Whatever happens on the last two days, the moral winner of this Tour is Jonas Vingegaard. Second place + stage win 15 weeks after a serious injury is something that will go down as one of the greatest comebacks of the recent decades.
#TDF2024
Tour de France 2024 - Team review
As we did before the start of Le Tour, we will go through each team after the finish of 21st stage, evaluating them in two sentences. At the end I'll put the preview for you to see how wrong I was (by a lot) :)
the thread:
🧵
#TDF2024
2024 TOUR DE FRANCE - TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS
The time has arrived, the riders are ready - and tonight I'll bring you the line-ups of all the teams with a very brief introduction and my opinion of them for the 2024 Tour de France.
The thread:
🧵
#TDF2024
It's no exaggeration to say that today we saw generational performances on Tour de France at Plateau de Beille. The battle between Tadej Pogačar and Jonas Vingegaard reached a galactic level, and as on Saturday, the Slovenian emerged victorious. A few thoughts.
#TDF2024
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LA VUELTA A ESPANA - TEAM-BY-TEAM ANALYSIS
The last Grand Tour of the year has arrived, and I came again to have a closer look at the 176 riders of the 22 teams - this current edition promises to be a very good competition.
Let's see the teams:
🧵
#LaVuelta24
The best yellow jersey defence in the history of Tour de France.
Kasia Niewiadoma heroically saves maillot jaune and wins the 2024 Tour de France Femmes!
I can't find my words for this ride, for this stage, what a legendary day of cycling from her, Demi and Pauliena!
#TDFF2024
Anyone who thinks Tadej Pogačar will have an easy job tomorrow... I would like to warn you about two things here.
1. He has never ridden a stage with so many vertical meters in his career. (Tomorrow's stage will be a 5600+ d+ stage)
#GirodItalia
2024 TOUR DE FRANCE - HAIKU EDITION
I know, I said yesterday morning that it would be cancelled this year - but I was able to work enough over the weekend to write these for all the 21 stages tonight.
So, here's the haiku series to preview Tour de France.
The🧵:
#TDF2024
Italy wins Maglia Rosa at Giro Women after 16 years - absolutely nothing on the front page of Gazzetta.
insane and seriously disappointing.
#GirodItaliaWomen
Giro D'Italia - Team-by-team analysis
I rarely do this even before Grand Tours, but this year I will try to do such a thread before all three GTs. the teams will be brought to you in a completely random order.
#GirodItalia
the thread:
🧵
Julian Alaphilippe at Stage 12 of 2024 Giro d'Italia:
• started attacks with 138 to go
• spent 126.1 kilometres in front of a large group (114.5 with Maestri, 11.6 alone)
• total time spent in clean air: 2 hours, 50 minutes and 49 seconds
un-be-lie-va-ble.
#GirodItalia
Watch the first 8 seconds of the sprint and the Groenewegen-Welsford fight. What Dylan does is almost a planned assault. He's just decided that he's going to take that position at any cost. Literally at any cost. And it's not 10 seconds and 20 UCI points, it's a two-month ban.
it's an incredible story. Torstein Traeen was diagnosed with testicular cancer almost exactly 2 years ago. he recovered, stronger than ever, signed to a World Tour team and today won Gotthard Pass. the last time they climbed it on a stage, it was won by Gino Mäder. so many tears.
Gino Mäder was an amazing cyclist. He showed his epic skills in Paris-Nice 2021, where he gained all of our symphaties, showed during Giro 2021, when he won the rainy Ascoli Piceno stage, and in many other occasions. But more importantly, he was a wonderful human being.
Riders to win 5+ stages at multiple Grand Tours in a single calendar year:
Eddy Merckx (1973 🇮🇹🇪🇸)
Freddy Maertens (1977 🇪🇸🇮🇹)
Tadej Pogačar (2024 🇮🇹🇫🇷)
The Slovenian is the first rider ever to win 5+ stages in Giro d'Italia and Tour de France in the same year.
#TDF2024
Remco Evenepoel.
The man who has amazed the world since he was 17.
The man who, perhaps more than anyone else, is under pressure from the Belgian media.
Today he fulfilled his dream: he became Olympic champion.
Just feeling happy for him, for this grown man.
#Paris2024
Stage 9 reaction.
1. What Adam Yates did yesterday, in 38 degrees, for 58 kilometres and 1 hour 32 minutes, was the height of cycling. A huge human achievement, probably the best of his career. You could see the determination in his eyes all the way up at Hazallanas
#LaVuelta24
find the differences 🥲
i mean, don't wanna create tension again but today is another low point of this lad here who has 20 fucking thousand followers by stealing. congrats. (not)
promised I'll never ever get into his business again, but can't live with such a fraud here.
Tour de France - General Classification 🟡
⭐️⭐️⭐️ -
⭐️⭐️ Primož Roglič, Tadej Pogačar, Jonas Vingegaard
⭐️ Evenepoel (special tier between the two categories); Bernal, Carlos Rodriguez, A. Yates, Gall, Ayuso, Jorgenson, Landa, Carapaz
a thread:
#TDF2024
The joint attack by Demi Vollering and Pauliena Rooijakkers took place 53.7 km before the finish, on the steepest, 10-11% part of Col du Glandon.
The duo stayed together until the finish, a total of 1 hour 46 minutes 20 seconds.
Now comes the fun part in next comment
#TDFF2024
Peter Sagan will be racing his last road race tomorrow at the Tour de Vendee, and I can't resist saying a few words about him, because somewhere in there, his 2010 decade and his racing style has defined and pavemarked a new era.
Two historic achievements happened in our men's sport in the past 6,5 months. So tonight, I'm asking you this:
What's more impressive? Winning 3 Grand Tours in one year, or winning Milano-Sanremo, Ronde van Vlaanderen and Paris-Roubaix in the same year?
Your go.
Magnus Cort Nielsen. 🇩🇰
• 27th pro win in career
• 74% of them arrives from .Pro and .WT races, seriously high number
• 9th season in a row when he wins at least 1 race
• brings home the first UCI World Tour win ever for Uno-X Mobility
history maker.
#Dauphine
I don't want to believe what happened. Most teams have shot themselves in the foot now. I don't blame the UAE-Bora duo, they rightly think they can get 5 minutes back against O'Connor. The others? Are they even in this race? Crazy how ignorant they rode.
#LaVuelta24
Antonio Morgado is the first Portuguese rider in history to finish in top 10 at a cobbled monument (RVV + Roubaix).
And the first Portuguese to finish in top 10 at a Monument since Rui Costa at 2016 Liege.
don't forget: he's a neo-pro rider. insane.
#RVV24
I'll be honest: today Lotte Kopecky has cemented herself as the world's most complex cyclist ever existed. I'd have to look very deep for someone who has done so well in such distinct genres as omnium, elimination race, sprint, cobbled classics, and now mountains.
#UAETourWomen
This man, Anthony Turgis, had to give up on his target races this year because organizers didn't invite TotalEnergies to the classics he targeted.
Went to Rwanda for an altitude camp, had a less than decent classics season - had to make a complete retool in mindset
#TDF2024
Giro d'Italia - Team-by-team review
Just like before the race, there will be a team-by-team evaluation after Giro, I will try to highlight everything in 260 characters. After the 22nd team I'll post the original preview in comments, as well!
the thread:
🧵
#GirodItalia
1 hour, 1 minute, 7 seconds.
The amount of time Will Barta spent alone in front.
In the last 40 mins, his advantage was constantly less than a minute ahead of the main group, less than 30 seconds in the last 25 minutes.
He showed that nothing is impossible in cycling.
#75VCV
In every cycling school, the last kilometer of Victor Campenaerts should be a compulsory part of the umofficial breakaway curriculum. Perfect racecraft, you couldn't write a better one. First Lotto-Dstny win in the Tour since 2020... More than deserved.
#TDF2024
2023: Michael Woods
2024: Tadej Pogačar
Matteo Jorgenson should have 2 Tour de France stage wins by now. Huge heartbreaks he had to suffer. Life's irony that Pogačar overtook him today, the rider to whom he is the most similar in profile. Hope it's a motivation for him.
#TDF2024
A bad day? The start of a trend? Or the actual status quo?
There are several interpretations and starting points for today's absolutely legendary Tour stage, won 14 weeks after his serious crash by Jonas Vingegaard.
Here are my thoughts:
#TDF2024
crazy transfer rumour popped up in my timeline thanks to Eurosport Hungary & The Triathlon Hour:
Olympic Champion and World Champion triathlete, Norwegian superstar Kristian Blummenfelt is really close to sign a 3-year deal with Jayco Alula.
Tadej Pogacar has also ticked one of the last areas where we didn't necessarily know 100% for sure that he was an exceptional talent: the Giro-type, 215 km+ long stage with almost 6000 vertical metres.
And he's done it in a pretty special way: in a stunningly dominant manner.
8 riders to watch from 2024 Tour de France:
• Stephen Williams 🇬🇧
• Felix Gall 🇦🇹
• Hugo Page 🇫🇷
• Wout van Aert 🇧🇪
• Jonas Abrahamsen 🇳🇴
• Kevin Vauquelin 🇫🇷
• Joao Almeida 🇵🇹
• Valentin Madouas 🇫🇷
Yours?
#TDF2024
Tour de France - Stage 14 🔮
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Tadej Pogačar
⭐️⭐️ Vingegaard, Evenepoel, Gee, Healy
⭐️ Buitrago, Ca Rodriguez, S Yates, Pidcock, Hindley, Almeida, Romo, Ciccone, Onley, Haig, G Martin
#TDF2024
I want one in pink just for the sake of aesthetics.
Happy Wout is the best Wout, to be fair - 47th victory overall, first ever pro win in Spain!
#LaVuelta24
Apart from the first 6 minutes, the difference was almost all the time in the dangerous range of 40 to 75 seconds for Kasia, yet she was virtually not wearing the yellow jersey for only 5-7 minutes.
1 hour 40 minutes of defending at such level is almost unprecedented.
#TDFF2024
Romain Bardet at Stage 1 of Tour de France:
- attacked 51.5 km to go from the peloton
- duration of this entire effort: 1h 11m 36s
- duration of duo effort: 52 minutes 8 seconds
time spent by Frank van den Broek in break: 4 hours 49 minutes.
c'est magnifique.
#TDF2024
16-year-old 🇩🇰 Albert Withen Philipsen wins Junior World Championships after an unforgettable 90 km breakaway ride, destroying everyone w/ this margin on a 14% climb was breathtaking. A generational talent, we were witnessing the birth of a future superstar.
#GlasgowScotland2023
Today's 9th place from Michael Valgren was his first top 10 at a .Pro or higher category race in 691 days. (Last time: 3rd at 2021 World Champs)
Comeback.
#PNDKR23
if anyone had questions about Remco Evenepoel not being able to handle altitude... then I think all stigma about it has been broken today.
The Belgian is in the form of his life. And in the next test, at time trial, he could be even closer to that particular yellow pot.
#TDF2024
HUGE TRANSFER THREAD
it looks like this year's transfer season will be built around 3 teams - Bora, INEOS, Movistar - and we have a bigger picture of them now, which could obviously affect other teams on the market. but let's start from the very beginning.
The loss of André Drege is a sad event to the sport of cycling in Norway and worldwide. Drege was a perfect example of how a club level kickstart and a nice gradual progression to the elite level can be easily achieved. It's tragic that we won't see the finish of this progress.
Tour Down Under - Stage 2. The first coming of a star. Everyone in the world was amazed by what Isaac del Toro did today - but let's take a look at what exactly happened here.
#TourDownUnder
🔽
If a rider can win in a 48-man group when he is handicapped in numbers - that shows class, professionalism and huge amount of skills.
Señoras y señores: Richard Carapaz.
#TDF2024
La Vuelta a Espana - General Classification 🔮
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Joao Almeida
⭐️⭐️ Martinez, Carapaz, A. Yates, Kuss
⭐️ Roglic, Landa, Mas, Ca Rodriguez, Skjelmose, O'Connor, Tiberi, Riccitello, Del Toro, Poole, Arensman
#LaVuelta24
Huge respect also to Demi Vollering for trying such a crazy attack, she, in a presumably 90% condition, made the Polish star fight like crazy - it was her only chance to win, and she almost regained yellow in the end. The hunger will be huge for the rematch next year.
#TDFF2024
This is the golden age of Hungarian cycling.
We won 4th places in the road races, it's definitely not lost medals.
Attila Valter & Blanka Vas - you have all my respect and love for the rest of your careers.
I'm sure wins and podiums will arrive sooner or later. ❤️
#Paris2024
HISTORY HAS BEEN WRITTEN!
Pablo Castrillo takes his and Equipo Kern Pharma's first World Tour AND Grand Tour stage victory!
First Spanish ProConti team stage win since 2019 - when Angel Madrazo won at Javalambre! Absolute scenes, more than deserved victory!
#LaVuelta24
I read the reactions about Tour de Suisse and one question came to my mind:
How did we get from the narrative of "this is going to be the most exciting Tour ever" to the narrative of "this could be UAE 1-2-3 at the end of the race".
Let's stop joking, for heaven's sake.
There are millions of news in the cycling world right now, but this one is important. Firstly, I am happy to have Vingegaard back, this is what is needed for an epic Tour. The other: unlike UAE, this is a very balanced team. Measured exactly to the millimeter. And it will matter.
Intermarche
When a plan goes awry in the best possible way. From Thijssen's leadout, an achievement was born that set the world on its feet was born from Biniam Girmay - this green jersey is the result of incredible stability, strength and will. Hope it's not a one-hit wonder.
Astana
They got what they came for, what they almost sacrificed their whole season for. After the first few days, Mark Cavendish's story became a fairy tale - they made history. The future is highly uncertain, but this Tour can be looked back on with a very satisfied snap.
Per Strand Hagenes is the first cyclist in more than a decade (possibly, the first in history) who's won a race in a team which he is riding for as a trainee/development rider.
It clearly shows how deep Jumbo's full male roster is.
#MuensterlandGiro
Tour de France - Stage 1 🔮
⭐️⭐️⭐️ Maxim Van Gils
⭐️⭐️ Evenepoel, Cort, Matthews, Pidcock
⭐️ Van der Poel, Pogačar, Bettiol, van Aert, Roglič, Lapeira, Mohorič, Jorgenson, de Lie, Williams, Aranburu
🃏: Godon, Skujins, Madouas
#TDF2024
Giro d'Italia - Haiku edition.
Took a long time to decide if I want to do it, but the sake of my mental health and for your fun, I'll do it. Maybe not all tonight, but I'll post all the stages in the next 24 hours.
#Giro
The thread:
🧵
Amstel Gold Race will be the race where worlds collide. It's like DC vs Marvel but with a third additional player. let's start with Mathieu van der Poel as the focal point. He represents the cobbled classics way. He is the one who approaches this puncheur competition from...
if someone just began to watch cycling, I'd like to show this stage under the time trial chapter. it was a perfect representation of the battle between two giants who approach this genre from different angles - Ganna with the positive split, Pogacar with the negative split.
Why isn't Dauphine a priority for Primož Roglič and Remco Evenepoel, and why shouldn't we worry if none of them wins?
Sunday sees the start of arguably the most important preview of Tour de France, la Criterium du Dauphine, where Roglič and Evenepoel return after two months.
Jonas Vingegaard & La Vuelta.
Since we know the Tour winner rides the Vuelta, I started to think if there can be any extra connotations about his participation. And there are.
First of all, Jonas Vingegaard is the best GT rider in the world. But he still has space to improve.
Saturday.
More gravel than ever. More mud than ever.
Can't escape the feeling that some roads might be impassable due to ~15-20 mm rain from Fri morning to Sat morning - with 15 °C, it won't dry out.
Will be a totally different race than what we usually have.
#StradeBianche
75 professional victories for Tadej Pogačar after his brilliance at Monte Pana.
So tonight's (obvious) question is: which is your favourite victory from the Slovenian superstar?
#GirodItalia
Desperate attacking need from Euskaltel to stay in top 40 at the end of this season to stay eligible for Grand Tour wildcards - absolutely perfect move from Txomin Juaristi. 45 lifesaving points to keep their chance.
#LaVuelta24
back in March, during Paris-Nice, I said that Roglič will be good once he finds cohesion with his teammates - that's what I meant. it was a magic today, with Vlasov and Hindley. it's that wit, brain and hard work that makes him a force to be reckoned with at the Tour de France.
I understand that Pogacar is showboating a bit right now, but it's a message. a message to Jonas Vingegaard that the gravel stage will be one of the places where Tadej will definitely put pressure on him. With van Aert DNS, Visma is gonna have a tough job controlling that stage.
haven't seen this anywhere so sorry if many of you posted it:
Juliette Labous & Clement Berthet are engaged 🥹
One of the loveliest couples in cycling world will be wife and husband soon.
Oh, and the song choice: 10/10
📷: IG/juliettelabous
You get to change the winner of ONE bike race you’ve seen, which race do you change and why?
Personally, i’d make sure Geraint won the Giro. That stage got to me like no other 🥲
don't really like commenting announcements as such but the way how Tudor actively included staff members to the announcement of their first ever Grand Tour warms my heart. the best so far
#Giro
Tom Pidcock's victory today made me think about his place in the sport. Because there are days when he is unbeatable, see Strade 2023 or today, no matter if solo or small group, he rises above the rest tactically and in strength. There just aren't many days like that.
#AGR24
EF-Easypost
Revenge for 2020: done. Richard Carapaz brought home the KOM jersey, deservedly so. The team was built for this from the beginning, they attacked a lot, they competed smartly, this was the main thing for them in the current Tour, and they did it to the fullest.
Uno-X
The stage victory, the historic success didn't happen this time, and I think they were further away from it than last year - but nothing and no one can take away Jonas Abrahamsen's attacking spirit and will, his spirit has saved flat stages in the first two weeks.
Johannes Kulset became the youngest rider since Mike Gutmann (1982) to finish Tour de France - the Norwegian achieved this stunning feat at 20 years and 98 days old. Battled through hardships, will finish in top 50 at his first Grand Tour. Congrats
@JohannesKulset
#TDF2024
Tadej Pogačar was 32 seconds better than the second best (Dani Martinez) on the last hill to Perugia.
left no questions about who's gonna win this race
#GirodItalia
The early and unfortunate retirement of Nathan van Hooydonck has made a place free on the otherwise pretty full Jumbo-Visma 2024 roster. The team needs to make a clear choice from the 2 options down below:
UAE
The best team with the best rider, maybe even with the best sporting director. When you have such a dominant rider it's hard to get things wrong, but Hauptman was definitely an added value in this race. And Tadej: well, he is simply phenomenal.
#TDF2024
Tadej Pogačar at 2024 Strade Bianche:
- Solo ride of 81.1 kilometres
- Total duration of solo: 2:04:09
- during the last 47 kilometres and 75 minutes, the difference has never been below 2:44.
his best solo performance ever, on the first race day of his season.
#StradeBianche
I don't think Enric Mas has ever been as nasty (within the rules) as he wanted to be against Roglic in the last 200 meters. But a king is a king because he handles these situations with composure. Pole position after today towards the fourth red for Primoz.
#LaVuelta24
my Grand Tour/GC tierlist.
it's based on potential, based on current facts, based on what I see, and it's absolutely open for discussions and for further changes.
Giro-effect in Hungary:
according to a Fejér County news site, in Zámoly, where Mark Cavendish had to stopped in front of a bus stop to change his bike, that particular bus stop will be named after him and a small memorial will be placed for this special event.
#Giro105