Tour de France 2026 ***Spoilers***

[TakeTheHighRoad]

The Lanterne Rouge highlights were good for showing the 3 second rule gap which meant Vinge didn't lose time to Pog

There was a rogue Cofidis rider (HugoPage) 2.5s behind Pog group and 2.5s ahead of Vinge group. If he wasn't there, Jonas would've lost about 15 seconds. As he was, it was same time for all the GC boys, 14 seconds down on the sprinter's group

 

[Pross]

Pogi & Jonas need to stress the yellow jersey on the tourmalet surely

I'm not sure they'll bother about him at this stage. They wouldn't have let him get such a big lead if they were concerned about pulling the time back. I hope that's the case as it would be good to see them having to battle in week 3 after finding him harder to shake than expected a bit like when TV Tommy was in yellow (or Alaphilippe although he never had a big lead but just proved to be a better climber than people had given him credit for).

 

[Dogtrousers]

The Lanterne Rouge highlights were good for showing the 3 second rule gap which meant Vinge didn't lose time to Pog

There was a rogue Cofidis rider (HugoPage) 2.5s behind Pog group and 2.5s ahead of Vinge group. If he wasn't there, Jonas would've lost about 15 seconds. As he was, it was same time for all the GC boys, 14 seconds down on the sprinter's group

The TNT crew were initially saying they thought there was a split and JV had lost time but then the results came up and I assumed something like that had happened. Sort of split but not a split.

LR picked it out very well. Generally good videos to watch I think.

 

[Dorset Boy]

Personally, I think 3 seconds is too big a gap to not be given.
1 second may be too small a gap.
2 seconds might therefore be the sweet spot.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Alex Molenaar, the Caha Rural rider who looked in a bad way after the crash is DNS today

 

[Dogtrousers]

Personally, I think 3 seconds is too big a gap to not be given.
1 second may be too small a gap.
2 seconds might therefore be the sweet spot.

ISTR the increase to 3 seconds on sprint stages was one of the relatively recent safety things. Last year? Year before? Same time as yellow cards?

Seems fair enough to me because it's such a lottery. Absent of any crashes or other unusual things the "non combatants" on a sprint stage should all finish together, so a big gap seems fair enough.

I guess what it does mean is that when there actually is a gap, the accumulated time is bigger. The victim of this yesterday was Edward Planckaert who was given a time of 0:40, that's 26s behind the next rider on the road, Tim Marsman. The real gap between Planckaert and Marsman will have been a lot less, because the 26s was actually the gap between Planckaert and Pog, 60 riders ahead, Marsman having been given ST as Pog.

TBH I'm too ignorant to have a proper opinion on this.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

ISTR the increase to 3 seconds on sprint stages was one of the relatively recent safety things. Last year? Year before? Same time as yellow cards?

Seems fair enough to me because it's such a lottery. Absent of any crashes or other unusual things the "non combatants" on a sprint stage should all finish together, so a big gap seems fair enough.

I guess what it does mean is that when there actually is a gap, the accumulated time is bigger. The victim of this yesterday was Edward Planckaert who was given a time of 0:40, that's 26s behind the next rider on the road, Tim Marsman. The real gap between Planckaert and Marsman will have been a lot less, because the 26s was actually the gap between Planckaert and Pog, 60 riders ahead, Marsman having been given ST as Pog.

TBH I'm too ignorant to have a proper opinion on this.

To be fair, it all gets a bit weird.
Apparently Belgian TV measured the gap between the Pog group and the Vingegaard group at 2.8", which is certainly cutting it fine. Could be a new strat of sticking a domestique up front to drop back and sit in the gap between two groups if there's a crash - effectively turning 3" into 6" if they get the timing right

Visma sat at the back on sprint stages in the Giro, but the tactic may not make it through the whole Tour.
Vingegaard was asked about it pre-stage yesterday and said he hoped the other GC riders would follow suit. Doesn't look like it now, but it's a classic prisoner's dilemma in that while it's best for everyone if all GC teams cooperate and chill at the back, what's best for each team is to be at the front, regardless of what other teams choose.

 

[No Ta Doctor]

Yeah it’s that sort of gradient where you’re wondering why it’s feeling hard and are checking for punctures / rubbing brakes as it’s barely visible but after a while you realise you’re a lot higher than you were.

According to Innrng it's got a bit of a kick - steeper than the labelled 6ish % - around the Chaos de Coumély

 

[Blazing Saddles]

ISTR the increase to 3 seconds on sprint stages was one of the relatively recent safety things. Last year? Year before? Same time as yellow cards?

Seems fair enough to me because it's such a lottery. Absent of any crashes or other unusual things the "non combatants" on a sprint stage should all finish together, so a big gap seems fair enough.

I guess what it does mean is that when there actually is a gap, the accumulated time is bigger. The victim of this yesterday was Edward Planckaert who was given a time of 0:40, that's 26s behind the next rider on the road, Tim Marsman. The real gap between Planckaert and Marsman will have been a lot less, because the 26s was actually the gap between Planckaert and Pog, 60 riders ahead, Marsman having been given ST as Pog.

TBH I'm too ignorant to have a proper opinion on this.

The whole race is a lottery. Historically the race is littered with bad luck incidents on the road. I don’t see why sprint stages should now offer special protection for all against accidental time loss.

Contrast yesterday with a mountain finish. A rider can be at the back of a file and leave a tiny gap at the line. Because of the slower speeds, this can easily end with a 1 second gap being called and cost the rider 20-30 seconds on GC.

I think the idea of a 2 second gap for all stages is a good compromise.

 

[mididoctors]

3 secs worked . Basically extends the sprint zone

 

[mididoctors]

They're off

 

[mididoctors]

Victor

 

[Blazing Saddles]

Campenaerts as a defensive measure for later on?

 

[mididoctors]

Campenaerts as a defensive measure for later on?

Having numbers on the draggy finish could be important

 

[Blazing Saddles]

3 secs worked . Basically extends the sprint zone

We’ll have to disagree there.