Did you see this coming (tour de france results/spoiler) do not open if haven't seen last stage

I'd post in the pro section but I don't think anybody reads over there ha ha!

So, I spoke with a friend this weekend about the time trial stage. I saw it coming! He says he did not believe Pogacar could do it, he says he still thinks it is impossible because Roglic had a flawless excellent team throughout. He actually got a little upset it seems as I presented my side.

I had told Gina a couple stages back, poor Pogacar, he has no teammates around, little support so he doing most of his work and strategy alone hoping to keep up with a nearly full team of Jumbo Visma and Roglic.

The poor guy tried to attack a few times in the mountains but Roglic had plenty of support and guys to chase him down at every move so Pogacar would not get far. Even if Roglic himself could not chase him down, he had his mates that would break Pogacar's spirit. He knew he could not get a gap.

Now in my experience in cycling, I have met a bunch of guys who have stated, and even a few proven, could do a 5 hour century. I myself would do a solo 5:45 century so the others would say I should ride with a group so that I could do the 5 hour. Not my style, but when one of these guys came to do a century with me, only 2 or 3 of us, no way could they even begin to show that they could do a 5 hour. I would actually leave them behind. The difference ino?? They had big groups of guys, 20+ to carry them on rides. Put them side by side with someone with a slower solo effort, I don't think many of them can compare.

So a couple stages before the time trial, I told Gina that I won't be surprised if Pogacar beats Roglic being only 59 seconds behind in the overall GC standings. Explained why and she knew by the guys I had ridden with, what I meant.

So the TT comes and Pogacar beats Roglic by 2 minutes. One minute make up time and the other to top Roglic and steal the yellow jersey.

My thinking is that Roglic had to ride a flat tt the first part alone without a team. Of course he looks strong with his team but how about without? Is he as strong as Pogacar?

Then the second part of the TT is the climb. Is he as strong without a team? No breakaways to chase down, no teammates to demoralize his opponent, just straight up one on one competition. I know several small frame guys who are really good on the climbs but put them on a flat ride with wind and they do not shine. So I thought if Pogacar is good on a TT (I didn't know) that he had a chance to beat Roglic because he was also a good climber.

Only difference for Roglic this time is he has no team to pace him, support him, carry him in the wind, help him up the climb, or demoralize his opponents.

I guess I was right and I expected it and saw it coming yet my friend argues that something must be wrong because Roglic posted a good TT time but yet was beat anyway by a guy without a team.

Hey, no team to carry you, I've seen it before many times in my personal cycling experience and I'm glad Pogacar was able to pull it off!

 

Uh oh! Could this be another drug scandal investigation?! :-O

https://www.velonews.com/events/tou...campaign=b7fd033a-ea27-4559-b91e-bbaa686c1c8b