Pro-cycling thread

I guess you mean today? I’m just watching now. Maybe the coverage on those lenses isn’t good. Needs katos.

Strong ride by Ben Tullett today. I'd imagine you'd have got good odds on him finishing top five in a TT.

Sean Kelly had two oranges for lunch.

Will he be in white tomorrow?

He won’t. Sobrero, who was fourth, qualifies so he’ll be in white.

I reckon BT has decent chance of being in it after Etna if he isnt put to work too early in a skytrain

I think it depends on what the Ineos plan is, but I'd be surprised if they are on the offensive on Etna unless there is an opportunity to eliminate a rival from GC. It's too early and no team interested in GC will want the pink jersey in the second week.

Hopefully you are right and Ben does get the jersey for a bit.

Old school “piano” stage today

And he never once calculated his finishing time on a mountain stage.

If it was on a mountain stage to beat time cut it’d warrant a disqualification IMO

The point was that he was too fast in the mountains to ever worry about the time cut. Unlike other sprinters.

Cav is good

Just a bit.

Looks like Jake Stewart was 3rd overall at the 4 days of Dunkirk, Gilbert wins overall.

I really want a blank version of that GCN hoodie

White lines 👌

Cav 4 tha tour

From a sponsor's point of view Cavendish beating Merckx's record would be a much bigger story than anything else they might achieve (apart from, possibly, the green jersey) and a story that would reach people who hardly know or care about cycling, so why not take him? I know if they ended up with 2 sprinters, neither of who won a stage, they'd look like plums but even so.
Lloyd, McEwan and Blythe did the best job I've ever heard today of making a slow, uneventful stage interesting. They'd get the best out of Kelly too which Hatch sadly doesn't do.

no1 can reason with Lefevre

I enjoyed Kelly being sick of the slow stage, also Hatch < Kirby. With Kirby there is no pretence.

I think Cavendish's chances of going to the Tour depend very much on whether Alaphilippe is riding it or not. If he isn't then having another sprint option may make sense, but if he is then they'll take one sprinter, likely to be Jacobsen.

A bit much to ask someone of Cav's age to be ready for the Tour after the Giro, or to get over the mountains

Unless he cuts the giro short… which is bad form.

If he gets the sprint jersey then he will probably target that?

I'd be amazed if he could win a Tour stage without preplanned cutting short of both the Giro and the Tour. Would Lefevre go for that? Would Cav? I think they would. And I reckon Prudhomme and the French press would be fine with it. There are endless precedents for sprinters starting the Tour in the knowledge they'll be DQ'd in the mountains.

If he goes to TdF he'd do all possible to get to Paris, there's no stage win quite like there.

Lol. He’s 36, not 76.