The professional cycling thread

[_dobbo_]

The A.S.O announces that it is reducing the size of teams in the Vuelta and TdF to prevent domination by one team (so, Sky then).

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/tour-de...

Then the UCI come out and say that actually, the ASO don't have the power to do this.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/uci-hit...

Which raises the rather interesting question of who has the real power in cycling, the ASO, the UCI, or the teams.

I think the answer in this case is it's a bit of a mess but we'll end up with smaller teams not next year but in 2018.

[Rich_W]

_dobbo_ said:

The A.S.O announces that it is reducing the size of teams in the Vuelta and TdF to prevent domination by one team (so, Sky then).

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/tour-de...

Then the UCI come out and say that actually, the ASO don't have the power to do this.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/uci-hit...

Which raises the rather interesting question of who has the real power in cycling, the ASO, the UCI, or the teams.

I think the answer in this case is it's a bit of a mess but we'll end up with smaller teams not next year but in 2018.

Just sums up the UCI to be honest. McQuaid, Verburggen. Corrupt as fk. Couldn't go soon enough.


Cookson, well he's a nice guy but nothings really happened has it.


Actually that's reminded me, what ever happened to the Kimmage fund that (I chucked a tenner into) was stolen by Aaron Brown.

[anonymous-user]

Doping in sport select committee grilling going on now live on BBC parliament channel.

Shane Sutton answering questions on TUEs Brailsford on next.

[johnxjsc1985]

El stovey said:

Doping in sport select committee grilling going on now live on BBC parliament channel.

Shane Sutton answering questions on TUEs Brailsford on next.

I think Shane Sutton would have liked to have given them a bit of a hiding. Brailsford is a different kettle of fish.

[anonymous-user]

johnxjsc1985 said:

El stovey said:

Doping in sport select committee grilling going on now live on BBC parliament channel.

Shane Sutton answering questions on TUEs Brailsford on next.

I think Shane Sutton would have liked to have given them a bit of a hiding. Brailsford is a different kettle of fish.

Sutton looked a bit like he was struggling. Seems odd he wasn't informed about TUEs in his role.

He just kept rambling about sky doing nothing wrong whenever he was asked specific questions.

[johnxjsc1985]

El stovey said:

Sutton looked a bit like he was struggling. Seems odd he wasn't informed about TUEs in his role.

He just kept rambling about sky doing nothing wrong whenever he was asked specific questions.

He wasn't struggling he was just trying to control his desire to thump the stupid MP's who were asking stupid questions. We now know what was in the package at long last we can now all sleep well tonight.

[anonymous-user]

Brailsford looking much more convincing. Hopefully this can finally put the business to bed and GB cycling can go back to cleanly and with a clear conscience, dominate the finger pointing, cheating foreigners again.

[johnxjsc1985]

The MP's are really showing their total ignorance of the subject and harp on about stuff that has been referred to.

[johnxjsc1985]

this is nothing more than a fishing trip for the MP's who are just so thick and labour a point to the extreme in the hope they get the answer they want rather than the answer that is right and truthful.

[anonymous-user]

Shame they're not interviewing the RFU too given there are more rugby players serving bans for PEDs compared to any other sport in the UK...

[Slaav]

pablo said:

Shame they're not interviewing the RFU too given there are more rugby players serving bans for PEDs compared to any other sport in the UK...

Union or League? I genuinely don't know the answer....

[johnxjsc1985]

I noticed Dave Brailsford's watch was 5 mins fast. I watched the SKY Sports reporter describe the event and he really didn't understand what happened.

[anonymous-user]

Slaav said:

pablo said:

Shame they're not interviewing the RFU too given there are more rugby players serving bans for PEDs compared to any other sport in the UK...

Union or League? I genuinely don't know the answer....

http://ukad.org.uk/anti-doping-rule-violations/current-violations/

it's pretty equal between the codes. Mostly steroids.

[anonymous-user]

http://www.tourdownunder.com.au/en


Two weeks to go!

[Johnny]

Good stuff.

No Tour of Qatar this year!

[Highway Star]

Johnny said:

Good stuff.

No Tour of Qatar this year!

No big loss!

Shame to see Gianni Meersman has had to retire due to a heart condition.

[Alex Langheck]

A shame, but better to find out now than afterwards in sadder circumstances. Similar to Niels Albert retiring too early.

[FlyingMeeces]

Alex Langheck said:

A shame, but better to find out now than afterwards in sadder circumstances. Similar to Niels Albert retiring too early.

My thoughts precisely. From the sound of it could so easily have been a sudden unexplained death, a sudden premature retirement by comparison is a very good outcome indeed.

[Matt_N]

So we've had a few early season races;

Dubai Tour - Kittel romped home to the GC and 3 stage wins.

Herald Sun Tour - Howson takes the GC but the Brits and Team Sky showed well with stage wins for Rowe and Stannard.

Tour of Valencia - Martin powered away for a classy win and Quintana left everyone for dead on an in places 20% climb.

[Matt_N]

Here's the 2017 UCI calender:

- 17-22 January: Santos Tour Down Under (Australia)
- 29 January: Abu Dhabi Tour (United Arab Emirates)
- 6-10 February: Tour of Qatar (Qatar) CANCELLED
- 25 February: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Belgium)
- 4 March: Strade Bianche (Italy)
- 5-12 March: Paris-Nice (France)
- 8-14 March: Tirreno-Adriatico (Italy)
- 18 March: Milano-Sanremo (Italy)
- 20-26 March: Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (Spain)
- 22 March: Dwars Door Vlaanderen / A travers la Flandre (Belgium)
- 24 March: Record Bank E3 Harelbeke (Belgium)
- 26 March: Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields (Belgium)
- 2 April: Ronde van Vlaanderen / Tour des Flandres (Belgium)
- 3-8 April: Vuelta al País Vasco (Spain)
- 9 April: Paris-Roubaix (France)
- 16 April: Amstel Gold Race (Netherlands)
- 19 April: La Flèche Wallonne (Belgium)
- 18-23 April: Presidential Cycling Tour of Turkey (Turkey)
- 23 April: Liège-Bastogne-Liège (Belgium)
- 25-30 April: Tour de Romandie (Switzerland)
- 1 May: Eschborn-Frankfurt « Rund um den Finanzplatz » (Germany)
- 6-28 May: Giro d’Italia (Italy)
- 14-21 May: Amgen Tour of California (United States)
- 4-11 June: Critérium du Dauphiné (France)
- 10-18 June: Tour de Suisse (Switzerland)
- 1-23 July: Tour de France (France)
- 29 July: Clásica Ciclista San Sebastian (Spain)
- 29 July-4 August: Tour de Pologne (Poland)
- 30 July: Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic (Great Britain)
- 7-13 August: Eneco Tour (Benelux)
- 19 August-10 September: Vuelta a España (Spain)
- 20 August: Cyclassics Hamburg (Germany)
- 27 August: Bretagne Classic – Ouest-France (France)
- 8 September: Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec (Canada)
- 10 September: Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal (Canada)
- 30 September: Il Lombardia (Italy)