Pro-cycling thread

Bernal barely looked out of breath on the line

That's absolutely backwards.

Pyrenees is basically dead quiet. I loved riding TPR.

I'm glad he got a stage but I do worry about that people trying to buy shit to cheat are willing to cheat once and at what point do they think "oh cheating is bad"? If you're prepared to cheat once, what's stopping you have another go? Like Rugby, where you smash a fuckload of 'roids and get massive when you're a junior where if you get popped it doesn't matter so much, but you keep those gainz forever.

When was the last Grand Tour where the top 3 had all won a stage?

2019 Vuelta - Roglic, Valverde, Pogacar
2017 Giro - Dumoulin, Quintana, Nibali.
2016 Giro
2014 Giro
2012 Vuelta

So fairly recently, and quite a few.

Sorry, I didn't think anyone would fall for it.

I was bored, and quite interesting to see the results again.

Where is Almeida likely to end up?
I think it’s quite conceivable he could have made the top 5. Think he still comes out well despite the faff.

He lost 2 minutes to Bernal on the gravel stage when he dropped back to Evenepoe, maybe some more on Zoncolan, but not much. Even if you assume he would have stayed with the lead group and not lost that time he'd still be in 4th.

I agree though, he's still equipped himself pretty well. Tomorrow he could potentially leapfrog Carthy and maybe Martinez.

Yeah agree with that. Too three are a step ahead of the rest.
Isn’t he out of contract? Wonder who will pick him up.

Think Brian Smith said Ineos during commentary yesterday.

Ridiculous if true. They hoover up all the talent as it is.

Martinez has been a standout in this Giro.

Given that Almeida seems reluctant to play second fiddle (understandably), Bora might be a better bet than Ineos? They'll have a bigger budget again after parting with Sagan. UAE has also been rumoured, maybe he could be their GC guy for when Pogacar isn't riding?

If he doesn’t go to Movistar I’ll eat my casquette.

I think Ineos have proven to understand and manage their riders very well.
I think the issue was more he was being asked to work for someone he knew wasn’t up to it.

He is Portuguese, not Spanish though. (Probably speaks Spanish too)

Movistar is an asynchronous racing philosophy not a nationality.

If he had been fully supported, with Evenepoel as a powerful domestique, he would have podiumed I reckon.
He was 4th last year after all.

The four minutes he lost on the stage to Sestola stopped him from making the podium. He had two team-mates with him that day, so that wasn't due to a lack of support.

I’m still unsure about Rowe for the Tour, Ineos have gone very climber heavy. They seem to be setting their stall out as we might not be the best individually but a few of us could win…

Rowe has a wealth of experience but not sure about doing the type of thing Ganna did to get Martinez back on.

They talk of Rowe being a great road captain, so he'll be making sure people are in the right place at the right time and doing organising rather being a train driver

Where is Almeida likely to end up?

I heard UAE.

They won the Tour de France four years on the bounce with Rowe as road captain. They’d be mad to leave him out.

I suspect Ganna might have been there if it wasn’t an Olympic year but not sure they’d have binned Rowe for him.

I don’t know what PCS bases this on but if it’s accurate, they’ll shell one of these. You’d expect a climber will be binned, leaving Rowe, Castroviejo and Dennis to share the load on the flat stages. Dennis will also get to turn himself inside out in the mountains as an extra bonus.

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