mother of god

Has anyone done something like this in recent history? Surely not?

Bump

Cav is not a likeable guy

What a win by WvA, he looked a bit off pace the first week but only got stronger, and he managed to win three distinct stage types, he is quite the all-rounder.

I'd have liked for Cavendish to win but WvA is also very deserving.

I disagree with the notion that Cavendish gets too much praise for rivaling the incredible record of Merckx (TTTs shouldn't count because it's not individual wins).
I haven't seen anyone suggest Cavendish is actually comparable to Merkx just because he ties one of his numerous records. Merckx is inarguably the GOAT of cycling, but Cavendish is probably the GOAT sprinter and worthy of praise.
The fact that he has equalled a 46 year old record for number of stage wins in the biggest race in the sport warrants some wanking off. Over the past 35 years (since Hinault), nobody else has more than 14 stage wins.
4 stage wins and tying the all time record is an incredible feat no matter what, especially considering the circumstances regarding Cavendish's unlikely comeback. That's not the same as saying Cavendish as a cyclist is at the level of Merckx, because he (or anyobody else) is obviously not, Merckx is far ahead of everyone else in ability and greatness.

Mørkøv gets a lot of praise and is widely regarded as the best lead out man in the world, and it's often made out like virtually anyone could win a sprint if they had the Quickstep leadout, so I think it goes both ways.
I do think it's only natural that the record-tying GOAT sprinter with an incredible comeback story gets more attention than his lead out. While the circumstances this Tour were pretty advantageous for Cavendish, it's still impressive that he can win 4 stages at 36, and he still had to work hard for some of the wins especially the first one. This year's competition being subpar also doesn't take anything away from his accomplishments throughout his career, it's not just his results this Tour that he gets praised for, it's his wins over his whole career.


Anyways back to what's really important; it was a great Tour for Denmark.

I think the Danes could have won a couple of stages, but I wouldn't trade a stage win or two for Vingegaard's incredible performance, and there's great future perspectives for him, too. First podium for a Danish rider in 25 years. It's kind of strange because Fuglsang always said his wish was to podium in the Tour, and he had many years where he was good but not great, and years where he had big wins, but podiuming in the Tour seemed so unattainable. He couldn't reach it and he was the best Danish GC guy since Rasmussen, and then Vingegaard comes and does it like it's no thing. It's a good time for Danish cycling, and next year the Tour will kick off in Copenhagen, I'm thrilled. I hope for a TTT to be included in the course as well, it's one way INEOS and Jumbo can gain time on Pogacar, so I think ASO are very likely to include one.

I will say overall it's not been a particularly exciting Tour, GC wise it was not even close. Still, though, the Tour is always a joy, and so many riders have cemented themselves, Mohoric who has looked like a good classics rider yet not won a classic, Vingegaard who was a talent and is now someone who could captain Jumbo Visma in a GT, Cavendish who nobody thought anything of came back, won 4 stages as if it was a decade ago to tie an incredible record.

Jumbo must feel pretty good, four stage wins and 2nd overall, even though their captain abandoned and they had just 4 guys the last week. Quite crazy that they got this far, I thought their Tour was more or less done (obv they still had WvA to go for stages) when Roglic abandoned.

INEOS were quite underwhelming. They got a podium placement, but surely they aimed for more than 3rd place and no stage wins with their massive budget. A lot of people have criticized Carapaz, but at the same time, Carapaz was pretty much the only guy who really showed up for them, at least of their many potential GC guys.

Astana also didn't accomplish much, Movistar neither but that feels like tradition at this point.

I feel the post Tour blues already. Luckily the Olympics road race is already on Saturday and it will almost certainly be an interesting race.

Yesterday Dylan Groenewegen took his first win (Tour de Wallonie) since coming back from his ban, which was given due to his involvement in the horrific crash Fabio Jakobsen suffered last year.

And today Fabio Jakobsen took his first win since the crash by winning the second stage of the same race. It warms the heart.

Turns out not even the Olympics are safe for Thomas, crashing uphill in this one.

He was no chance anyway.

Best thing about the race is the heat so could spell trouble for Pogacar.

I'd be shocked if Wout has got anything left in the tank by the finish

Remco ****ed it up royally

What did Remco do wrong? He attacked early because he knew he wouldn't be able to keep up with this group anyway.

You don't know that and neither do I, Nibali also died shortly after. When you have wout you have one job and it's to keep guys around him somehow Belgium decided to blow the race up for no reasons and now wout is in nomansland again like Immola

Wout got literally a dozen guys behind his ass atm

Glad those 3 got a medal

Wow super happy for Carapaz

Great for Carapaz and Ecuador, three very deserving medalists.

I wonder if Carapaz will also ride with a golden helmet as van Avermaet decided to. I think it's a neat thing to do, I know there's also the gold on the sleeves but a golden helmet is something you actually notice without needing to watch a closeup.
It's going to take a while to get used to seeing van Avermaet ride with a normal helmet.

Van Aert is claiming all the silver medals for himself, he has a pretty good chance to get another Wednesday in the time trial. Pretty good chance for him to take the gold, too, there's fairly much climbing which should favor him over someone like Ganna.

Happy for Roglic, that's two seasons in a row now where his Tour gets crushed but he ends with a nice consolidation

Couldn't happen to a nicer guy

Agreed, Roglic is very likable.

Pretty insane how hard he crushed the opposition here, it was close between 2-7.
Also nice to see Dumoulin do well after coming back from his break, I hope he'll get back to his best, he is a very enjoyable rider to follow. With Dennis finishing the podium we have a TJV podium if the rumors of him joining Jumbo next season are true. Make TTTs great again for the Tour, please.

Tom Dom!

Very happy to see him and Rog 1-2. Only thing that would have made it better is if Wout was third. Nothing against Dennis, but I’m a much bigger fan of the other three.

Great result for Dennis but didn't really seem a course for him. But disappointed in Porte as it did seem an ITT course that suited him. His whole games and TdF have been disappointing and I wonder if he is still feeling the effects of his crash at the tour.

You never know. I feared the same for Roglic, including after the road race where he fell off the pace quite early. But then he somehow did this. Perhaps planned all along.

Remco crushed the tour of Denmark just for good measure

There just aren't enough superlatives for how good Roglic is. Lopez grinds out a couple hundred yard gap, Primoz decides this foolishness has gone on long enough and he closes it in a matter of seconds.

Shame the tougher parts were at the start and not the finish, this has been a bit all over the place in the group of favorites

Jack Haig is doing pretty well. Pity he can't time trial though.

Wout van Aert is just a **** Magnus Cort

What a strong finish, incredible. And after yesterday even more so.

Thought Vine might steal it but he just died in that last 500m.

Many thousands of words were uttered about Michael Matthews.

Eiking has looked pretty comfortable in red so far, wonder which mountain will break him.