Pro Cycling Discussion 2019

Roady · 10 Jul 2019 at 13:32

Bear said:
Mark Renshaw announced his retirement at the end of this season, wonder how long Cav will carry on for now. What an awesome pairing they made.

https://africasteam.com/announcement-mark-renshaw

Does make you wonder if he's been privy to inside info, especially his comment about 'finishing on my terms'. Such a shame he's not been able to get many results himself the last couple of seasons with Cav out/underperforming as he's a great sprinter in his own right. Him and Edvald BH never seemed to gel together in a sprint train which was a shame as you'd imagine they would be fantastic together.

With Bernie Eisel also quite old they have some amazing amount of experience in DD, but such a shame they'll be losing it and riders of that pedigree over the next couple of years... The only real stand outs of their younger riders are Ben King and maybe Dlamini?

GSVBagpuss said:
I admit to being a Cav fan but do DD really think Nizzolo has a better chance in a bunch sprint than cav? I don’t understand the marketing perspective either what with it being 50 years of Merckx this year. Cav doesn’t have to win to give DD publicity.

Could almost be argued that him crashing out of another Tour would be more publicity than winning anything...

SoliD said:
Few funny highlights on Twitter.

Some more for you:
https://twitter.com/Eamon_Lucas/status/1145308467185553409
https://twitter.com/AdamBlythe89/status/1146143065171779589
https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/1148293314652901376
https://twitter.com/taogeoghegan/status/1148222768644800513

SoliD · 11 Jul 2019 at 21:20

Great stage again today passing the exact place I stayed a couple of years ago and taking the alternative route to la planche des belles filles. Always gold to see them tackle the roads you've ridden, although depressing.

Brilliant for ciccone, not surprised at all by alaphaloppe being there at the end. Gauntlet laid by g on a finish that he definitely did not enjoy a few years ago. Although it wasn't hugely explosive with the climbs before meaning many looked like they were riding to a target knowing there are a good few weeks to come.

Drollic · 11 Jul 2019 at 22:24

Bardet way off his best and that shifting issue a yard or two from the line was the ultimate kick in the teeth. I didn't realise until today he's pretty much 6ft yet around 65kg.

Roady · 12 Jul 2019 at 13:51

Yeah he and Froome are almost the same height, yet he's a few KG lighter than Froome... Yet Froome is the one who looks thinner!

xdcx · 12 Jul 2019 at 15:57

Bardet is big on his high fat diet if I remember rightly. Read some articles on it.
I put £5 on him last September to win the tour on good odds. Not a chance!

Valverde gassed on front pulling. Sits up and drops back then 2mins later he is back on front driving the bunch again. I can't even stand the sight of him any more....

Ciccone is the real deal dudes. He was phenomenal in the Giro and has carried through into the Tour. I really like him.

Alaphilippe. MSR winner from a sprint against guys who have a sprint.... Attacking in yellow against dropped GC guys over 20% grads. Guy is outrageous. He is 27, with a polka jersey and multiple stage wins at tour to his name. Why is this guy not being developed into the next big French GC hope? He clearly has that capacity.

Drollic · 12 Jul 2019 at 22:23

xdcx said:
Bardet is big on his high fat diet if I remember rightly. Read some articles on it.
I put £5 on him last September to win the tour on good odds. Not a chance!

Valverde gassed on front pulling. Sits up and drops back then 2mins later he is back on front driving the bunch again. I can't even stand the sight of him any more....

Ciccone is the real deal dudes. He was phenomenal in the Giro and has carried through into the Tour. I really like him.

Alaphilippe. MSR winner from a sprint against guys who have a sprint.... Attacking in yellow against dropped GC guys over 20% grads. Guy is outrageous. He is 27, with a polka jersey and multiple stage wins at tour to his name. Why is this guy not being developed into the next big French GC hope? He clearly has that capacity.

People are saying he hasn't got the legs for gc yet. It's such a long drawn out thing with so many elements to it that you can see why some think this. There's mind games galore early on with people not wanting to show their true form as well, which makes it hard to compare. Later in the tour you really get the feeling that some aren't far from the wheels falling off due to the efforts catching up with them so we shall see.

SoliD · 12 Jul 2019 at 22:53

Watched just the finish earlier and now watching the highlights. How wva managed to fall off the back get back on and then smash it into those last kms. Madness. Groenevegan winning at last! But only just, showed how strong he is though launching first and still winning.

touch · 13 Jul 2019 at 20:31

Wow! What a stage today!
Ineos were very well organised and got things back under control very well. I had thought they looked a bit outnumbered by Movistar at Planche Des Belle Filles but maybe they were just sitting back.

SoliD · 14 Jul 2019 at 07:46

Incredible finish! Great ride from tdg, hadn't seen it from. Him yet so thought he was struggling but he's still got it! The carnage from that crash! It looked so innocuous how it snapped the pinarello, but could have been worse with that wall there!

Berger · 15 Jul 2019 at 11:56

ASO car ran it over.

Lethal` · 15 Jul 2019 at 13:22

Source for that? I thought they said G snapped it when he landed on it?

Roady · 15 Jul 2019 at 13:49

xdcx said:
Ciccone is the real deal dudes. He was phenomenal in the Giro and has carried through into the Tour. I really like him.

Yeah great rider, I'm quite liking some of the riding from Trek-Sega this year with Ciccone, Theuns, Brambilla and Stuyven all standing out at various times. Porte looking dangerous too, but not sure they have the depth in the team for anything more than stage results like he wants...

Drollic said:
People are saying he hasn't got the legs for gc yet.

Yup, but he's fantastic to watch regardless! Time will tell over the coming years if he really will be a GC contender, but for now I like the fact QSF are just letting him ride and seemingly 'do what he wants' with Mas and ~~whatshisface green machine man~~ The friendly Ghost Asgreen concentrating on GC.

SoliD said:
Watched just the finish earlier and now watching the highlights. How wva managed to fall off the back get back on and then smash it into those last kms. Madness. Groenevegan winning at last! But only just, showed how strong he is though launching first and still winning.

Good to see him win, Ewan is getting closer and closer too. Hadn't spotted WVA dropped (highlights) but what a finish from him too. Sagan may have his work cut out keeping that jersey if someone of the others can keep it up!

SoliD said:
Incredible finish! Great ride from tdg, hadn't seen it from. Him yet so thought he was struggling but he's still got it! The carnage from that crash! It looked so innocuous how it snapped the pinarello, but could have been worse with that wall there!

Incredible TDG as always. Amazing when you think a day or two before he did all that work for Wellens. Scary to think all that breakaway work he's done for loads of TV time, yet still only got 2 (now) TDF stages...?!

Crash really did look innocuous didn't it? Hard to spot as think the only footage shows a EF rider wiping out and the ~~Sky~~Ineos train bulldozing into him, Ef rider jumps up and is gone before Ineos are even all standing haha.

Edit: Really enjoying Blythe's insight and he's got a great sense of humour... Not so sure of his shirt choices sometimes though lol

https://twitter.com/Eurosport_UK/status/1149308600508137473

TDG's Twitter has mostly become a report of what's for dinner, but a few funny things in there still: https://twitter.com/DeGendtThomas/status/1148283406385655808

Although think someone missed a point from the last KOM's gradient haha

SoliD · 15 Jul 2019 at 14:35

Roady said:
Crash really did look innocuous didn't it? Hard to spot as think the only footage shows a EF rider wiping out and the ~~Sky~~Ineos train bulldozing into him, Ef rider jumps up and is gone before Ineos are even all standing haha.

Woods lost 14 minutes that day, so don't think that was the EF guy getting up.

touch · 15 Jul 2019 at 15:21

SoliD said:
Woods lost 14 minutes that day, so don't think that was the EF guy getting up.

He got straight back up but had to stop again shortly after because of mechanical issues. I'm sure G said in an interview that it was Woods he crashed into.

Berger · 15 Jul 2019 at 17:30

Berger said:
ASO car ran it over.

Unsubstantiated based on in-car footage, alternative angle confirms this is not the case.

SoliD · 15 Jul 2019 at 20:30

Wow. Carnage today again. Echelons are gloriously beautiful! Just not for Thibaut Pinot and so many others. Fantastic sprint out too! Wva is just an animal to win with minimal lead out!

touch · 15 Jul 2019 at 22:22

Alaphilippe is like a 1-man team! Forced the split in the bunch, did loads of work on the front to increase his lead on GC, then rides a lead-out for viviani - all whilst in the yellow jersey.

It's great to watch but I wish he would be a bit more conservative - I'd like to see how long he could keep the yellow jersey for if he made a real attempt at it.

SoliD · 16 Jul 2019 at 07:55

He almost got spat out at one point too! Was about 10s back in another group.

#Chri5# · 16 Jul 2019 at 11:23

I've always looked forward to the mountain stages but they can be dull with GC riders marking each other and not attacking, whereas that was really exciting to watch.

SoliD · 16 Jul 2019 at 13:19

Should be a couple of good days coming up, maybe not so much Wednesday, but Thursday is built for a breakaway with the ITT the day after and then straight into the Tourmalet!

This years Tour has been pieced together quite well with different key attributes across each week and a last week backload but not so huge it has caused the first week to be dull like the Giro was. It should provide some good entertainment as the attacks will be coming from now on from a large number of riders after yesterday.