{"id":166016,"date":"2018-07-19T11:34:04","date_gmt":"2018-07-19T11:34:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?p=166016"},"modified":"2018-07-19T11:34:04","modified_gmt":"2018-07-19T11:34:04","slug":"week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours.<\/strong><!--more--><\/p>\n<h2><strong>Us \u2013 Losers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re cycling fans, aren\u2019t we? We love cycling. So, while Stage 9 was exciting, it was bitterly disappointing to see Richie Porte leave Le Tour. Just as he\u2019s got his form back on track, Porte crashes out of Le Tour twice in successive years. Not great for us fans, right?<\/p>\n<p>https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/BlRGnCZAqnB\/?taken-by=richie_porte<\/p>\n<p>Added to that, Bardet\u2019s heroic effort in stage 9 just to stay vaguely in contention must have cost him dear in the long term. Technical fault after fault left the Frenchman playing catch up on one of the most fraught of stages. Even worse, at the time of writing, his nearest teammate is two minutes behind.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Team Sky \u2013 Winners<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I\u2019m writing this after watching Stage 11 and Geraint Thomas has taken the maillot jaune. Good for him. But Team Sky must be rubbing their eyes \u2013 it must be difficult to believe how lucky they\u2019ve been. Froome has emerged from the early stages relatively unscathed, and Sky\u2019s two race leaders are within twenty seconds of each other.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The new maillot jaune is a man in demand at the start today. We\u2019re heading for Alpe d\u2019Huez <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/GeraintThomas86?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@GeraintThomas86<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TDF2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TDF2018<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/yAxjXG4c9l\">pic.twitter.com\/yAxjXG4c9l<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; INEOS Grenadiers (@INEOSGrenadiers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/INEOSGrenadiers\/status\/1019882975356481536?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>It can\u2019t be overstated how important team proximity is as we head towards stage 17 \u2013 please read about it <a href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/09\/best-stages-of-le-tour-2018\/\">here<\/a>. Having your team around you may be more important than which wave you start in -just look at how far behind Froome was when he made the decisive attack in the Giro.<\/p>\n<p>Thomas and Froome could even risk conserving energy and losing a minute waiting for Egan Arley Bernal Gomez to catch up. Or Gomez could drop the hammer to join them. Or maybe work to get Kwiatkowski in contention. The point is, Team Sky have options and, when you look at the state of BMC, you can\u2019t help but feel there was a little luck involved.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>The Old Guard \u2013 Losers<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Cavendish never looks like he enjoys cycling up a hill, let alone a mountain \u2013 but he\u2019ll do it if he thinks he can grab another stage. He\u2019ll do it if it means he\u2019ll wear green. But Stage 11\u2019s three brutal climbs came less than 24 hours after the 20% gradients of the Plateau des Gli\u00e8res.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">Sometimes everything you give just isn\u2019t enough. But the finish line will always be there &amp; you\u2019ll pass it eventually. Thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TeamDiData?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@TeamDiData<\/a>. Thanks to <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LeTour?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LeTour<\/a>, the race that\u2019s shaped my career &amp; heart. Most importantly, thanks to the incredible fans over the last couple of weeks <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/W5ho0J02wk\">https:\/\/t.co\/W5ho0J02wk<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Mark Cavendish (@MarkCavendish) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/MarkCavendish\/status\/1019898605665181697?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 19, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>Any green jersey contenders not in the points, or with a reputation to make would have been tested psychologically as well as physically and The Manx Missile and auld enemy Kittel finished outside stage 11\u2019s time limit. These aren\u2019t the dynamic cyclists of 5 years ago. Sagan now looks unimpeachable.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Team Lotto NL-Jumbo \u2013 Winners<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>Despite an unfortunate start and a nasty looking tumble, Dylan Groenewegen won stage 8 and his team are 4th overall. Without a doubt, the race managers will wish they\u2019d had better luck in the opening stages when Lotto NL-Jumbo super-domestique Gesink was setting a brisk tempo at the front of the peloton.<\/p>\n<div class=\"embed-controller-wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"500\" data-dnt=\"true\">\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/TDF2018?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#TDF2018<\/a>\u2060 \u2060\u2060 \u2060\u2060 \u2060<br \/>Solid day for <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/s_kruijswijk?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@s_kruijswijk<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/rogla?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@rogla<\/a> to La Rosiere who are now respectively 6th and 5th overall. All <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LottoJumbo_road?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@LottoJumbo_road<\/a> riders have made it to the finish today \ud83d\udc4a<\/p>\n<p>Stay tuned for our race report and more photos&#8230; <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/b0GNn1W34y\">pic.twitter.com\/b0GNn1W34y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>&mdash; Team Visma | Lease a Bike (@vismaleaseabike) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/vismaleaseabike\/status\/1019626109237940230?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">July 18, 2018<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async data-src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/div>\n<p>More intriguing is the fact that after Stage 11, Primo\u017e Rogli\u010d and Steven Kruijswijk are the only team-mates sat next to each other in the general classification top 35 \u2013 other than Thomas and Froome. Bear in mind that Rogli\u010d and Kruijswijk are sat in 5th and 6th place \u2013 and Gesink is still vaguely in touch. Keep an eye on this team \u2013 something interesting may happen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":166017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[329],"tags":[1757,2124,1080,874,461,911,1221,773,473,433,2064],"global-categories":[],"class_list":["post-166016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-road-cycling","tag-dylan-groenewegen","tag-egan-arley-bernal-gomez","tag-geraint-thomas","tag-marcel-kittel","tag-mark-cavendish","tag-michal-kwiatkowski","tag-primoz-roglic","tag-richie-porte","tag-romain-bardet","tag-tour-de-france","tag-tour-de-france-2018"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v25.3 (Yoast SEO v25.9) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far - \u0160koda We Love Cycling<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-19T11:34:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"600\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Christopher Ashley\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/\",\"name\":\"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far - \u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-07-19T11:34:04+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"\"},\"description\":\"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp\",\"width\":900,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/\",\"name\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling\",\"description\":\"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine\",\"alternateName\":\"\u0160koda WLC\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far","og_description":"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers","og_url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/","og_site_name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","article_published_time":"2018-07-19T11:34:04+00:00","og_image":[{"width":900,"height":600,"url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp","type":"image\/webp"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Christopher Ashley","Est. reading time":"6"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/","name":"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far - \u0160koda We Love Cycling","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp","datePublished":"2018-07-19T11:34:04+00:00","author":{"@id":""},"description":"Who\u2019s in, who\u2019s out? Who\u2019s on the way up and who\u2019s on the way down? Things may not always be what they seem in the strangest of grand tours. Us \u2013 Losers","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/d2p6e6u75xmxt8.cloudfront.net\/2\/2018\/07\/profimedia-0377910064-1.webp","width":900,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/2018\/07\/19\/week-two-of-le-tour-2018-the-winners-and-losers-so-far\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Week Two of Le Tour 2018: The Winners and Losers So Far"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/","name":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling","description":"\u0160koda We Love Cycling magazine","alternateName":"\u0160koda WLC","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"","url":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/author\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=166016"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":166023,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/166016\/revisions\/166023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/166017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=166016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=166016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=166016"},{"taxonomy":"global-categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.welovecycling.com\/wide\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/global-categories?post=166016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}