Maybe you could log in remotely to another country’s online footage?

Australian TV shows it on a free channel - SBS. Their online service is called SBS on Demand and it’s also free. Worth a try?


Fun end to stage 2. I thought Pog might win it tbh - a little surprised he couldn’t quite get there

Man, sad to see Philipsen crash out. Didn't look his fault at all.

Dark day for Vingegaard fans - probably the worst TT he's ever had at the Tour.

It was so underwhelming that I can't help but wonder if he has a cold or some stomach bug or something because he's so far below his level - and he's looked very good so far. Hopefully it's just a blip and we'll all forget it when he takes 10 min in the third week but this is not a good omen.

Yeah it was grim and he looked very flat.

Let’s see how the Alps go but he those two huge week 3 days at high altitude do look very well suited to him

'sup cyclemaniacs,

Is it weird both Vingegaard and Jorgenson had bad days for them and finished about the same time? I think it's weird. Being the casual (but easily enthralled) fan I am, I've never noticed this Affini character before but it sounded like he's a TT specialist.

I'm constructing a narrative where there was bad coaching or directing by Lisa-bike but Affini knew better and ignored it. Plausible? Ish?

I wouldn't say Jorgensen had a bad day, he had a solid ride in my opinion, 1 second from top 10.

Affini is very good, being European champion and finishing third at the World Championship TT, but he also got to ride early on when the wind conditions were a lot better. The stage design also favored the specialists, as it was very flat.

Vingegaard was just far below the expected level.

I don't think it's the strategy, Vingegaard said himself yesterday that he just couldn't hit the watt numbers that he was supposed to be capable of, so he was just clearly below the level he should be at.

The million dollar question is why. He's said there's no explanation, it's just a bad day, but it's strange for him to suddenly have arguably his worst day at the Tour ever when he's looked very good thus far - especially given that he usually never has these massive off days.

One plausible explanation might be that he is in fact a bit sick, some stomach issues or a cold, but they obviously would not inform the competition of that, because if UAE knew that Vingegaard is unwell they will make today and the following days as hard as humanely possible (and I do suspect UAE might try to make it hard today to gauge the situation).

I don't know if that's the case, it's just such an anomalous performance that it is difficult to make sense of if it really was just a "bad legs" kind of situation.

In the GOAT convo, Merckx is still way out in front.

Tadej should change his surname to SEacar. Obviously seems to be in sublime form. Jonas too, despite the TT.

Dam that was a crash.

Reassuring to see Vingegoat look good. Hopefully it just one off day.

Had spotted that a long time ago, but can't believe how poor scheduling it is to have the 2 flattest stages ever on a week-end..

I want to say "what were they thinking?!" but I know there is a lot that goes into preparing and they're obviously not clueless so what am I missing??

I’ve been really surprised how few true sprint stages there’s been so far. Like, since when has the yellow jersey favourite been in Green after week 1?

Definitely weird timing to have the sprint stages now but it’s needed for the flow of the race

Bastille Day on Monday:

It seems to me that they always try to schedule the Tour in a manner that "hurts" the favorite rider, who this year is unquestionably Pogacar.

Pogacar has historically been beaten by Jonas by a difficult third week while having the upper hand in the earlier parts. Last year there were many early difficult stages (including Galibier on day 4 or 5) - and a gravel stage where Pogacar was also heavily favored due to how great he's been in Stade Blanche and gravel in general.

This year it's the opposite, with probably the most difficult 1.5 final weeks in more than a decade, with some of the most crazy stages I can remember (esp the 5.6km altitude day). It's also quite interesting that they're basically giving Pogacar a trip down memory lane of all the mountains where he's been dropped by Vingegaard - except for Granon - with all of Hautacam, Ventoux and Col de la Loze.

Fun stage today and really great to have a breakaway result in a new Yellow

Jonas looked strong enough today to challenge in the third week and I think UAE looking very weak might be an issue for Tadej

I've seen a lot of conspiracy theories but not many are remotely close to this. Bravo.

Interesting to me that Yates got the go ahead for the stage win, I figured he was up the road in order to help Vingegoat if he needed it. Then again, when you look at the whole Visma lineup never mind, it was probably a very easy decision.

Lisa-bike realizes that at some point they are going to need to finish actual seconds before he finishes, right?

Also think this wasn’t a super scary stage for Jonas. If he couldn’t defend that final climb then he isn’t a serious contender for GC

I agree with feel wrath's assessment of yesterday. It wasn't a stage where they had to try to make the stage difficult, and having a few riders in the front could have been useful if there was an attack from Jonas or Pogi at some point - while also giving a chance of a stage win if nothing happened. You could argue that it's a mistake to not just preserve them - esp Yates - as much as possible so he's of the most use in the mountains to come, but otoh wins are rarely a bad thing for the team overall or team morale.

Overall I think Vingegaard and Visma are satisfied with how things are going.

Barring the disastrous and unexplainable TT, Vingegaard has not seemed to struggle too much to keep up with Pogi's attacks, which he seemed to often when Pogi launched an attack last year.

I agree yesterday's stage was too easy and too early for it to be Vingegaard-day - I expect we'll see Visma put the pressure on in both the Pyrenees and Alps (although probably more aggressively so in the latter). Vingegaard also said after yesterday that he felt great, so I'm gonna risk it and be cautiously optimistic.

Pogacar has not looked as on top as he did last year (or in Dauphine, for that matter), I think. He has seemed somewhat conservative (at least for him) and hasn't gone all out on the stage where Vingegaard nearly snapped but Pogi seemed to also cook himself, Mur de Bretagne or yesterday, all of which seemed like better climbs on paper for him than for Vingegaard.

Granted, at this point last year I was a full believer in VingeGOAT after he won that one stage after the insane comeback, and we all know how it went once they got to the real mountains.

It's possible that Pogacar has sacrificed a bit of his punch and ability on these hilly mountain stages in order to improve in the gruelling and high mountains, in which case he will be virtually unbeatable barring illness or a crash. But until this becomes known for a fact, I think Visma and Vingegaard are satisfied with the position that they are in right now. Obviously, there will be a point where they need to try to drop Pogacar, but those days will come.

... but ofc it's also entirely plausible that Pogacar flies up Hautacam on Thursday, taking 1+ minute, which would just cement that he's clearly levels above, in which case there are no tactical dispositions that would enable Vingegaard to beat him anyway.

meh stage today and then a super exciting Thurs to Sat.

as a Pog fan, I'm hoping for a win and increased lead on Thurs and then a tt win on Fri to create a decent lead and some breathing space, but as a Tour fan it would be great to have the race win in the balance for the two huge days at altitude next week

Today's stage is interesting and, it seems to me, rather tricky to predict.

There are several scenarios at play here. One is UAE controlling and Pogi flying up the mountain because he feels great.

Another is Visma controlling and making the race hard because Jonas is feeling great and they keep up their strategy of trying to grind Pogi down. In that case I don't think we'll see Jonas go all out - the Tour is long yet and, theoretically, he should get better and better, today is the first mountain stages and one of the "easier" ones so I don't think Visma will necessarily attack this stage as hard as they will some of the later, more gruelling stages.

We should get an indication of their levels today, however. I think some would argue that if Jonas doesn't gain time it's a win for Pogi, seeing as he's in the lead but I disagree. It seems to me that if they reach the finish line together, it will be a good sign for Jonas, just because I think that Pogacar of last year would have dropped Jonas easily here. Pogi's attacks thus far have been nullified, and if Pogi doesn't attack it, it would also be an indication that he isn't confident that he's a level above Jonas. However, there is the caveat that we don't know if he's affected by his crash yesterday, which might make him more conservative even if his form is great.

Even a marginal time gain for Pogacar (5-15 seconds) is within the scope of what would be an acceptable result for Visma imo, given that their plan is to wear down Pogacar to ultimately cook him in the big mountains, and all that is needed for that strategy to work is a single off day - which Pogacar has historically had (although last year most things suggest he had forgotten to eat on the day where he lost to Jonas, more so than being cooked).

Obviously, another reason we might see a relatively defensive ride from both today is that the following two days are probably even more important for the GC, so going deep today can have serious ramifications.

I expect Tadej to attack today with the hope for some time and then more time tomorrow to hope to have 2 mins before the weekend and more than that before the two huge stages next week.

Agree that if Jonas doesn’t lose time then that is a huge win for him. The next three stages should be Tadej’s if he’s stronger

Agreed entirely - with the caveat that the crash might've left him below 100%. Even if it wasn't a bad crash and he isn't in a lot of pain, the body needs to heal, so there's more fluid retention and sleep is often not ideal. It did look painful even if it wasn't a major crash, so it might affect his performance in the coming couple of stages (even if only a little bit).

It seems that the "Pogacar will destroy everyone"-scenario was the right one. This is gonna get ugly I fear - imagine if he hadn't crashes yesterday.

I know things like this have been said before but it feels like Pogacar has unlocked a level where even Jonas won't be able to challenge him at the Tour anymore and he'll just win the next few editions with ease if nothing major happens.

Yup last year and seemingly this year again he's simply untouchable.

That being said, it feels like Jonas is also underperforming. One thing is getting dropped by Pogi, but he's barely beating Lipowitz (who gained more than half a minute on him since he was behind). He's completely cooked.