Tour de France 2025 (CONTAINS SPOILERS!)

[TakeTheHighRoad]

I watched the ITV4 highlights yesterday. I would quite like it if not for Millar. Maybe if they had one of their historical features and guillotined him it would pull in the viewers.

Re should they have waited. Well they are pro cyclists and I'm a know-nothing eejit, so I defer to them. But that aside, is it possible that Pog, with help from Yates A and I think other teammates could well have got back anyway, or at least reduced the deficit to very little? If that's right, sitting up just added a veneer of niceness to the inevitable. A bit like when Pidders waited for Pog in Strade Bianchi. Outcome similar but sportsmanship points awarded.

Come to think of it, he's making a habit of this. Jonas in the tour a couple of years ago. Pidders in SB, and now this. If only that rotten MVDP had waited for him he might have won Paris Roubaix

I think this is the thing. The risk reward meant they earnt more in goodwill than they would have earned in time gains

 

[mididoctors]

Pog crashes a fair bit . This crash was not him over cooking a corner [often on a descent] while in the presence of a close rival . So I guess waiting seems reasonable I suppose.
Pidders didn't really wait out of fair play .he was too far from the finish. MvdP slowed down seeing pog was going to stack it which is the ultimate unforced error and as such the correct outcome . Jonas waited after pog made a bit of a idiot of himself trying to pressurise Jonas to crash! then kinda humiliated him by waiting .


Pog is not a great bike handler ...he is not terrible. He does crash well though which is a great super power .. cav was another good crasher ,..

 

[matticus]

I'm glad they waited - under the circumstances - but also amazed. Last few km, a GC contender who wasn't even wearing a leader's jersey - when did the peloton last wait in that situation??

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I think this is the thing. The risk reward meant they earnt more in goodwill than they would have earned in time gains

Absolutely. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the peloton decides what is the right thing to do, and if the peloton decides you've been a dick they will make it very, very hard for you.

Pog already has a lot of influence in the peloton, great mates with MvdP and Remco for instance, if Visma had been dicks about it they'd get punished - rightly - and probably not just by UAE. The peloton polices and enforces this stuff. It's an eternal game of prisoners dilemma, running over stage races, a season, multiple seasons.

But aside from the pragmatics of it, I just don't think Jonas is the sort of rider that would want to take advantage there.

Oh yeah - everyone saying "Lance would have" is correct, but he was a sociopath who ruled the peloton with an iron fist, so nobody was going to get on the wrong side of him. Until he was on his way down, when literally everyone piled in to make sure his head had been properly chopped off, his heart staked and the body burnt to a cinder.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

I'm glad they waited - under the circumstances - but also amazed. Last few km, a GC contender who wasn't even wearing a leader's jersey - when did the peloton last wait in that situation??

There was no real race on for them though, the stage was already gone, so no excuse for it.

 

[mididoctors]

If it was Ben Healy who called for the wait .....which is what I am hearing . It's understandable. Twice UAE have slowed the chase to him in breakaways helping EF get yellow and a stage . Favour for a favour

 

[No Ta Doctor]

If it was Ben Healy who called for the wait .....which is what I am hearing . It's understandable. Twice UAE have slowed the chase to him in breakaways helping EF get yellow and a stage . Favour for a favour

Healy said he discussed it with Vingegaard. I'm pretty sure they were all agreed. It's really not contentious. Would have been very different if the stage win was on the line.

 

[mididoctors]

I would have been ok if they all put their heads on the stem and went for it myself

 

[mididoctors]

I'm glad they waited - under the circumstances - but also amazed. Last few km, a GC contender who wasn't even wearing a leader's jersey - when did the peloton last wait in that situation??

Lance waited for Ulrich ,.trying to think 🤔 might be more

 

[misforturob]

If it was Ben Healy who called for the wait .....which is what I am hearing . It's understandable. Twice UAE have slowed the chase to him in breakaways helping EF get yellow and a stage . Favour for a favour

I've also read somewhere that it was Remco who called for them to stop - so I think a lot of people are trying to take credit for this!

 

[Dogtrousers]

Credit to Abrahamsen for his use of English in his interview. Describing his win as "so nice" was ... well ... nice.

And he didn't say "super" once.

 

[matticus]

Healy said he discussed it with Vingegaard. I'm pretty sure they were all agreed. It's really not contentious. Would have been very different if the stage win was on the line.

I didn't see/read that, but in the interview I did see (shown on ITV4) he pretty strongly gave the impression that he just went along with the crowd, not taking any active part in the decision-making process.
Of course, that may have just been due to his choice of phrasing in a short interview - the full story may be more interesting.

 

[matticus]

And he didn't say "super" once.

There should be extra Green Jersey points for this.

 

[mididoctors]

I didn't see/read that, but in the interview I did see (shown on ITV4) he pretty strongly gave the impression that he just went along with the crowd, not taking any active part in the decision-making process.
Of course, that may have just been due to his choice of phrasing in a short interview - the full story may be more interesting.

Maybe they all thought the same thing independently? It happens

 

[Pblakeney]

Lance waited for Ulrich ,.trying to think 🤔 might be more

I seem to remember Wiggins slowing the peloton.