Boo. I can see not riding the Tour since it finishes only 2 weeks before the World Championships, and defending that is probably his next biggest goal this season. He should ride the Vuelta anyway though. Sure he won’t be in top form after focusing on a one day race, but whatever. The only thing I can think of that he’d potentially be giving up by riding the Vuelta is competing for the win at Il Lomabardia.
I tried to find a live broadcast or stream of the Unbound Gravel race, but no luck. This story tells me that I missed much misery. https://escapecollective.com/it-was-absolute-madness-peanut-butter-mud-hampers-2023-unbound-gravel/
Tour de France starts tomorrow. Its Jonas Vingegaard vs Tadej Pogačar. I'm all in for Carapaz, Bardet and Gaudu
First couple of stages are in the Basque Country.... which is one of the most passionate cycling parts of the world. buckle the fuck up.
I'm very much anti-Sky / Ineos, but I do like Pidcock a ton. Would be a pretty big shock for him to finish up there in the GC though. wouldn't be a shock to see him wear yellow for some stages though.
Yeah it’s not at all likely. He claims he has GC aspirations though. And he’s an insanely talented cyclist, a great climber, and has a good team. It wouldn’t be completely insane.
11 Danes hopefully we can get 4 stage wins again this year. could have been 5 last year If Vingegaard didnt let Wout win the time trial.
Also this is hilarious. every year the danish tv commentator team, ride all the mountains and interesting hills, to prepare viewers for what will go down on the tour this year. One of them is a journalist the other is Rolf Sørensen. Here’s a video of Rolf (now far away from his best form which is p obvious) getting overtaken on cote de pike by Mads Pedersen and 2 other danish riders. Mads rides by and says “this climb is way too easy”
This is gonna be a race to the finish. Jonas usually only gets better as the tour goes on but they have been riding like psychos every stage 1, 2, 5 and 6.
Loving the Tour so far. Tadej is the best GC rider in the world, but JV is on the best team. It might be more of an even matchup this year without Roglic, unless Sepp Kuss steps up in a big way. Has anybody watched the Netflix series about last year's Tour? I've really enjoyed what I've seen.
I swear to god they need to put a fucking snowplow with razor blades on the lead motos on these tour climbs. This shit pisses me off so bad. Spectators always trying to be the main character in these climbs is infuriating.
Yep. It‘s all about “Look at ME, Look at ME“. If the camera wasn’t there neither would those assholes be there. On a separate but not completely unrelated note another tourist was filmed defacing the Collosseo in Rome.
I’m confused by them allowing all the people and vehicular traffic on the road. One day it is going to be a huge issue
I saw that. The motorcycle operators were in No Man‘s Land. They risked hitting spectators if they accelerated to the speed they needed to go. It wasn’t their fault. The spectators were at fault.
It is a fan issue. It is impossible to barricade off 100 mile courses every day for a month. Especially up mountain passes which is where most of the problems occur. Even with barricades, you can see time after time where fans get inside the barricades just because.
They're professionals. They need to know when and how to get out of the way. Fans are always cramming the course. There are always breakaways, and they failed to anticipate an important one
There are always motos. Stupid professional cyclist should not have tried to make a move there knowing from experience there would be nowhere for the motos to go. He failed to anticipate that. Looks like the fans are the only ones not the problem.
that was one of the wildest time trials i’ve ever seen from a rider. Holy fuck he fucking destroyed them all. holy shit.
185 Kilometers for the breakaway today, and it beat the peloton. In a sprinter‘s stage! Another 30 Meters and the peloton would have.
Not necessarily. In 2017 and 2019 the GC winner had 0 stage wins, for example. The average number of stage wins for the GC winner in recent times (post-EPO/Lance) is probably somewhere right around 2.
Also, when the GC leader can’t lose the yellow jersey in the final stage (other than a DNF or something catastrophic) the rider isn’t going to compete for the stage win. He rides at the back, with his teammates protecting him, waving to the fans and posing for photographers. So their opportunity for a stage win is reduced by one stage. (I hope I got that right).
The GC winner will never compete for the stage win in the final stage, no matter what (except for next year when it is a time trial, but that’s a completely different story). Even if the gap was one second going into the final stage, the GC would be over with. The final stage is purely for the sprinters, and a win on the Champs is one of the keystone achievements for any sprinter.
Does anyone in here ride a Catrike or Terratrike (or something similar)? I recently acquired one, and plan on mostly using it for light trail riding and riding around neighborhood streets.
MVDP just won the world championships. He dropped an elite group , took a 30 second lead, crashed in a wet corner and broke his shoe, and still won.