Rolling Pro Cycling Thread

Clasica San Sebastián a perfect race today to start this off with. Let's do this.

Official website: https://www.klasikoa.eus/

Special as I've been living there for two months and miss it like crazy, so bring on the scenery.

See, another reason to be envious.

well that is patently unfair :)

Sorry guys :)

Thought it was a good race. Didn't expect Sky to control it like they did the TdF. Poor Landa though; if he's not working for Froome he's working for Kwiatkovski.

bah the only televised cycling i have right now is Tour of Utah coming up on Monday :/

NBC's thing has a couple of races they're covering this weekend -- going on vacation next week, I'll catch up with them then.

Sunweb are having a lucrative summer.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2017/jul/29/coryn-rivera-win-ridelondon-classique

I became aware of Coryn Rivera when she won at Redlands two years ago, and have been a fan since. It was great to see her win Flanders this year, and now being fourth in the Women's WorldTour rankings.

http://www.steephill.tv/players/youtube3/?title=Last+10+Km+of+Stage+3&dashboard=tour-de-pologne&id=fNokRhde6k0&yr=2017

From the leafy trees+undergrowth and herky-jerky towns to the shitty pavement and hills, Szczyrk Poland resembles Western CT hills/Berkshires of MA of my youth waaaayy more than I woulda guessed. That finish was a pretty stern vo2 blowout, though. Sagan is there nothing you can't do?

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/vuelta-a-espana/the-vuelta-a-espana-will-take-on-an-incredibly-steep-31-climb-and-these-photos-show-just-how-tough-it-is-345302

Looking forward to the Vuelta. Stage 17 could be like that one last year, when half the peloton didn't make the time cut.

Most entertaining if so.

Vuelta is going to be great.

Had an eye on the Burgos Vuelta, too. Landa won it so, so easily.

Vuelta is going to be Bertie's last race, here's hoping for one last crazy attack up a mountain
https://www.instagram.com/p/BXfHbrNFo3t/

Watching the Colorado Classic because why not. GREAT setting for sure.

Sanchez out of the Vuelta, probably out of cycling forever, due to doping.

http://www.velonews.com/2017/08/news/samuel-sanchez-positive-hgh-stimulating-peptide_446191

Well that'll do ya

Anyway, who's watching the Vuelta? Yesterday's ending was fun but today's was definitely the best stage so far, great final 10 K or so.

Started watching today, and yes the last 10km were great. Have to hand it to Froome fighting for every second from the get go. Saw him post race saying "I once lost the Vuelta on 13 seconds, I do not want that to happen again." Vuelta is such a different beast than the TdF, you can't imagine a stage like this one being just the third stage of a tour. Madness ensues.

Yeah the Vuelta's relative unfamiliarity to me -- this is only the second one I've seen -- makes it really interesting in terms of the dynamics at play. Things seem a lot more up in the air day by day.

TdF's so much more controlled. First week you get sprints, second week the climbing starts, third week is rough(-ish) climbing, a sprint, and time trial, and hello Paris. Not taking anything away from it, but the Vuelta is just completely unpredictable every single year. There is no 'build up' of stages. It makes it way more difficult for teams like Sky to control the race. You picked a good Vuelta to follow because this years is particularly brutal. Eight, nine stages finishing up hill? Parts with 23% going up? Can't make it up.

I'm not a big Froome fan, but loved to see him go for it. On just the third day! The Vuelta is an individual race in the end, not a team race like the TdF.

Froome in 2011 vs Cobo is still the most hilarious thing I've watched except for flandis' solo tdf escapade. It was like, a _pacific rim_ level duel. It's Also when froome went from on the border of being cut from sky to the greatest star since Armstrong, almost overnight.

Hmmm Horner in 13 vuelta on angliru, was as hilarious, but less haha.

nb comparing froome and horner to those others is not intended as an implication of anything- vuelta is legit my favorite gt viewing.

holy crap lutsenko is a house

just looked over the course maps and...i don't see how any sprinters could even make it to the flat final day.

fun finish today, everyone just pounding themselves tryna stay in the picture. kudus trying to catch lutsenko looked brave. woods is still my favorite "story," as a 30 y/o who came out of elite running who's coming good in the protour, it's more than amazing.

holy crap lutsenko is a house

Pretty great ending there yeah. Today's was fun, those three were being cagey all the way along.

Great victory by Alaphillipe there -- that was one wild finish.

love this

Adam Hansen meets 92-year-old Bernardo Ruiz, 1948 #Vuelta winner and previous holder of the record of most consecutive Grand Tours ridden pic.twitter.com/IdQtS0gsXp

— The Cycling Podcast (@cycling_podcast) August 27, 2017

Hadn't seen that, fantastic!

Just read this interview with Chaves. Damn, what a guy! He's got so much respect it's impossible to dislike him or do anything other than give respect back.

Also love Hansen and the fact that he wrote the logistics software for Lotto.

lol race go boom see ya next year. lopez looked amaaaazing though. and bmc has two huge sads.

Yeah that was a fantastic finish yesterday. But yes, main race pretty much done and dusted I figure. I'll just watch for the crazy landscapes; the Benidorm stage...I get it now.

This looks like a difficult day in store, even before they reach the Alto de l'Angliru.

Sure does. Wish I had had more time to watch this last week, but didn't (just three mins of highlights every night, it didn't feel like enough). Will be watching today though.

Finish line right now, oof:

Finish podium Angliru #LV2016. Now 6.5°C but it can get better. pic.twitter.com/pclwuaGWvv

— Philippe Maertens (@philmaertens) September 9, 2017

Watching this descent through my fingers, absolutely brutal.

I'll need to catch up on this! But wow, sounds crazy.

Absolutely amazing performance from Contador.

Amazingly Froome has shaved half a minute from Contador in the past few minutes.

That. Was. In. Sane.

One of the most beautiful finales I've ever seen. What a brutal climb, and what a joy to see Contador win his last race ever.

Amazingly Froome has shaved half a minute from Contador in the past few minutes.

That was mostly Poels tbh :) Got Wiggins/Froome flashbacks there - and not for the first time - when Poels seemed stronger than his captain.

hats off to Bertie, what a way to go out

Yeah what a great ride by Contador, and he's been surprisingly strong for the last few days. I know he's controversial and everything but I don't think anyone can take this away from him.

On a more humdrum level I stood out in the rain in Moreton-in-Marsh to watch the riders go by in the Tour of Britain today

Pro cycling is a little easier to watch now that I don't feel the need to care about whether what I see is on the level. That sounds like snide BS, but whatevs. Before I def didn't think it was all on the level, but I actually cared about that aspect of sport, and wanted to feel like the winner was clean. I think it's a worthwhile objective and testing should continue, but it's all in the game to me now. I sorta just wanna see people suffer and try and succeed or fail, and not get injured. I'd tell any of them to their faces I didn't believe there's a way to reliably know if anyone's clean, and the necessary power/weight numbers are clearly pointing to no fuckin way. but nice job. if u get busted, I'll believe that too. Ha tl;dr post.

Another year in rainbow stripes for Sagan.

didn't even seem to be in that great of shape to win this.

Luckily Bergen looked absolutely amazing. At least, until the tv cameras crashed with 2-3 km to go.

Bergen looked the part indeed! The crashing cameras were p hilarious tbh. Waiting till the finish cam picked them up and the commentators despairing was oddly... soothing?

Couldn't see enough of todays race due to work. Dumoulin had a blast this week with two titles. October 7th, Lombardia, is in my planner in capitals.

Chris Froome fights to save career after failed drugs test result

"My asthma got worse at the Vuelta so I followed the team doctor’s advice to increase my salbutamol dosage."

sure I'm being naive here but if his asthma was deteriorating wouldn't responsible medical advice be to pull out of the race?

For the first time ever I'll actually be watching the coverage. At least, as I can.

Ganna absolutely monstering the Giro TT, decent ride by Remco too

Man was that ever a sweet run by Van Der Hoorn today, and his energy at the end! Best posi-vibes.

Good cycling name: Remco. Great cycling name: Taco.

loved Taco, incredulous at his win, dropping an f-bomb on the live broadcast.

that was nice to see, didn't expect that sorta reappearance by dombro.

yeh happy for Joe, always comes across as a nice guy on the ol' podcasts

Yup, that was a real treat!

Solid for Ewan there today, he thrives at those last minute moves.

And again for Ewan, amazing. But what a sad bow out for Dombrowski the other day!

Re: Joe D.— As a newb to amateur racing as relative a pup, the best/most comforting post-race comment i ever got from a veteran (who was maybe 25 y/o!) was “bike racing is stupid.” I have had no contact with dude for 25+ yrs, but i can still hear it in his voice.

i cant even imagine what these pros have seen.

Well that was a wild stage today.

I take it back, THIS was the wild stage of the Giro, at least at the end.

So hey, La Vuelta kicks in tomorrow!

seeing Euskaltel–Euskadi in their orange kit at the start line, all will feel right with the world, at least for a moment

Finally caught a stage finish and was glad I did! Chaotic camera coverage up that final hill but such cool scenery looking over the water, and great racing to boot! Excited for the mountains.

Can someone recommend a daily podcast. I’m back on the cycling podcast and and ready to commit murder the next time I hear Daniel Friebe say ‘chaps’ again.

xpost Just caught the end here on the replay, that was nuts. Hell of a way to win. Carapaz is not having a good run of it here.

Well THAT was an unexpected stage result today.

Stellar win by Bardet today but man, Jay Vine coming in third after that crash and Eiking still holding onto red damn well, crazy.

This Vuelta has proved again to be the most fun GT to watch imo. The Champoussin win yesterday was great- they let him go, he stuck it for pro-win-1 while appearing on the verge of crashing the bike from his efforts. And what a fantastic parcours for the penultimate stage of a GT. As good as any Ardennes classic, with the skinny gc boys trying to attack their ways onto podium slots. Again and again, dynamic as fuck.

But the Vuelta had lots of interesting dramas, great efforts, if perhaps too few stage winners.

True on all fronts but so satisfying, what a great Grand Tour, and neat to have it finish somewhere else for once, albeit for bleh reasons.

Storer was kinda my revelation.

My HS spanish teacher who was one of my heroes and advisors was from Santiago de Compostela, I kept thinking of her. Looks grand.

First ever womens roubaix was an absolute classic, Lizzy Deignan on an 85km break (fuck the clowns for not showing it from the gun.). She won a rock almost too heavy to lift.

Men’s race has just got going and the conditions are absolutely minging.

Did you see her managing to stay upright during the wobbly skid? Amazing bike work!

this is brutal but I can't stop watching :/

Absolutely epic

one of the best races i've ever seen

For the men’s race, I’ve only been able to watch some of the clips on https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/q0jqzk/comment/hf8fw62/ but holy crap wet Paris-Roubaix is insane. And if I’m not mistaken the entire podium was all first-timers to the race?

yah, and second was basically a neopro

gcn has highlights available on youtube i believe

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FA6buKQUYAADjgc?format=jpg&name=large

Oof! Biniam Girmay out of the Giro following a Prosecco cork directly to the eye during yesterday’s podium celebration

Own goal but so so wrong and annoying. I hope he wasn’t injured for more than v short recovery. #cagecorksnow

Catching up but yeah what a terrible thing to have happen! Hope to see him back soon.

Giro as a whole was pretty good this year I thought, a couple of boring stages aside. And to have it come down to essentially the next to last day, works for me! Also Bora happily moving into a post-Sagan phase.

Bring on the Dauphine, need to recheck who is racing this time out...

A meltdown from Nick Kyrgios after losing in the US Open quarterfinal! pic.twitter.com/hUTaihlTBF

— Third and Five Podcast (@thirdandfivepod) September 7, 2022

#LaVuelta22 luego de su aparatosa caida en la etapa 16 el esloveno Primoz Roglic no presenta lesiones graves certificado médico emitido por la sanidad de la vuelta pic.twitter.com/CwdOjoqEBG

— 𝐒𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐧 𝐒á𝐧𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐳 (@JORSTA) September 6, 2022

Christ I've been so busy I keep forgetting to check on La Vuelta. Bad of me!

Watch the final 5 clicks of yesterday, all ya needs for st 16. It’s quite amaze short climb finish to flat/rolly day.

gutted for Rog, guy has terrible luck

I am as impressed by his demeanor, dignity, perseverance as his great power profile. Maybe more. He’s incredibly tough— but almost all those guys are.

It’s easy to say “how boring, whatever,” but you know what’s easier? acting like that tennis ahole above.

*chorus*: ask hunt3r how he knows!

https://derailleur.substack.com/p/sad-story-huh

"Everything was going to plan. I confess that I, like so many others, in some way needed him to win — to pull through so I could imitate him in pulling through."

"According to Addy Engels, his DS, after crossing the line, Roglič was barely responsive. Like a living pietà, he sat down wounded against the barriers, and then everyone knew — there was nothing left."

Well that was a lot of fun! Van der Poel fell off his bike right in front of the restaurant where Stet and I had our first date lol.

that's pretty wild. the race was extremely legit imo, what a crazy and difficult circuit set-up they had. more turns than crit, and hard enough to keep the field shattered.

I think I loved it, the way it turned into a crazy sort of devil-take-the-hindmost. Very glad it didn’t rain any more than it did.

for me wout vs mvdp is like the jonas vs pog vs rog: why choose?

Each is distinguishable and amazing and imo very “sporting,” which is nice to an old. I rarely say this but I’m glad to be an overall cycling fan, and just to watch.

Do I have preferences? Sure— in grand tours, I like the current versh Pog. He is ridiculously daring and “in-the-moment.”Second place— Rog, so classy and brave and smart and good.


In one days? I go for mvdp, for the same reasons lol. But also i am a core cx fan, and mvdp’s ownership of the: skills vs “exercise contest” portion of that sub-discipline is persuasive to me. NB they’re both great at both obv.

Congrats to Colorado’s own Sepp Kuss for winning La Vuelta today!

Wow! I had to miss coverage because my vacation last week, couldn't make up the time, but that's great to hear.

Impressively nice and friendly guy, with a v v remarkable physiology and mindset.

Also very cheering to see like, all of cycling recognize all of these things in Kuss with applause and appreciation.

Kind of a relief: a few days before the end it looked like his dastardly team mates were going to repay his years of selfless service by stealing it off him.

Yeah the Defector piece about this today was not exactly sparing of the other two.

very unique scenario; how often does a team have three legitimate GC threats and have them all come to fruition in a single grand tour, let alone three in a year.

Unless I've mis-researched, Kuss was the only rider to complete all three Grand Tours this year (Luis León Sánchez of Astana started them all, but did not finish the Tour) – and all with top-15 finishes (14-12-1)!