Pro-cycling thread

Dumoulin supremely classy. Shades of Indurain, dare I say. Sky used up Rosa far too early, to Landa's detriment. Top fan fuckwitery on the road.

Windmill's time on that climb second only to Pantani's

Should be able to do better than Zulle then ;-)

He was way down on GC and allowed to go in the non-threatening break of the day. Doing a one off effort like that is very different from riding for GC for three weeks.

As @facsimile rightly says, the beauty of the race is that we don't know how he'll do. But he is, justifiably, the favourite now.

Was that Carlton yelling himself silly about king of the mountains, king of the TT at the finish?

He was way down on GC and allowed to go in the non-threatening break of the day. Doing a one off effort like that is very different from riding for GC for three weeks.

Yes, I know. I was just trying to say: he's more of a climber now, and can come out on top among real climbers. Anyway, we'll see.

The Gaviria family, great back story here from 7.14 onwards

https://youtu.be/9GXWR_efbfw

la ceja represent

Lots of incredulity at Dumoulin's efforts elsewhere on the web.

I think he'll look a bit more mortal in the high mountains.

There was a massive tail wind wasn't there?

Today though, breakaway or sprint finish

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It won't be a proper bunch sprint, the final 50 kms are identical to the Tour of Lombardy last season, as won by Esteban Chaves. Whilst it's not as tough in terms of climbs, the Miragolo/Selvino combination is enough to see off the sprinters and the climb up to Bergamo Alto will splinter any group before the fast descent to the finish.

Plus ca change-some people love the polemic more than the cycling itself. I used to get annoyed about Armstrong because it was so blatant (and he was a documented shit stain) but have now gotten so fed up with it that the other hoo-ha /ranting over more vital things like motorbikes on the course also turns me off to the point I'm like "Can't people just watch the fucking race and let the commissaires deal with the rest?" I don't see any reason to trash Dumoulin's performance yesterday and tbh I don't want to ... Does this make me an ostrich?

I don't think so. At some point you have to trust the anti-doping authorities to do their job. Cycling has changed since the days of Pantani and Armstrong, and whilst there will always be those prepared to cheat, there are now many riders who don't.

George Bennett! Gwarn son.
To add to his legend status, he's immediately used his profile to raise the horrific driver attitude to cyclists in his home country.

Seems cleaner than ever has based on the methods used to test riders long term.

The Bardiani case shows riders are stil cheating and fans have every right to be as sceptical as they want given what has happened in the past.

I tend to put any scepticism to one side and just enjoy the racing.

Yeah I saw the hatchet job on Dumoulin's performance, comparing times to 1999, I knew they'd be coming as soon as he went past Quintana. I call bullshit on comparing 'doped' historical climbing times to modern performance, so much is different from the bikes to the training to wind conditions, the parcours, where it comes during a stage and race.

You can't prove a negative, performance isn't proof and speculating is cyclical and endless. It beggars belief that some people seem to devote so much time to pointless internet debate.

Anyway bollocks to all of that, Dumoulin was superb yesterday and the first chance Quintana had to chip away at TD's lead saw him ship more time. Very impressive

Brutal this.

What are they doing?

Trying to get a break away that suits everyone. 51.8 kms covered in the first hour.

Trying to get a break away that suits everyone.

Design by committee FFS

51.8 kms covered in the first hour.

Ridic

And Cannondale chase the break, then don't get anyone in the new break that's formed :(

what's up with the random slow motion shots?

There was one yesterday which was focussed on the way one of the riders' computer was wobbling up and down.

And it's a doomed break now with Orica on the front.
Weird dynamics today.