The professional cycling thread

[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)

[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.