A bit late but we MUST talk about the last stage of the Dauphine. Stratospheric numbers, new climbing records, some riders shell-shocked after what they've seen... It was one of the fastest mountain stages in recent times, 4 hours full-gas. #Dauphine

And that's how it all started. Jumbo-Visma destroyed the peloton on Cote de Domancy and only a dozen riders were able to follow. To do that, you "just" needed to hold ~7,4 wkg for 6 min 40 sec. 140 km to go. #dauphine https://twitter.com/EvaMarisa/status/1295298321020596224?s=19

Then the pursuit started. The 15-rider breakaway worked well and at one point had one minute advantage. But soon, the teams caught behind (EF, Cofidis & Arkea) organized the chase and the peloton arrived at the foot of Col de Romme 33 seconds after the attackers.

Important to notice that Pinot and Pogacar were taking pulls on the flat with over 120 km left to ride!

On the first kilometers of Col de Romme, the strongest climbers from the peloton managed to catch the first group. There was no truce though and soon another wave of attacks began with Pogi, Sivakov and the Jumbo Bees most active.

At the top of Col de Romme, the bombshell. David de la Cruz, M.A. Lopez and Martinez (???if he was in the first group) set a new climbing record: 27 min 10 sec, ~6,4 w/kg! That's 15 sec faster than the Schlecks, Contador and Kloden in TdF 2009. #Dauphine

The overall level on Col de Romme was absolutely incredible, around 30 riders were able to climb it at 6.0 w/kg or higher. Including Dylan van Baarle.

On the next climb, Col de la Colombiere, Sivakov and Alaphilippe attacked and were the fastest at the top: 22 min 15 sec, ~6,2 w/kg. There was some kind of regrouping behind but the GC favourites group still went fast, 23 min 05 sec, 5,9 w/kg.

Col des Aravis was the slowest climb of the day and the things calmed down a bit before the 2nd ascent of Cote de Domancy. That's where Pogacar, Kuss, Martinez and Lopez went on the attack: 7,1 w/kg for 6 min 50 sec while Pinot's group climbed it slowly, in 7 min 45 sec.

Cote de Cordon was ridden at the same pace by the attackers and Pinot's group, ~5,9 w/kg for 13 min 30 sec. The highest peformer in the finale was of course the stage winner, Sepp Kuss who still had enough fuel in the tank to climb at over 30 km/h to Megeve airport. HUGE!

You can see Sepp Kuss' power data from that stage in this great piece by @velonews . Normalized power: 5,5 w/kg for 4 hours! https://www.velonews.com/training/power-analysis-sepp-kuss-on-stage-5-of-the-criterium-du-dauphine/

Sepp Kuss wasn't the only Jumbo-Visma monster during this stage, Wout Van Aert did also something extraordinary. He climbed Romme in 28:28 (~5,8 w/kg) and Colombiere in 22:32 (~5,9 w/kg if 77 kilos). The strongest cyclist in the world can handle the mountains too!

Grand Tour GC probably not but in this sort of shape, Van Aert could fight for the win in both Liege and Lombardia. Just like he said, he doesn't know yet what his limits are. He's amazing!

And now, the shell-shocked riders.
Mikael Cherel: "The level on the climbs was definitely higher than in Le Tour. In the past years, I could follow the first 20 riders uphill. Now there are 40 or 50 better. We're losing our reference points." (via L'Equipe)

Hugo Hofstetter: "The Jumbo-Visma guys are mind-blowing. Since Tour de l'Ain, Tony Martin and Van Aert are putting some incredible pace, even in the mountains. They're head and shoulders above the rest." (via L'Equipe)

Thanks for reading this very slow thread. The Tour will be the opposite, it's gonna be batshit crazy fast!