final km
great ride by Jorgenson
Pogi? How many best climbs ever can a guy have in the same TdF?
The last time I saw someone do something like this was Armstrong and it felt impossible. We learned it was technically impossible without "help". I know that training/recovery/etc. has all made huge strides in 20 years, but this feels the same way. One guy being THAT much better than everyone else and doing it multiple times in the same tour smells fishy to me, but I'm just a casual observer so take that for what it's worth.
At least for this year the three other favorites all had relatively big crashes in April so that explains some of it. Jonas isn't that far off him (if this was a month later, he'd be even closer). But I hear you on the relative differences. It also doesn't get brought up, but Tadej's training last year was affected by his wrist, so it wasn't the best Tadej last year.
FWIW, I do think the absolute climbing times are more than a bit of canard. Many of these climbs haven't been ridden in awhile and certainly not on 28mm tires with this low rolling resistance (I recently moved to 32mm on my new bike and you basically get close to a free mph even for the Sunday cyclist and its a much more comfortable ride) nor with the riders taking in 120g of carbo an hour or staying cool throughout the stage (even in 2022 they weren't doing a lot of this stuff which is why Tadej bonked).
Jonas looked as broken at the end there as Tadej last year. Feel for the guy for the first time in awhile.
Yeah. It seems like a lot of things broke perfectly for Tadej this year. The April crashes. Sepp getting COVID. Nothing went right for the Visma team coming into the tour. I also get some of the new equipment making for multiple climb records seem possible. What's been the biggest eye opener for me though is watching Tadej break a record, put time on his rivals, then come out a still be the strongest cycler the next day. That stuff usually takes a toll on anyone and it just seems like Tadej has no end to his energy store.
I do think we're still conditioned from the relatively boring Age of Sky to that style of doing just enough to win the Tour. Neither Tadej nor Jonas really ride that way (Jonas and Jumbo sort of do, but they're more willing to race).
A big piece of this is also nutrition (they are effectively eating twice as much in carbs each stage as 5 years ago) and general core cooling (everyone is basically riding with icepack in their back to lower their core temp). During the Age of Sky, while they were essentially riding to a power number, they were doing so at a lower calorie intake and higher core temp (and this stuff isn't easy...it's essentially take UAE 2 years...the two year's Jonas one to learn how to do these things really well especially since Tadej can overheat).
And just an aside, as a viewer, Tejay can go F himself with all the criticism of Tadej today. Part of the reason this Tour has been so captativing is that the best rider, the second best rider, and the third best rider are willing to race close to every stage. I want to see racing from the best or I want to see historical "greatness". This Tour has had both from these guys.
