Rolling Pro Cycling Thread

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?

In any case I've already heard several doctors declare that it's simply impossible to get this much salbutamol in using an inhaler.

“We’re banning you due to terminally boring races by you and your team. Oh and the drugs.”

Bring on La Vuelta!

british grand slam ! genuinely extraordinary

The London races this weekend were kinda crazy with both having notable crashes near the end. Viviani pulled it out with a great attack on the men's side (and then today announces for Cofidis which is kinda hilarious given how his team did the work for him yesterday).

But on a much sadder note:

https://deadspin.com/pro-cyclist-bjorg-lambrecht-dies-after-crash-during-rac-1836977471

Enjoying La Vuelta so far -- nothing crazy dramatic, just some good solid rides.

Roglic rode all competition to shit today, as expected. Stoked for the rest of this. Between the insane stage of last Sunday (w/ footage missing, piecing together how Roglic fell on the dirt road through twitter videos) and all that has happened already, it's like this Vuelta has already been going on for weeks. Love it.

Y así fue la caída de Roglic. Entró en el camino de barro junto con @alejanvalverde@NairoQuinCo y de repente se le fue la rueda. Día complicado ayer en Andorra. ¿Quién dijo que esto fuera fácil? #roglic #ciclismo #lavuelta #vueltaciclistaespaña #camaraman #motocamara #LaVuelta19 pic.twitter.com/6Yynua9QhE

— Pack del Toro (@Packdeltoro) September 2, 2019

dirt section 2 days ago was so grimy with the hail. enjoying seeing kuss working. (aussie commentary two days ago said kuss went to uni in WA lol- fighting words!)

Glad I was able to catch up on all stages today (holiday weekend meant guests from out of town). Roll on the rest...

kuss was given a perfect tee-up, but then at least struck it so clean. beautiful job.

Kuss's enthusiasm was heartfelt/heartwarming etc.

as far as GC contenders go, the Vuelta isn't really delivering. I thought Superman Lopez would've been in better shape. I assume Valverde will not win time on Roglic in the third week.

it's like, Pogacar is too young, Valverde is too old. Quintana has spent too much energy on Tour de France and inner team struggles. So we're left with M.Lo to do it (and he's got he team to back it up).

Loved Kuss' win. Been enjoying this Vuelta btw, w/ Pogacar, Gilbert's earlier win, and so many youngsters having a go. Love the bandits of Euskadi Murias and Burgos, too, giving this Vuelta a needed rosy glow on the cheeks.

Ludo otm, but Lopez still won't deliver. Think it's clear Roglic will breeze to the title (bad luck not withstanding). Valverde ever so impressive but not as good as Roglic. Plus Jumbo have the team to deliver.

Brilliant stuff from Pogacar. Him and Roglic surely buddies 4 life now.

Rumors Roglic may wanna get out of Jumbo (to Emirates)?In light of Dumoulin cannot say I blame him for wanting clear leadership role, but perhaps Pogacar on board UAE would be its own issue sooner than he may think.

remco evenepoel is a weapon

A little late but yeah, loved Kuss's win as well, fun interview just after too. Right kind of enthusiasm and not an easy stage! Yesterday's stage good as well, kinda glad for the break today just to catch up on things.

Rumors Roglic may wanna get out of Jumbo (to Emirates)?In light of Dumoulin cannot say I blame him for wanting clear leadership role, but perhaps Pogacar on board UAE would be its own issue sooner than he may think.

― Hunt3r, Tuesday, September 10, 2019 6:17 PM (twenty-four minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

Erm, Roglic signed a new contract today, staying at Jumbo till 2023 :)

remco evenepoel is a weapon

― prorogue mahone (||||||||), Tuesday, September 10, 2019 6:21 PM (twenty-one minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

You sure you don't mean Van der Poel?

What a finish! Congratulations @mathieuvdpoel!#OVOToBpic.twitter.com/pyi4MgvSs3

— Tour of Britain 🇬🇧 (@TourofBritain) September 10, 2019

vdp is a weapon also but remco is something else

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)!

my mom/sister just got back from a trip to ecuador and i made a joke about running into richard carapaz (they don't know or care about pro cycling) and my sister was like 'oh yeah he was getting interviewed on tv all the time'

i guess he just got second in the tour of colombia?

anyway two weeks to strade bianche, the best one-day race [Remove Bookmark from this Thread]

Race has such a consistently legit winners list imo

i was just going over it, everyone's a hitter

I'm finally going to achieve a long ambition of mine and head over to Tuscany to cycle some of the strade bianche in a few months' time. Can't wait.

THE NEWSPAPER and disco inferno next weekend, really excited even tho I don't have the jerseys memorised yet so will probably spend half the time trying to figure out who is who. riding some of strade sounds awesome!

ah nbs on the “his best life isht” wooo!

*thinks*

well if the rest of yr life is even better just don’t tell me for a bit. have fun be safe.

Pogacar going nuts on an 80km solo victory yesterday. Today, Paris-Nice!

Phew! Definitely need to do some catching up -- which reminds me: if you're a Max subscriber at all, there's now access for free for a TON of cycling via their BR sports section. Supposedly that'll be a further paid section down the road but for now there's no limit and they'll be showing a slew of things over the next few months, including the Giro. (TdF and Olympics of course still with NBC/Peacock.)

Haven’t got to the mend yet but the women’s race was great. Commentators were giving it all ‘longo-Borghini is the better climber’ right up to the moment Kopecky smoothly pulled away on that last climb.

Never bet against the big flandrian in a race like that.

man if you told me anytime before a week ago skujins for 2nd at SB i woulda said no fucking way. he's fucking flying.

yall
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GH1EJ2SWYAAKJ9-?format=jpg&name=small

first time trial to the moon

Let's have it happen

and only JV ended up in the top ten

Just watched an interview with LeMond where he explained there are hard limits on sustained wattage based on your VO2max, and if the UCI wanted to end doping they could just make VO2max part of your biological passport and then check the sustained wattage. Seems sensible?

to the smaller extent that vo2 max is trainable, and the more slight extent that its expression is influenced by the rider’s mass, i’m always kinda dubious. when dealing with a group of mostly equally-able soooooper outlier aliens, i am not sure how determinative it can be. can one say hey a rider with an 84ml/kg/min can never match w/gm a rider at 95 wrt w/kg? v v fair.

but i don’t know how much the vo2 max can be argued to be a definitive permanent defin stmt. it has a ceiling for everyone, but it does move. with ppl built to cheat, when will you know you’ve got the correct ceiling measurement? also not all races are determined by that energy system. better races (imo) are determined not only by your w/kg at threshhold, but v v often by your super-threshold power layed down in just such a situation to make a gap and get away enough to stay away with other better performers, or if you can hold that superthreshhold power long enough to win with it (these “w’” efforts are ot usually long, they can last 8-10 mins, not much more). And in a long day, lots of difference comes out of how your body can recover during long hard days. Or how good your teammates are at hiding you until it’s time to make those super efforts, of either kind (roughly called aerobic and anaerobic). whether you’re eating enough. whether, even if youre eating, youre digesting it. whether youre digesting. even whether youre drinking. whether you are naturally just low and fast in position. there’s a shitton of smaller variables that cumulatively make big differences.

i mean there are things that stand out as flags. relatively sudden big improvements obv. ppl going from excellence at anaerobic super performance to being aerobic w/kg supermen (like armstrong bw 97 and 99– and there were many of these in the late 90s obv). or low enders who suddenly just became gods, like froome.

my main takeaway for lemond—as talented and as sorta regular decent person as I think he is— is that his vo2max numbers were like all-time great for any sport, like 95ml/kg/min. scandi xc level shit (who btw were also like patients zero for aerobic doping technique—but i’m implying that for lemond at all).

so maybe everything looks like a nail to lemond, named vo2max. but i dunno, srsly all those riders move so much more oxygen that normies like me, and i just watch and clap.

Lemond I like mostly but he also seems pretty obv very emotionally immature. Not fragile, he’s tough and v resilient,but perhaps best termed “whiny.” actually the first time i met him in the early 90s (i don’t know him obv), i turned around so he could sign the back of my team jersey in sharpie. then he was nice enough to talk to me a couple mins. near to the end he made a joke like “well, i’m just a retired wash-out now, they should just put us down, like horses.” it was said humorously and was appropriate and funny, but i walked away thinking “he really does seem a little shook.”

NOT IMPLYING lol

it was not a jersey of his team, it was a long sleeve of my team, i was out riding and stopped at a shop and there he was. I wish i’d kept that jersey in good shape— but i rode and warshed it to rags. ☹️