The professional cycling thread
Discussion
BMWBen said:
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 s
thouse riding that.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.
It would soon put an end to this madness. At the moment the regulations are very loosely enforced, and only when someone gets hurt.
Call me old fashioned, but I like the loose regs and the self policing nature of cycling a lot of the time - sticky bottles, drafting cars, getting in the way to let a break go, having your lead out man drop off to the right rather than the left to box a rival in - all a bit naughty, but part of the game - don't take the piss and you are ok.
Over regulation is how you end up with nonsense like sock measuring. Sprinting will never be 100% safe - big lads putting out big power, very close to each other, all going for the same bit of tarmac. Your rule on "keeping a straight line" works in theory, but I wouldn't want to see in enforced with sprint finishes dissected and the result announced 5 minutes after - In my eyes, loosely enforced regs unless someone is hurt is exactly the way things should be - repeated infractions should be punished and if there is an accident, it should be analysed, but if every sprinter who got their line chopped protested, the line at the commissaires tent would be twice around the block.
Parsnip said:
Having just re-read what I wrote, it sounds like J.Christ is a sprinter - wonder if he would have indeed stuck the head on people?
Call me old fashioned, but I like the loose regs and the self policing nature of cycling a lot of the time - sticky bottles, drafting cars, getting in the way to let a break go, having your lead out man drop off to the right rather than the left to box a rival in - all a bit naughty, but part of the game - don't take the piss and you are ok.
Over regulation is how you end up with nonsense like sock measuring. Sprinting will never be 100% safe - big lads putting out big power, very close to each other, all going for the same bit of tarmac. Your rule on "keeping a straight line" works in theory, but I wouldn't want to see in enforced with sprint finishes dissected and the result announced 5 minutes after - In my eyes, loosely enforced regs unless someone is hurt is exactly the way things should be - repeated infractions should be punished and if there is an accident, it should be analysed, but if every sprinter who got their line chopped protested, the line at the commissaires tent would be twice around the block.
I hear you, but if everyone just rode in a straight line it wouldn't be a problem. It would be a painful process while people got used to it, but after a cascade of DQs initially, people would just start riding in a straight line. It's not that hard. You wouldn't need a dissect every sprint finish because if anyone wobbled around it would be blindingly obvious.Call me old fashioned, but I like the loose regs and the self policing nature of cycling a lot of the time - sticky bottles, drafting cars, getting in the way to let a break go, having your lead out man drop off to the right rather than the left to box a rival in - all a bit naughty, but part of the game - don't take the piss and you are ok.
Over regulation is how you end up with nonsense like sock measuring. Sprinting will never be 100% safe - big lads putting out big power, very close to each other, all going for the same bit of tarmac. Your rule on "keeping a straight line" works in theory, but I wouldn't want to see in enforced with sprint finishes dissected and the result announced 5 minutes after - In my eyes, loosely enforced regs unless someone is hurt is exactly the way things should be - repeated infractions should be punished and if there is an accident, it should be analysed, but if every sprinter who got their line chopped protested, the line at the commissaires tent would be twice around the block.
It will never be completely safe, but at the moment it's ridiculously unbalanced. To win a bike race you have to put your life on the line.
_dobbo_ said:
BMWBen said:
I hear you, but if everyone just rode in a straight line it wouldn't be a problem.
If you are behind someone, and faster than them, do you just concede the sprint and lose?Gargamel said:
_dobbo_ said:
BMWBen said:
I hear you, but if everyone just rode in a straight line it wouldn't be a problem.
If you are behind someone, and faster than them, do you just concede the sprint and lose?gazza285 said:
Gargamel said:
_dobbo_ said:
BMWBen said:
I hear you, but if everyone just rode in a straight line it wouldn't be a problem.
If you are behind someone, and faster than them, do you just concede the sprint and lose?Going off line to force people out of your slip is dangerous, only works if you compress/cause conflict between the riders behind who then have to make life or death decisions and shouldn't be allowed. It's actually *already* not allowed, it's just very poorly enforced.
If someone has the beans to come around you, tough s
t you went too soon. The solution isn't to cause crashes in order to win, it's to be a better sprinter.P.S. I race, so I'm not speaking from a position of complete ignorance.
When these guys are bunch sprinting for the win they are going 100% balls to the wall, 45 mph, hearts pounding, pedal mashing, teeth gritted, bikes swaying back wheels squirming, pulling hard on the handlebars and eyes down to almost tunnel vision. Sometimes it occurs naturally, but compelling them to ride in a straight into clear space (presumably perpendicular to the finish line) is asking for the impossible. The finish areas should probably be divergent for the last 50m-100m or so but even then there'd be guys going all over the place.
JuniorD said:
When these guys are bunch sprinting for the win they are going 100% balls to the wall, 45 mph, hearts pounding, pedal mashing, teeth gritted, bikes swaying back wheels squirming, pulling hard on the handlebars and eyes down to almost tunnel vision. Sometimes it occurs naturally, but compelling them to ride in a straight into clear space (presumably perpendicular to the finish line) is asking for the impossible. The finish areas should probably be divergent for the last 50m-100m or so but even then there'd be guys going all over the place.
Shouldn't be that difficult to find something better than metal railings for the final part of the sprint. Even straw bales would be better, slow the rate of deceleration at least.JuniorD said:
When these guys are bunch sprinting for the win they are going 100% balls to the wall, 45 mph, hearts pounding, pedal mashing, teeth gritted, bikes swaying back wheels squirming, pulling hard on the handlebars and eyes down to almost tunnel vision. Sometimes it occurs naturally, but compelling them to ride in a straight into clear space (presumably perpendicular to the finish line) is asking for the impossible. The finish areas should probably be divergent for the last 50m-100m or so but even then there'd be guys going all over the place.
He was aware enough to deliberately move across the road to leave no gap and get the elbow out a couple of times.frisbee said:
JuniorD said:
When these guys are bunch sprinting for the win they are going 100% balls to the wall, 45 mph, hearts pounding, pedal mashing, teeth gritted, bikes swaying back wheels squirming, pulling hard on the handlebars and eyes down to almost tunnel vision. Sometimes it occurs naturally, but compelling them to ride in a straight into clear space (presumably perpendicular to the finish line) is asking for the impossible. The finish areas should probably be divergent for the last 50m-100m or so but even then there'd be guys going all over the place.
He was aware enough to deliberately move across the road to leave no gap and get the elbow out a couple of times.Seems to me that there are two major issues here. One is absolutely rider behaviour, and forcing another rider into the barriers should be cracked down on.
But the other is the infrastructure; it was terrifying to see how the barriers just flew apart when Jakobsen hit them, and he's only one rider. When you look at motorsport and how much effort goes into Armco, tyres, catch fencing and so on, surely at the very least there should be a mandated type of safety barrier to ensure that if a rider or riders do go down hard at speed, they're kept within the field of play, so to speak. Sure, they're still at risk of being hit by riders behind them, but I'd rather that than see them hit a gantry or photographer at 80kph.
But the other is the infrastructure; it was terrifying to see how the barriers just flew apart when Jakobsen hit them, and he's only one rider. When you look at motorsport and how much effort goes into Armco, tyres, catch fencing and so on, surely at the very least there should be a mandated type of safety barrier to ensure that if a rider or riders do go down hard at speed, they're kept within the field of play, so to speak. Sure, they're still at risk of being hit by riders behind them, but I'd rather that than see them hit a gantry or photographer at 80kph.
Slow-mo here. Probably not the worst instance of argy bargy or bumping someone off in the sprint, but definitely one of the worst outcomes.
https://twitter.com/i/status/1291048697686622212
https://twitter.com/i/status/1291048697686622212
Speaking of wrongdoing
What's the status on team Sky's doping inguiry ? Bradley Wiggins dodgy TUE's ?
In 2019 Richard Freeman, who worked for the British Cycling Federation and Team Sky between 2009 and 2017 as a team doctor, admitted that he "lied a lot" about the affair surrounding a package containing testosterone.
It was not the only potential doping affair with the top team, which has been called Team INEOS since May this year. For example, leader Chris Froome delivered a positive puddle in 2017 during the Vuelta a España he won. An excessively high value of the asthma drug salbutamol was found in the Brit, but he was eventually acquitted.
Previously, the delivery of an unspecified package of drugs to former leader Bradley Wiggins during the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné was investigated.
What's the status on team Sky's doping inguiry ? Bradley Wiggins dodgy TUE's ?
In 2019 Richard Freeman, who worked for the British Cycling Federation and Team Sky between 2009 and 2017 as a team doctor, admitted that he "lied a lot" about the affair surrounding a package containing testosterone.
It was not the only potential doping affair with the top team, which has been called Team INEOS since May this year. For example, leader Chris Froome delivered a positive puddle in 2017 during the Vuelta a España he won. An excessively high value of the asthma drug salbutamol was found in the Brit, but he was eventually acquitted.
Previously, the delivery of an unspecified package of drugs to former leader Bradley Wiggins during the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné was investigated.
It was delayed until this spring and then again until October due to COVID
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cyclingweekly.c...
https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.cyclingweekly.c...
Things not looking to rosey for INEOS yesterday at the criterium du dauphine yesterday, trying to break everyone but ended just working as everyone else's domestiques.
Wonder if they are trying to ride Thomas and Froome into form and not going too red and try and get the white for Bernal?
Wonder if they are trying to ride Thomas and Froome into form and not going too red and try and get the white for Bernal?
Jumbo Visma are looking seriously impressive at the Dauphine. Sepp Kuss sitting on the front and ripping the peloton apart whilst looking like he’s on a Sunday cafe ride!
I do wonder if Ineos are going for the slow burn though. You only need to look at the 2018 Giro to see that grand tours really are a marathon and not a sprint. And that’s more the case than ever with the lack of racing the riders are going into the Tour with. I’m certainly not writing Bernal, or indeed Froome or Thomas, off just yet.
I think I’m looking forward to this year’s Tour more than any other I can remember though. It’s going to be a ripper!
I do wonder if Ineos are going for the slow burn though. You only need to look at the 2018 Giro to see that grand tours really are a marathon and not a sprint. And that’s more the case than ever with the lack of racing the riders are going into the Tour with. I’m certainly not writing Bernal, or indeed Froome or Thomas, off just yet.
I think I’m looking forward to this year’s Tour more than any other I can remember though. It’s going to be a ripper!
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