2014 Pro-cycling season thread

I don't know what racing he did as a youngster. He first came to prominence in Europe when he won the Baby Giro, beating Fabio Aru into second. It's interesting how their pro careers have started.

It'll be interesting to see how he gets on at Cannondale-Garmin, hopefully he'll get more opportunities there than he did at Sky (who have a real issue when it comes to developing young riders).

@andyp
Damn in that's interesting. Will be keen to see how he get's on. He's still super young, but could get some good opportunities now.

@andyp neither do i know what he did, but i do know the americans love a crit, and having watched a couple, they're full throttle.

and definitely this, I know that sky are very good at running a race but I hate how they dull their riders, someone like kiryienka could be winning a fair few stages at another team but is left as just another part of the train at Sky, Stannard - I'm not sure but if he didn't spend so much time being a locomotive on the front of the peloton he may have a bit more of a kick?

Good move for him though, hopefully the chance to shine at some of the week long races.

.

The AC @ DC thing has got very big. I am told that the live talk will be for the kids and that most other guests will have a link in another room.
Great that so many school kids have shown an interest in cycling. Pity it's a once banned doper they are going to see.

Sagan's best bits of 2014. That bunny hop over the kerb at Tour of Oman was unreal. It's one thing having mad skillz, but bit more impressive when you can use them to attack on a stage and win.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NHM6JtEdHp8

apparently sagan came from a mountain biking background

2011 called, it would like its observations back...

uninvited guest at the Ghent Six Day event:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=setdl8H7e2I

just incase it hadnt been said enough times

It begins

http://www.velon.cc/

That's an anagram of 'novel'. Clllevvverrr. :)

So they put cameras on the bikes...anything else?

It was embargoed until this morning but those cheeky monkeys at l'Equipe published a sceptical article early.

The same l'Equipe who share a parent company with ASO, who own most of the existing major races.

I don't think someone is keen on sharing their revenue with the teams.

Is this cyclings premier league moment?

I don't get it. What are they actually doing?

Well, they're made a website with little content, for one.

With the names of at least 2 teams who aren't going to exist next year, in that form.

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2014/11/velon-interview-part-i-how-ceo-bartlett-believes-group-can-transform-cycling/

Not entirely coincidental that Katusha and Astana are not involved.

Ahem did you say astana

http://uci.ch/pressreleases/uci-statement-artur-fedosseyev/

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B3ZQrrQCEAE3hku.png

^ ha!

But yeah, wtf is Velon? Andy? Do tell.

They definitively say that they are not looking to create a breakaway 'league/series/tour' but that they are a group of teams who are concerned about the race calendar and about the fact that the current sponsorship-lead model does little to protect teams when a sponsor decides to walk away.

They see that there are revenues out there (from TV mainly) that could/should be shared further with the teams (and that the teams can generate themselves from on-board technology) so Velon is essentially a more united front for teams to lobby for some of the changes that they might want.

Comparing directly to F1 and/or the Premier league is useful to a point but in those cases the teams hold more of the cards as they have more of the assets - the historical team identities, the top players and the fans. In cycling the assets are much more about the races - with the Tour being the biggest prize - which the teams have little or no say in controlling or shaping. They would like to change that a bit.

tl:dr lobby group for moar cash