The professional cycling thread

[louiebaby]

Parsnip said:

I can throw a man up the road and springboard them, I can have two contenders - do you and your one man chase both?

I still think this was the plan with Bernal on the stage that was cut short last year. The one that sealed his win.

He was sent up the road to scare folk, with Thomas sticking with the pack to spear up the final climb and put chunks of time into everyone else. Except the stage was cut short, effectively giving Bernal the win.

[lauda]

Just looked at the revised race calendar properly for the first time. Starting this Saturday, we have Strade Bianche, MSR and Il Lombardia on consecutive weekends, with the Dauphine squeezed in there too. Three of my favourite one-day races in three weekends and a couple of British Grand Prix too. I think I'm going to need more beer.

[Johnny]

Yep, jam packed!

Subscribed to GCN Race Pass and just started 'World of Cycling'

£20 for the year for a short time, seemed silly not to give it a go

[louiebaby]

Froome looking sensible to have signed a decent value contract with Israel Start-Up Nation:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/egan-ber...

5 mins down on Bernal.

Froome's done, isn't he?

[ukbabz]

louiebaby said:

Froome looking sensible to have signed a decent value contract with Israel Start-Up Nation:

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/egan-ber...

5 mins down on Bernal.

Froome's done, isn't he?

There's not much coverage of the Tour d'occtanie but from what I saw is he was working as a domestique for Bernal?

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

It’s early days yet! Froome May be just stretching his legs at the moment.

[louiebaby]

I hope you're both right, I'd like to see him get his 5th TdF, it would be a great comeback story.

[lauda]

louiebaby said:

I hope you're both right, I'd like to see him get his 5th TdF, it would be a great comeback story.

Me too. I rewatched the coverage of stage 19 from the 2018 Giro the other day and it reminded me just what a class act Froome is. He's never had the critical or public acclaim of other great riders from the past, or even some of his contemporaries, and it would be great to see him end his time with Sky/Ineos on a high.

In all honesty though, I think it's highly unlikely to be the fairytale ending and my money would be on Bernal or one of the Jumbo Visma riders to take yellow.

[BMWBen]

lauda said:

Me too. I rewatched the coverage of stage 19 from the 2018 Giro the other day and it reminded me just what a class act Froome is. He's never had the critical or public acclaim of other great riders from the past, or even some of his contemporaries, and it would be great to see him end his time with Sky/Ineos on a high.

In all honesty though, I think it's highly unlikely to be the fairytale ending and my money would be on Bernal or one of the Jumbo Visma riders to take yellow.

I want it to be different, but at his age and coming back from such a horrific crash I think it's very unlikely he'd be able to do it.

[louiebaby]

BMWBen said:

lauda said:

Me too. I rewatched the coverage of stage 19 from the 2018 Giro the other day and it reminded me just what a class act Froome is. He's never had the critical or public acclaim of other great riders from the past, or even some of his contemporaries, and it would be great to see him end his time with Sky/Ineos on a high.

In all honesty though, I think it's highly unlikely to be the fairytale ending and my money would be on Bernal or one of the Jumbo Visma riders to take yellow.

I want it to be different, but at his age and coming back from such a horrific crash I think it's very unlikely he'd be able to do it.

I'd have to watch the whole of the stage from yesterday to see how much work Froome did. If he buried himself for Bernal, much like Kwiatkowski has been doing the last couple of years, he might still be on for a good finish.

Kwiatkowski's efforts in recent years have been astounding. I've watched him leading up a mountain, breaking people left and right, for longer than he had any right to. Keeping the effort up until he literally stopped dead in the road. (Then recovering enough to finish the stage, and do it all again the next day.) Amazing.

[Johnny]

Awful looking crash at the finish of the Tour of Poland...

[BoRED S2upid]

Anyone know much about Sivakov? Looked a good climber pacing Bernal last week and is riding the Giro. How good could he be there?

[gazza285]

Johnny said:

Awful looking crash at the finish of the Tour of Poland...

Horrible crash, Groenewegen should be ashamed of himself, proper sthouse riding that.

[spikeyhead]

I've just watched it on youtube.

A comment there is:-
Latest news: Fabio Jakobsen is in a pharmacological coma. He has severe skull and palate injuries. He's lost a lot of blood. Doctors in Sosnowiec are fighting for his life.

I hope he isn't that badly injured.

There's an overhead view that shows it to be very much Groenewegen's fault and probably deliberate. Hopefully he'll be banned for a long long time.

[gazza285]

https://www.eurosport.co.uk/cycling/fabio-jakobsen...

Resuscitated several times...

[DeltonaS]

gazza285 said:

Johnny said:

Awful looking crash at the finish of the Tour of Poland...

Horrible crash, Groenewegen should be ashamed of himself, proper sthouse riding that.

He did a Cavendish......

[ferrisbueller]

Latest reports suggest he's stable. Fingers crossed. Horrific crash.

[waynecyclist]

ferrisbueller said:

Latest reports suggest he's stable. Fingers crossed. Horrific crash.

Agreed horrific crash, I believe the marshall was also injured as well.

[Parsnip]

DeltonaS said:

gazza285 said:

Johnny said:

Awful looking crash at the finish of the Tour of Poland...

Horrible crash, Groenewegen should be ashamed of himself, proper sthouse riding that.

He did a Cavendish......

Erm? if anything he did a Sagan - it wasn't Cav who did the elbowing, it was him who was put into the barrier.

Banning Groenewegen to me would seem harsh - it wasn't the cleanest of riding and he was at fault - but sprinting is always a bit elbows out - Christ, Renshaw and McEwan used to go about headbutting folks - chucking him out of the race feels about right.

Horrid crash, fingers crossed everyone comes out of it OK (marshal included) - bike race crashes are always horrible to watch - Yves Lampaert down with a broken collarbone yesterday as well.

[BMWBen]

Parsnip said:

DeltonaS said:

gazza285 said:

Johnny said:

Awful looking crash at the finish of the Tour of Poland...

Horrible crash, Groenewegen should be ashamed of himself, proper sthouse riding that.

He did a Cavendish......

Erm? if anything he did a Sagan - it wasn't Cav who did the elbowing, it was him who was put into the barrier.

Banning Groenewegen to me would seem harsh - it wasn't the cleanest of riding and he was at fault - but sprinting is always a bit elbows out - Christ, Renshaw and McEwan used to go about headbutting folks - chucking him out of the race feels about right.

Horrid crash, fingers crossed everyone comes out of it OK (marshal included) - bike race crashes are always horrible to watch - Yves Lampaert down with a broken collarbone yesterday as well.

Personally I think they really need to clamp down - once you've launched your sprint and you have clear road in front you should ride in a straight line to the finish, no ifs no buts. If you deviate, you get DQ. The regulation is weak at the moment, because you can do whatever you like as long as it doesn't obstruct another rider. Seems like a needless caveat that will only breed bad practice.

It would soon put an end to this madness. At the moment the regulations are very loosely enforced, and only when someone gets hurt.