Pro-cycling thread

Wasn’t it? Great ride though.

Excellent stage. The tenacity of the Lut! Wow

Sep van bridge

Enjoyed watching Gilbert climbing at the front like a GC rider at Paris-Nice.

Astana are doing remarkably well atm no? Anyone would think they have a dirty DS who blood doped.
I recall watching on the big screen on boxhill when vino won, catcalls and booing ensued +dirtydoper.

They are doing well, but I've no idea if they are doping or not. Sadly, it's possible to link someone in a management position in pretty much every team with a doping case or scandal.

It is worth pointing out that they Astana a large budget in WT terms, believed to be around the €25 million per annum mark, so they have a strong core of high quality riders, i.e. Lopez, Fuglsang, the Izagirre brothers and Lutsenko, backed up by decent support riders.

Fuglsang and Ion Izaguirre double winners for Astana. If they are up to something, it’s not very subtle.

2 days in a row too they have more wins than Quickstep (ok only by 1) this year but is because sone teams are just getting ready for the bigger races in the next few months?

Perhaps it’s the old success breeds success thing but as AndyP pointed out they have got a roster stacked with good riders.

I guess it's too easy to instantly think something is up these day without looking at the bigger picture. 25mil is a decent budget and your right they have the talent do well in races just not rap videos

I find it quite interesting the somewhat sudden questioning of Astana, of course everyone's got their suspicions, but my twitter feed has had multiple people questioning it, because somewhat coincidentally, they've had 2 winners in WT racers in a day.

A link to their notable results this season shows that really, their success has come from 3/4 riders - Izagirre, Lutsenko, Fuglsang and LL Sanchez

I'm not defending them, but a few stage wins and a couple of GC's is hardly indicative of must-be-doping? You could very easily argue that Izagirre, Fuglsang and Lutsenko's only WT wins this season wouldn't have happened unless they were so far down on GC already... again, hardly dominating superpower must-be-doping behaviour?

Some perspective on the season is needed I think, especially when comparing to the likes of DQS who have links with known or highly-suspected-of-doping doctors (can't remember which, but Ingain Taus [or something similar] is the name I remember )

Jose Ibaguren Taus. I don't think he's actually been convicted of a doping offence, but he was the team doctor at Saunier Duval when Ricco et al were winning left right and centre only to then all be busted for CERA (an EPO variant that a lot of riders thought was undetectable).

Surprised to see no mention of this: Team Dave Brailsford Saved!

Saved by another Brexit backing multi billionaire. How refreshing. Was looking forward to seeing the team crumble and where everyone ended up / got on. Good news for the riders though.

Alaphilippe winning a bunch kick at Tirenno ahead of Sagan and Viviani. I can’t see him not winning Milan San Remo.

Too short to back at 5/1 so I’ve had Gilbert and Valgren e/w.

Not a fan of the short prices either but if anyone's interested he's still 8/1 with PaddyPower or BetfairSports - or 15/2 with SkyBet, which has the added benefit of paying 4 places on the each-way..

Me downloading another gambling app will be the shortcut to the poorhouse.

Interesting timing...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/mar/18/land-rover-project-uk-brexit-billionaire-chooses-bmw-engine

Good news for the sport, really. If the best team in the peloton, who pretty much guarantee you a Tour de France win every year, cannot attract a sponsor, then the sport is not in a good place.

(I'll hold my nose at the sponsor though. Again).

Ratcliffe seems to be pro-Brexit. Moved to Monaco last year. Ineos probably makes loads of plastic. F1 would have been a better fit.

I’d like to see Sky perform on a tighter budget to see what they can do. Remains to be seen how much Ineos will put in.

Moved to Monaco last year.

Probably just wanted to be closer to Froomey.

I’d like to see Sky perform on a tighter budget to see what they can do. Remains to be seen how much Ineos will put in.

Yeah, I think it just worries me that cycling goes a bit like F1 - select few squads with big budgets dominate the Grand Tours. Fortunately, cycling has enough variability in big races to prevent it ever becoming too F1 like, but a levelling of the budget playing field would be good, perhaps giving smaller teams a better chance in the big races and therefore improving their sponsorship prospects.

I imagine they will be well backed - Its still a multibillionaire global chemicals super company vs a belgian double glazing firm and the dutch lotto. Odd world cycling.

New name for team sky

1 second. Only 1.... must be the closest margin to ever win a stage race by #tirreno

Saved by another Brexit backing multi billionaire

Sweet. Another reason to hate on Team formerly known as Sky :)

They tried to give Roglich a Mitcheltin Scott Jersey.