The professional cycling thread

[Don1]

Wow, didn't see that coming after his brother extended at Scott.

Ref Ineos/Sky train. Jumbo Visma finally did what I hoped others would do on stage 3 (?) of the Dauphine this year. Sat on the train and then launched off it...

Obviously you need some serious talent to do that.

[ArnageWRC]

A whole variety of National Road Championships taking place......while we in the UK look on and watch.

And the Swiss Epic MTB race continues; looks pretty brutal.

[frisbee]

mcelliott said:

Adam Yates signs for INEOS.

I think Simon would have won the Giro if he had been riding for Sky. He attacked way too much in the early stages and burnt himself out.

Adam is also a great rider.

[towser44]

LM240 said:

lauda said:

I hate to say it but I really don’t think we’ll see Froome on the top step of a podium again at any major race. He’s made a remarkable recovery from his crash last year but he’s not showing anything like previous form and age just isn’t on his side.

The crop of new riders coming through now look so much stronger than the likes of Froome and Thomas. Although they need to manage to stay upright and out of hospital a bit more often.

I can see the remainder of Froome’s career looking a lot like Cav’s. Lots of questions about whether he can pull another win out of the bag and how he shouldn’t be written off just yet. But ultimately, disappointment.

Ah Cav... the tour de wallonie is quite depressing watching his form. The first day he had all the team leading him in but he just went backwards and seemed to be looking the wrong way when the main sprint kicked off and just a bit spooked.

I loved seeing Cav at his prime, but another I fear we will never see being a main contender. I’m not sure how long Bahrain mclaren will support him. The current crop of sprinters simply look too strong for him to get back to that form.

It’s all relative though... against even a pretty decent cyclist he’s super fast. Even with talk of froome being done and off the pace, the numbers are still incredible.

Think it depends on Rod Ellingworth. I read Geraint's book the other day and he was on about a summit finish stage in the TDF where Cav was well outside the time limit (he had left Sky by then). A lot of other sprinters abandoned knowing they had no chance of making the limit, but Cav carried on to the finish. Rod Ellingworth (at Sky at the time) hung around for over an hour at the finish waiting to see Cav home even though he had no team responsibility for him anymore.

[louiebaby]

What bike was Dowsett riding at the European TT?

[Johnny]

Was wondering the same yesterday. Certainly not his Slick

[Parsnip]

Looks a bit like a Shiv TT?

Weird - not sure why it wouldn't be an old Canyon or his new Slick depending on what he had available.

Might be what tested fastest and as no team kit, he can ride what he likes?

[lauda]

McLaren are ending their sponsorship with Bahrain-McLaren at the end of this year. Not particularly surprising considering the financial issues at McLaren I suppose.

https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/mclaren-...

[mcelliott]

Parsnip said:

Looks a bit like a Shiv TT?

Weird - not sure why it wouldn't be an old Canyon or his new Slick depending on what he had available.

Might be what tested fastest and as no team kit, he can ride what he likes?

Years ago many of the top pros had frames built for them that were not team issue, so not a new thing.

[Talksteer]

Parsnip said:

Looks a bit like a Shiv TT?

Weird - not sure why it wouldn't be an old Canyon or his new Slick depending on what he had available.

Might be what tested fastest and as no team kit, he can ride what he likes?

Yep it is a Shiv TT, suspect that it makes relatively little difference (though I'd be surprised if it is the fastest as it is designed for the Tri market and its aero doesn't work without the feed boxes, see yawning gap to rear wheel).

The helmet on the other hand makes a fair bit of difference its a POC model that Huub Wattbike and now the Dutch 4km Pursuit team have used to great effect. The helmet is pretty old and was reviewed terribly at the time it came out (uncomfortable to hold position) but Dan Bingham of wattbike basically said just train yourself to hold position with it, its worth 10-15w, how hard would you train to add 10-15W to your FTP!

I would also be very surprised if Chris Froome doesn't bring a bike supplier with him to ISN.

Dowsett has a decent engine on him (but not world leading) but he doesn't seem to have had much invested in him regarding position and equipment, that UK team issue kit doesn't even look like it fits. The position and equipment appears to be more important in the last 5 years as the current best TT riders aren't actually the 450-460W FTP beasts like Wiggins, Cancellara and Martin, as an approximation aero improvements are in the region of 3-4 seconds per km since 2010.

[louiebaby]

With the spike in Covid-19 in Nice, will the Tour actually go ahead?

[thegreenhell]

louiebaby said:

With the spike in Covid-19 in Nice, will the Tour actually go ahead?

And in Paris.

I wouldn't be surprised to see some last minute route changes or occasional stages cancelled during the three weeks.

[Unexpected Item In The Bagging Area]

I’ve started a Tour thread here

https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[anonymous-user]

Fantastic sprint finish in La Course this morning.

https://twitter.com/itvcycling/status/129965586012...

[JuniorD]

JPJPJP said:

Fantastic sprint finish in La Course this morning.

https://twitter.com/itvcycling/status/129965586012...

Perfectly timed execution of a finish by the winner there!

[Johnny]

Who’s watching the carnage that is Stage 1?!

[louiebaby]

Watched the last hour of the Wimmin and the mens on Sat, but have been busy the last couple of days.

The Wimmin's race was great to watch, and seeing the way that Trek set up the win was a master-class.

The men's was carnage.

[louiebaby]

Julian Alaphilippe - He's constantly being ask the question about how long he hopes to stay in Yellow.

Surely the answer needs to be - as long as possibly, the Tour could be cancelled at any time due to Covid, right?

Instead of playing the Tour tactically over the three weeks, surely the battle plan has to be to take and retain the Yellow Jersey?

[Johnny]

Agreed!

[JuniorD]

Well, well, Quelle surprise



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