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Pro Cycling 2021


Cade

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With the Pro Cycling season well underway, I thought it'd be a good time to get a thread up and going.

 

There's been some superb races already this year with plenty of young guns on the top step of the podium.

Looks like it could be a vintage season once we hit the Grand Tours.

 

Super aero position (sitting on the crossbar) is being banned from tomorrow, 1st April.

New concussion protocol in place as well.

 

 

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been here before
48 minutes ago, Cade said:

New concussion protocol in place as well

 

That seems to be something well overdue. As much as Im a keen cyclist I dont follow it closely, dip my toe in the Tour De France, watch a wee bit of something else if I come across it, that sort of thing.

 

I watched a bit of a race a few weeks ago and a rider (NZ boy maybe?) took a header, nothing spectacular and the cameras didnt really catch it. He got up but was quite clearly out of it, blinking heavily, wobbly on his feet, bending over at the waist and clearly fidnt know if it was New York or New Year. I think he wrecked his helmet it the process.

 

I was amazed his support team were allowed to just dust him down, sort his bike before firing a new helmet in jim and sending him on his way. Just the thumbs up to the doctors, no checks, nothing. Crazy.

 

I caught a bit of the next days race and there he was again scooting along no bother. Theres no way he was fit enough for that.

 

Edited as Ive found a clip...

 

 

Edited by been here before
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Aye that crash was a bad example.

The concussion protocol was already in place when that crash took place.

Safe to say that there is still some refinement to be done.

 

The debate is; whether or not the crashed rider should be allowed to have concussion tests done in the medical car following the back of the peloton then be allowed to re-join the race if given the go-ahead.

This could be seen as an unfair advantage if he's fine but had a cushy wee ride-along and a rest for ten minutes or so during the medical exam.

But forcing anyone that crashes to stop at the side of the road for ten minutes whilst being concussion checked would also be totally unfair if they turn out to be fine, they're losing a huge amount of time through no fault of their own.

No easy answers to that.

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Greedy Jambo

The Lanterne Rouge YouTube channel is good for keeping up to date with what's been happening. 

Young guy, no idea who he is but he seems to know what he's talking about. 

 

I'll be subscribing to the Eurosport app shortly for ad free viewing. 

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It’s been a great start to the season and I’ve managed to catch quite a few of the races. I’m looking forward to The Tour of Flanders on Sunday. The battle between Van Der Poel and Van Aert has been everything we hoped for so far. Though Van Aert has a much better team to support him and VDP is having to do it on his own more. Though his Strada Bianchi win was superhuman. 
The grand tours are interesting as I really can’t predict him with the various GC riders looking good so far, except Froome who is looking like he might never get his form back. 

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10 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

Quite good this. 

 

 

There’s a follow up video where they wear weighted rucksacks so they all weigh the same. 

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Aye I think Froome is finished.

He was very, very badly injured and it's a minor miracle he's even on the bike, never mind still in the elite peloton.

With all the young guys coming up, I can't see him winning another GT or even one of the minor tours again.

 

Roglic's multiple crash implosion on the final day of Paris-Nice was absolute scenes.

Crashing two or three times, dislocating a shoulder and still finishing was crazy.

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The big one just now is hoping Paris Roubaix goes ahead. As far as I can tell we’ll know tonight as Macron is speaking to the French public at 8pm to clarify lockdown conditions for France. 

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Greedy Jambo
3 minutes ago, Tazio said:

There’s a follow up video where they wear weighted rucksacks so they all weigh the same. 

Yeah? I'll give that a watch 👍

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InNothingWeTrust

Last year was the first time I've watched most of the grand tours due to working from home and having it on the iPad using Eurosport.  Really enjoying the start this year.  VDP was unreal in the Strada Bianca.

 

I've been following GCN for a couple of years now on YouTube.  Their content can be a bit hit or miss, however they've introduced GCN+ this year, which is £40 for the year (was £20 introductory offer but that's done now).  They're the same as (or teamed up with) Eurosport, so you get all the races Eurosport get (ad-free) as well as loads of cycling documentaries.  I've so far watched Mark Beaumont's round the world in 80 days and Africa Solo films.  Really good value if you're into it.

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Greedy Jambo

Cycling is great, it should be a lot more popular than it is. 

I think people just see it as folk riding about on bikes, but there's so much more to it than that. 

 

On a different note, fair play to Peter Sagan winning a sprint after recovering from covid. 

His boss is still thinking about getting rid of him though, with all the new young talent on the go.

He's on a shit load of money to be fair. 

 

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Greedy Jambo

You've got the likes of Van der Poel and Van Aert but how good was Marc Hirschi last year!?

 

And never ever count out Julian Alaphilippe.

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Sagan is always there or thereabouts......but a bit too much "thereabouts" to justify his salary.

A superstar of the sport but needs to be winning more.

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Greedy Jambo
21 minutes ago, Cade said:

Sagan is always there or thereabouts......but a bit too much "thereabouts" to justify his salary.

A superstar of the sport but needs to be winning more.

 

31 now, past his best according to his manager. 

That might actually be the motivation he needs, a fresh start and people telling him that he's past it. 

 

Pretty sure Fabian Cancellara was still pissing all over riders after the age of 31, a different kind of rider of course. 

 

 

 

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Greedy Jambo
23 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Most teams outside the big boys will want Sagan in an instant. He’s a sponsors dream. 

 

It's a tricky one though, because he's not a team player.

He'll do his bit on the odd occasion but it's mostly all about him. 

He doesn't even follow his own team in a lead out to a sprint half the time. 

 

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Just now, Greedy Jambo said:

 

It's a tricky one though, because he's not a team player.

He'll do his bit on the odd occasion but it's mostly all about him. 

He doesn't even follow his own team in a lead out to a sprint half the time. 

 

Another one of the reasons he’s a sponsors dream in an era defined by the regimented tactics of Sky it is great to see a maverick. His lack of needing a train is actually a good thing as you can have a better balance in your team, when Cavendish was at his best it meant you needed at least one other very good sprinter in the team, in his case Mark Renshaw, and Bernie Eisel was there to look after Cav as well. With Sagan he’s got Daniel Oss as his mate on the stages but Oss also brings his own game to the team as a good all round super domestique. Bora have never been a team to chase the GC in the grand tours so having a rider like Sagan that even if he isn’t winning stages is very consistent getting on the podium is worth it’s weight in gold. I think everyone has the same problem this year in terms of points jerseys. Sam Bennett. 

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Greedy Jambo

I take your point, but it's going to be harder to take a chance on him now with his form slipping and his own manager saying he's past his best, not to mention the money he'll be after. 

It was easy to throw money at him a couple of years ago when he was a sure thing for the green jersey, that's not the case anymore. 

 

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6 hours ago, Tazio said:

The big one just now is hoping Paris Roubaix goes ahead. As far as I can tell we’ll know tonight as Macron is speaking to the French public at 8pm to clarify lockdown conditions for France. 

Looks like it won’t happen now as France is back in lockdown. I’d expect an announcement tomorrow morning. One of my best Sundays of the year is sitting down to watch it as my favourite of the spring classics. 

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I'll be gutted if Roubaix is called off for the 2nd year in a row.

 

Ach well, I'll just have to pay more attention to the Belgian classics instead.

Tour of Flanders on Sunday.

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Loving the Eurosport cycling coverage and the C4 highlights packages - Wiggins needs to wave his hands about a bit less - but most impressive for me has been the number of folk on here who have willingly and patiently answered the multitude of questions I've had over the years.

 

Cheers lads :thumb:

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conn artist

For those of you that use turbo trainers RGT Cycling, which is like zwift but free, are running a Tour of Flanders event tonight on their new 'De Ronde' course. 

 

 

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Paris Roubaix postponed until the 3rd of October. The first ever women’s race of it postponed until the 2nd of October. 

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28 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

The odds for the Tour of Flanders. 

Sagan 20/1

Hirschi 25/1

 

Tempted 😂

 

 

 

image.thumb.png.02e89a6c45961e8230d612a4c3321d1d.png

The bookies are having to go super safe as everyone is convinced it’s a straight fight between VDP, Van Aert, and Alaphilippe. I could see anyone in that list winning and a couple of others besides. It’s a killer of a race and one mistake can screw it’s up for you. Puncturing on one of the horrible climbs will almost definitely do for you. 

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Greedy Jambo

There's not many steep hills in this though is there?

So that could rule out the likes of Phil and Hirschi. 

Edited by Greedy Jambo
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1 minute ago, Greedy Jambo said:

There's not many steep hills in this though is there?

So that could rule out the likes of Phil and Hirschi. 

Nearly all of the Flanders races have horrendous hills in them. Not long like alpine stages but short punchy cobbled climbs that are super steep. It includes the Koppenburg which is a horror show of over 20% at points and cobbled all the way. And being sadists they all mainly come near the end of the race after it starts with a nice easy couple of hours. 

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Greedy Jambo

I think the bookies have got it right. 

Van der Poel will skoosh it, barring punchers etc, like you said. 

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19 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

If you look at the previous winners, it tells a story. 

Kristoff has won it ffs. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tour_of_Flanders#Winners

 

15 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

I think the bookies have got it right. 

Van der Poel will skoosh it, barring punchers etc, like you said. 

Kristoff is class rider with some big races in his career. 
VDP looked well off it in the Cross Flanders this week and actually looked unwell. Of course it could be he was sandbagging and saving himself for Sunday. The course suits a lot of riders and the short climbs actually suit sprinters as they are power climbs and ll about the legs. If he keeps his head I’d fancy Alaphilippe for it as it suits his style. Tom Pidcock could be a good fancy to get a top 5 place if he’s riding but I’ve not checked the full start list. It’s a good race for cyclocross riders so that’s VDP, Van Aert, Alaphilippe, Pidcock, and Stybar straight away and I wouldn’t be surprised if the lead group contained all of them in the last few Km. always a good race for breakaway experts as well if they can get away so Hirschi as you say. Also Max Schachman (sp). 

Edited by Tazio
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Greedy Jambo

Stybar has no chance mate. he's done. 

I'm glad you brought up Tom Pidcock though, i had forgotten all about him. 

I'm not sure he's riding either, probably doesn't have the experience yet for a race like this. 

 

Edited by Greedy Jambo
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2 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

Stybar has no chance mate. he's done. 

I'm glad you brought up Tom Pidcock though, i had forgotten all about him. 

I'm not sure he's riding either, probably doesn't have the experience yet for a race like this. 

 

Stybar is one of the men for spring classics and Flemish races. He’s already got on the podium in the E3 this year. I wouldn’t write him off as he’s got the experience and knows how to win these races. 
Pidcock will be more suited to these races and has already done a fair bit this season.  But as I said I’m not sure if he’s racing. Time to check the line up I think. 

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5 minutes ago, Greedy Jambo said:

What time is kickoff? 

I'm only seeing 2 one hour slots on eurosport

12 and 3.

Coverage of the men’s race is 8.55am to 3.45pm and then the coverage of the women’s race is from then until 6pm. 

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Greedy Jambo
5 minutes ago, Tazio said:

Coverage of the men’s race is 8.55am to 3.45pm and then the coverage of the women’s race is from then until 6pm. 

 

Jesus, i can't remember the last time i got up at 8.55am

I don't suppose i'll miss much if i tune in at like 12. 

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Glad I didn't bother getting up early to watch the start of this, didn't miss much it seems(!)

 

Tuned in just in time for the fist set of cobbles.

The usual number of bottles being shaken out of their cages and flying about all over the place and one guy even had his seat shaken off.

:arry:

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Always fascinating watching the big one day races. Now they’ve reached the loop it’s 100% concentration all the way now. One bad mistake and it’s goodnight Vienna 

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18 minutes ago, Cade said:

Disqualified for chucking a bottle to the side of the road

 

:wow:

That, super tuck, and “puppy paws”(riding with elbows on the bars and no hands) are banned as of the 1st of April. 

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That crash has caused a bit of panic. Alaphilippe involved and Stefan Kung as well. Not to mention a lot of VDP’s support riders. 

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4 minutes ago, Cade said:

It's been pretty much full gas since 100km to go.

A brutal war of attrition.

 

 

I feel for the lad that smacked his plums off the crossbar earlier on when he came down. 

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