Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

Amazing comeback from a very costly mechanical by del Torro! This kid's on fire! Smart move by Tadej to reward that effort. But del Torro still deserves a ton of credit for getting himself back into a position that made it possible.
 
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True. Seixas got screwed by his team and killed it to stay same time. First, he took a bike from a teammate when the team car was right there, and then the team car had the wrong bike but he stayed on it through the finish. His descending skills were insane.

This is starting off as one of the best ever.

Tomorrow will be either a win by the break, or just like today, with the top 5 GC contenders finishing close together. I expect UAE to go for yellow and Visma in 100% defense mode.
 
Just realized that nearly all of the Tour riders are wearing white shoes and sox, regardless of kit. And the very few exceptions I've spotted have colored sox with white shoes or vice versa.

Why? To keep their feet cooler? Tradition? Don't wanna be too matchy-matchy?
 
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Good question for which I have no answer. There are no UCI regulations regarding sock color, only calf length. It could be a heat thing, but what matters a lot more is the helmet, whose color is driven by the kit colors. Many are dark colors.

Jonas had no chance yesterday, that's not his kind of climb at the finish. Looks like UAE and Visma are taking a day off today to rest. Good idea. Nice intermediate sprint win for Grimay, beating Jasper and Mads.
 
On the other hand, Mads may get the last laugh as he is in the break with Quinn Simmons and has a real shot at the stage win and the green jersey. Meanwhile, back in the peloton, Jonas and Tadej are over 5 minutes down to three GC riders in the mix. There's no way UAE can bridge the time gap so Tadej will lose the yellow today. This has all been made possible by starting the race with the modified TTT, putting a large group of riders in the GC mix early. This is great race design.
 
Very illuminating Mads interview after his Stage 4 win. Everyone's calling it a teamwork masterclass/masterpiece. Click "Watch on YouTube" link.


Mads is on my very short list of favorite riders. Just 12 days ago..

 
If I'm Plugge, Visma's GM, I'm letting UAE do all the work until you can't. The Tourmelet is the first opportunity to beat up Tadej. I dont want to see Visma on the front until partway up that climb. Jonas should attack at the steepest part right near the end after the team beats up UAE.
 
stompandgo said:
Meanwhile, back in the peloton, Jonas and Tadej are over 5 minutes down to three GC riders in the mix. There's no way UAE can bridge the time gap so Tadej will lose the yellow today. This has all been made possible by starting the race with the modified TTT, putting a large group of riders in the GC mix early. This is great race design.
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Never would have put that part in bold together. Exactly why I hang around here.
 
Very strange sport wherein you spend most of your time looking at the derrière of the rider in front of you when you are not looking anxiously back at whoever is looking at yours.
 
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