Cycling thread

Bruce Wayne said:
Spent today with the EF Education First team. A lovely bunch. Also managed to get a selfie with Michael Rasmussen, which was nice. No one was talking to him, which was a bit odd. Persona non grata perhaps.
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He was in the quite rare position of having the yellow jersey when literally everyone knew he was on drugs and it was only a matter of time before he was kicked out of the Tour. Post Puerto too so the public were even more sensitive to that.

Pantomime villain or pure stupidity - probably both. And a cheat.
 

See Froome confirmed today as winner of 2011 Vuelta - first Kenyan Alpha Centaurian British person to win a Grand Tour. Think it was reported a couple of weeks back but Cobo (the winner in 2011) has not appealed in the time frame so it is now official.

DaChunk said:
Thoughts on the teams being 8 riders rather than the 9?
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I'm not sure it has made much of a difference - it could have, mind, and I'm just not aware of it.

It's all a bit like a computer game, the battle between the players meta [most-effective-tactic-available] and the developers nerfs and buffs to keep everything competitive and enjoyable and prevent exploits that wildly unbalance the game. Sky / Ineos have cracked the meta, which is to raise enough money to employ 8 killers who can drive the GC group through the mountains with no respite. Trying to nerf this back to the good old days when GC riders attacked is basically saying you want the Tour to be slow like it used to be. This seems a tough proposition when sports is all about striving to improve performance.
 

TT today - not usually one for the spectators but think I'll watch a bit to see the pro set-ups. Bit of a hilly parcours so not one for the absolute Watt-monsters, and the GC men will be mindful of some big mountain stages in the offing.

Alex Dowsett of Katusha as an outside bet - UK TT specialist (and former hour record holder) who will properly empty the tank on this one. In an isolated TT he'd be one of the favourites, but he doesn't have a lot of GT cycling under his belt - think it's only his second TdF at 30 yo, so probably doesn't have the same constitution as the GC guys. His wikipedia page currently states 'he is known as an decent time trialist'. If Dowsett is decent I wonder what good looks like?

Anyone on the twitters know what happened to Rohan Dennis? Aussie strongman would have been the favourite today but pulled out in unexplained circumstances yesterday.
 
Black Belt Jones said:
TT today - not usually one for the spectators but think I'll watch a bit to see the pro set-ups. Bit of a hilly parcours so not one for the absolute Watt-monsters, and the GC men will be mindful of some big mountain stages in the offing.

Alex Dowsett of Katusha as an outside bet - UK TT specialist (and former hour record holder) who will properly empty the tank on this one. In an isolated TT he'd be one of the favourites, but he doesn't have a lot of GT cycling under his belt - think it's only his second TdF at 30 yo, so probably doesn't have the same constitution as the GC guys. His wikipedia page currently states 'he is known as an decent time trialist'. If Dowsett is decent I wonder what good looks like?

Anyone on the twitters know what happened to Rohan Dennis? Aussie strongman would have been the favourite today but pulled out in unexplained circumstances yesterday.
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He wanted to go in the break yesterday, team told him to save energy for the TT, he's been fighting them on equipment and TT set up all year and decided he'd had enough (or so I hear from Sauces). Dick move IMO
 

Black Belt Jones said:
TT today - not usually one for the spectators but think I'll watch a bit to see the pro set-ups. Bit of a hilly parcours so not one for the absolute Watt-monsters, and the GC men will be mindful of some big mountain stages in the offing.

Alex Dowsett of Katusha as an outside bet - UK TT specialist (and former hour record holder) who will properly empty the tank on this one. In an isolated TT he'd be one of the favourites, but he doesn't have a lot of GT cycling under his belt - think it's only his second TdF at 30 yo, so probably doesn't have the same constitution as the GC guys. His wikipedia page currently states 'he is known as an decent time trialist'. If Dowsett is decent I wonder what good looks like?

Anyone on the twitters know what happened to Rohan Dennis? Aussie strongman would have been the favourite today but pulled out in unexplained circumstances yesterday.
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It was weird yesterday as he tried to create a break almost from the off, and the DSs were like "wtf is he doing? "

Then he climbs off. Very odd.
 
Disgruntledgoat said:
He wanted to go in the break yesterday, team told him to save energy for the TT, he's been fighting them on equipment and TT set up all year and decided he'd had enough (or so I hear from Sauces). [Poor language removed] move IMO
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Read Millar's autobiography this year (year's after it came out, I know) and he said he was asking Cofidis for literally years for a good TT bike and skinsuit, and never got one, which seems absolutely crazy. Timetrialling is the cornerstone of road cycling throughout the UK, road clubs organise grassroots events every evening up and down the country, but I don't think other European countries are all that arsed with it.
Most pros in the peloton will not even be that aero, apparently, as training the position is just not worth the time and effort required unless you're top GC or a specialist tester.
 
Black Belt Jones said:
Read Millar's autobiography this year (year's after it came out, I know) and he said he was asking Cofidis for literally years for a good TT bike and skinsuit, and never got one, which seems absolutely crazy. Timetrialling is the cornerstone of road cycling throughout the UK, road clubs organise grassroots events every evening up and down the country, but I don't think other European countries are all that arsed with it.
Most pros in the peloton will not even be that aero, apparently, as training the position is just not worth the time and effort required unless you're top GC or a specialist tester.
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Generally unless you're needed to be at the sharp end of a Grand Tour or can realistically win TTs, you're not going to waste time on the training and equipment, as you say.

Ironically, Millar's success early on probably hindered his attempts to get Cofidis to take his requests seriously, their attitude was "You're winning already. Why do you need more?"
 
Black Belt Jones said:
Read Millar's autobiography this year (year's after it came out, I know) and he said he was asking Cofidis for literally years for a good TT bike and skinsuit, and never got one, which seems absolutely crazy. Timetrialling is the cornerstone of road cycling throughout the UK, road clubs organise grassroots events every evening up and down the country, but I don't think other European countries are all that arsed with it.
Most pros in the peloton will not even be that aero, apparently, as training the position is just not worth the time and effort required unless you're top GC or a specialist tester.
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Cofidis were too busy stopping (and failing) Frank from getting into trouble to worry about bikes.
 

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