A lot of the time I’ll have the race on for background noise and every so often look to see bike handling skills and race craft.
Team boss said they wanted to keep all three riders near the front until they hit the Alps next week, then they would see who was looking the best, so sounds like they didn't have any one of the three marked as a specific "lead rider". TJ is probably out of the running now unless the other two run into serious problems early in the Alps.
I've got a new appreciation for it. I converted from MTB to road last year. I just did my first really large group ride on July 4th. It was a 50-miler with around 300 people. It's pretty nerve-racking to ride in the middle of so many people, with everyone just a few inches off of the next guy's tire, and with your bars just a few inches from those next to you. Factor in the variability of potholes or other obstructions, rider styles, and a bunch of other crap, and it was a lot of work! We ended up splitting into smaller groups as the ride went on, and whenever I hopped in front, it was hard to believe the difference in required output. I underestimated how crazy of a difference drafting makes! It definitely makes the TV stuff more interesting knowing how much overall strategy is going into both individual and group efforts on any given day.
The draft can be your friend when you’re suffering on a human powered bike. And bike handling skills are important in close quarters as well as in the draft.
Either stay in 7th-9th, just out of the wind, or be the widest on the sheltered side of the pack. You don't want to be in the middle. At. All. Ever. See the guy with the white helmet and white shirt, 5th from the front? Be him. See the guy with the orange shirt at the 9 o'clock position on the left? Be him. See the guy dead middle in the neon green? Don't be him. It's easier, but not safer.
Yeah, I never saw an official waiting at the line to push competitors over the line nor have I seen a TdF stage with, in recent memory with a stretch of dirt/gravel road.
They have been adding some dirt, gravel and cobblestone sections in the last few years, but I think this is the first time it was done as part of a climb.
Cobblestones were reserved for the Paris Robaix. But I guess the TdF planners need to keep it interesting.
Unless they go over part of a classics route that already has them, that's just kinda dumb. On the uphill only, I hope. "show" at the expense of safety?
They used those same sections in last years TdF. https://www.sbnation.com/cycling/2018/7/13/17561450/tour-de-france-cobblestone-cycling-history I think most of the gravel / dirt / cobblestone sections have been relatively flat and usually less than 5% of the stage distance. It makes the teams do some calculations on how heavy / robust to go with on the tires / wheels. Go too light and you get a flat or bent wheel. Go too heavy and you suffer with that weight for the whole stage. Yesterday it allowed the organizers to add a couple of kilometers to the top of the mountain stage include some 20%+ grades. Brutal.
Geraint Thomas rode a few years ago with a broken pelvis. Still, I can see a broken wrist being a problem, especially on the downhill sections in the mountains.