Pro-cycling thread

Bike Channel has some cool stuff but for some reason TiVo continually records the same shit over and over again, like they haven't set the 'first aired' date on their programs. It's definitely set up to record New Only so annoying I have to delete the same shit over and over again. Oh, and it's not HD so fuck that >>>

It's not only non-HD, it looks like it's sub SD. Like I'm watching some kind of crappy download from 1998. Lame.

I have to admit that I have enjoyed a quite strange show where some dudes ride up famous cols which includes an overlay of speed/distance/gradient. I ended up watching that for hours once.

Double screening at work with srs work stuff on the big screen and racing on the second is my favourite form of multi-tasking.

@skinny you're welcome!

I owe you a drink...

That's basically what I'm aiming for. Just need to stop people from phoning me 1k before the end!

Maybe I missed it but why did Ben Swift struggle to find a team this year?

He found them early in the off-season no? They had trouble finding finance.

Opposite I thought. Thought he was in demand due to his world tour points which would have helped lower ranking teams get world tour license, however he picked the wrong team in the end and Merida weren't granted one. Which sucks for him and is a shame.

UAE Abu Dhabi have a world tour licence. Formerly TJ Sport, formerly Lampre-Merida.

Swift is ok.

Poor old Owain Doull; the stomach problems turned out to be ruptured appendix.

didnt know that and didnt know UAE is evolution of Lampre .. so 2x gulf teams in pro peloton this year?

And zero Italian.

(which isn't necessarily a bad thing, imo. The weird mesh of trade and national teams makes cycling a strange beast).

UAE came in offering a fraction of the budget that TJ Sport were, but all riders got their contracts as pre-agreed, they've just scrimped on everything else - no team camps for example.

Swift got a good contract because of his WT points.

no team camps for example

Read that as "no team caps". Thought that was a bit of a cheapskate gesture.

sky is part italian no?

Marginal ungains

^^ Their license isn't.

^ racist.

Ok yes. Licence isn't.
I think Italian sky has a 25% stake. Though maybe 21st Century bought that. I don't remember, or care to.

Nicely leads into this.

In come two team owners from the Middle-East who aren’t such passionate riders even if Prince Nasser rides a bike. Behind them is prodigous wealth and it’ll be interesting to see if they’re willing to spend more. The UAE team has the lowest budget in the World Tour and surely the Emirate won’t settle for this lowly status?

Tommeke stayed off the cake at Xmas then

Hmm. I bet he gets cold easily in outdoor swimming pools.

This is pertinent to our ongoing discussions about Sky's effectiveness as a developer of young talent;

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/racing/team-sky-looking-to-give-young-riders-more-race-opportunities-307551

One thing I took from that article - Tao has great hair.

meet your new Como café owner:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_4bp8bBNVw