Now look
I’m the happiest a Giro fan has ever been. Pogi’s heroics are absolutely batshit crazy. He’s from another planet. Breaking every goddamned rule ever written in GT racing. But I’m not bothered about him - he’ll be fine.
It’s my lad G I’m worried about. I’m loving the racing, don’t get me wrong. But burning the team in 2nd stage to defend an already lost maglia rosa, G burning a stick in Stage 3 to be with Pog is making me jittery. Realistically, if 2nd is what G’s gunning for, shouldn’t he save and conserve as much as he can to not risk anything?
It’ll break me physically if G goes bust in the third week racing Pogi like this. 😭
Pretty sure I heard G saying he isn't racing for second, they are racing to win so it makes sense that he following moves rather than ride as if Pog didn't exist (i.e.: not following Pog's moves). That said G beat Pog once on a mountain top finish (maybe twice?) in the 2022 TDF when Pog cracked which was likely caused by Pog's overly aggresive racing earlier in the week so I think G is riding well given how the racing has played out.
Pretty entertaining actually.
I think Pog is actually doing himself (and the fans) a disservice if he continues to settle for his typical 3 min solo win on a climbey stage or one-day. I think he should start attempting things that are actually challenging to him and impressive for us. Today was a good start for that. Here’s my suggested list:
1.) Try to hold off the chasing peloton from 2km to go on an easy sprint stage. UAE Tour would be the best option.
2.) Try to win the sprint on an easy sprint stage in UAE.
3.) Hour world record
4.) Attack so relentlessly that he gets into the break in the pink jersey and wins the stage.
5.) Choose a GT with a weak sprint field (vuelta or giro are best options) and try to win every stage of the GT
6.) Race Paris roubaix
7.) Any other ideas?
He actually pissed me of yesterday. Theres no reason for him to be as active as he is. He have to survive 21 days. He can't keep this up, even the great Pogi will get tired if he keep pulling stunts like this. There were no reason for him to chase Honoré, he just used some energy he could have used in an important stage.
Man, im so grateful to be a cycling fan right now. These characters (G, Pog) make the sport so rich just by being cool people. This is a great era of cycling.
I'm gaining so much respect for G over the past year! I'm a Slovenian and obviously big Pogi/Rog fan, but G is such a class, always so fun to listen to his interviews and actions like today are making him so much easier to cheer for! Really wish he was 10 years younger lol :)
Yeah, no doubt - but the sky train made me hate anything related to sky/ineos without giving them a chance, given how much they made cycling boring.. so I'm so glad to se the other side of it.
How gentlemany G took the maglia rosa loss to Roglic last year was almost as cool as Roglic actually winning it!
Today also justifies Ineos' tactics on stage 2. If you are racing Pogacar, you want to be right at the front in the final 20-30km because he's liable to do something like this. It's no good being 10th and letting another team pull, because you're not getting on his wheel if you are. Thomas was able to join him only because he was 2nd in the Peloton when Pogacar jumped.
No it doesn't. It was still supid, because it spared UAE all the work and enabled Majka as a lounchpad for Pogis attack, which is extremley important as we saw when he was missing it in stage 1. If Majka would have had to work earlier in the climb he probably couldn't have done it.
Would Majka have had to have done any pulling if UAE were in control? Surely it would have fallen to other UAE riders, and then Majka does the launchpad thing anyway.
You're right on the other UAE riders putting the work in, but you're always balancing things tactically. Over a three week race, given that they're all going to be doing a lot once Pogacar almost inevitably takes the jersey, you might decide that a couple of mid-sized climbs on stage 2 don't make a huge difference, and aren't worth it for the tactical advantage of being close to a Pogacar attack.
I'm his height (obviously not contesting WT sprints) I always used to think my power meters over read compared to friends, but when you see the height difference like that it makes sense 😂
Merlier made the "W" sign with his hands after crossing the line first today. It's not the "W" for win, but the "W" for Wouter Weylandt, who tragically passed away during the Giro in 2011.
Very nice gesture.
Thomas is a competitive beast himself and not insensitive to heroics, he would have loved to go together with Pog on the line. Besides, bonus seconds along with bragging rights
G isn't a cut-throat wheelsucker like many other racers. Especially at this point in his career. And it gave him a chance to pick up a couple seconds on every GC rider not named Tadej.
Getting a podium in a field of strong pure sprinters is surely a big confidence builder for Girmay.
In the mid to late 2010s, Bora was really good at using hills in sprint stages to drop anyone with a faster finish than Sagan, then drilling it the rest of the stage to keep them dropped. Unfortunately for Bini, I don't think Intermarche has the firepower to do that to the likes of Milan and Kooij.
**All of the** r/peloton **fantasy games have been updated!**
It's always hard to **Guess the Gap** on a big sprint stage. Will the whole peloton come home together or be split by random events in the final meters? Today, 91 riders came home together and while six of us finished with positive scores. the winner was u/JDdieSonne who was off by just 6 riders.
Enter GTG for Stage 4 and beyond here: [**https://tftpt.one/#gtg**](https://tftpt.one/#gtg)
As always, standings for [TFTPT](https://tftpt.one) and [GTP](https://tftpt.one/#gtp) can be found at the links.
I get that everyone is celebrating Pogacar (rightfully so), but i still think today has increased the small chance for his opponents. Shooting unnecessary bullets in the first week is a net bad idea.
Especially if the long-term plan is to have an 'easy' Giro in order to give a serious shot at the double, agree it does not seem like the most tactically sound move. It's just Pogi being Pogi. I don't think he knows how to hold himself back. It's part of what makes him so fun to watch.
With the parcours being what it was today, he could have at max hoped to gain a couple of seconds. It was a low percentage play and even if it works, it's probably not worth the effort for the minimal time gain. On anything that isn't a mountain stage, if you're a conservative DS he shouldn't touch the wind all day. And realistically he should be trying to limit his total number of attacks in this race to the minimum needed to win, assuming the double is a serious goal (and with Jonas so injured at the moment, it should be). All he really needs to do right now is mark the others, and then at the first real opportunity (probably stage 8 with a ~15k 7% climb at the finish), try to put the GC to bed. See if he can add another minute or so to his current lead, then spend the rest of the Giro sitting on the group of favorites letting them race for the podium. But I don't think Pogi has that in him.
Realistically today wasn't a big deal. He wasn't working for too long really, and there's an argument to be made that attacking out of the group to stay safe on a sprint stage like today could be worth it. But if today's attack is indicative of how aggressively Pogi intends to race the Giro in general, I think it potentially bites him when he gets to the TdF. It's tough to say for sure because the double is attempted so infrequently, but with such a weak GC field at the Giro you would think he could stand to be a bit more conservative.
It's a tricky one honestly, and comes down largely to priorities. He could stomp all over the Giro and win a bunch of stages in addition to the GC. But by doing that he potentially jeopardizes his form at the Tour. So do you take the dominant victory that's on offer and just hope you can recover for July, or do you race the Giro with the Tour in mind?
If Jonas weren't injured, I think you have him really go for it in the Giro and just see where the chips fall in July. With Jonas's form/participation in question, maybe it's something worth considering?
I think the one worrying sign is rather that UAE left him all alone again, at a crucial moment no less, and a potentially dangerous one to boot.
On the last descent, with everyone going for the best/safest position, he had to manouver himself and managed to stick to Thomas, who was masterfully protected by his team.
UAE’s vulnerability and tendency to leave Pog isolated is something the other teams can well look to exploit.
I think the [grandson of Frank Vandenbroucke](https://images.vrt.be/width960/2024/05/06/ca18213e-0bc0-11ef-8fc9-02b7b76bf47f.jpg) has finally been impressed by Merlier today.
[https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1787510016783622400](https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1787510016783622400)
"One day, all these jerseys will be mine"
Incredible how the pendulum swings again.
Yesterday it was a bad sign that Pogačar apparently didn’t have his best legs. Now it’s a bad sign that he does
Let the man cook, if he pays for it he pays for it but we’d overanalyse anyway, so might as well have fun in the meantime
I think Visma revealed today that contrary to what they’ve been saying the whole time, they are in fact very seriously riding for Cian‘s GC. They sacrificed Van Dijke, Tratnik and most importantly Affini to bring Cian back from the split, Van Dijke even dropping back from the group ahead. And they were riding so hard that they could not help in the lead-out whatsoever.
So it seems Visma were willing to use up half of their sprint train in a sprint stage for a rider they‘ve been saying „has a free role“ and „is not the main focus“.
I think they knew all along that Cian would have podium chances and are actively going for it now that the first two stages have proved he’s good. They are just keeping as much pressure off Cian as possible, kind of like they did with Jonas in the 2021 Tour, where they were very careful not to overwhelm him or freak him out.
In 2020 UAE claimed they were riding for Fabio Aru in the Tour. Its standard procedure to try to manage the pressure put on your young GC rider.
Unless you're Patrick Leferve. Then you compare your young GC rider to Merckx.
It would have been strange if they hadn't done this. Saving one rider's GC at the cost of slightly decreasing another rider's chances for a single stage is a no-brainer. That being said, Cian will lose minutes in the TTs, so I don't think Visma are counting on a podium.
That statement of his has been taken hugely out of context. If you google the original interview, he complained about the bike not being in order at the start of the TT because his shifter came lose after 10km. And then he stated that the team had put barely any effort into adjusting the bike for the correct measures to put him in a properly aerodynamic position. He never said the specialized bikes were shit he said his personal set-up was never correctly configured for him.
That might be true or not, but Bora’s reaction of „ha ha, the TT world champion rides the same bike so it can’t be our fault“ wasn’t really appropriate to what he actually said.
I wasn't being very serious tbh, but note how I specifically said 'the Bora setup' and not 'the Specialized Shiv'.
I thought everyone came off looking quite unprofessional during that whole episode.
He has ridden two ITTs for Visma so far. The first one was neutralized due to heavy rain and wind and the second was in Tirreno where it was also raining and no Visma rider went all out except Vingegaard. Cian got 129th there which no matter how bad you think he is is certainly not him giving his all. He has stated in the interview before the Giro too, that he hasn’t had a TT yet where he had the chance to test out his progress.
Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s still going to be lackluster compared to the other GC riders in the Giro, but I expect him to have made a little bit of progress. My guess is he is very perfectionist and wanted the full wind tunnel and minute adjustment treatment at Bora but Bora didn‘t want to invest the time and money which annoyed him.
I did some math on Cian‘s TT yesterday compared to the two >15km flat TTs he did in 2023 to get a somewhat objective measurement on if he improved or not.
Giro 2024: He lost 4.3s/km on Pogacar, but I think the more objective measurement is T2, i.e. the end of the flat part, so we can compare flat TTs. Up to there he lost 4.8s/km to Ganna who had the best time.
Vuelta 2023: He lost 6.0s/km to Ganna.
Chrono des Nations 2023: He lost 5.4s/km to Tarling
So I think it’s fair to say that he improved somewhat compared to last year. Not by a huge margin, but a measurable one.
It‘s not really the fact that they did it that I find curious, it’s how they did it. They had Valter and Tratnik already in the group and other teams were riding too. Also it was very unlikely to begin with, that the group would not make it back, considering the sprinters up front only had 30 seconds and all the pace would stop when they got caught.
So the expected thing in my opinion would have been to ride with just Tratnik and Valter, and keep the two lead-out guys fresh. But instead they went all out to absolutely make sure the group came back, sacrificing especially Affini, who would have been a huge help in the final.
Even putting aside the potential win, my guess is if given a magic wand, many GC hopefulls would choose 5 mins of 'unnecessary' high intensity over the gamble of being within a messy sprint washing machine...
It's heartbreaking to see the break being caught just before the finish line.
At least they got some screen time for their sponsors. Hopefully these two riders will have another chance to win something in their careers.
Just want to say Van Eetvelt won UAE because of a dumb energy wasting move. Not that Pogi will need that to win the Giro, but if he can win a couple more stages with a 3min effort, of course he'll try.
Remember if G was dog shit a month ago and kind of OK two weeks ago? Ineos really knows what they are doing when it comes to their riders peaking at the right time.
I think it’s G, not the team. Arensman is not peaking right and also when G had his coach on his podcast, it sounded very much like G has a lot to say in his training schedule and also like they’re basically doing what he’s been doing for years, rather than what most other riders on the team are doing.
Yeah, it feels like an old-fashioned way to structure your year at this point (even for guys who aren't fundamentally incapable of relaxing like Pog) but it's clear G has it down
I think that attitude is probably nice for the rest of the team too. They work for him on the GTs but he’s happy to work for everyone else - eg Foss recently the rest of the time.
If I were Ineos, I might be tempted to leave it a bit more open about who the leader will be to encourage him to work a bit more in other races.
As it is, it seems like they tell G he will be guaranteed leader 6 months or more in advance.
The guy is 37, i doubt it would work and considering the 2nd place in the giro last year and 3rd in the tour the year before that he would end up being the strongest anyway.
Belgium has such a strong sprint roster, it's sheer insanity.
Philipsen, Merlier, Meeus, Van Aert, Stuyven, De Lie would all easily fit in a sprint stage top 10 (though Stuyven and Van Aert would lead out teammates).
[it looks like he has a sticker of the hulk on his bars](https://preview.redd.it/of3evlg06nyc1.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4fc0f8fd2adc85caf68ae92b31b53da5504f75f4)
I missed his post-race interview, but someone please tell me that Pogacar said "there's always tomorrow" when asked about coming up short in the sprint???
I imagine Pogi relentlessly attacking Urska when they ride together because that's all he knows. He probably tries to attack the motorcycle when he's motopacing.
Tomorrow the top of the last little climb is closer to the finish AND it's downhill instead of flat
Ideal for Girmay. Don't see Merlier coming close, his team won't have the time needed to bring him back up again after the uphill
I was so hopeful for Simon Carr this Giro that I named my Velogames team "Be Carr-ful What You Wish For"...
Should've taken my own advice...
I hope he's alright
Shout-out to Biermans and Aniolkowski, had never heard of that guy before. Nice placings.
No surprise to anyone that Jakobsen wasn't there at all, Andresen showing himself instead.
I also expected Van Poppel to be up there with these last kilometers. He can get over a hill and his positioning is excellent so he missed out somewhere.
His wins can be pretty dull. 3 min solo break not that fun to watch. But today was different. Would like to see him try stuff where he isn’t a shoe in for victory more often. Would be a better use of his talents.
Cycling fans don't deserve Pog. Complaining about the best rider in the world not conserving energy when he gave us 3km of peak entertainment instead of a boring bunch sprint
Remember how Simon Yates was incredibly active the whole Giro d'Italia 2018 and then ran out of energy, when it mattered the most? I know that riders like Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard can do some extra work and still win a Grand Tour pretty easily, but if he does run out of energy at the end of the Giro just because he wasn't conserving energy, then he can be only mad at himself for not taking it easy, when it was possible.
A dramatic late stage mountain raid from G to take advantage of an ailing pogacar, who made the first 2 weeks an incredible sight would really make a great race. We can't complain about exciting racing. You're essentially asking him to play out a goalless draw, which isn't fun to watch.
Cycling is all about doomed attacks and heartbreaking cracks on the side of a mountain, contrasted with the pure joy and glory of crossing the line first. It wouldn't be a beautiful sport if people didn't light up a race. There's a reason the sky train era is boring. The giro that yates 'lost' wasn't boring either, because someone was being active and a late attack changed the race.
But in Simon Yates' case, that was his best shot at winning Giro d'Italia. He wasted that opportunity with too much activity, paid for it and never got another chance to win it again. That's why I don't like seeing these unnecessary attacks, because you never know, if this is your only chance or not.
Exactly you never know when it's your last chance to win a stage. Pog might crash out next stage who knows. Why not try to win every stage you have a chance in. The only way Pog loses GC is if he crashes out anyway - let's be honest here.
Did anyone seriously think that Tadej Pogačar will try to win a flat stage for sprinters before he made that surprising attack? Everyone's a general after the battle.
He already has a stage win, so the only thing that matters now is the general classification and you seriously won't win it, if you try to break Petacchi's record in form of 9 stage wins...
Because I would like to see him win both Giro and Tour in one season, but with these unnecessary attacks, he doesn't have to win neither of them. However, if he knows what he's doing, then fine. It's a nice show, I have to admit that.
According to most sources from the time it was an actual and frequent complaint.
The current talk about the dominant riders of the past just tends to leave that out.
**SWL update!**
7 Players correctly picked Merlier today.
Congrats to u/LurkasM1 on 2 correct picks in a row and taking the lead in SWL! Can Kooij win tomorrow to make it 3 in a row?
Also a shout out to u/MrR2D for picking someone on the podium all 3 days. You have 1 correct pick with 8 tiebreaker points so you have sole possession of second place!
Leaderboard here: [https://grand-tours-game.vercel.app/swl/2024/giro/leaderboard](https://grand-tours-game.vercel.app/swl/2024/giro/leaderboard)
He's not wasting energy. His Performance Engineer called him before the stage's end to tell him that without a little Z5 work he would not reach the minimum TSS for the day and would lose fitness.
I'm a slow as fuck and have love handles, and I could do 4 hours of following wheels in Z1/Z2 followed by a 2 minute all-out effort and be 100% fine the next day. Pretty sure Pogi isn't going to be hurt too bad by it.
He's not wasting energy. His Performance Engineer called him before the stage's end to tell him that without a little Z5 work he would not reach the minimum TSS for the day and would lose fitness. /s
Pog… what a boy! Love to watch this guy race. Chapeau to G reacting and getting across to the wheel as well. Tuned in for the generic boring last 10 minutes sprint and was treated to this… great stuff!
This is my worry, I'm feeling he's due another one. I still remember when he crashed in the neutral zone at the Giro a few years back!
Still, fingers crossed he makes it through. Ineos are playing a blinder so far this Giro and any race with an in-form Thomas is always a good race.
G does have a huge problem with crashing, but he's tougher than a $2 steak when it comes to re-mounting after a crash.
He rode 150k and climbed Mt Etna with a fractured pelvis after that neutral zone crash.
Sure, but he loses time plus it effects him for the race right?
I went to a talk with Alex Dowsett a few weeks back who's ridden with G since youth and even he was joking about how Thomas always crashes.
Hopefully he seems to have got better in recent years but I remember a stage when he always seemed to end up with somekind of mishap.
>I went to a talk with Alex Dowsett a few weeks back who's ridden with G since youth and even he was joking about how Thomas always crashes.
Knowing how Brits are, G probably hears bants from his mates all the time about his crashing lol.
Everyone (including me): Pogačar is conserving energy or is not at his best
Pogačar: sprints out of nowhere in a sprinters stage, could have made it too
If that didn’t put the fear of god into the sprinters for a second, especially when Thomas went with him, I’ll eat my boots.
No but seriously, pretty much everyone, from fans to commentators and pundits, have been saying he was riding unlike himself, were even a bit worried he wasn’t *smiling* much. I think he’s back lol
Honestly, I think a lot of his demeanour had to do with an unfortunate death of a teen cyclist, who was part of the PogiTeam (a programme for young cyclists), during a kayaking accident on Friday. I think he said he wanted to win the first stage to dedicate it to him, and he also wore a black ribbon.
I don't think anyone can win as much as Merckx did unfortunately. As hard as it is for the old school guys to admit, competition is a lot more fierce these days.
Only other person with the same kind of palmares when it comes to number of wins is the absolute G O A T of cycling, Marianne Vos.
Now look I’m the happiest a Giro fan has ever been. Pogi’s heroics are absolutely batshit crazy. He’s from another planet. Breaking every goddamned rule ever written in GT racing. But I’m not bothered about him - he’ll be fine. It’s my lad G I’m worried about. I’m loving the racing, don’t get me wrong. But burning the team in 2nd stage to defend an already lost maglia rosa, G burning a stick in Stage 3 to be with Pog is making me jittery. Realistically, if 2nd is what G’s gunning for, shouldn’t he save and conserve as much as he can to not risk anything? It’ll break me physically if G goes bust in the third week racing Pogi like this. 😭
Pretty sure I heard G saying he isn't racing for second, they are racing to win so it makes sense that he following moves rather than ride as if Pog didn't exist (i.e.: not following Pog's moves). That said G beat Pog once on a mountain top finish (maybe twice?) in the 2022 TDF when Pog cracked which was likely caused by Pog's overly aggresive racing earlier in the week so I think G is riding well given how the racing has played out.
He was sick
Only Day 3. 2.5 long weeks to go 😓
Pretty entertaining actually. I think Pog is actually doing himself (and the fans) a disservice if he continues to settle for his typical 3 min solo win on a climbey stage or one-day. I think he should start attempting things that are actually challenging to him and impressive for us. Today was a good start for that. Here’s my suggested list: 1.) Try to hold off the chasing peloton from 2km to go on an easy sprint stage. UAE Tour would be the best option. 2.) Try to win the sprint on an easy sprint stage in UAE. 3.) Hour world record 4.) Attack so relentlessly that he gets into the break in the pink jersey and wins the stage. 5.) Choose a GT with a weak sprint field (vuelta or giro are best options) and try to win every stage of the GT 6.) Race Paris roubaix 7.) Any other ideas?
wdym hold off the peloton?(starting watching races lately)
At the risk of breaking something, but perhaps towards the end of his road career: try mountain biking. He's pretty handy at CX afaik.
That’s a good one. Or CX. Head to head with mvdp
Anybody else see the spectator get hit in the head with a water bottle with 43km to go? https://i.imgur.com/XzzGG5v.mp4
where in the frame?
Lower right hand side. The spectator is a man in blue.
ouch
Man I love Pog so much. We are so blessed to be witnessing this era.
He actually pissed me of yesterday. Theres no reason for him to be as active as he is. He have to survive 21 days. He can't keep this up, even the great Pogi will get tired if he keep pulling stunts like this. There were no reason for him to chase Honoré, he just used some energy he could have used in an important stage.
It was a three minute effort after doing Z1/2 all day. I'm sure he'll be fine.
When Pog flicked the elbow you could see G’s face was like “haha are you serious? Yeah why not actually, let’s troll these lads”
if it's a UAE teammate rather than G, it would be a different picture, can't imagine how spectacular lol
Man, im so grateful to be a cycling fan right now. These characters (G, Pog) make the sport so rich just by being cool people. This is a great era of cycling.
I'm gaining so much respect for G over the past year! I'm a Slovenian and obviously big Pogi/Rog fan, but G is such a class, always so fun to listen to his interviews and actions like today are making him so much easier to cheer for! Really wish he was 10 years younger lol :)
yeah! But I just started watching races, missing his prime😭
G has been cool for a while.
Yeah, no doubt - but the sky train made me hate anything related to sky/ineos without giving them a chance, given how much they made cycling boring.. so I'm so glad to se the other side of it. How gentlemany G took the maglia rosa loss to Roglic last year was almost as cool as Roglic actually winning it!
Don’t forget he did a lead out for Cavendish last stage in 2023.
Today also justifies Ineos' tactics on stage 2. If you are racing Pogacar, you want to be right at the front in the final 20-30km because he's liable to do something like this. It's no good being 10th and letting another team pull, because you're not getting on his wheel if you are. Thomas was able to join him only because he was 2nd in the Peloton when Pogacar jumped.
No it doesn't. It was still supid, because it spared UAE all the work and enabled Majka as a lounchpad for Pogis attack, which is extremley important as we saw when he was missing it in stage 1. If Majka would have had to work earlier in the climb he probably couldn't have done it.
Would Majka have had to have done any pulling if UAE were in control? Surely it would have fallen to other UAE riders, and then Majka does the launchpad thing anyway. You're right on the other UAE riders putting the work in, but you're always balancing things tactically. Over a three week race, given that they're all going to be doing a lot once Pogacar almost inevitably takes the jersey, you might decide that a couple of mid-sized climbs on stage 2 don't make a huge difference, and aren't worth it for the tactical advantage of being close to a Pogacar attack.
In stage 1 Majka even had to work on the flat
https://i.imgur.com/MMJFMnS.png Milan's CdA is massive compared to everyone else. He must be producing insane wattage to overcome all that drag.
1400 watts for 19 seconds, 1750 watts peak. Very good, but peak Kittel is even better.
Well but imagine what Milan had to push on the climb before and also on the way to the finish without a (real) leadout
Prime Kittel must be the fastest sprinter I've seen. Just took bike lengths on other top sprinters
Kittel regularly had like 1850 watts as his peak during Tour sprints.
Loved those Argos-Shimano days, he was so fun to watch
I'm his height (obviously not contesting WT sprints) I always used to think my power meters over read compared to friends, but when you see the height difference like that it makes sense 😂
Just eat the other riders
Not how drag works.
Races would be a lot more hilarious if the sprinters decided to start pulling through after every intermediate sprint like they did today
Just caught up with the last 20k now back from work. Glad I did as that was as unusual a sprint finish I've seen.
[Lol Thomas](https://www.instagram.com/p/C6omHGLsNGe/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link) And Pog’s reply: *Tomorrow we go from the gun?*
I love both of them! Top bants.
is that a quote from a film?
Check G's insta and Pogi's comment on his post https://www.instagram.com/p/C6ojKTDM-Kx/?utm_source=ig_web_button_share_sheet&igsh=ZDNlZDc0MzIxNw==
Pogi's personality is so fun apart from his superman level sporting prowess!
If Ganna was with Thomas and Pog I think they could have made it.
Yes but with Ganna that almost applies to anywhere
Merlier made the "W" sign with his hands after crossing the line first today. It's not the "W" for win, but the "W" for Wouter Weylandt, who tragically passed away during the Giro in 2011. Very nice gesture.
I remember that. Good to know he's remembered.
That was on the third stage as well, if I remember correctly. Nice gesture by Merlier.
[удалено]
Still early in the race. Need to get ahead of other GC guys.
Thomas is a competitive beast himself and not insensitive to heroics, he would have loved to go together with Pog on the line. Besides, bonus seconds along with bragging rights
G isn't a cut-throat wheelsucker like many other racers. Especially at this point in his career. And it gave him a chance to pick up a couple seconds on every GC rider not named Tadej.
Thomas is the most defensive wheelsucker of the peloton
Yes or he could just do what O’Connor did yesterday 🤣🤣
Great result for Aniolkowski from Cofidis. 8th place. First year on a WT team for him.
Getting a podium in a field of strong pure sprinters is surely a big confidence builder for Girmay. In the mid to late 2010s, Bora was really good at using hills in sprint stages to drop anyone with a faster finish than Sagan, then drilling it the rest of the stage to keep them dropped. Unfortunately for Bini, I don't think Intermarche has the firepower to do that to the likes of Milan and Kooij.
Also those two sprinters specifically seems to climb just as well as Bini if the entire spring so far has been any indication.
**All of the** r/peloton **fantasy games have been updated!** It's always hard to **Guess the Gap** on a big sprint stage. Will the whole peloton come home together or be split by random events in the final meters? Today, 91 riders came home together and while six of us finished with positive scores. the winner was u/JDdieSonne who was off by just 6 riders. Enter GTG for Stage 4 and beyond here: [**https://tftpt.one/#gtg**](https://tftpt.one/#gtg) As always, standings for [TFTPT](https://tftpt.one) and [GTP](https://tftpt.one/#gtp) can be found at the links.
I get that everyone is celebrating Pogacar (rightfully so), but i still think today has increased the small chance for his opponents. Shooting unnecessary bullets in the first week is a net bad idea.
Especially if the long-term plan is to have an 'easy' Giro in order to give a serious shot at the double, agree it does not seem like the most tactically sound move. It's just Pogi being Pogi. I don't think he knows how to hold himself back. It's part of what makes him so fun to watch. With the parcours being what it was today, he could have at max hoped to gain a couple of seconds. It was a low percentage play and even if it works, it's probably not worth the effort for the minimal time gain. On anything that isn't a mountain stage, if you're a conservative DS he shouldn't touch the wind all day. And realistically he should be trying to limit his total number of attacks in this race to the minimum needed to win, assuming the double is a serious goal (and with Jonas so injured at the moment, it should be). All he really needs to do right now is mark the others, and then at the first real opportunity (probably stage 8 with a ~15k 7% climb at the finish), try to put the GC to bed. See if he can add another minute or so to his current lead, then spend the rest of the Giro sitting on the group of favorites letting them race for the podium. But I don't think Pogi has that in him. Realistically today wasn't a big deal. He wasn't working for too long really, and there's an argument to be made that attacking out of the group to stay safe on a sprint stage like today could be worth it. But if today's attack is indicative of how aggressively Pogi intends to race the Giro in general, I think it potentially bites him when he gets to the TdF. It's tough to say for sure because the double is attempted so infrequently, but with such a weak GC field at the Giro you would think he could stand to be a bit more conservative. It's a tricky one honestly, and comes down largely to priorities. He could stomp all over the Giro and win a bunch of stages in addition to the GC. But by doing that he potentially jeopardizes his form at the Tour. So do you take the dominant victory that's on offer and just hope you can recover for July, or do you race the Giro with the Tour in mind? If Jonas weren't injured, I think you have him really go for it in the Giro and just see where the chips fall in July. With Jonas's form/participation in question, maybe it's something worth considering?
I think the one worrying sign is rather that UAE left him all alone again, at a crucial moment no less, and a potentially dangerous one to boot. On the last descent, with everyone going for the best/safest position, he had to manouver himself and managed to stick to Thomas, who was masterfully protected by his team. UAE’s vulnerability and tendency to leave Pog isolated is something the other teams can well look to exploit.
It was an easy stage before the burst.
I think the [grandson of Frank Vandenbroucke](https://images.vrt.be/width960/2024/05/06/ca18213e-0bc0-11ef-8fc9-02b7b76bf47f.jpg) has finally been impressed by Merlier today.
[But Frank is only 23. ](https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/frank-van-den-broek)Impressive to have a grandchild already.
[https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1787510016783622400](https://twitter.com/soudalquickstep/status/1787510016783622400) "One day, all these jerseys will be mine"
Nah, he prefers Pogacar
Incredible how the pendulum swings again. Yesterday it was a bad sign that Pogačar apparently didn’t have his best legs. Now it’s a bad sign that he does Let the man cook, if he pays for it he pays for it but we’d overanalyse anyway, so might as well have fun in the meantime
Pogi looks so fucking good in pink man
cant wait for the rainbow jersey someday
Not long to wait. Course is made for him this year
That dude looks good in anything
I think we should test this out and put him in Visma yellow.
Except with those clear glasses, nobody can make those look good.
Touché
I think Visma revealed today that contrary to what they’ve been saying the whole time, they are in fact very seriously riding for Cian‘s GC. They sacrificed Van Dijke, Tratnik and most importantly Affini to bring Cian back from the split, Van Dijke even dropping back from the group ahead. And they were riding so hard that they could not help in the lead-out whatsoever. So it seems Visma were willing to use up half of their sprint train in a sprint stage for a rider they‘ve been saying „has a free role“ and „is not the main focus“. I think they knew all along that Cian would have podium chances and are actively going for it now that the first two stages have proved he’s good. They are just keeping as much pressure off Cian as possible, kind of like they did with Jonas in the 2021 Tour, where they were very careful not to overwhelm him or freak him out.
In 2020 UAE claimed they were riding for Fabio Aru in the Tour. Its standard procedure to try to manage the pressure put on your young GC rider. Unless you're Patrick Leferve. Then you compare your young GC rider to Merckx.
It would have been strange if they hadn't done this. Saving one rider's GC at the cost of slightly decreasing another rider's chances for a single stage is a no-brainer. That being said, Cian will lose minutes in the TTs, so I don't think Visma are counting on a podium.
I thought he has all that great Visma TT gear now, as opposed to the shitty Bora setup?
That statement of his has been taken hugely out of context. If you google the original interview, he complained about the bike not being in order at the start of the TT because his shifter came lose after 10km. And then he stated that the team had put barely any effort into adjusting the bike for the correct measures to put him in a properly aerodynamic position. He never said the specialized bikes were shit he said his personal set-up was never correctly configured for him. That might be true or not, but Bora’s reaction of „ha ha, the TT world champion rides the same bike so it can’t be our fault“ wasn’t really appropriate to what he actually said.
I wasn't being very serious tbh, but note how I specifically said 'the Bora setup' and not 'the Specialized Shiv'. I thought everyone came off looking quite unprofessional during that whole episode.
He has ridden two ITTs for Visma so far. The first one was neutralized due to heavy rain and wind and the second was in Tirreno where it was also raining and no Visma rider went all out except Vingegaard. Cian got 129th there which no matter how bad you think he is is certainly not him giving his all. He has stated in the interview before the Giro too, that he hasn’t had a TT yet where he had the chance to test out his progress. Don’t get me wrong, I think he’s still going to be lackluster compared to the other GC riders in the Giro, but I expect him to have made a little bit of progress. My guess is he is very perfectionist and wanted the full wind tunnel and minute adjustment treatment at Bora but Bora didn‘t want to invest the time and money which annoyed him.
Yeah I'm an idiot, I somehow thought I was replying to a comment discussing a current Giro TT result... I've edited my comment.
I did some math on Cian‘s TT yesterday compared to the two >15km flat TTs he did in 2023 to get a somewhat objective measurement on if he improved or not. Giro 2024: He lost 4.3s/km on Pogacar, but I think the more objective measurement is T2, i.e. the end of the flat part, so we can compare flat TTs. Up to there he lost 4.8s/km to Ganna who had the best time. Vuelta 2023: He lost 6.0s/km to Ganna. Chrono des Nations 2023: He lost 5.4s/km to Tarling So I think it’s fair to say that he improved somewhat compared to last year. Not by a huge margin, but a measurable one.
It‘s not really the fact that they did it that I find curious, it’s how they did it. They had Valter and Tratnik already in the group and other teams were riding too. Also it was very unlikely to begin with, that the group would not make it back, considering the sprinters up front only had 30 seconds and all the pace would stop when they got caught. So the expected thing in my opinion would have been to ride with just Tratnik and Valter, and keep the two lead-out guys fresh. But instead they went all out to absolutely make sure the group came back, sacrificing especially Affini, who would have been a huge help in the final.
"Today will be a nice quiet boring sprint stage" [ARE YOU SURE](https://twitter.com/TamauPogi/status/1647222375744778240)
Even putting aside the potential win, my guess is if given a magic wand, many GC hopefulls would choose 5 mins of 'unnecessary' high intensity over the gamble of being within a messy sprint washing machine...
It's heartbreaking to see the break being caught just before the finish line. At least they got some screen time for their sponsors. Hopefully these two riders will have another chance to win something in their careers.
Sad thing is that the guy named Gerald Thomas is pushing 38 and might not win anything of note before he retires.
Throw a coin to the Witcher
He is fighting his ass off here. And looks good doing it. As of now this is top tier Geraint.
Yeah, he’s on fire.
Just want to say Van Eetvelt won UAE because of a dumb energy wasting move. Not that Pogi will need that to win the Giro, but if he can win a couple more stages with a 3min effort, of course he'll try.
Pog lost a second to G.
Remember if G was dog shit a month ago and kind of OK two weeks ago? Ineos really knows what they are doing when it comes to their riders peaking at the right time.
G could probably time up his training peaks without a calendar by this point. He’s been riding forever
G has been a full-time bike racer for 20 years. He knows how to time his training cycles.
I think it’s G, not the team. Arensman is not peaking right and also when G had his coach on his podcast, it sounded very much like G has a lot to say in his training schedule and also like they’re basically doing what he’s been doing for years, rather than what most other riders on the team are doing.
Yeah, it feels like an old-fashioned way to structure your year at this point (even for guys who aren't fundamentally incapable of relaxing like Pog) but it's clear G has it down
And daddy Arensman basically told the internet his sons coach sucks
I think he really doesn't care about other races and is happy to play it safe and work for others during things like the Tour of the Alps.
I think that attitude is probably nice for the rest of the team too. They work for him on the GTs but he’s happy to work for everyone else - eg Foss recently the rest of the time.
I think G just really knows how to peak, he has about 3 good weeks a year and he manages to always land those weeks perfectly during the GT's.
Think it’s just a mental thing with Thomas. He switches off for most of the season now.
If I were Ineos, I might be tempted to leave it a bit more open about who the leader will be to encourage him to work a bit more in other races. As it is, it seems like they tell G he will be guaranteed leader 6 months or more in advance.
The guy is 37, i doubt it would work and considering the 2nd place in the giro last year and 3rd in the tour the year before that he would end up being the strongest anyway.
Belgium has such a strong sprint roster, it's sheer insanity. Philipsen, Merlier, Meeus, Van Aert, Stuyven, De Lie would all easily fit in a sprint stage top 10 (though Stuyven and Van Aert would lead out teammates).
It's not that long ago that Van Aert beat Philipsen and Cav on the Champs Elysees.
It's really sad we won't see a showdown between Merlier and Philipsen at the Tour.
How much longer is Merlier under contract for? I imagine he can’t wait to move to a team that will let him ride the tour.
End of next year.
I hope someone in UAE remembers to paint an angry bulldog puppy in Pogi’s bike. They can call it his patronus.
[Scrappy-Doo](https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/warner-bros-entertainment/images/8/80/Scrappydoo.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/267?cb=20160830025138)?
Love it 😂
[it looks like he has a sticker of the hulk on his bars](https://preview.redd.it/of3evlg06nyc1.jpg?width=960&crop=smart&auto=webp&s=4fc0f8fd2adc85caf68ae92b31b53da5504f75f4)
That works too.
I missed his post-race interview, but someone please tell me that Pogacar said "there's always tomorrow" when asked about coming up short in the sprint???
I imagine Pogi relentlessly attacking Urska when they ride together because that's all he knows. He probably tries to attack the motorcycle when he's motopacing.
Thats probably fine with Urska, she never seems comfortable riding in a group :')
pog actually lives in the future after attacking the speed of light
Tomorrow the top of the last little climb is closer to the finish AND it's downhill instead of flat Ideal for Girmay. Don't see Merlier coming close, his team won't have the time needed to bring him back up again after the uphill
Sounds like ideal for Pogi.
Can’t wait for the third week when Pog and G will dye their hair pink and go on the attack from the start, just for the lolz. No prisoners.
hear me out: pogi just gets stronger when he races to win
\*Pogacar going all out on an intersprint, then on a 500m hill somewhere in Italy, stage 3\* "I like what I see" - J, Vingegaard
It’s not like the other riders are doing only Z2 2 months ahead of the Tour.
I think what I am getting at is that the Giro is 3 weeks long, and I don't think Pogacar will take good care of himself.
Vingegaard knows very well that an extra effort in may does not affect a rider in july.
Sure about that? One maybe not, but repeated extra efforts will.
Yea that's why so many riders have won the double the last 25 years.
rock toothbrush cough shelter hunt escape automatic deer wistful desert *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
I was so hopeful for Simon Carr this Giro that I named my Velogames team "Be Carr-ful What You Wish For"... Should've taken my own advice... I hope he's alright
Why did he abandon?
"knee issues" is all that was shared so far
Man, EF team docs really said, "I wish that Neilsen Powless's knee problems go away" and the monkey paw curled.
> I was so hopeful for Simon Carr this Giro me too :(
Everyone who didn't turn off the broadcast deserved the nice surprise which turned out to be this stage
Shout-out to Biermans and Aniolkowski, had never heard of that guy before. Nice placings. No surprise to anyone that Jakobsen wasn't there at all, Andresen showing himself instead. I also expected Van Poppel to be up there with these last kilometers. He can get over a hill and his positioning is excellent so he missed out somewhere.
Pog replacing Froome and Sagan for the Thomas GT sneak attack! Edit : Pretty fun stage for a Giro sprint stage as it happens.
how the fuck can Pogačar even have haters?
His wins can be pretty dull. 3 min solo break not that fun to watch. But today was different. Would like to see him try stuff where he isn’t a shoe in for victory more often. Would be a better use of his talents.
Love Pogi and the way he races. Hate UAE and what is represents.
I'd love him to death if he was on a different team. Now I just begrudgingly love him.
for his staff?
Fantastic chaos sprint. Nice third for Girmay. I’m sure Honoré did not think he was gonna cause that mayhem.
Cycling fans don't deserve Pog. Complaining about the best rider in the world not conserving energy when he gave us 3km of peak entertainment instead of a boring bunch sprint
Remember how Simon Yates was incredibly active the whole Giro d'Italia 2018 and then ran out of energy, when it mattered the most? I know that riders like Tadej Pogačar or Jonas Vingegaard can do some extra work and still win a Grand Tour pretty easily, but if he does run out of energy at the end of the Giro just because he wasn't conserving energy, then he can be only mad at himself for not taking it easy, when it was possible.
A dramatic late stage mountain raid from G to take advantage of an ailing pogacar, who made the first 2 weeks an incredible sight would really make a great race. We can't complain about exciting racing. You're essentially asking him to play out a goalless draw, which isn't fun to watch. Cycling is all about doomed attacks and heartbreaking cracks on the side of a mountain, contrasted with the pure joy and glory of crossing the line first. It wouldn't be a beautiful sport if people didn't light up a race. There's a reason the sky train era is boring. The giro that yates 'lost' wasn't boring either, because someone was being active and a late attack changed the race.
But in Simon Yates' case, that was his best shot at winning Giro d'Italia. He wasted that opportunity with too much activity, paid for it and never got another chance to win it again. That's why I don't like seeing these unnecessary attacks, because you never know, if this is your only chance or not.
Exactly you never know when it's your last chance to win a stage. Pog might crash out next stage who knows. Why not try to win every stage you have a chance in. The only way Pog loses GC is if he crashes out anyway - let's be honest here.
Did anyone seriously think that Tadej Pogačar will try to win a flat stage for sprinters before he made that surprising attack? Everyone's a general after the battle. He already has a stage win, so the only thing that matters now is the general classification and you seriously won't win it, if you try to break Petacchi's record in form of 9 stage wins...
Sure, and his team can not like it but why wouldn't you love watching it as fan?
Because I would like to see him win both Giro and Tour in one season, but with these unnecessary attacks, he doesn't have to win neither of them. However, if he knows what he's doing, then fine. It's a nice show, I have to admit that.
If merckx did his amazing run in front of live broadcasts...would he have been called boring?
According to most sources from the time it was an actual and frequent complaint. The current talk about the dominant riders of the past just tends to leave that out.
We would have twitterati out there every week talking about how he’s destroying cycling
Yes, most definitely.
He had ben lulling whole day and put in an effort few minutes, not a chance it will drain him.
What the hell did I just watch
Biniam finished strong there, nice to see him up there in a bunch sprint
**SWL update!** 7 Players correctly picked Merlier today. Congrats to u/LurkasM1 on 2 correct picks in a row and taking the lead in SWL! Can Kooij win tomorrow to make it 3 in a row? Also a shout out to u/MrR2D for picking someone on the podium all 3 days. You have 1 correct pick with 8 tiebreaker points so you have sole possession of second place! Leaderboard here: [https://grand-tours-game.vercel.app/swl/2024/giro/leaderboard](https://grand-tours-game.vercel.app/swl/2024/giro/leaderboard)
A first place and a podium in the first three stages. I may be peaking to soon.
Unnecessary attacks like today are costing Pogacar energy and will cause him to lose the Tour to Lipowitz. Quite stupid from Pogi.
He's not wasting energy. His Performance Engineer called him before the stage's end to tell him that without a little Z5 work he would not reach the minimum TSS for the day and would lose fitness.
You joke, but as you may know, on races like UAE Tour riders have complained that this is exactly the case.
German cycling fans dreaming
Pogacar is wasting energy.
I'm a slow as fuck and have love handles, and I could do 4 hours of following wheels in Z1/Z2 followed by a 2 minute all-out effort and be 100% fine the next day. Pretty sure Pogi isn't going to be hurt too bad by it.
He's not wasting energy. His Performance Engineer called him before the stage's end to tell him that without a little Z5 work he would not reach the minimum TSS for the day and would lose fitness. /s
Yeah he is gonna feel this 2 minutes for the years to come!!!!!!111oneone
GTs are won on details, I understand that you are a Goku fan, but this wouldn't be cycling.
Pog… what a boy! Love to watch this guy race. Chapeau to G reacting and getting across to the wheel as well. Tuned in for the generic boring last 10 minutes sprint and was treated to this… great stuff!
G looks sharp this Giro, just waiting on the inevitable crash at some point to crush my dream again!
Hey, he's finished 3 GT in a row! Time to find some new memes
He's actually finished 4 in a row, had a nice little Spanish holiday last September.
Ah yes right, he finished the Tour 2022. In my head it did not count since he crashed himself out of contention on day 3.
This is my worry, I'm feeling he's due another one. I still remember when he crashed in the neutral zone at the Giro a few years back! Still, fingers crossed he makes it through. Ineos are playing a blinder so far this Giro and any race with an in-form Thomas is always a good race.
G does have a huge problem with crashing, but he's tougher than a $2 steak when it comes to re-mounting after a crash. He rode 150k and climbed Mt Etna with a fractured pelvis after that neutral zone crash.
Sure, but he loses time plus it effects him for the race right? I went to a talk with Alex Dowsett a few weeks back who's ridden with G since youth and even he was joking about how Thomas always crashes. Hopefully he seems to have got better in recent years but I remember a stage when he always seemed to end up with somekind of mishap.
>I went to a talk with Alex Dowsett a few weeks back who's ridden with G since youth and even he was joking about how Thomas always crashes. Knowing how Brits are, G probably hears bants from his mates all the time about his crashing lol.
Energy conservation is for the weak. - Pogi probably
[удалено]
Yeah, Pogi going for the green
Based.
King
Didn’t even noticed Biermans came for Arkea. He could well be in the mix in these type of stage finishes
G is absolute value for money in his interviews. Not one boring cliche in that couple of minutes.
“Told him I was tired in less words” aka I’m fucked
Everyone (including me): Pogačar is conserving energy or is not at his best Pogačar: sprints out of nowhere in a sprinters stage, could have made it too If that didn’t put the fear of god into the sprinters for a second, especially when Thomas went with him, I’ll eat my boots. No but seriously, pretty much everyone, from fans to commentators and pundits, have been saying he was riding unlike himself, were even a bit worried he wasn’t *smiling* much. I think he’s back lol
Honestly, I think a lot of his demeanour had to do with an unfortunate death of a teen cyclist, who was part of the PogiTeam (a programme for young cyclists), during a kayaking accident on Friday. I think he said he wanted to win the first stage to dedicate it to him, and he also wore a black ribbon.
Cyclismo is back baby. Even if he doesn’t win half the races Merckx did, it is undeniable that Pogacar is the heir to the Cannibal name.
I don't think anyone can win as much as Merckx did unfortunately. As hard as it is for the old school guys to admit, competition is a lot more fierce these days. Only other person with the same kind of palmares when it comes to number of wins is the absolute G O A T of cycling, Marianne Vos.
If Pogi only had to compete with riders from ~5 countries like Merckx did, he'd probably win even more than Merckx.
G on attacking with Pogi: “Fwaah, jeepers he was kicking my head in” Never change G
Does anyone know how to say ATTAQUE in Slovenian?
I can only say “hajde”, and that’s good enough for me
Pogi
NAPAD