He's gone and done it. 34 for Cavendish. Unbelievable. Who would have thought this 6 months ago.

And Mørkøv comes in second lol, Quickstep are destroying these sprints.

How many more sprint stages are left this year?

Two. Stages 19 and 21. I can’t see Deceuninck getting beaten on the champs.

Morkov could have won that one. He is incredible. I wonder how many sprinters in the peloton could win 3 or 4 stages with that lead out train. Gotta be more than a few.

It really is a sprinter's paradise.

I always thought Elia Viviani was a prime example of how an (relatively speaking) average sprinter can look elite when riding for Quickstep. 16 of 18 of Viviani's "Major Wins" (as listed on Wikipedia) came during the 2 seasons he was with Quickstep.

In the two seasons before he joined them, he had 1 win in the World Tour. Since leaving them, in two seasons again, his best result in a World Tour race is 9th in Brugges De Panne.

This doesn't take anything from Cavendish, of course, because his dominance is still incredible, he's won every sprint he's participated in during this Tour (he was held back by a crash when Merlier won), and the first one he won he didn't get much if any help from his team. Even though Quickstep had great success with many other sprinters, nobody has been as dominant as Cav.

I looked it up and I'm kind of surprised that to learn that Cavendish has already won more Tour stages with Quickstep this year than in his previous stint which spanned 3 seasons (although one year he only raced 1 stage before crashing out), he won "just" 3 stages during those years.

I mean, Kittel won like 5 stages in one TdF when he was with the team. I'm not sure he is more dominant than some others they have brought to the tour recently. He is also buoyed by having very little competition. It feels like there are not as many good sprinters to start with, but it always helps when the best one has to abandon on the third stage and basically takes out one of the other top 5-10 sprinters in the process. JV didn't even bring a sprinter as they have up until last year. I just don't really see who is gonna beat him now. Philpsen? I doubt it. And pure sprinters' stages don't suit Colbrelli or Matthews. It's a perfect storm for Cav this year. Basically fate willing him to the record.

You shouldn’t be surprised, really.

Kittel was a phenomenal sprinter, though. Top 3 over the past 20 years probably, he wasn't just some good sprinter made brilliant by Quickstep, he won 8 stages the 2 Tours before he went to Quickstep.

I do agree that the circumstances are virtually the best possible for Cavendish this year, but even then I'm impressed he's managed to win so much, and there are still guys like WvA who casually destroyed the sprinters last year whom Cavendish has beaten.

But it also feels like the level of the best sprinters at the moment just isn't very high, not just at the Tour but across the board. The best sprinters are Ewan, Bennett, Groenewegen (? Before his ban I thought he was one of the fastest), maybe Merlier, and then a vast number of below the top, but the top are nowhere near as clear of the rest as the days we had Cavendish, Greipel, Kittel and Sagan at the same time. There were a couple of years where literally nobody else won a single bunch sprint at the Tour, these guys were just untouchable.

Big break today, seems like they'll settle the win between them even though they're not yet out the reach of the peloton. But it'll probably break up on a climb and some stronger riders will form a group and ride on for the win.

Not the meanest climbs in the world, so probably not a massively impactful day for the GC guys. I hope I'm wrong, though. Also, the high altitude climbs combined with a hot day might make some of them struggle, Pogacar himself has stated he's not fond of warm weather (and last year he struggled on Col de la Loze, which was the highest altitude day of the Tour). We might see some GC guys lose time, but I suspect it'll be because they can't keep up with the favorite group rather than an outright attack from any of them.

Quite a few really good climbers in the lead group, will be interesting to see how many stay together.

Easy job for UAE though, they only have to mark what, about six or eight guys? As long as you don't let Carapaz/Mas/Uran/Vingegaard/Keldermann etc go off the front, nothing to worry about at all.

UAE could have a team of sprinters supporting Pogacar and he'd still be ok.

Kuss is alone in front. First stage win by an American in 10 years incoming?

Guillaume Martin is struggling massively.

Carapaz attacks!

KUSS

Great battle on that last climb, Vingegaard, Pogacar and Uran looking a step above the rest of the contenders.

Can’t believe Kuss was able to hold off Valverde through the descent. I thought he was an underdog there but he managed to hold the gap steady the whole way. Im so happy he was able to get the win and I hope he can ride the Giro and pick up a stage win there in the next couple of years.

The KoM and stage battles were fantastic. The GC had perhaps a dull end but at least some of them made an effort to put the others under pressure.

I wish somebody would get close enough to Pog to make someone else winning feel possible, but barring a crash it seems out of reach. Couldn’t have a much better fight for second though.

I predict nothing happens Tuesday but Wed/Thu should be fire

USA#1

Looks like another day for a strong break. The climbs today aren't extremely tough and it ends with a descent. Post rest day legs can also be tricky sometimes, and with 2 massive mountain stages in the next two days, today will probably not be too eventful for the GC guys.

Today is the day.

Two appetizers in the form of Peyresourde and Val Louren (both cat 1) before the toughest climb of this year's Tour: Col du Portet.

I believe it'll be a battle between the GC guys for the stage, Carapaz needs to win time before the TT even for the podium, and today should suit him quite well and there's the stage to win, too. I think INEOS will make the race as hard as possible and then it'll be mano a mano on Portet. A break isn't impossible but I think it's unlikely unless the favorites' teams go all in only on the climbs and just cruise until Tourmalet, but there should be helpers to burn to keep the break within reach.

Kruijswijk abandon, TJV down to 4 riders.

Pogacar will destroy everyone on the final climb today.

Vingegaard for me

I think Pogacar will win but man I hope it'll be Vingegaard.

Hmm I don't like how Vingegaard looks when the camera is close, he is looking around, he doesn't look as cool and focused as he did in the previous days.

Jesus what a battle

Vingegaard's facial expression got better after I called it out, he looked good.

Rolf Sørensen called Carapaz bluff early on the Danish commentary, said he thought he was better than he let on.

Vingegaard looked in big trouble but fights back and even finishes 2nd.

Pogacar the strongest, but not on a totally difference plane to the competition.

Uran the big loser of today.

I can't wait for tomorrow.

Lol **** INEOS