I predict a big breakaway to get away, probably with some climbers who are 10-20 on GC. They’ll get 8 minutes before Col de la Ramaz. The KOM battle will be unrecognisable.
The GC battle will spark up, and the last survivor of the break will be narrowly caught near the top of the Joux Plane but not near enough to catch back on and deny Pogacar the win.
Pidcock will chase like a madman down the final descent, but was already a minute down over the top so it won’t be enough.
yes, you have to be good to make it into the breakaway today. If some one in the breakaway is close enough in GC he will force the peloton to keep them under control and the average speed will make the stage even harder (like stage 12)
I'm not sure who needs more make the stage harder, TJV or UAE. It might play into Vinegaard's advange make it dificult all day long, so Pogacar has not that amazing final rush.
True grit from Vingegaard getting back to Pogacar and then taking the mountain top sprint. It will only get harder from here, and if he doesn't crack on a stage I think Vingegaard will take this in the end due to better restitution.
On that final ascent during Pog's sprint, was it actually the motorbike wanting to be close or did it have to slow down due to the crowd being in the way? I couldn't tell on TV, either way terrible luck for Pog.
While he clearly is surprisingly good, he still has to outclimb (and admittedly descent, where he is brilliant) the other two and with place 8 in GC I don't think they will just let him ride.