2023 Talossan Cycling Association Tour - Leg 2: Bilbao -> Paris

[Sir Lüc]

Welp, I'm sorry for getting your hopes up and immediately shattering them the next day 😭

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 6 Tarbes -> Cauterets-Cambasque

What a stage once again! Tadej Pogacar (CJO/CFA/GNH/BDC/PTM/GHS) needed an emphatic response to Jonas Vingegaard's (CJO/CFA/KIN/GNH/BDC/CHX/DED) attack yesterday, and he duly delivered.

Much like yesterday, a large breakaway formed, led by Wout Van Aert (CHX), who ended up heroically pulling for his group for most of the day, and also including Neilands (GHS), Alaphilippe (CJO/KIN/CHX/DED), Shaw (GNH) and Van der Poel (CHX/ATX). The breakaway started losing pieces on Col d'Aspin, today's first climb, but made it mostly unscathed to world-famous Col de Tourmalet.

On Tourmalet, Van Aert started pulling like crazy, with just Shaw and three others holding on; while in the main peloton, Vingegaard's team proceeded to methodically spend each of its riders in a furious acceleration resulting in today's first attack by the Dane. Pogacar managed to hold on, but yellow jersey Hindley (GNH/GHS/MCB) did not, ultimately reforming in a larger peloton behind the leaders including most of the other GC outsiders.

After Tourmalet, Van Aert fell back to help Vingegaard catch back up; they duly caught the leaders, and began the final climb all together. Once Van Aert was spent, Vingegaard attacked, but again Pogacar managed to hold on, the duo gradually shedding all other riders in the lead group until remaining alone. It is here that - surprise - it was Pogacar who attacked with 2.7km to go, and the indomitable Vingegaard who couldn't keep up!

Pogacar took the stage win, and a significant 28" gain on his rival - though it is Vingegaard who will wear the yellow jersey by 25", considering the Slovene had a sizable gap to overcome. We're just at stage 6, and we've seen attacks and counter-attacks from the top contenders as if we were in the final week already!

This translates into another stage win for Gagnheirs, and similarly strong performances by Cjovani and Fieschă, all holding both of the leaders. Banqeu de Cézembre's Ciccone and Bilbao underperforming in comparison to Cjovani's S. Yates and Alaphilippe, though, sees the Benitian team regain the lead of TCAT in a tight affair that sees these four teams separated by just around 150 points.

Standings after stage 6:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2549	+627
2nd	(-1)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	2464	+519
3rd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2448	+579
4th	(=)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2392	+670
5th	(=)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	1938	+304
6th	(+1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	1929	+526
7th	(-1)	Dead Last (DED)	1877	+335
8th	(+4)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1754	+570
9th	(-1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	1753	+420
10th	(-1)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1621	+311
11th	(+2)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1598	+445
12th	(-2)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1573	+269
13th	(-2)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1484	+208

Sprint is again on the menu for stage 7. Prepare for an assured mass sprint, and for a stage result resembling more what we saw in stages 3-4. Can Philipsen (BDC) make it 3/3?

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

LOL The MCB can't catch a break...

[Audrada Roibeardet]

Cav is pissed about the finish, by the way. I guess he's claiming he had shifting issues. If Cav doesn't win a stage, I riot.

[Glüc]

Stage 7 Mont-de-Barsan -> Bordeaux

The inevitability of a mass sprint in Bordeaux meant today was another stage were nothing happened for most of the day. Most of the break gave up before we even got to the halfway point. Girmay (ATX/GHS/MCB) showed good form by coming second in the intermediate sprint. Nans Peters (BDC) was one of those attacking after the halfway mark to join the break, but it was an adventure that was doomed from the start. Peters was caught with 7 km to go. Van Aert (CHX) was not gonna contest the sprint as he was dropped from the peloton, possibly to save his legs for tomorrow. Ciccone (CAN/ATX/BDC/MCB/DED) also lost time.

The sprint itself was on a narrow parcours with various turns. Thankfully there weren't any crashes this time. Cavendish (CFA/KIN/DED) came very close to winning a record-breaking 35th tour stage, but was outsprinted by Philipsen (BDC) who takes his third stagewin this TCAT. Girmay got boxed in by Philipsen trying to find the wheel of Cavendish, but still managed to finish third. Groenewegen (CJO), Bauhaus (CFA), and Pedersen (CAN/VFL/PTM) also made the top 10.

Cézembre Fieschâ won the most points for the second time this edition and takes the lead in the standings! Their Cézembrean rivals from BDC also did well and got into second place. It's still very close at the top of the leaderboard with only 55 points separating the top 3 and Gagnheirs not far behind. Meanwhile, Van Aert not participating in the sprint meant Cyclohexane had a pretty rough day and dropped to last place again, with the Cabana Boys just a single point ahead.

Standings after stage 7:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+2)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	2817	+369
2nd	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	2783	+319
3rd	(-2)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	2762	+213
4th	(=)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2522	+130
5th	(+1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2208	+279
6th	(+1)	Dead Last (DED)	2159	+282
7th	(-2)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	2096	+158
8th	(+1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2028	+275
9th	(-1)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	1894	+140
10th	(=)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	1887	+266
11th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	1751	+178
12th	(+1)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1698	+214
13th	(-2)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1697	+99

Tomorrow is the last stage in the southwestern region of Aquitania, moving northeast towards the central massif. The stage is flat at first but then moves into slightly hilly terrain. An uphill finish ensures there won't be a bunch sprint. Not a stage for the GC favourites. Instead this looks like a good opportunity for a breakaway or some late attack. Perhaps we'll finally see the legendary rivalry between Wout van Aert (CHX) and Mathieu van der Poel (CHX/ATX) play out, which would be great news for Cyclohexane. But to be honest it's a really unpredictable stage with loads of potential winners.

[Carlüs Éovart Vilaçafat]

Heck yeah! MCB is bouncing back baby!

[Glüc]

Cav is pissed about the finish, by the way. I guess he's claiming he had shifting issues. If Cav doesn't win a stage, I riot.

I guess the script writers probably need him to do it in Paris.

[Glüc]

Unlike previous edition we got a lot of GC action in the first week. This already gives us a  pretty good sense of where the tour is heading, although nothing has been decided yet, especially the fight for the yellow jersey, which promises to be a pretty exciting battle. A good moment to have a first look at how many final points the teams might get and what that means for the overall TCAT standings.

The general classification (GC, green jersey) looks to be a duel between the same riders as last year, with Vingegaard currently ahead by 25 seconds of Pogacar. Behind them, Hindley (GNH/GHS/MCB) is currently best of the rest on 1'34". A large group is currently between 3 and 5 minutes behind on Vingegaard including Simon Yates (CJO/CAN), Rodriguez (VFL), Adam Yates (KIN/ATX/CAN), Gaudu (VFL/KIN/ATX/CAN), Bardet (CFA/PTM/MCB/ATX), and Pidcock (ATX/CAN/DED/GHS/VFL).

In the points classification (PC, green jersey), it is Philipsen (BDC) who already has a big lead after three stage wins (215 points against 127 for the number 2). The King of the Mountains classification (KOM, polkadot jersey) is still mostly undecided, with Gall (GNH) the TCAT rider with the most points (28) so far.

If these classifications didn't change, the teams would receive the following end-of-tour classification points:


Gagnheirs 1860
Cjovani 1645
Fiescha 1635
BdC 1565
GHST 1460
Kinetic 1325
Cantzeleria 1230
Dead Last 1180
Port Maxhestic 1130
Cyclohexane 1115
Velociposse 1080
Averatxeirs 1000
Cabana Boys 780

Perhaps unsurprisingly its the four teams that picked both Vingegaard and Pogacar that are ahead both in the current score and in the expected classification points. Of course its still very early and a lot can happen, but for now I would say these four teams are the favourites to win this edition.

Of these, Gagnheirs is probably strongest in the mountains, with Hindley as the current number 3 in GC and Gall doing well in the KOM classification.

Fiescha meanwhile is the only team that has two sprinters (Bauhaus + Cavendish).  Their team also includes Pinot, who did great in the previous edition and will surely be looking to win a stage.

BdC also performs well in the sprint with Philipsen winning all three so far, but unlike the other teams lacks a strong third GC option. Losing his position in GC might give Ciccone the freedom to go for stage wins or KOM points however.

Cjovani could do well in sprints with Groenewegen (although he has maybe disappointed a bit so far), in the mountains with Simon Yates, and in intermediate stages with Alaphilippe and the surprise of this edition so far, Lafay

[Sir Lüc]

Not like this :(

[Glüc]

Oof, that's rough. Such a sad ending to a legendary career. Commisserations to the Cavendish teams :(

[Audrada Roibeardet]

Cav looks absolutely gutted in that photo.

[Sir Lüc]

Stage 8 Libourne -> Limoges

Sadly, as I already anticipated earlier, Mark Cavendish - the greatest sprinter of all time - is TCAT France 2023's third abandon, due to a freak crash in the peloton. Absolutely not how we all hoped his last Tour would end, especially looking at how close he came to a record 35th Tour win yesterday.

An uphill finish ensures there won't be a bunch sprint.

Yeah, so that was a f'in lie. We all wanted an exciting breakaway and instead we got just three people who were caught easily enough. Besides, the profile turned out not be that prohibitive for even pure sprinters at all, as Philipsen and Groenewegen's result proved.

We did get an uphill mass sprint after all, won by Mads Pedersen (CAN/VFL/PTM) over Jasper Philipsen (BDC), Wout Van Aert (CHX) and Dylan Groenewegen (CJO). This ensures a Port Maxhestic stage win, also thanks to Pogacar's P10 and Bardet's P15, with the other five teams rounding out the top six.

We also get another lead change at the top of the TCAT overall standings, as Banqeu de Cézembre regains the top spot off their daily second place.

Standings after stage 8:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(+1)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	3144	+361
2nd	(+1)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3064	+302
3rd	(-2)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3015	+198
4th	(=)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2740	+218
5th	(+2)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (CAN)	2444	+348
6th	(-1)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2362	+154
7th	(+2)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2281	+387
8th	(-2)	Dead Last (DED)	2269	+110
9th	(-1)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2140	+112
10th	(+1)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2091	+340
11th	(-1)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2000	+113
12th	(+1)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	1978	+281
13th	(-1)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1815	+117

Tomorrow we round out the extended first week with a hilly approach to Puy de Dome, a highest category climb with a summit finish (actually, the hardest summit finish for this year). Likely to feature another GC battle between Pogacar and Vingegaard, but perhaps a breakaway has a chance at a stage win considering there's no Tourmalet and Aspin on the way, like there was in stage 6? Definitely a stage worth watching either way.

[Glüc]

As mentioned by Lüc, today's finished is on Puy de Dome, a dormant volcano/lava dome which has a road that spirals around it to the top rather than the typical hairpin turns you would get in most summit finishes. The top also contains the ruins of a Roman temple. A very nice location for a finish. The last time Tour de France used this particular finish was in 1988. If we're lucky we'll get not one, but two battles here today, one for the stage win by the breakaway and one between Vingegaard and Pogacar (and other favourites) for time in the GC.

I am thinking of streaming the finish on discord. Lüc probably won't be there sadly, but if anyone is interested in watching, the finish is expected around 18:18 CEST (11:18 TST) and I may be streaming from  about 17:00 (10 am TST).


Puy de Dome


Profile

[Glüc]

MAJOR ANNOUNCEMENT:

I made a big mistake when assigning a three letter code to els cantzelerïă aþletici. I went with CAN, but obviously that should have been SOS. I'm a bit disappointed nobody has pointed out this missed opportunity. Beter ten halve gekeerd dan ten hele gedwaald though, so we're changing it to SOS.

Stage update later today. Sadly a large break without many TCAT riders resulted in a fairly low-scoring affair.

[Glüc]

Stage 9 St-Léonard-de-Noblat -> Puy de Dôme

Not too many TCAT riders in the break today, with the exceptions of Boivin (CFA), and Abrahamsen (GNH). Neither of those managed to keep up on the final climb. After the stage win was decided it was of course Pogacar and Vingegaard who were the fastest in the group of favourites, dropping all other GC riders for another duel, which this time was won by Pogacar who gained another 7 seconds back.

Behind them, some of the losers were Hindley (GNH/GHS/MCB), who kept his third place in GC, but lost time on his direct competitors for the final podium spot, Gaudu (VFL/KIN/ATX/SOS), who dropped to 8th in GC and O'Connor (GHS) who lost a lot of time and dropped 7 spots. Instead, it was Simon Yates (CJO/SOS), Pidcock (ATX/CAN/DED/GHS/VFL), and Rodriguez (VFL), who managed to lose the least amount of time on the two favourites, with Pidcock gaining two spots in GC and Yates and Rodriguez closing in on the final podium spot.

The result was a very low scoring affair, with no changes in the standing. Like in previous mountain stages els Gagnheirs scored the most points. They are still in fourth place, but by having three riders on the podium and many more mountain stages to go they are very well positioned to win the edition after final classification points are awarded. This will depend on Hindley holding on to the podium however, so him losing time today may be cause for concern in the Gagnheirs camp.

Standings after stage 9:

Pos	±	Team	Pts Ove	Pts Today
1st	(=)	Banqeu da Cézembre Runners Up (BDC)	3302	+158
2nd	(=)	Naziun Cjovani (CJO)	3231	+167
3rd	(=)	Cézembre Fieschā (CFA)	3196	+181
4th	(=)	Els Gagnheirs (GNH)	2959	+219
5th	(=)	els cantzelerïă aþletici (SOS)	2583	+139
6th	(=)	Gordon Hiatus Support Team (GHS)	2514	+152
7th	(=)	Port Maxhestic AC (PTM)	2394	+113
8th	(=)	Dead Last (DED)	2383	+114
9th	(=)	Kinetic Racing (KIN)	2257	+117
10th	(=)	Velociposse Florencia (VFL)	2212	+121
11th	(=)	els Averatxeirs (ATX)	2094	+94
12th	(=)	Cyclohexane (CHX)	2088	+110
13th	(=)	The Maricopa Cabana Boys (MCB)	1866	+51

After an exciting first week the peloton will finally get its first rest day tomorrow. The day after that will be a hilly stage through the Central Massif, which feels like potentially a good day for a succesful early attack.