Pro-cycling thread

https://youtu.be/8Cxry9cLFQI

Guy loves a product placement

guy is delusional

What is going on lol

Chaos

Today's stage looking promising

Amazing stage. One where I was thankful for the 'Tete de la course', etc. captions.

I, for one, am stunned that Sylvan Adams doesn't think he got value for money from Chris Froome:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/13/chris-froome-tour-de-france-cycling-sylvan-adams

Everyone knew that Froome's injuries after his 2019 crash were very severe and it was unlikely he'd ever get to the point where he'd challenge for the Tour again, so why Adams chose to pay him Tour winner wages is on him, and him alone.

Maybe Total Energies would feel the same about Sagan if it wasn't Specialised paying most of his wages; and now he's leaving and taking the bikes with him.

My partner takes a passing interest in the racing but from a slightly different viewpoint so the Cofidis LOOK bike was very nice looking and she can spot Ben Healy in a peloton by his physique and unique riding style but todays observation was “what do Alpecin do if one of the riders is bald?”

Sagan still top 10 in sprint stages though. Froome finishes like 113th and loses 30 mins on stage 3.

“Chris isn’t a symbol. He isn’t a PR tool”… I subsequently discovered after also tricking myself into believing he’d be back to GT winning after nearly losing a leg/dying.

Last time I saw Xandro Meurisse without a helmet on, he was well on the way to being bald. One assumes he's used in the publicity for Deceunick primarily.

Bit odd he seems to claim that his performances have nothing to do with his injuries. They signed a rider after a life threatening/ potentially career ending crash as he neared the end of his career, and now seem to be claiming that you didn't realise he might not ever recover to his past form, and say that injuries have nothing to do with it. Whatever you might think of Froome (and I quite like him) I don't think you could claim he's not trying or something, which is what Sylvan Adams seems to imply.

Sagan has been phoning it in for the past two years. At least Froome is trying.

That's my point really, Sagan is PR, and he made sure a lot of his friends got jobs at the team too, none of which I blame him for really if he can find an outfit that thinks that's a good deal. But Froome really did want to win again, even if his Panglossian view of his chances was always a bit obvious.

Now he might not get to ride in Adams' new middle eastern 'Peace Race'. Perhaps he can go to the Swiss Open Banking Challenge instead.

Adams seems to forget that signing Froome gave his team a sense of legitimacy that it didn't have before. It's only since PremierTech came on board as a sponsor and insisted on signing Canadian riders that the team have become something other than a last decent pay check for riders on their way out.

What’s in Kennaugh’s other ear?

Producer

Amusing watching Ineos turning into Movistar chasing down the break for no reason other than the team's classification.

Or to protect Pidcocks GC from Pinot and Martin.

Kennaugh is the best commentator/pundit going at the moment IMVHOTBHWUBBQ

At least they don't have one GC rider chasing their other GC rider. Because they don't have any.

They're in 4th and 8th, their fourth placed rider in his first Tour (admittedly also possibly his last for Ineos), Pidcock in his second. The top two are almost unreachable, as Froome was, so I think they can't be said to be doing too badly.