The professional cycling thread

The professional cycling thread

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okgo

38,050 posts

198 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
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I should think the last thing he wants to do is keep having to ride his bike here there and everywhere! Expect to see him as a DS or something on a team soon.

VEA

4,785 posts

201 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
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mcelliott

8,667 posts

181 months

Wednesday 17th September 2014
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VEA said:
Depending on how tomorrow's vote goes, he may not even qualify to ride for GB. smile

Vocal Minority

Original Poster:

8,582 posts

152 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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So a course which allegedly best suits Ben Swift...but no Mark Cavendish selected?

Presume the thought was that he'd get ditched in the process that creates a 'reduced sprint finish'

barwea

123 posts

173 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Vocal Minority said:
So a course which allegedly best suits Ben Swift...but no Mark Cavendish selected?

Presume the thought was that he'd get ditched in the process that creates a 'reduced sprint finish'
I'm sure I read the bookies favourite was Gerrans, which would certainly indicate there are a few lumps that are too lumpy for the proper fast guys.

GarryDK

5,670 posts

158 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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No Dani King or Laura Trott?

okgo

38,050 posts

198 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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barwea said:
I'm sure I read the bookies favourite was Gerrans, which would certainly indicate there are a few lumps that are too lumpy for the proper fast guys.
I assume Cancellara is going to try and break away then given he has not opted to do the TT in favour of this. Should make it interesting.

Wish they were not circuit races every year, quite dull.

Rocksteadyeddie

7,971 posts

227 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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mcelliott said:
VEA said:
Depending on how tomorrow's vote goes, he may not even qualify to ride for GB. smile
It's a decison that owes more to misty-eyed nostalgia than it does common sense.

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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To be fair, Millar is one of the most experienced road captains in the peloton and was the driving force on the day in 2011. His expereince combined with those long turns on the front were epic and massively contributed to Cav winning.

Its a long race and although on face value those lumps arent that big, over 14 laps I think they will take their toll on sprinters who are used to having a team work for them all day on long, undulating stages with flat finishes. Plus as GB found in 2012, having a fantastic Plan A isnt that good when you dont have a Plan B.... I'm sure there will be attacks on that second steeper climb with a few laps to go as it looks sharper and shorter than the first.

Sagan will be heavily marked as usual and without a team strong enough to support him, depends who is still knackered post-Vuelta to be honest but I think the likes of Trentin, Stybar, Henao and Van Avermaert should feature in a break, they seem to go well on long stages from what I remember, or maybe even Dan Martin?

That all said, at nearly 350kms, its way too long to produce good racing and they will all be watching one another with the big teams covering most moves.

Wiki has an up to date list of entries.

Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 18th September 10:35

JuniorD

8,627 posts

223 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Wiki says it's 254km, 158 miles.

Would love to see Dan Martin do well.

okgo

38,050 posts

198 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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I am putting money on Fabian. He wouldn't target it if he wasn't 'ready'...

Jonnny

29,397 posts

189 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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OPQS taking a dream team line up to TTT.

"We will fly to Ponferrada on Wednesday," Sport Director Tom Steels said. "The parcours looks more difficult than the one of last year, more technical for sure. But fortunately we will fly there Wednesday, so we will have three days to get into the rhythm of the race, to study details, and prepare as nest we can. The team is strong. We believe this team can repeat the success of the first two attempts. All the guys showed they are in good condition for the race where they each competed in the last week. We have Tony Martin, who is the core as three-time UCI World TT Champion. Then we have Niki Terpstra, who is a guarantee to perform in this effort as he was on the world championship team the last two years. Then we have Michal Kwiatkowski, who was a part of the team last year and showed his strength at Tour of Britain a few days ago. Tom Boonen is also there. He can't wait to be a part of the team again after the experience the 2012 gold medal in Valkenburg. Then we have the two new rider selections in Pieter Serry and Julien Vermote. Serry was selected for the Belgian World TT Championship team, which shows his prowess and his condition for the chrono. Vermote just won a race at Tour of Britain with a long breakway and a solo victory. Both guys showed their ability and also their improvement, particularly through working on time trials with the help of Specialized. So the team is really competitive and ready to play a role in Ponferrada."

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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350 kms was a typo sorry! Even 250 is too long IMO though, it skews the race in favour of those with the biggest teams which IMO isnt what the worlds should be about.

I agree Cancellara must be in good form but like 2009 when the worlds were in Switzerland, he just got marked and chased down every time he tried to jump that small group.

Dr Imran T

2,301 posts

199 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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okgo said:
I assume Cancellara is going to try and break away then given he has not opted to do the TT in favour of this. Should make it interesting.

Wish they were not circuit races every year, quite dull.
They certainly are dull! I not overly keen on circuit racing. I don't see why they couldn't just run a regular stage race - I can only guess it is better for the fans + perhaps easier to organise?

Also, exactly what has donning the 'Worlds' jersey done for Rui Costa? The format needs to reflect the performance of any one rider throughout the cycling season in my opinion.


Grandfondo

12,241 posts

206 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Rocksteadyeddie said:
mcelliott said:
VEA said:
Depending on how tomorrow's vote goes, he may not even qualify to ride for GB. smile
It's a decison that owes more to misty-eyed nostalgia than it does common sense.
And moral memory loss!

Vocal Minority

Original Poster:

8,582 posts

152 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Dr Imran T said:
They certainly are dull! I not overly keen on circuit racing. I don't see why they couldn't just run a regular stage race - I can only guess it is better for the fans + perhaps easier to organise?

Also, exactly what has donning the 'Worlds' jersey done for Rui Costa? The format needs to reflect the performance of any one rider throughout the cycling season in my opinion.
The rainbow jersey has precursored a quiet year of late

Rui Costa has had a distinctly middling year.

Gilbert damn nearly didn't win a race in it.

Cavendish didn't have his most successful year (though being yoked to the team sky plan probably didn't help.

What was Hushovd like in 2011?

Rocksteadyeddie

7,971 posts

227 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
quotequote all
Vocal Minority said:
Dr Imran T said:
They certainly are dull! I not overly keen on circuit racing. I don't see why they couldn't just run a regular stage race - I can only guess it is better for the fans + perhaps easier to organise?

Also, exactly what has donning the 'Worlds' jersey done for Rui Costa? The format needs to reflect the performance of any one rider throughout the cycling season in my opinion.
The rainbow jersey has precursored a quiet year of late

Rui Costa has had a distinctly middling year.

Gilbert damn nearly didn't win a race in it.

Cavendish didn't have his most successful year (though being yoked to the team sky plan probably didn't help.

What was Hushovd like in 2011?
Curse of the Rainbow Jersey.

HereBeMonsters

14,180 posts

182 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Hour record attempt tonight lads. Reckon he'll do it?


okgo

38,050 posts

198 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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Yes, with ease.

I could get within spitting distance of the hour record based on the numbers (CdA/watts), so if a powerhouse such as Voigt cannot batter it then I would be very surprised.

anonymous-user

54 months

Thursday 18th September 2014
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I could probably beat it too, based on me being a total bad ass and once I came second in an elimination race at Newport

www.steephill.tv for live eurosport stream if like me you are too tight to pay for it! smile

Love his playlist, assume this is being played in the velodrome whilst the record attempt is on!

Republica “Ready To Go”
P.O.D. “Feel So Alive”
Metallica “One”
AC/DC “Hells Bells”
AC/DC “Highway To Hell”
Farmerboys “Here Comes The Pain”
Ugly Kid Joe “Goddam Devil”
AC/DC “Thunderstruck”
Black Sabbath “Paranoid”
Metallica “Frayed Ends Of sanity”
Europe “Final Countdown”


Edited by anonymous-user on Thursday 18th September 17:38