Pro-cycling thread

BikeExchange have hopped on the “money from Middle Eastern countries with bad human rights” train. New sponsor announced; Royal Commission for AlUla (Saudi tourism).

Speaking of which, could someone please translate this foreign language from Team Bahrain: 'Introducing the 'Maillot Disruptif’, the first WorldTour jersey crypto art.'

An NFT jersey... honestly... someone will buy it though

I’d rather have oppressive regimes supporting cycling than idiot crypto bros tbqh.

@andyp Kate Wagners article from today is great

*They’re very different in real life — small, elegant, decidedly fragile. It is astonishing to me that a body purposefully composed, shaped, and disciplined to do this one specific task, this sublime, arduous, brutal task, is one that is so compactly delicate. There’s something soft about them, something textural — maybe it’s the day-glow freshness of their kits and the immaculate smoothness of their skin, but I got the distinct impression that if one were to reach out and touch them the sensation would be velvety, similar to dragging a highlighter across paper. I can’t explain it — I don’t even know if it makes sense. They are so very much alive, moving and breathing and when you see them, the thought of them crashing becomes suddenly unbearable. In real life, the way they perch upon their bicycles takes on the quality of dance, light and airy, gestural. I did not realize just how much I had to see them in real life in order to understand them until I looked and they were there.

Every single one of them is beautiful.*

https://derailleur.substack.com/p/a-certain-kind-of-magic

Glad it’s not just me who has erotic feelings towards pro cyclists. Cancellara used to make me question my sexuality.

There's a picture of Andre "The Gorilla" Greipel stood next to Sir Chris Hoy at some event after Hoy retired and Hoy just dwarves him; 'big' pro cyclists still seem to be tiny.

I am also annoyed that the "Derailleur" branding is a chainset

Jesus - I can’t stand this style of writing. It feels like weird fandom.

Wout van Aert is tall, like, really tall

Great insight.

If a male journalist was writing about female riders this way, I think it would look quite creepy.

I'm grateful someone can share their insight that pro cyclists are small and light.

Poor old Qhubeka; they get Burberry on board as a sponsor for TDF and their special jersey reveal is absolutely battered by the MVDPoupou tribute and gets zero fucks given.

and it's killed some riders.

Dombrowski did finally come good though.

I think Wagner’s personal style will be great to follow through the tour. Read it this morning and it pushed my pre-tour excitement up a notch.

I’m now curious to hear how she gets on – as well as the riders, of course.

This whole thing makes me feel uneasy and I just find it creepy. It's like it's written from a distance whilst staring through some binoculars.

You’re right - it’s going to be a rollercoaster.

Will she get sick of hotel breakfasts? Will she get tired from all the travelling? What if her laptop battery gets low?

She’s attempting something that only several thousand journalists have done before.

Every single one of them is beautiful.*

Take it she's not met Dan Martin yet

Exactly. There’s a readership (but clearly not everyone!) for this behind-the-scenes reporting. I mostly listen to The Cycling Podcast to find out what they had for dinner and who they saw across the room.

I'm grateful someone can share their insight that pro cyclists are small and light.

Kristoff is my favourite big lad. Walk it in, no probs.

(TBF he snapped his seat stay on the climb.)

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Kristoff

Still ~14kg lighter than me :(

I think he’s heavier than his Wikipedia weight, if that’s what you’re looking at. I know what 78kg at 6 foot looks like and it’s not that.

Anyhow, I think it's lovely. Perhaps it's creepy but it's refreshing to read I think. She's intelligent and coming at it from a different angle

To the dentist thread

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+1, I’ll be following along. She’s doing an audio diary for the Cycling Pod, too.

Such a great image.