The professional cycling thread

[whatleytom]

Shame the tour of Britain TT isn't being shown live.

[Jonnny]

London doesn't lend itself well to aerial camera view of a cycle race.....

[Gizmoish]

I know Cav is still coming back from injury, and I consider him the best sprinter ever.

But... The king is dead. Skittles is the new king of sprinting now. Just can't see how Cav can beat him heads up. Kittel can go either longer or outright faster and win either way.

[okgo]

If he is still slightly injured then today means not a lot. Was barely half a wheel between them.

I am finding spring finishes increasingly dull these days. Give me a summit finish or a one day cobbled classic any day.

[Matt_N]

Kermit power said:

For those interested (which surely has to be everyone on this thread! ), Jens Voight's crack at the hour record is being shown on Eurosport at 20:45 on Thursday.

It's on live at 5.30 first.

[Rocksteadyeddie]

okgo said:

If he is still slightly injured then today means not a lot. Was barely half a wheel between them.

I am finding spring finishes increasingly dull these days. Give me a summit finish or a one day cobbled classic any day.

It were ever thus. The Classics are so named for a reason. 4-5 hours watching Paris-Roubaix or RVV is time will invested.

[Dr Imran T]

okgo said:

If he is still slightly injured then today means not a lot. Was barely half a wheel between them.

I am finding sprint finishes increasingly dull these days. Give me a summit finish or a one day cobbled classic any day.

Cobbled classics and one day races are great. That said, I have to say the Vuelta was amazing this year esp. the mountain stages. Pure action all the way through.

Beside sprint finishes being a tad dull albeit right till the very end, going round in circuits is the height of tedium for me.

[anonymous-user]

The head on shot of Cav and Kittel at the end was fascinating.



Whilst I know they can both put out big power in a sprint, the traditional short, apparently more aerodynamic physique seems to be getting regularly beaten by the tall guys with the build of a track sprinter, Kittel can seemingly put out enough to ensure that Cav cant dart out from his slipstream and overhaul him. Even Ruffoni looks like a giant against Cav!.

And so to the Worlds, shame its going to be another 7 hour war of attrition...

Edited by anonymous-user on Sunday 14th September 21:27

[BMWBen]

pablo said:

The head on shot of Cav and Kittel at the end was fascinating.



Whilst I know they can both put out big power in a sprint, the traditional short, apparently more aerodynamic physique seems to be getting regularly beaten by the tall guys with the build of a track sprinter, Kittel can seemingly put out enough to ensure that Cav cant dart out from his slipstream and overhaul him. Even Ruffoni looks like a giant against Cav!.

And so to the Worlds, shame its going to be another 7 hour war of attrition...

Edited by pablo on Sunday 14th September 21:27

Position of those elbows could do with some work. Not that I can talk, my sprint is both lacking in technique AND power.

[Vocal Minority]

Cripes Kittel is a big bugger.

I mean I knew he was larger...but I didn't really appreciate by how much until that picture.

[okgo]

He is a tall bloke, but he is still very skinny for someone his height, that is the thing with cyclists, they only look big when next to other cyclists, Kittell would look ill next to a regular sized person his height!

Re power, Kittel probably puts out a good 300-400 watts more than Cavendish who actually doesn't put out a lot (vs what many people think), he is fast because of his jump and how tiny he is.

[Jonnny]

okgo said:

He is a tall bloke, but he is still very skinny for someone his height, that is the thing with cyclists, they only look big when next to other cyclists, Kittell would look ill next to a regular sized person his height!

Re power, Kittel probably puts out a good 300-400 watts more than Cavendish who actually doesn't put out a lot (vs what many people think), he is fast because of his jump and how tiny he is.

Saw them both in Camberley at the weekend, Mark is tiny compared to how big I thought he was, and his bike is even smaller.

Kittel is also smaller than he looks compared to regular people.. Very interesting.

[VEA]

Thought this might be of interest in here.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/cycling/farewel...

[Gizmoish]

I wonder if cyclists are the only sportsmen who are actually smaller than you expect?

Always remember the first time I saw Jimmy Anderson up close at Lord's a few years back. I'd always assumed he was 5'10 or so, but he's 6'2 and solid. Flintoff's even bigger.

[okgo]

Its very odd, but its because when watching cyclists you don't see any scale.

The first thing I thought the other day when I flicked the TOB on was who is that fat lad in the break, it was Marcian Biablocki, certainly not a fat lad, but he looked big compared to the world tour pro's.

Even when you watch the tour series then flick on to a world tour race the difference is quite obvious.

[Kermit power]

Gizmoish said:

I wonder if cyclists are the only sportsmen who are actually smaller than you expect?

Always remember the first time I saw Jimmy Anderson up close at Lord's a few years back. I'd always assumed he was 5'10 or so, but he's 6'2 and solid. Flintoff's even bigger.

I once found myself next to Joost Van Der Westhuizen in a hotel they were staying at in London after a match at Twickenham. I'd always assumed he was pretty tiny.

He's actually 6'1'', and just looked small because you only ever used to see him behind a Springbok pack!

Here's hoping all this ice bucket challenge stuff might help with his life expectancy.

[HereBeMonsters]

Kermit power said:

Joost Van Der Westhuizen

The man with the most South African name in the World, ever.

[JuniorD]

Here's a photo taken earlier this year at the Etoile de Bessege race. Sam Dumoulin is reportedly 5 ft 3 and Conor Dunne is 6 ft 9

For reference, Nairo Quintana, is 5 ft6 and Mark Cavendish is 5 ft 9



http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-news/video-all-...

[Vocal Minority]

Bike swap!

[Dr Imran T]

Anyone know what is next up for David Millar him? he was really emotional at the end of the Vuelta and actually broke down in tears after the commentators comments. Can he still race for a lower level team or is he going in to commentary or the like?

There is a nice career profile of him here:

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/da...

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/da...

I am sure he would be a useful member of a pro team in some shape or form, he's got a lot of useful experience to offer.