Yep just watched it on ESport.. They were sweating and gasping for air on the way up, doing 70-80 km per hour going down only to be told to stop as they were heading for thick ice ... x
Unreal wasn't it. That mud slide looked wild. Alaphilippe looked like he was going to lose the Malliot Jaune today anyway, but he must be gutted. Fair play to Bernal at 22 years old. It's his to lose now with the last effective stage tomorrow.
Yep..correct me if I’m wrong but they won’t let Gee fight it out with Bernal tomorrow will they.. What a bad day for French cycling.. I think ENO was their last winner in the 80s ? ... x
Yeah, not good form for Thomas to fight Bernal. He can't complain though and rightly hasn't. He was in Bernal's shoes last year with Froome.
True, very true.. I hate to say it but I still feel that they all have to be on something to be able to push their bodies to those extremes day after day.. x
It’s not unusual in the Alps for the weather to change quickly or differ massively over a distance of a few kilometres. I have ridden in the Alps in June and encountered freshly snow ploughed roads and I have ridden in September and encountered ice on the northern descent of the Col du Galibier. The Tour de France has occasionally encountered adverse weather conditions which have resulted in cancelled stages or altered routes. I don’t think that Alaphilippe had a hope of holding onto the yellow jersey. He would have probably managed to catch up with Thomas before the start of the last climb, but he’d have been dropped again and would potentially have lost even more time to Bernal than he did. Thomas will now ride to support Bernal. Only if Bernal cracks will Thomas do anything other than ride to help Bernal win the Tour. Thomas is a great team rider and proved in his rides with Froome that he is very good at pacing riders up climbs. Saturday will be interesting. The stage has been shortened to 59km due to landslides. They will ride 25.5km on the flat and then do the 33.5km ascent of Vals Thorens. I suspect that one of the pure climbers will win the stage and Bernal will win the Tour and the white jersey, which is quite an achievement. Only four riders have done that before (Fignon in 1983, Ullrich in 1997, Contador in 2007 and Schleck in 2010). Sagan has effectively won the green jersey (his seventh - the most ever) and I suspect that Bardet will win the polka dot jersey. So that will be a bit of consolation for France after today’s disappointment of Pinot abandoning and Alaphilippe losing the lead. The French will have to wait yet another year for their first winner since Hinault in 1985.
