It's not like Pogacar rode a bad TT, he put more than a minute into everybody else. Vingegaard just had an absolutely insane ride.

That would be incredibly sad.

I still remember the Armstrong vs. Ulrich duels. The latter has an Amazon Prime documentary coming out soon and still claims that he didn't really cheat because everyone was doing it.

I do have quite a bit of sympathy with that line of argument but mainly for the mid and lower ranks, not people like Ulrich. I think there was a lot of guys in the peloton who didn't want to dope but literally had to or they were out of a job.

Yeah that is the most unfathomable thing about it. Pogacar is several levels above everyone else in the world - he'd be leading the Tour by 7 mins if Vingegaard didn't exist - but Vingegaard was just on yet another level today.

When Pogacar beat Roglic, at least it was also partly because Roglic had an off-day finishing 5th, all of Porte, WvA and Dumoulin were within 1.5 mins of Pogacar - and that TT was 36 km.

I'm still struggling to wrap my head around what we've just witnessed.

Can't wait to watch. TTs are usually bad TV, but a VingeGOAT performance is must see.

Was excited for tomorrow & Saturday but that felt like a punch in the gut as someone rooting for Pogacar

Yep, agreed. Superhuman stuff today. Tbh he looked faster on the start straight and then visibly faster the entire time.

Incredible. And he’ll probably take more time tonight.

I’d love to see the release of data the bike change to see whether that cost or gained Pog relatively.

The Lemond Fignon 1989 tt remains the most dramatic and memorable sports event I’ve watched.

Well, the bike change took 13 seconds and the gap grew after it

But we don't know by how much more the gap would have grown if he had switched or if Pog didn't switch.

For a slow tourist who would have used the TT bike like a road bike the difference could be calculated based on power and weight (rider + setup). Assuming same power numbers for TT bike and road bike. The latter also isn't true for pros who can put out 10-20 watts more on a road bike compared to being in aero position on the TT bike. Also ignoring the fact that we don't know CdA numbers for anyone. A world class climber who never trains/rides in aero position will have smaller gains if he only does it a couple times a year on a tour time trial. (Or he just doesn't ride a TT bike there)

Vingegaard spent a decent amount of time uphill in aero position though and for longer stretches was going at a speed where the design of the TT bike still provides measurable aero gains. Especially towards the end of the course. IOW for somebody like him it does make a difference if he's on a 20lbs TT bike or road bike up the hill.

One important factor that I haven't seen anyone talk about is bike weight. Vingegaard was riding a P5 which weights less than 8.2 kg in his size. That means he can only save less than 1.4 kg on a bike swap because of the 6.8 kg weight limit. I didn't see any numbers for Pogacar's Calnago bike but the setup looked considerably heavier. So he could save a lot more weight by switching to the road bike.

Double punch

Vingegaard already going super careful on the descent. He knows it's over unless he crashes over the last couple of days.

wtf. this is a 1990s style gap. guess that can happen with only 2 GC contenders

Bit of anti-climax!

Lol at the motorbike/official car getting in the way of Vingegaard and Kelderman. Really is an amateur operation in this day and age

I had expected today to be decisive, and even more so after yesterday, but obviously nothing like the demolition we just saw.

I thought it might've been due to the crash, but Pogacar said he didn't think it hurt that much, and that he was just completely empty.

It's very probable that his crash and broken wrist in Liege have negatively impacted his preparation for the Tour and that's what's showing now.

Tadej Fans

I agree with this.

Also think the psychology of the gap after yesterday meant that Pog realised he couldn’t win and maybe that gave him less fight. If he’d been 2 mins ahead going into last night then my guess is that he wouldn’t have blown up quite as badly

But it certainly was conclusive

Who says flat stages are boring, what an insane stage.

Asgreen was actually my favorite before today, he had been looking good and said he was gonna go for it one of these two days, although I did not have much hope when it was just three guys from KM 0, but some serious engines out there.

Insanity seeing that Asgreen had been leading 37% of the time, far more than any of the others, and is still the strongest in the sprint. He just has those days where he is a motorbike and nobody in the world can keep going as long as he can. It's reminiscent of Flanders when he first dropped van Aert with vdP and then beat vdP in a sprint because vdP just had nothing left in the tank.

I bet on him which saved this Tour betting-wise for me.

Yesterday was another crazy breakaway stage. I had put another bet on Asgreen because he indicated the day prior he felt good and might try again, but I was surprised that he was that strong once.

It looks very promising and it seems like he might be back to his 2021 form when for a while he almost made the three musketeers (WvA, MvdP and Alaphilippe) to a quartet. He might be my favorite rider so I'm thrilled that he seems to be back at the top level.

I was less thrilled after the photo finish as I saw that Mohoric beat him by three centimeters though, although seeing what must be one of the most touching winner's interviews, it's easy to be happy for him.
The insight into the life of a pro rider is great, it is so incredibly hard work and many get very little to show for it. It is a world of will and determination, of enduring as much pain as possible, you can almost hear the awe in his voice when he talks about what it must've taken for Asgreen to go on the attack again after a gruelling day yesterday.

Was an incredible interview. I had to double-check he won Milan-San Remo and not some jobber with his first ever win. Imposter syndrome must be a tough one in the peleton

I strongly advise not to watch on a French channel today. They're only at the pre-race show part of it and I've heard Pinot mentioned 125 times already

Tour has been so crazy this year that Pogacar will somehow keep his 3 stage wins per GT streak alive tomorrow.

Pinot made a valiant effort last night. Happy for Pog to win a stage but it was an emphatic loss this year.

I mean....that's a long shot. But 11 stage wins already puts him equal 23rd at the age of 24 and in the company with the lifetime achievements of many great sprinters, with maybe a decade of tours still ahead of him.

of the great GC riders, he has Indurain 12, Anquetil 16 within reach. Hinault at 28 and Merckx at 34 are out there in the distance.

It's possible he could reach them...certainly his attacking style and sprinting ability make it conceivable. But a long shot

As I type this out, I wonder how many stages Indurain could have won if he ever attacked on the mountain stages.

Indurain was careful not to show how doped he was.