It looks as though the stage 11 finish could be a real cracker. The straight, 1.6k race to the line will be full of suspense, especially as there won't be a corner in sight. There's a real chance that some will pull the trigger too soon, which could see them hit the wall before the line. A surprise winner maybe?
Here's a nice return. According to Iltalehti, a Finnish betting company, Veikkauspunter, had a punter invest 20c a Gasly, Sainz and Stroll podium in last Sundays F1 at Monza. For correctly predicting the first 3 home in the right order, he collected a cool 33,398 Euros.
Just seems to be getting worse for Sagan, now Bennett wins the intermediate in a half hearted sprint with his team mate taking second.
Sagan stook his head in, and got penalised from a fantastic second placed finish, and Caleb Ewan won the stage. It now looks a massive ask for Sagan whilst Bennett still looks the quality sprinter in the field. DQS messed up the finish for Bennett and that cost them the stage, but it was the further loss of time for one of their riders that suggests tomorrow is going to be an explosive day!! I can't wait!
I'm not sure I can agree with that Nass. Sure Bennett had to slightly deviate, but Ewan on the outside of Bennett was also forced wide. And the overhead clearly shows Ewan travelling much faster than Bennett. The nice thing about Sam Bennett's ride was the class he showed just after the line when he conceded that he'd been beaten by the better man on the day. He gave Ewan the number 1 finger, ( not the rude one ) indicating that the day fairly belonged to the winner.
Sorry Cyc, I probably need to expand on my point. The issue I saw was when Bora sent a man off the front, which DQS countered by sending their two big men chasing. This meant that Sam Bennett had lost three teammates in a matter of moments (Alaphilippe dropped himself before this). This left him exposed and when others failed to get up the hill he had to do the work himself. Caleb has been riding as a one man finishing team all tour, he picked the best wheel (Bennett) and he went to the best side and got a clear run. Bennett didn’t get as clear run and had to check some speed off whilst Wout had started his mammoth sprint. So when I say they cost him the sprint, it was more about the lead out than the finish itself, they certainly could have got a better position for him if they hadn’t panicked as much as they did.
Is Covid 19 about to rip into Le Tour? After having Race director Christian Prudhomme and a technical staff member test positive, they needed to be replaced. Now from what I gather, staff members from Ineos Grenadiers, Mitchelton - Scot, AG2R, La Mondiale and Cofidis have tested positive on the rest day. The original rules stated that if team had extra positives within a week, the team would be removed from the tour. But the the recounter was reset before the rest day, so fingers crossed there are no more positives in the near future.
It’s a massive risk, I find it very difficult to think that those team members won’t have spread it to others. I can’t see them sending a whole team home unless a rider gets a positive test as well as the background team. The uproar would be massive if it was one of the big teams. Today’s stage is setting up to be a spectacular finish, my money is on GVA and Alaphilippe who will surely attack within the last 50km.
Finally the NFL season gets back underway tonight. I've not had a bet on tonights game but done my usual handicap acca for the weekends games. Definitely a lot of guess work opening weekend. A lot of players excused themselves for the season due to the Covid situation. Bears +3.0 Patriots -6.5 Bills -6.5 Saints -3.5 Steelers -6.0 Jaguars +8.0 £5 returns £227.64 + £55.66 bonus payment
In his first Le Tour and all. Hirschi gets a wonderful reward for the brilliant efforts he's so far put in since the race began. A second, followed by a third, and now the gut busting win in stage 12. What an introduction to the big time. Was there anyone not smiling when he crossed the line?
Wow, stage 13 looks murderous. With 2 cat 1 climbs, 2 cat 2s and 3 cat 3s, it'll be last man left standing. They begin and end the stage with a cat 1. I'm hoping like crazy that young Neilson Powless of EF Pro Cycling, will be able to pull himself a few places higher in the GC. He moved from 58 to 52 yesterday, and his time trial skills will, I hope, help him move into the 40. I'm really keen to see how he handles the serious stuff. There'll be destroyed bodies all over the place. With just 44 seconds between Roglic and Pogacar, anyone of 7 riders could be wearing the yellow after the stage.
I think we might see Powless in the break again today, he was ominously quiet yesterday and he might be saving his legs! Today is going to be key for the GC, who will lose time and who will stamp authority on the race? With the Columbier on Sunday I think the peloton might let the break go today, if they do then it’s going to be two races in one!
