Pinot had a muscle tear in his leg and was forced to abandon. Huge bummer. Now I fear we are headed to a team Ineos 1/2. I hope I’m wrong and that one of the others attacks, but we shall see.
Bernal looks strong and GT looks to be fighting for second place finish. Alaphillipe is at his limit and losing time but still in yellow. NQ is yo-yo-ing off the back.
Well this is just bizarre. I’ve seen stages shortened due to weather conditions, but I’ve never seen a stage stopped with times taken at a point the riders have already passed. Congratulations to Egan Bernal, I guess, because I can’t see anyone taking time on him tomorrow.
Wow - what a scene.
Hailstorm did look crazy, mind, anyone know where exactly it is? Must be hard for the riders to take but it could be terribly hazardous if they’d steamed into an icy road.
And I’m pretty sure team Ineos is at our hotel. Could be fun.
Sweet. Make sure to say hello for us.
This tweet from ProCyclingStats purports to show a mudslide across the route the riders would have been taking. https://twitter.com/ProCyclingStats/status/1154766627369603072/photo/1
I have no idea if the pics (and video in the comment stream from the tweet) are even in France, but if that really was across the route, that would have been gruesome.
I’ve never heard of this happening before.
BTW, did not know crying was allowed in pro cycling (looking at you, Pinot).
j/k… must be crushing blow having come so close.
Cyclo-cross guys call that: race day. 
That matches a picture of the same scene from a different angle tweeted by Team Deceuninck-Quickstep, so I’d say it’s legit.
It was shown on the race broadcast here in France.
Well done to Egan Bernal - first S American rider to win Le Tour. Shame about the weather disruption at the end, but still one of the best races in years. A lot of what ifs with yesterday’s stage, but reckon Bernal would be most people’s pick as the strongest rider in the race.
World class climber, strong time trialist (and will get even better), will attack and animate the race, riding for the strongest, deepest GT team - and he’s 22yo! Likely the first of many.
J Ala prob the man of the race - what a performance. I wonder if he can contest the GC going forward or if this was a one-off, super emotional ride from him? He was throwing wild efforts in week one whilst the rest of the GC guys were chilling in the peloton [plus smashing the classics earlier this year whilst Ineos were still in bed], and he still hung in there through the mountains near enough. Killed the time trial.
Maybe on a different team with more of a TdF focus.
Agreed. A nail biter until the end.
So, Telemark… tell us about what you were able to see? I hope the last 24 hours didn’t spoil your views.
We went out around 11 and promptly got caught in a horrific thunderstorm. After 30 minutes we retreated to our hotel, dried out, ate, and went out better prepared. The rain had stopped and we found a spot 100 meters from the finish, right where the Continental barricades give way to the E.Leclerc ones. You can see our hands banging on the panels as the lead riders go by.
Huge roar from the crowd for Alaphilippe who looked spent. The Colombians were everywhere and partying up a storm. Sagan did a wheelie across the finish line, high fiving fans along the way. We stayed for the presentations, and the were 5 feet from all the jersey winners as they exited the press tent.
Back at the hotel we saw Team Ineos and Astana riders come in and head to their rooms and later come down for dinner. Bernal and a few others stopped to sigh an autograph for the hotel owner’s grandson and he took a picture with him. We stopped in at the bar after dinner and briefly saw Bernal and his wife again.
A wicked fun day!
I’m left feeling like this race fizzled a bit. It was, up until stage 18, the best Tour since at least 2011, but between Pinot pulling up lame and Bernal not being tested on that long, long drag down to the final climb on Friday, and then what ended up being a rather boring single climb yesterday I feel like we’ve been cheated out of quite a lot of drama. Bernal may very well have won anyways. He was certainly the strongest on Thursday, though apparently Pinot’s injury was already affecting him then. But it just feels like a bit of a damp squib in the end. Now we’ll see which of Ewan, Viviani, and Groenewegen can win in Paris, and that will be that. Sagan will collect a jersey that may as well have be awarded to him for showing up at the race, and Bardet will get polka dots based on a single breakaway. Bit weird, that last, given how atrociously he rode the race. And that’s a wrap.
Yeah, I felt like Bernal could have ridden more aggressively yesterday. Instead he chose the more cautious win. I feel slightly differently upon reflection. He knew that he won the race when it was certain that JA was not up to the task of taking the jersey back. Why add insult to injury by attacking hard and subsequently embarrassing your own team mate, GT, by dropping him as well. I think EB did the sportsman like thing.
Bernal’s ride yesterday was fine. In his position, riding defensively was absolutely the correct tactical call. He didn’t need to attack - he just needed to respond to attacks by Alaphilippe, Kruijswijk, or Buchman. Alaphilippe didn’t have any gas left in the tank, and Buchman was in “just happy to be in the top 5” mode. That leaves Kruijswijk, and Jumbo Visma looked like it was going to try something. George Bennett had an absolutely monster ride, and de Plus did very well too. And when de Plus pulled off, Kruijswijk should have attacked. But he didn’t. Maybe he was just on his limit, but honestly I can’t remember a single attack by him for the entire race. I think realistically he didn’t have any chance of putting enough time into Bernal for it to matter, but he didn’t even try to pick up the dozen or so seconds it would have taken to pass G for second. So it would seem the only point of Jumbo Visma drilling it at the front of the peleton was to officially bury Alaphilippe. Riding for 3rd just isn’t very exciting. That said, Jumbo Visma’s tour was pretty damn impressive, with 3 stage wins and a podium.
What stage does NBC broadcast OTA? The final, boring, parade into Paris. Hope they at least show highlights. (I rather liked it when they had a 1 hour summary show)
Yes, other stuff is available online, but I like the no effort f couch watching.
Brian
Not sure what you mean. The race was televised on MBCSN. Mornings and evenings.
Caleb Ewen is a brilliant sprinter. Well done all and thanks for the exciting tour.
À la prochaine fois!