), Twan VanGendt (Bearclaw Cycling)
* Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos), Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)

Maillot a pois rouges
***** Somebody who wants it
**** Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
*** Bana Hamawandi (Team Toto)
** Dayenne Huipen (Team Toto)
*

Maillot blanc:
***** Milan Tille (Idefix)
****
*** Owain Roberts (olafcelts)
** Felipe Vizcaino (Los Galacticos)
* Florian Absalon (Idefix)

Classement par équipes
***** Los Galacticos
**** Pokemonogatari
*** Idefix
** Team Toto
* Ferrari

[Gipfelstuermer]

Stage 1 with the Grand Depart in Brest and the finish in Landerneau on the steep Cote de la Fosse aux Loups (3km being +8% +5% +3%). With superstars deMarchi, Ondoa and Rukawa in the peloton, we knew that it was nearly impossible to win from the peloton. Even if DeWit was up there for a sprint, Hamawandi and Beauvue might be stronger in a sprint.

So Plan A was to go into escape, but with Bonebreakers and Rhodan Underdogs seemingly riding only for mountain points, multiple escapes went but none of the escapes had a chance. So we launched Plan B, which was a combined Van't Wout & Zevenbergen attack from 20km before the finish. First thought was "damn, no followers, this is not going to work all alone" but hen Van't Wout did an amazing job creating a gap up to 34'' to the peloton. Before the
Cote de la Fosse aux Loups, the advantage was 32'' and we just hoped Zevenbergen can keep it. After the +8 he had 16'' left on deMarchi, after the +5 it was 9'' left and after the +3 Zevenbergen still had 4'' !

Really really happy with this win from the Dutchman! Immediately our goal for this TDF achieved with this stage win. Wearing Maillot Jaune is amazing! What a dream for Joost Zevenbergen... even if he might lose it already today.

Let's try to do some statistics through the tour:


Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 1/21 stages
00:00 Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
+0'08'' Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+0'11'' Kaede Rukawa (Pokemonogatari)
+0'15'' Felipe Vizcaino (Los Galacticos)

Days in Maillot Jaune
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by teams:
1 - Gipfelstuermer

[Gipfelstuermer]

Stage 2:
Mur-de-Bretagne the perfect stage for Los Galacticos with deMarchi taking the win. Of course he was pre-stage favorite, but the chase for red between Rhodan and Bone made it a bit easier for him. Gala had all the jerseys after stage 2, I think? deMarchi yellow, green & red, Vizcaino white, Gala Team.

Stage 3:
The first mass sprint we thought and indeed NoPikouze took the win but surprisingly it was neither McCormick nor Hoogervorst. McCormick got dropped on a +5 as a deMarchi sieb dropped nearly all sprinters. Then later Hoogervoorst couldn't follow a Van'T Wout / Zevenbergen. Instead, the unpronounceable Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy followed the attack and took a deserved win for NoPik. We need a nickname for him perhaps.

So after 3 stages, 3 different winning teams. I like it.

STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 3/21 stages
0:00 Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+0'19'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
+0'20'' Felipe Vizcaino (Los Galacticos)
+0'20'' Kaede Rukawa (Pokemonogatari)
+0'22'' Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Days in Maillot Jaune
2 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)

Stage wins by teams:
1 - Gipfelstuermer
1 - Los Galacticos
1 - NoPikouze

[Gipfelstuermer]

Stage 4:
McCormick with the expected flat stage sprint win. Our team happy with 2nd place for VanDerVeen here.

Stage 5:
NoPikouze with a 3 stage streak thanks to vanKarelsberg. The ITT also completely shook up the GC, putting TT specialists in the front and climbers in a more difficult position. Lopez now in the maillot jaune and it will be exciting to see if the climbers can gain back time.

STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 5/21 stages
0:00 Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
+0'05'' Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
+0'11'' Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+0'12'' Milan Tille (Idefix)
+0'56'' Gorka Mendelez (Confidential Era)
+2'24'' Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)

Days in Maillot Jaune
3 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)

Stage wins by riders:
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
1 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)

Stage wins by teams:
3 - NoPikouze
1 - Gipfelstuermer
1 - Los Galacticos

[Gipfelstuermer]

Week 1 of the No Rest Day TDF is over!

The recap of stage 6 can be done quickly, so after that we can talk about the mountain stages in the alps. So stage 6, the second mass-sprint of the race was won again by McCormick. He's the first rider in this TDF to win two stages and that also made it a 4 stage wins in a row streak by the NoPikouze! McCormick is living up to his favorite role for maillot vert.

After that, the peloton was heading in the direction of the alps. Stage 7 was an incredibly long 249km transitional, but hilly stage. So it was no surprise that an escape made the day. Pedro CastelloRuiz won the escape's sprint against Joost Zevenbergen. In the peloton, however, GC favorite Luis Lopez got dropped on the hills and lost some time. Beauvue took the maillot jaune.

On Saturday, the peloton headed in the beautiful Departement Haute Savoie for stage 8 going over 3 Cat.1-climbs to Le Grand-Bornand. Los Galacticos successfully let the peloton explode thanks to his strong team. Vizcaino and Agonago had been very valuable helpers for deMarchi. Only DeWit and Thunders were able to stay with deMarchi on the last climb, the Col de la Colombiere. But there was still the downhill section to the finish line and collaboration among the three was a bit tricky, because there was two races in one: the race for GC and the race for stage. The three climbers tried to win time against other GC riders but of course everybody wanted to save energy to win the stage. DeWit kept a cool head and won in the 3-man sprint.

Then on Sunday stage 9 to Tignes. Brutal tempo for the whole stage as Idefix was riding offline tempo (there is a tempo function called "if dropped, until peloton" by the way). When the offline tempo stopped, Beauvue and Rukawa attacked ahead of the climb to Tignes. Los Galacticos neither blocked nor followed but caught them by making enormous tempo up the climb. This time, the only ones who could stay with deMarchi were DeWit and Ondoa. Similar problem again for the three: Ride for GC and decrease stage win chances? Or suck for stage win but win less time in GC? But even more complicated here as Ondoa would be the strongest in flat. DeWit and deMarchi were both able to follow Ondoa in the flat and DeWit again kept his cool head in the sprint. This time only few pixels missing for deMarchi. Beauvue kept the maillot jaune, now 1'07'' ahead of deMarchi.

During the first week, luckily, we did not lose anybody in a crash, but two riders dropped out of the time limit. Ricky Madal will be missing for Luis Lopez' GC ambitions and Daniele Marcolli will be missing to help the Giro-winner Luca deMarchi.

So in terms of GC, deMarchi won 1'17'' vs. Beauvue over 2 mountain stages. Another 4 mountain stages coming (Ventoux, Andorra, Col du Portet, Luz-Ardiden). Then the ITT of course. Will be an interesting race.

Ah, stage wins... quite suprising to see only 3 out of 13 teams winning stages so far. Hopefully we see some more escapes going through to change that.



STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 5/21 stages
0:00 Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+1'07'' Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+1'16'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
+2'23'' Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
+2'38'' Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)
+3'10'' Johnny Thunders (olafcelts)
+3'28'' Florian Absalon (Idefix)
+3'59'' Milan Tille (Idefix)
+4'23'' Mbutu Agonago (Los Galacticos)
+5'06'' Pierre Bucheron (lesossies)

Days in Maillot Jaune
3 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
3 - Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
2 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
2 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
2 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
1 - Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)

Stage wins by teams:
4 - NoPikouze
3 - Gipfelstuermer
2 - Los Galacticos

[Gipfelstuermer]

Stage 10
A 191km flat stage to start the week, going from Albertville to Valence. It's a joke to do a flat stage when you start in Albertville, but ok, somehow they have to get to the Pyrenees... as expected, an 8-rider escape form quickly consisting of 2 Rhodan, 2 Bone', 2 Bear, 1 Gip and 1 Ferrari rider. NoPik chased immediately with a fear of being the only one interested in a sprint given McCormick's previous successes and... well... he simply has the best sprinter AND by far the best train, which makes it hard to beat them. NoPik allowed the escape some 3-4 minutes advantage.

After two little hills, Bone suddenly dropped his two riders and decided to ride for a sprint instead. Poke also joined in peloton controlling for GC and for JJB's chances. From there, it looked really difficult for the escape, but they kept going. Then with 30-40km to go, the gap still around 3-4 minutes, superstar climber deMarchi siebed on the only remaining +5% km and thereby dropped weak climbers like VanDerVeen... grrr!... and also Tim Lod (Bonebreakers). This made Bonebreakers the unlucky guy of the day. He was in the escape, dropped back to ride for a mass sprint and then his sprinter gets dropped from peloton.

However, this helped the escape because there was one team less riding in peloton. NoPik and Poke put mass early but the downhill grind to the finish helped the escape to arrive 4'' ahead of the peloton. Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs) won the escape's sprint ahead of Vittore Vespa (Gipfelstuermer), Petri Pohjamo (Bearclaw Cycling) and Etienne Lauret (Ferrari). So finally a different winning team! GW Rhodan to his nice and exciting win!

Stage 11
The Ventoux stage. 199km and twice the Ventoux... puuuh... Without any fear, a large escape consisting of more than 10 riders went on the road. Although there were very strong classics inside that group, with Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer) being the best placed in GC down more than 20', nobody was chasing. The group at times had more than those 20' advantage and in fact Zevenbergen was in virtual yellow when action in the peloton started with more attacks, followed by some control from Poke for GC.

The group lost a lot of time on the first ascent of the Ventoux as the fresh classics seemed to only want to ride on the second ascent of the Ventoux. By then, the peloton had recuded the gap from 20' to only 9' ! The fresh classics in the escape (Zevenbergen, Souza, Poulsen, Johansson, Vangr, & Enogo) started riding together then and it seemed as if they could make it over the top and down to the finish in Malaucene. On top of the Ventoux, they still had 2' advantage on the 4 strongest climbers (deMarchi, DeWit, Ondoa, Thunders). However, with their leaders approaching from behind, Zevenbergen, Souza and Enogo stopped in escape. Of course this destroyed the escape, but on the other hand was a smart move for them to work for their leaders, who have some chances for maillot jaune and maillot vert, even if small chances perhaps.

Then in the final sprint, the Zevenbergen-DeWit train was stronger than the Souza-deMarchi train. Ondoa on deMarchi, Thunders on DeWit, so DeWit finished it off from 150m. What a dream for him to win the Ventoux stage! Interview: "Mr. DeWit, 3 stage wins at the afternoon Giro, 3 stage wins at the evening TDF! So 3rd place at the afternoon Giro, 3rd place at the evening TDF?" - "Well, you know, in this peloton any podium spot would actually be a big success for me! But at the same time, I would also like to ride into maillot jaune one day. For now it is just a dream, but with 8'' behind Beauvue, we have to see what is possible."

STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 11/21 stages
0:00 Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+0'05'' Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+0'08'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
+1'40'' Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)
+2'06'' Johnny Thunders (olafcelts)
+2'23'' Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
+4'23'' Mbutu Agonago (Los Galacticos)
+5'13'' Bana Hamawandi (Team Toto)
+5'20'' Gorka Mendelez (Confidential Era)
+5'42'' Florian Absalon (Idefix)

Days in Maillot Jaune
5 - Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
3 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
2 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
3 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
2 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
1 - Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs)

Stage wins by teams:
4 - NoPikouze
4 - Gipfelstuermer
2 - Los Galacticos
1 - Rhodan Underdogs

[Gipfelstuermer]

Summary after week 2

Week 2 saw 5 new stage winners from 4 teams: Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs), Erik Falk (Bonebreakers) and Julian Collein (Rhodan Underdogs) all won out of escapes on stages 10, 13 and 14. Maliga Nfulu won the stage 12 hill sprint denying another flat mass sprint and Florian Absalon (Idefix) won stage 15 to Andorra after following a significant poke-attack.

Significant poke-attacks... yes, this is no rest day TDF, we had to learn it the hard way. On stage 14 DeWit did not follow a poke-attack and lost 27'' on deMarchi there... mh? not follow poke but only lose to deMarchi? what happened? deMarchi was clearly smarter than DeWit and followed the poke-attack, hung on there and later siebed Beauvue without problems. So Beauvue and DeWit ended up in same group, but deMarchi won 27'' and took the maillot jaune. So stage 15 another big poke-attack. This time deMarchi did not follow. DeWit also didn't follow. Long chase for Gala but he managed the chase quite well up until Port d'Envalira, the highest point of this year's TDF at 2,408m above sea level. On the top, DeWit attacked out of the peloton, but deMarchi and Thunders followed to neutralize his attack. Therefore, our move to have Zevenbergen as a helper in front did not really give the desired results. In the end Beauvue won 37'' on deMarchi and DeWit. So Beauvue and deMarchi swapped the maillot jaune again. So overall those two stages went very well for the two leaders and main contenders in GC, while all other GC riders lost time. Will be interesting to see who takes the win with 2 big mountain stages and the ITT coming.

STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 15/21 stages
0:00 Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+0'15'' Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+0'45'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
+2'09'' Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)
+2'43'' Johnny Thunders (olafcelts)
+3'21'' Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
+5'56'' Gorka Mendelez (Confidential Era)
+6'06'' Florian Absalon (Idefix)
+6'31'' Milan Tille (Idefix)
+7'00'' Mbutu Agonago (Los Galacticos)

Days in Maillot Jaune
8 - Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
4 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
2 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
3 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
2 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
1 - Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Maliga Nfulu (Ferrari)
1 - Erik Falk (Bonebreakers)
1 - Julian Collein (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Florian Absalon (Idefix)

Stage wins by teams:
4 - NoPikouze
4 - Gipfelstuermer
2 - Los Galacticos
2 - Rhodan Underdogs
1 - Ferrari
1 - Bonebreakers
1 - Idefix

[el Galactico]

I think yesterday was the final decision that GC will be no competition anymore. He got help from Idefix while I had to do all alone basically against 2 teams. Not hanging was a big mistake. The attack was very obvious after all but still a good one. Lucky for him but I dont think it would change the result of this tour though Poke will still insist he has no chance in GC

In my calculations I needed around 3:00 minutes before the TT. So now 3:15 maybe more. Impossible to win on 2 mountain stages against Poke I think. I can concentrate on stage wins and red now on the last 2 mountain stages. No more stage gifts for Willem. Guess P2 has to be enough this time. Looking forward to the Vuelta already with less TT. Just need to figure out who can replace Mbutu and if I will have enough money for it.

[Gipfelstuermer]

The duel between deMarchi and Beauvue continues. Stage 16 saw some interesting attacks in the hills but deMarchi and Beauvue arrived in the same time eventually. But on stage 17 deMarchi went into yellow thanks to his not surprising but dominant win on Col du Portet. Today's stage to Luz Ardiden will be another opportunity for him to gain time ahead of the decisive time trial. DeWit is happy for the moment being the best of the rest on 3rd place


STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 17/21 stages
0:00 Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+1'33'' Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+1'51'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
+2'03'' Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)
+5'12'' Johnny Thunders (olafcelts)
+6'27'' Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
+8'04'' Milan Tille (Idefix)
+9'23'' Florian Absalon (Idefix)
+9'34'' Mbutu Agonago (Los Galacticos)
+10'10'' Gorka Mendelez (Confidential Era)

Days in Maillot Jaune
9 - Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
5 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
2 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
3 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
2 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
2 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
1 - Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Maliga Nfulu (Ferrari)
1 - Erik Falk (Bonebreakers)
1 - Julian Collein (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Florian Absalon (Idefix)
1 - Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)

Stage wins by teams:
4 - NoPikouze
4 - Gipfelstuermer
3 - Los Galacticos
2 - Rhodan Underdogs
1 - Ferrari
1 - Bonebreakers
1 - Idefix
1 - lesossies

[Gipfelstuermer]

FINAL STATISTICS:

Chase for Maillot Jaune, after 21/21 stages
0:00 Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
+1'44'' Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
+2'17'' Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
Maillot a pois rouges: Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
Maillot vert: Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
Maillot blanc: Florian Absalon (Idéfix)
Classement par equipes: Los Galacticos

Days in Maillot Jaune
9 - Thierry Beauvue (Pokemonogatari)
8 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
2 - Luis Lopez (Ferrari)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)

Stage wins by riders:
3 - Willem DeWit (Gipfelstuermer)
3 - Luca deMarchi (Los Galacticos)
2 - Connor McCormick (NoPikouze)
2 - Casper vanKarelsberg (NoPikouze)
1 - Joost Zevenbergen (Gipfelstuermer)
1 - Dinmukhammed Bushanskiy (NoPikouze)
1 - Pedro CastelloRuiz (Los Galacticos)
1 - Dmitar Zvonimir (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Maliga Nfulu (Ferrari)
1 - Erik Falk (Bonebreakers)
1 - Julian Collein (Rhodan Underdogs)
1 - Florian Absalon (Idefix)
1 - Nelson Ondoa (lesossies)
1 - Ewout deVries (NoPikouze)

Stage wins by teams:
6 - NoPikouze
4 - Gipfelstuermer
4 - Los Galacticos
2 - Rhodan Underdogs
1 - Ferrari
1 - Bonebreakers
1 - Idefix
1 - lesossies

[NoPikouze]

So after 3 stages, 3 different winning teams. I like it.

McCormick is living up to his favorite role for maillot vert.

So 3rd place at the afternoon Giro, 3rd place at the evening TDF?"

yes

I think yesterday was the final decision that GC will be no competition anymore.

(from Gala)

Stage wins by teams:
6 - NoPikouze

Yay !

Anyway, a nice read, thanks for this.


Just one word about my "famous" sprint train and the lack of collaboration from others.
Obviously, if the situation had presented itself after the 2 first wins, I would have gladly launched Connor from 150 or 200m if someone who helped me had been in my wheel, just to make a podium spot and get points.
But everybody decided to go for siebs and riding one against each other instead. For very limited results
I guess it was no restday TDF and no gifts TDF as well.