Pro-cycling thread

Looks sunny today.

1 Attachment

It depends what you are expecting. Is TGH going to launch a massive attack as soon as they peloton reaches hairpin number 45? I doubt it. Will it be a huge war of attrition on the Stelvio with a likely elite group of three or four contenders going over the top? Much more likely.

Of course but the more drama the better :-)

On Froome I can’t see him winning another GT. Loosing such a large amount of time so quickly accentuates the sense.
He’s 35, of course he’ll think he can win again goes with the territory but I can’t see much evidence to support that.

I'm not so sure about froome. he is one dogged mf. once he has some racing in his legs, he'll be going better.

pog proved this year you don't /need/ a train to win a GT

That side of the Stelvio is dramatic enough. A 25 km climb that gains 1800 meters I think. Early on you can see a chapel on the opposite side of the valley that is way, way above you. Later you can look back down and the chapel looks tiny, far, far below you. It really is genuinely epic, to use an overloaded term in cycling.

I've not done the finish climb, but I think @skinny has. That looks fairly tough in itself.

I don’t deny that but I’d also suggest he might be the last to realise as a result.

I was tempted to divert last summer once I went in to survival mode. I’d certainly like to ride it.
Having just read Higher Calling, makes you want to ride every climb!!

I did the finish climb last month. It’s much easier, lots of little hairpins but not that steep in between the turns. There’s then a flat section around the lake at the top to the finish.

1 Attachment

With Michael Woods, Dan Martin, Daryl Impey, ISN should have some experienced support, as well as sufficient flat diesels assuming Brändle and Dowsett stays.

I don’t think they can emulate the Ineos/Jumbo Visma mountain trains though, maybe some exciting racing and tactics to come?

A Tour podium would be a incredibly high profile result for ISN, even if a less than desired result for Froome.

Contador wasn’t quite at his best in the last year/two of his career, but he still tried to win, and made contributions to great racing. While commanding a multiple GT winner’s wage.

man, I really need to go ride my bike in italy

What sort of time are they hitting the stelvio today?

here you are...
the arrows are bottom and top of the climb.

1 Attachment

👍

I assume that’s local time. So about midday here?

I think so, roll out is 10.15 local. A big day in the saddle by any measure.

Finish line banner is up on Stelvio.net

Done all three, in one ride.

Which way they finishing?
Ah from prato today. It's long but steady untill hairpin and the still steady. A strong rider climb rather than climbers climb.

The finish climb up to the lake is beautiful. Shorter and steeper, with lots of hairpins, very nice.

True about Froome, I can't help but feel somewhere at the back of my mind that he's going to prove everyone wrong and pull something about the bag next year. It's just I've never seen him do it without a team behind him.

I want to believe this, too. But I thought his comment to Friebe was telling: hard to make up the time off-bike in terms of training stimulus. Plus now imbalance between legs as he lost a lot of quad muscle. Plus plus the young guns look just as hungry.

Even before his crash his powers were waning, I don't think we will see him bothering the podium again. Hopefully he retires gracefully, but he is clearly extremely competitive so may keep taking pay cuts to keep riding (see cav)

Yep, I think he risks trying to get back to where he was, not where he needs to be.
Being out and disrupted for so long is hard to quantify.

TV: the Stelvio starts around 2.15pm CEST and the finish is forecast for 4.30pm. Then comes the Vuelta and the Laguna Negra summit finish at 1,735m above sea level.

first week of the vuelta is mad spicy

Hearing that Pinot has abandoned the Vuelta

We need to talk about the “acting” in that Laka ad.