Cycling thread

lichfieldblue · August 28, 2020

A few riders have acknowledged the race may not make it to Paris. Much speculation as to whether riders will target a relatively early yellow jersey in the event it is cut short and a winner crowned, though Dumoulin claims that's not in his plans.

Anyway, the below explains why Carapaz has been taken

Tour de France: Egan Bernal still not fully recovered from his back injury

Reigning champion still working his way to full form

www.cyclingnews.com

Bruce Wayne · August 28, 2020

sbbefc said:
Hopefully the team bubbles work, no reason to cancel if they do. I just don't understand why they've been letting fans watch from the roadside in the lead up to this. They need a good battering from the Gendarmerie.

No cars on the passes is one of the things I heard, so you've got to ride or walk there. No idea how it will be policed though, given the behaviour of some fans over the years. Even the well behaved ones tend to get pretty close to riders, and the worst are sadly known to hurl all sorts at them. Having some bottom feeder gobbing on you takes on a new danger in the current climate.

spectateur · August 29, 2020

Bruce Wayne said:
No cars on the passes is one of the things I heard, so you've got to ride or walk there. No idea how it will be policed though, given the behaviour of some fans over the years. Even the well behaved ones tend to get pretty close to riders, and the worst are sadly known to hurl all sorts at them. Having some bottom feeder gobbing on you takes on a new danger in the current climate.

I expect the fans on the cols to be better behaved this time of the year.
The holiday and tourist season is over. Camper vans are not allowed on the cols. Today is red Saturday for traffic returning from the holiday regions.
The orange peril Dutch lot are long gone, been weeks since I saw any of their yellow number plates around here.

Bruce Wayne · August 29, 2020

Sometimes karma happens quite quickly. Astana breaking the truce on that super sketchy descent and about 30 seconds later, Lopez face plants a road sign after his back wheel locks up.

Bruce Wayne · August 29, 2020

Bruce Wayne · August 29, 2020

The Tour de France ice rink: Who crashed and who's hurt - CyclingTips

Riders described Saturday’s opening stage of the Tour de France as like riding on a skating rink, the result of a combination of oily roads, heavy rain, wet road paint, and, apparently, a caravan float spewing soap bubbles. “I’ve never seen so many crashes in my life,” said NTT’s Max Walscheid...

feedproxy.google.com

Heck of an injured list

lichfieldblue · August 29, 2020

Bruce Wayne said:
The Tour de France ice rink: Who crashed and who's hurt - CyclingTips

Riders described Saturday’s opening stage of the Tour de France as like riding on a skating rink, the result of a combination of oily roads, heavy rain, wet road paint, and, apparently, a caravan float spewing soap bubbles. “I’ve never seen so many crashes in my life,” said NTT’s Max Walscheid...

feedproxy.google.com

Heck of an injured list

This is absurd, if true. Soap suds thrown out from a float in the caravan was the cause of mush of it...

sbbefc · August 29, 2020

lichfieldblue said:
This is absurd, if true. Soap suds thrown out from a float in the caravan was the cause of mush of it...

Even if it's not true. Wtf are they doing having a caravan this year. Absolutely no need. The organisers are pushing their luck to the limit. Taking the piss.

spectateur · August 30, 2020

Bruce Wayne said:
Sometimes karma happens quite quickly. Astana breaking the truce on that super sketchy descent and about 30 seconds later, Lopez face plants a road sign after his back wheel locks up.

Yes, Astana were idiots. They could easily have lost Lopez for the race. He was very lucky there.

spectateur · August 30, 2020

sbbefc said:
Even if it's not true. Wtf are they doing having a caravan this year. Absolutely no need. The organisers are pushing their luck to the limit. Taking the piss.

I don't think it's true reason. First rain for months on those roads. We all know that leads to dodgy surfaces.
Also, must check the schedule again, but didn't the caravan follow the first lap of the race @ 15 min.
If so they were crashing before the caravan passed by.

sbbefc · August 30, 2020

spectateur said:
I don't think it's true reason. First rain for months on those roads. We all know that leads to dodgy surfaces.
Also, must check the schedule again, but didn't the caravan follow the first lap of the race @ 15 min.
If so they were crashing before the caravan passed by.

Yeah very unlikely to be the caravan. I seem to remember something very similar happening a few years ago. I can't remember which race or stage it was.

I hope Pinot can get through today's stage. Ineos and JV could put the knife in.

lichfieldblue · August 30, 2020

sbbefc said:
Yeah very unlikely to be the caravan. I seem to remember something very similar happening a few years ago. I can't remember which race or stage it was.

I hope Pinot can get through today's stage. Ineos and JV could put the knife in.

I've seen a lot of people claim the Twitter post about soap suds is fake. Agree having a caravan, with a sole purpose to build up a crowd, is mad at the moment.

So many unpredictable elements this year that - touch wood - will make this very watchable, not least because it's not 100% certain that the favourites will have the legs for a full 3 weeks and days like yesterday will have taken a lot out of some.