Pro Tour/ Euro/Whatever road thread

i thot one article said he was the 6th racer to do that? xpost

sorry, first U23 rider.

GOD OF THUNDER

!!!!

<3

v exciting finish

Just watched it. I thought Evans was fantastic.

THOR!!!

(just catching up now)

(idiot BBC commentators aided by idiot aussie OB team managed to miss Gilbert being caught)

A good comment piece on the Contador clenbuterol thing

Amgen Tour of California stage cities announced: http://www.amgentourofcalifornia.com/Route/stages.html

I'll definitely be at the stages within driving range (Solvang, Baldy, Thousand Oaks).

the funniest thing is the Leipheimer holds a Gran Fondo to help Santa Rosa raise $175k to secure Santa Rosa as a stage in the tour.

registration alone for the event totals $680k which is massive.

so i was quite surprised to see the tour skip Santa Rosa this year, where is that money going exactly?

no sf stage, closest thing is livermore to san jose (no thanks).

are you in the 805 sous les paves?

I have put thursday through sunday in my calendar and currently flights into Santa Barbara and out of Burbank look reasonable. Might book this on payday.

Question: Is it possible to do this European style and camp out beside the road, at least on the mountain stages?

Of the three SoCal stages, the only mountain stage is the Claremont to Mt. Baldy stage, which appears to be a HC TT as that is only about 12 miles long. That is a pretty remote area so they will more than likely allow camping but I can't guarantee that. Solvang is will be the site of the ITT, leaving the Santa Clarita - Thousand Oaks finale the only proper road stage. There are a couple hills on that route (I assume they'll head out toward the coast along the 126 and then cut through either Moorpark, Fillmore or Santa Rosa Valley to get to TO) but nothing too dramatic.

I'm figuring on a nice long weekend of good food, good wine with occasional bursts of cycling. Proper TdF style.

Ha, well, this area is a bit of step down culinarily from France but there is decent wine to be had.

step up from Pittsburgh, step up.

Quite frankly I crave the novelty of Trader Joe's two buck chuck and a salad without french fries in.

I bought an amazing bottle of wine in Solvang about 5 years ago. Sorry, that's not much help, is it.

Levi has gotta be half happy / sad with the route. On one hand Santa Rosa gets punked, on the other, the course looks very much like it was designed to get Levi the jersey again. Looks like the strategy will be: 1) Win Solvang TT, 2) cover attacks on Baldy the next day, 3) win.

xxp shasta: I'm in North San Diego County so it'll be a long drive, but doable nonetheless.

Nice. I spent 3 years in North SD County close to 20 years ago.

when i was growing up, my stepdad would go to solvang to ride in these centuries
http://www.bikescor.com/solvang/
ha, this looks kinda like shasta
http://www.bikescor.com/solvang/images/century-rider5.jpg

went up to santa ynez last year to wine taste and ate at this restaurant. it was pretty amazing.
http://www.ballardinn.com/

Loved the Commonwealth Games road race (men's) - anyone else see it? No spoilerz just in case.

Was at the in-laws' this weekend, so I saw about ten minutes of the road race on a TV in a giant Tesco's. I saw Millar in a small leading group and Cavendish leading some others up to them, but frustratingly there was no information on how much further they had to race so I had to call it a day there (otherwise my wife might have become frustrated if I stayed in the supermarket for three hours).

i missed it - was entertaining the parents at that point of the evening instead!

local paper has gone with 'alby beats hot dogs to take gold' as the headline. he was looking pretty out of shape earlier in the year, but jeez!

lol @ that headline

Interesting interview with Wiggins, basically admitting they fucked up this year:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/feature-wiggins-year-of-wisening-up

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=140459433294&hlp=false&rvr_id=152033070195&crlp=1_263602_304652&UA=M*S%3F&GUID=13ede00e12a0a06c1b520492ff7e8280&itemid=140459433294&ff4=263602_304652

http://www.isleofman.com/img/news/normal/29760/1.jpg?v=468992

Loving the sportive club level kit Cav gets to wear for Team Isle of Man

he hung round to help the rest of the team after the road race, too.

saw the last hour or so of lombardy last night - gilbert just destroyed everyone in filthy conditions.

2011 Tour route published, TTT, Galbier Twice

http://road.cc/sites/default/files/images/Tour%20de%20France%202011%20stage%2018.preview_500.jpg

http://road.cc/sites/default/files/images/Tour%20de%20France%202011%20stage%2019.jpg

Stage finish on the Galibier?

Read something about how the Vuelta's influence is leading to a decline in the ITT as a component of le Tour. TTT is always nice though.

No prologue either, with a sprinter unfriendly bump on the run in to the finish of the first stage.

wanna see them copy the giro's weirdo itt from a couple of years ago in cinque terre - a looooooong (1.5 hrs), hilly, dodgy road course for road bikes. cancellara dropped out to avoid- rather than disrupt his preparations BAWK BAWK.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2009/05/news/menchov-wins-stage-12-time-trial-at-cinque-terre-and-takes-lead_92271

Points system for sprints and KoM are radically different this year.

Sprints

45 points for a stage win up from 40
Intermediate sprints now carry 20 points with points down to 15th place and only one intermediate per stage

KoM

Only mountaintop finishes will carry double points not last climb of the day
Only top six get points for HC, 1, 2 and 3 category climbs
Only first rider gets points for 4th cat climbs

Sprints is most interesting its going to shake up the breakaway dynamic on flat stages, either people wont' get away or big names will have to go if they want to wear green.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2010/10/news/jens-voigt-to-join-schleck-brothers-luxembourg-squad_147248?news

JENS

giro '11 route. mt etna!

That is pretty savage. Colle delle Finestre on the penultimate day before a last day time trial is pretty savage. route should make for an interesting race and should dissuade anyone from thinking the Giro is good preparation for the tour.

al capone charged with tax evasion.

I <3 Ivan Basso

http://road.cc/content/news/27304-remember-your-first-bike-ivan-basso-does-and-he-wants-his-back

Mario Cipollini thinks the current peleton is full of girly men.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/cipollini-decries-modern-cyclings-lack-of-machismo