He hadn’t done any work in the group so would’ve been fresher, plus Remco’s nowhere near as good as his hype.
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Remco also notoriously lacks a good finishing sprint, so I’m not surprised he was beaten. Del Toro has a much stronger finish than Remco.
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OK Boys and Girls,
Here are the Tour Picks 2026 Standings after Stage 9. The lower your number, Total GC Score, the better you are doing. Tomorrow is the first Rest Day and then we see what happens in Week 2. So far there have been no major disasters for the favorites so nobody has needed to employ one of their Substitute riders. Hope you are enjoying the Tour and I hope this little game makes it just a bit more interesting for you.
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@Medina81 it’s a brilliant bit of fun and thank you for taking the time to do it for us
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The tables turned (stg 10)! Remco has talent (imo) but is somewhat lacking in the likeability department (for me at least). He kind of loses his sh!t a lot.
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That was a weird stage for Remco. He worked hard to pull the group, then was definitely suffering when he was getting distanced on a more shallow climb that would normally suit him. But he not only managed to catch back up on that last downhill but was able to get a good jump at the end to finish front of his group and take the second place bonus and some extra time back to Jonas.
But with all the big mountains coming up in the final week, and getting distanced by his teammate on a shallow climb in the beginning of week 2, Remco seems like the one most likely to be distanced. Long steeper climbs are not his forte. And he was also getting distanced on the Tormalet but used the downhill and final shallower climb to his advantage.
He wouldn’t be the first firey personality in the peleton, tho. But he is defintely not the most diplomatic of personalities. Uneven in his temperment and lacks the filter and balance in his commentary. That can make for quality and more candid interviews, but it also often detracts from his skills as a bike rider when he’s seen as a bit of a loose cannon.
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Yes. I think Ayuso, Seixas or del Toro for 3rd.
Remco has never been one for grand tours. His 2022 Vuelta win was by 2 min better than Mas/Ayuso. Tho he did win a 190km mountain stage. However, Primoz (rather tragically) crashed out that year - and I’d bet he would have won over Remco, which gets me back to … Remco has never been one for grand tours.
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BUT WAIT… if Jonas bows out (b/c that guy looks mentally tired) it will be a very interesting scramble with all kinds of incentives (NOTE: I am not hoping for that… just saying.)
EDIT: I just love calling these guys by first name. It’s like I know them or something.
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Here an image of Issac and Anders Mielke from Eurosport, at the stage ending in Bordeaux one week ago.
Pogacar enthusiasts on the motorway.
We saw Tadej ride into the Maillot Jaune in Garvernie Gédre. Wanted to enjoy the moment instead of taking pictures.
I am cheering for Jonas, that had been some very long two minutes that day.
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del Toro is slipping down the GC… But I do still have hopes for both del Toro and Seixas to make some in roads soon.
The Yellow jersey, well I think yeah… not totally unexpected by any means, but I did wished it was a much closer fight between the 2 protagonists.
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Stage 15. Wow. Tough to watch.
EDIT: Both Jonas and Tadej got dope tested in the wee hours. Expecting to hear some blowback about the somewhat inhumane act of wrecking athletes’ sleep before a very hard stage.
EDIT: Impressive ending though.
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At the 2nd Rest Day we have a very tight competition with everything riding on how the top riders climb in this third week of the Tour. Sadly, Jonas Vingegaard has had to leave the Tour with an injury which brings into play many Substitute 1 riders. There could be a lot of movement in the GC over these next few days!
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Looks like I’m in the hunt for worst picks! Not a surprise
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Well, I’m now one crash away from the full podium.
That’s not the way I would like it to end, tho.
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I’ll be sitting pretty if Del Toro has to do real work for Tadej this week.
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Final Standings after Stage 21. Four people tied with the best possible GC Score of 6 points - Edwin Gonzalez Montoya, Guillermo D’Abrego, Felipe Bautista and Jason Dobson. One of them, Felipe, didn’t need to use a Substitute rider to get this perfect score! Well done everybody. Let’s play again next year.
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I’m going to think of myself as not so much a loser, just challenged in the dept of winning 
thank you @Medina81 and I will be back for next year’s challenge after all it can only get better for me 
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Wow, what a final stage,! Thanks for putting together the little challenge, it added an extra dimension to my tour highlights watching. What a crazy last few stages… I was so relieved there were barriers Keeping Sepp Kuss on the road!
Great ending for the ages.
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Generically, as an all-too blanket statement, French cyclists and fans remind me of the Chicago Cubs (American baseball for those not familiar). They used to be good but then were the “lovable losers” for decades. Sure they occasionally had some good players and sometimes would threaten to be good, but could never reach the top again.
The Chicago fans still loved them and still rooted for them and still came out to watch them in huge numbers whether they won or not. But that didn’t mean other fans liked them. Or liked their fans. They felt they were still better than other teams because they were old and used to be good and had lots of history. And they refused to put lights on their stadium and made every team play during the day time “like how old time baseball has always been played.” Until finally they had to give in kicking and screaming to be sure they could still make money in a sport that was still evolving.
Hopefully that means we can soon get barriers on Alpe d’Huez because while the spectacle is incredible, the sport is long past those old traditional days of cycling’s past. And maybe if that happens, Seixas can drop Remco next time. Or maybe not. 
Edit: This post is meant to be fun and somewhat tongue in cheek.
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Medina81: Thanks very much for setting this up. It was a fun edition. I’ve been watching the tour since the early 80s (back when it was on ABC’s Wide World of Sports) and can say that I find the Alpe d’Huez stages incredibly stressful to just watch on TV. Cannot imagine how rough it would be to ride that as a pro. As per Sir Evan, also hope barriers are erected. Einar Rubio clips and his subsequent abandon more than bring that point home.
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