Posted on 07/26/2019 8:05:01 AM PDT by DUMBGRUNT
As they closed in on the summit, defending champion Geraint Thomas thought he detected something. He told his teammate Egan Bernal it was time to shake up this race. So Bernal took stock of his legs, glanced at his rivals and made a break for it. The move worked better than Thomas expected—just not for him. By the end of the stage, Bernal had picked up over half a minute and leapfrogged into second place overall.
What makes the difference between a winning attack and a waste of energy is knowing how to read which riders are feeling wobbly—and knowing how to hide it when that rider is you.
The elite of the professional peloton know each other so well that they pick up on tiny changes in body language. It’s far from an exact science, but in a sport obsessed with microscopic details, nothing is worth ignoring.
...the first thing that he always noticed was his opponents’ breathing. Riders tear up mountains so close together that he could tell whose lungs were burning without even looking over. That was the moment to strike.
Pedaling cadence is another vital clue.
. “A bluff will sometimes be a little bit exaggerated, but it’s still tough to suss out.”
There is always a surefire way to know someone is in deep trouble.
“When they’re dropped,” Team Ineos climber Wout Poels said with a grin. “Then I know they’re doing bad.”
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Occasionally you will see the rider RUNNING with the bike attempting to restart!!!
Had to stop the race, call it at a summit. Hail, snow, huge amount of water blocked the road. Yellow jersey went to Bernal due to where they called the race.
I’m busy reading the paper, no time for the news!!!
Tour de France 2019: Bernal set for yellow as hail and snow stops stage 19 – live! (~22 Minutes ago)
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/live/2019/jul/26/tour-de-france-2019-stage-19-live
Some of us record in the early morning and watch after work.
31m ago
15:49
From the TV pictures, it looks completely understandable. It’s apparently several inches of hail on the road.
Pictures at this link:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cycling/2019/07/26/tour-de-france-2019-stage-19-live-updates/
And up the way in Paris it is 108F!!!!
About 400 miles.
Robbed Allaphilipe of his chance to regain time on the descent.
Less a race stage than a two-ring circus.
Less a race stage than a two-ring circus.
And a very dangerous show it was becoming.
If this was Paris–Roubaix they may have paused to clear the road of the mudslide, maybe?
And impossible.
Short videos (~30 sec) of the conditions.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1154771153736671232
https://twitter.com/i/status/1154768671098769410
https://twitter.com/i/status/1154766634072125440
Then why would you even click on to the thread?
Ya shouldda waited ‘till after ya viewed.
Well, I won’t get the rest of the Tour because NBC it taking it over from NBCSN. NBC is trying to extort money from AT&T UVerse and thus Nexstar has taken the NBC channel off of the lineup I paid for. A$$holes.
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