Powless @ 200/1 Kämna @ 40/1 Chaves @ 33/1 Gaudu @ 14/1 and then a match bet acca of Roglic (over Pog) Bernal (over Landa) Guill Martin (over Uran) at 4.5 and then same three with Quintana (over Porte) Uran (over Mollema) at 11/1
Today reminds me of the finale of the Dauphine when they climbed back to Megave. Sepp Kuss dominated that day and I think he is going to be crucial for Roglic today. The others who impressed that day were Dani Martinez (won the GC) Pogacar, Sivakov and Kämna. That final climb today is going to create time gaps, hence me going for match bets today where they should be a case of best climber wins rather than who rolls over the line in front of the pack.
For me, the highlight of just about any meeting is the appearance of the mighty Sifan Hassan of the Netherlands. 1:27:47.
Men's 5000m. We again got to see the talented, world number 1, Selemon Berega. He's young man with a huge reputation, but there was some else there to make a thrilling race of it. 2:06:00.
so close with Kämna and Powless gave it a really good go too. Favourable trading positions but frustrating results. I think we saw the beginning of the end for all challengers in that. Roglic was supremely impressive and looked very comfortable at the end too.
Pogacar let him help out with the workload to see off Bernal. Still two (only two) in this as far as I am concerned. Would be good to genuinely know how both were feeling at the line.
Bernal is a Diesel engine, he stays on after getting dropped and as such his style will be perfect for Sunday. I think we saw the cracks in Pogacar today, in the finish one looked very close to breaking and the other was pretty serene. The worry I have with Pogacar is that when he goes, He could completely explode and lose three or four minutes. If that happens then he will kiss the podium goodbye. tomorrow will be interesting, I hope Ineos force it tomorrow and get as much tiredness into the legs for Sunday. They need it to be a flat out battle on Sunday, and the best way of doing it is to continue the big days of effort.
This will probably bite me on the backside, but how are Wout and Sagan the first two in the market for todays stage? The former will be marshalling the troops for Roglic and the latter will struggle to get over the hills and will probably be a marked man by D QuickStep. I don't get it at all. I am looking for riders who had a quiet stage yesterday but excel in the breakaway situation, it will probably go away on the uphill section after the intermediate sprint (hopefully) so I am looking at GVA, Daryl Impey, Luka Mezgec and Jasper Stuyven. GVA 18.5 Impey 36 Mezgec 80 Stuyven 25
As hard as we try to figure out the race at the moment, Imagine what must be going through the minds of the major teams. With UAE's Pogacar failing to take a single second off Jumbo's Roglic, do they pull in their horns today and wait for tomorrow's Grand Colombier? And what of Ineos and Bernal? With so many climbing days still to come, the chasing teams have a number of options they can pursue. Jumbo on the other hand will possibly have to cover a number of teams. I realise that it's now looking like Roglic has them covered, But I don't think this thing is anywhere as cut and dried as that. Even the very best of them can blow up on these type of stages. A number of teams will be hoping to see others taking pot shots at Roglic and looking for him crack around the edges. With so many days of serious climbing to come, the other teams with major GC players will probably come at him from all angles. Ineos are probably the team with the most to lose, so maybe they'd be one of the more desperate teams. So I'll sit in their corner today. Bernal to try staying with Roglic and Pogacar, and Eneos to try stealing the stage. ENEOS GRENADIERS. Castroviejo. Kwiatkowski. Sivakov. E.W. at any old odds.
