Pro-cycling thread

One monument tho

Sue-pear-man

Indeed. I swear a few months ago he was just referred to as "Lopez, whose nickname is superman..." and then overnight it was suddenly decreed that he could only be referred to as "sue-pear-MAN!1! Lopez" on pain of death.

I seem to recall the opposite. Schleck was very adamant it was a win (although he was careful not to lay into Contador). His acceptance press release is online.

I thought he'd been a bit underwhelmed and said that he didn't want it that way and hadn't got to stand on the podium so even if he felt he'd won it it didn't have the same meaning or something? Been years so I may be putting my own varnish on it given everything that followed with Schleck.

"Gravel time trial to 2,850m summit of Mount Etna reported for 2020 Giro d'Italia"

This would be utterly nuts. Here's a photo I took of a MTBer struggling up it when I hiked it last year. I felt sorry for them to be honest.

It's less gravel and more small pieces of lava and even hiking to the summit is hard work.

1 Attachment

This is looking down the road.

2850m is not the summit, 3326m is the summit. There's a car park thing where the Unimogs pull up at 2900m for people who can't hike the whole way up, I presume that's where they mean.

1 Attachment

Ridiculous.

Schleck is incredibly bitter about it. I think it's justifiable but he's given up being magnanimous and now just tells people how much he dislikes Contador for stealing his moment (even in his shop if you get him at the right/wrong time apparently)

What a tragic angle.

Wait, what? This has been done to death.

@hippy pls explain why Wiggo is Belgostrayan and Froome Monacafran.

I'd fucking love a unimog me

I mean, at least Wiggo lives here. Froome ever paid tax in Britain?

He's as British as the Italian made team GB skin suit he rode in on.

He's as British as Team GB's Philip Hindes...

Kittel retires: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/marcel-kittel-announces-retirement-cycling-435479

Spaghettieis!

Whilst the news comes as no surprise, I think Kittel's retirement is a tremendous loss for the sport. In his heyday, he was virtually unbeatable in a flat sprint but his success never went to his (immaculately coiffured) head, rather he remained honest and open in his dealings with the media.

In a few years we'll look back on the period between 2008-2016 as a golden age for sprinting with three astonishingly consistent greats, who all had previously unseen longevity in terms of their period of success.

plus Argos Shimano kit was great and the bikes!

Kittel, Greipel and? Cav or Sagan? Not sure on the third. Unless you mean Bouhanni but that would be a troll I think.

Cavendish, clearly.

I didn't get into pro cycling until like 2014!

Are you a Yates brother?

Is Greipel a great?

Over 150 wins, multiple stages in all the GTs over a ten year period at a time when two of the other greatest sprinters were active? I’d argue he is.

Kit is great but they really should have matched the bike to it.

4/10.