Pro Cycling Discussion Thread 2015

Cavendish rumour mill still going full force.

If I was a DS, I think I would have a hard time signing him tbh, his results the last two years have been pretty ordinary and he's no longer king of the castle.

I can see a one year deal for him somewhere but not much else.

Ofc this may change if he wins the rainbow jersey in America but I don't fancy his chances there.
 
Qhubeka have expressed an interest in signing him, guess we'll see what they can wrangle from their sponsors. I definitely see him transitioning to more of a classics rider than a pure sprinter, you don't get to sprint at that level for more than a few years but that doesn't mean it should be the end of your career. It does seem to be something he's working on in training as we saw from his performance at the national champs, and i think he'd make a good fit there with EBH following a very similar path.

Any thoughts on #AruGate? We'll definitely hear something about it before tomorrow's stage, but the footage seems pretty damning so i'd be surprised if he wasn't penalised. Riders have been DQed for the same.
 
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Qhubeka have expressed an interest in signing him, guess we'll see what they can wrangle from their sponsors. I definitely see him transitioning to more of a classics rider than a pure sprinter, you don't get to sprint at that level for more than a few years but that doesn't mean it should be the end of your career. It does seem to be something he's working on in training as we saw from his performance at the national champs, and i think he'd make a good fit there with EBH following a very similar path.

Any thoughts on #AruGate? We'll definitely hear something about it before tomorrow's stage, but the footage seems pretty damning so i'd be surprised if he wasn't penalised. Riders have been DQed for the same.

Qhubeka where once good riders go to die?

Their results have come from new riders with the exception of EvBH who has had a good season and I was surprised to see him there in the first place!

I've not seen the Aru footage, watched the last 10km this morning on the iPad, but there doesn't seem to be the same media storm that there was with Nibali so I can only assume it's not going to be in the same league punishment wise. Perhaps just a small fine for the two riders involved.

Edit: Rewatched the footage of the cobbles and it's very hard to see much in the way of pushing or anything going on behind because the Moto cam is so bouncy and the giant riders cover what's happening behind.

Last 10km of the GP Quebec worth a watch, great classics style racing, probably not too far removed from the worlds course with small punchy climbs/lumps.

Seen fan footage of Cavs crash, wind makes everyone move across on the road, he's looking down at his SRM or something, not where he is going and cleans the car up.
 
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Time for Cav to become the classics focused rider as said. We all seen him in the British Champs, he's capable of being that kind of rider and I'd love to see him focus on that.

MTN are stepping down as title sponsor of the team, if they gain a major sponsor and more money it kind of makes sense they go for Cav. "where once good riders go to die" is a good comment though haha, seems awfully true but I do like them as a team, they have a great attitude and presence in the peloton and I like seeing them get wins and doing well. They are like some great ambassador for the sport with the things they do, which is a nice change from the BS from the likes of Astana, Tinkoff or Katusha.

Vuelta stage today will be.... interesting ;)
 
Gorilla rightfully DQ'd yesterday. He knew exactly what he was doing.... Gave the BS interview as well "I need to move around the riders in front of me", only one thing wrong with that excuse buddy, nobody was in front of you!

Always surprises me how much these guys move across the road in bunch sprints, hold your bloody line, you are a world class sprinter....

Still love him though :D
 
Final stage of the tour of Britain past where I work, great to see these riders and bikes up close. Wish i'd took my D90 with me.
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Watched this too from near the start/finish line. Looks like it was much easier to see there.. The big screen was handy though.
 
Apparently one of Simon Gerrans' bikes got stolen at la Vuelta and police tracked it down in a second hand shop on sale for €120 :p

Spanish police posted about it on their Twitter feed saying:

Policia National said:
We’re awarding the striped jersey to the person who stole the Orica-GreenEdge bike – his stage finish is in jail.

Story here.
 
GB worlds team is turning out to be quite interesting. Thomas out in favour of Adam Yates, Cav out now, opening a spot for Simon would be the obvious move. Seems like we're not really going to contest a sprint with the likes of Sagan, Degenkolb and Matthews, but we do have quite a few options for a late attack.
 
Could be a cracking RR on Sunday; very open tactically. Would love lil Pete to go away with a few laps remaining but unlikely. Italians have an interesting tactical problem too with a massively strong team but no obvious leader. All I hope is that Valverde doesn't win
 
Hoping for a non sprinter win in the RR. In no order, but I think this is a good list of likely candidates for the win:

Purito (surely, tired though)
Gesink
Terpstra
Gilbert
Van Avermaet
Tony Martin (recovery depending, king of going it solo)
Stybar

To be honest, that's my list of who I would want to win. Outside punts, or more so guys in for a shout that I don't want to win:
Valverde (tired, surely)
Uran
Nibali (should be on OK form considering booted out the Vuelta early for being a knob)
Stannard (be cool for a UK winnner, but I really doubt it, can't see anyone on the team finishing stronger tbh)
P Sagan
Alaphilippe
Dumoulin (must be wrecked from Vuelta, will have TT in legs, highly doubt him for the RR)
Vanmarcke
Kwiat (sketch form all year, really doubt he will retain)

If it comes to a big sprint, Griepel and Viviani are the main dudes. Kristoff, Bouhani and Degenkolb I don't think can threaten them much.

Since a GB rider isn't going to win I don't think, would love to see one of these punchy strong Dutch or Belgian guys take it :)
 
I think this is a good list of likely candidates for the win:

Gilbert
Van Avermaet
Sagan
Boonen
Matthews
Gerrans
Kristoff
Degenkolb
Dan Martin
Ulissi
Boasson Hagen
Phinney
Terpstra
Stybar
Coquard

My picks for the road race. I don't see a pure sprinter making it to the end or having the legs on an uphill finish. The teams like Belgium who don't have one will make it too hard for those that do to bring them to the end.
 
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Belgium do have a ridiculously strong team. I'm intersted to see who pulls the break back - I assume it's between Germany and Belgium to do that work. Would love a break of Sagan, GVA and Terpstra to go with 1-2 laps remaining and see what happens.
 
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