The professional cycling thread

[Johnny]

Cheers Matt. Handy.

[Alex Langheck]

No interest in the recent CX World Championships?? There was even a British 1-2-3 in the Junior mens race.

[epom]

Matt_N said:

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)

Gives Team Sky plenty time for forward planning re logistics etc.

[m444ttb]

The classics kick off with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne this weekend Looking forward to it all 'properly' kicking off now. This is the third year I've really followed mens pro cycling and the classic really grew on me last year.

[Matt_N]

Today - Omloop - Eurosport 2 - 13:45
Tomorrow - KBK - Europsort 2 - 13:30

[Matt_N]

GvA opens the Classics with a win at the Omloop following a 3 man split from the break with Sagan and Vanmarcke.

Onto KBK today and th favourites are broadly similar; Kristoff, Sagan, Demare, Groenewagen, GvA but Boonen has been ruled out overnight with stomach troubles.

[Highway Star]

Matt_N said:

GvA opens the Classics with a win at the Omloop following a 3 man split from the break with Sagan and Vanmarcke.

Onto KBK today and th favourites are broadly similar; Kristoff, Sagan, Demare, Groenewagen, GvA but Boonen has been ruled out overnight with stomach troubles.

If its a bunch finish today, Demare is my tip for the win. He's in quick form at the moment - timed his sprint wrong in one of the Algarve stages, but was mighty quick.

[Matt_N]

2nd yesterday and a 1st today, that'll do nicely to kick your season off Peter.

[mcelliott]

Best one day race in the world tomorrow.

[Highway Star]

mcelliott said:

Best one day race in the world tomorrow.

Strade Bianchi - wouldn't disagree. Oh to be in Siena in the springtime.

[Johnny]

Yep, that's my afternoon at work sorted.

[egor110]

what a mental race it's certainly varied terrain.

[Magic919]

Women's race was a pretty good ending too.

[johnxjsc1985]

I always think Winter is over when the Classics start so looking forward to putting on Eurosport.

[Jonnny]

Great race at Strade Bianche - only in its 11th run, but feels like a monument.

Love Kwiato! Let's hope it bodes well for his season.

[Johnny]

Response from Sky regarding the ongoing issues

Team Sky

[Matt_N]

Good first win of the year for Gee yesterday at S2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, he looks like he's cut a bit of weight over winter.

[Long Drax]

Matt_N said:

Good first win of the year for Gee yesterday at S2 of Tirreno-Adriatico, he looks like he's cut a bit of weight over winter.

I'll wait to see what Kimmage has to say about that before I comment further.

[mcelliott]

P-N OMFG.

[anonymous-user]

MSR. How good was that?! Sagan is a beast, he can dominate this sport in the same way that others have done, sure he'll never win a GT but he could have already won LBL and MSR were it not for the fact his sprint is so strong now no one will g past him with less than 500 metres to go.... Flanders and Roubaix could be awesome...