Cycling thread
- Thread starter Bruce Wayne
- Start date
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
Total ignorance of a sport won't be a problem for Roberto - he's a very experienced bluffer. Awful choice for Flanders but it probably won't make any difference as I doubt he'll be doing anything official? [I'm guessing they weren't planning on having Lance present the trophies
].Love to see Stannard in the mix [more for Roubaix - he's a big bloke for a cyclist] but his season's been disrupted by illness, so don't know if he'll have the condition for it. Good to see Luke Rowe riding the classics - broke his leg (badly) out on the ale last year, and was not expected to recover so fast.
Armel
Player Valuation: £15m
Total ignorance of a sport won't be a problem for Roberto - he's a very experienced bluffer. Awful choice for Flanders but it probably won't make any difference as I doubt he'll be doing anything official? [I'm guessing they weren't planning on having Lance present the trophies
Love to see Stannard in the mix [more for Roubaix - he's a big bloke for a cyclist] but his season's been disrupted by illness, so don't know if he'll have the condition for it. Good to see Luke Rowe riding the classics - broke his leg (badly) out on the ale last year, and was not expected to recover so fast.
Well he's there for the Flanders academy of cycling. It's an entire day. Starts at around 8.30 and lasts until 19. There's a 75 K bike ride at the start. Towards the end he will have to give a 1 hour keynote speech. You could say he's quite multifunctional I suppose, he does loads of media appearances.
I don't think think they'll do anything of note, but riding them is fun also - especially after long breaks. I expect something from Nibali in the Ronde van Vlaanderen.
Not sure the DVV swag is really commensurate to the effort involved 
Can't argue with what looks like a horse poo shaped trophy though.
Can't argue with what looks like a horse poo shaped trophy though.
Armel
Player Valuation: £15m
It's because they have an obsession with horses in Waregem; Waregem koerse... On the trophy it says: hors categorie. It's a wordplay; obviously the meaning in French; and hors is also local dialect for a horse.
You used to get a real donkey if you won Kuurne-Brussel-Kuurne.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
Missed the race today, was out frantically trying to get miles in for the Fred. Quickstep crushing all before them, sort of surprised the all-Chiefs-no Indians model works, as it could be a disaster.
Wout top ten, so could be in good shape for Roubaix. Watching some highlights now, though, and looks like he's properly gone deep there.
Wout top ten, so could be in good shape for Roubaix. Watching some highlights now, though, and looks like he's properly gone deep there.
Armel
Player Valuation: £15m
I have to say, I am quite disappointed with the winner. The man's an arse. He's been very good all year so it was quite expected, but gutted none the less. Sagan and GVA are below level this year. Naessen was very strong today, but he keeps falling. Van Marcke doesn't know how to win races, plus today he just wasn't good enough. Benoot was good enough, he's the only one I think that would have been able to follow Terpstra. It's a real shame that he's in a weak team. He always has to go about things alone. Van Aert did very good, I didn't think he would be able to ride the last 30 K with the front group.
Paris Roubaix on Sunday, so a good excuse to post the memorable backstage pass from what probably qualifies as the best single day of cycling I've seen. That edition had absolutely everything.
Seems a wide open race this year, but I'd like the teams to work better against Quickstep. They've dominated the classics to date, so it'd be nice to have someone else win.
Seems a wide open race this year, but I'd like the teams to work better against Quickstep. They've dominated the classics to date, so it'd be nice to have someone else win.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
That was a superb race - the mighty Tom Boonen done on the line. Think QS will be tough to beat on Sunday - both Terpstra and Phil Gil looking extremely strong, Stybar due a monument win too. WvA as an outside bet for the podium. Gilbert not ridden Roubaix for several years, though, but then again he is Belgian so it probably won't matter. Cobbles in the DNA.
Do you know if you need a Eurosport subscription to watch it, or is it free to view?
Was reading about Boonen talking about a ramp training plan he used to do - 8 minute blocks raised at 40W intervals. Starting at 100W, which is barely pedalling, then 140, then 180 etc. In his best shape he could hit 460W for 8 mins, after 80 mins total ramping up. Just insane levels of power. Makes you realise that the strongest riders any of us know locally, who are levels above where we are in microcosm, are basically more or less the same as us when you zoom out to the Boonen scale. Just in a different solar system.
Aye, the power the pros put out is bonkers, although that is 'only' 5.6w/kg at his advertised weight. Granted he's been going some for some time before then, but it's not extra-terrestrial. Ok, as a 58kg rider the thought of doing 460w is pretty extra-terrestrial, but for one of the best cobbled riders ever...
Having said that, the fact they average around 45km/hr for 250km is pretty mad in itself. The weather looks good, so will hopefully get out for several hours on Sunday and get back in time for the Arenberg.
Re Eurosport, you'd need to pay for that if you watch it via the Eurosport Player I'd imagine, but fairly sure I heard people saying Flanders was available on YouTube, although I couldn't tell you where. It might be Sporza or one of the Belgian channels, so you might have to do without Carlton Kirkby, so that would be a bonus
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
460W for 8 mins in isolation would be unremarkable for a classics pro, but after an 8 min interval ramp up? That is savage power to sustain.
Recommend a ramp test if you've not tried one - They're a quick way to get a reasonable estimate of your threshold power if you do one with short step ups like 1min or less, without the psychological challenges of holding high power for long periods of time. First 75% feels easy and then you move through decent effort / absolutely belting it / cardiac arrest imminent in a short space of time.