2013 Pro-cycling season thread

New "aero" Spesh helmet look a bit odd

New "aero" helmets look a bit 'special'

Indeed.

Hah.. They look a lot better than the Giro ones that's for sure..

Can't see Boonen really being up to strength until mid-season, given the disruption of his infected elbow, which was very serious. He looks a pale imitation of the rider this time last season.

Which means, just like Gilbert last year, he'll probably win the rainbow hoops

I think it's a bit too soon to write him off for Flanders or Roubaix. He was looking strong until the Kwaremont today, when apparently he ran out of energy from not eating.

He hasn't missed much racing, despite his problems.

repeat on Brit Eurosport now.. Just at the kick off point..

In typical Eurosport fashion they miss all the important shit. One minute with 60k to go we have a break including Cancellara, Boonan, Hayman, EBH, etc with Sagan getting back onto the peleton after a bike change, then after an ad break we have 25k to go and Cancellara a minute up the road with Sagan, Thomas et al in G2 and the remnants of the original G1 behind, and commentary sounding like its being spoken through ten pairs of a cheap hookers tights and a 1980s Motorola mobile phone.

That could have been largely out of their control. It's when they show world's strongest man or billiards instead of scheduled cycling highlights that annoys me most.

In typical Eurosport fashion they miss all the important shit. One minute with 60k to go we have a break including Cancellara, Boonan, Hayman, EBH, etc with Sagan getting back onto the peleton after a bike change, then after an ad break we have 25k to go and Cancellara a minute up the road with Sagan, Thomas et al in G2 and the remnants of the original G1 behind, and commentary sounding like its being spoken through ten pairs of a cheap hookers tights and a 1980s Motorola mobile phone.

haha, yes I saw that too, I thought to watch the last bit of the race again paying extra attention to how Cancellara escaped but indeed, THE pivotal moment in the race was not shown.

'Out of their control' - is there no director or editor who actually knows what he/she is doing? If not I guess it will take a while before they deserve to be taken seriously as a sports broadcaster.

last 2.5 hours of E3 with Russian commentary

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5rkzhT5As"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0n5rkzhT5As[/ame
]

Спасибо

I think it's a bit too soon to write him off for Flanders or Roubaix. He was looking strong until the Kwaremont today, when apparently he ran out of energy from not eating.

He hasn't missed much racing, despite his problems.

Won't write him off, but his training and preperation have been badly disrupted, and it shows. I hope the real Boonen does show up, if only to break up the Sagan and Cancellara party, because Sky don't look capable of it at the moment.

Tour of Catalunya time! My hero, Dan Martin, looking strong like bull. Sky stormtroopers on the front, break of eight up the road.

Watching that YouTube vid above, seems like the UCI have managed to make it quicker to swap bikes than a front wheel.
This is unfair on the smaller teams (no?) and probably brings more potential for unsafe/badly set up bikes?
(Not that I expect the UCI to make decisions based upon logic ...)

It is a shame Cancellara crashed out of Ronde last year, because it would have been fascinating to see him against Boonen with both on top form.

The thing that struck me about E3 was Cannondale just imploding after delivering Sagan to the front group, there were 5 guys who just disappeared within a km.

Sky are going to win something just by having 4-5 guys in the mix in the last 10km where other teams only have 1-3. Someone will make a mistake.

Quick Step have strength in depth too (Boonen, Chavanel, Terpstra, Vandenbergh, Stybar).

But I agree, Cannondale (and Radioshack) look lacking in quality and depth when it comes to cobbled classics.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/03/news/wintry-weather-forces-organizers-to-shorten-2013-ghent-wevelgem_278860
Weather in Belgium is meh...

I think strength in depth may pay off for OPQS, with super doms marking Cancellara or Sagan. It would be nice for Chavanel to get a big win in the next fortnight.

Having watched the video above on turbo today,can only agree with Peter's comments on Sagan. Why wasn't he at the front of the bunch when Boonen attacked on the Taaienberg? That must be the most predictable move in cycling. Sagan is probably the strongest rider in the peloton, but he is wasting a lot of energy.

I knew that lances black socks were the thin edge of the wedge. This bloke should get a life time ban.

Watching the race, Dan Lloyd's commentary was quite insightful, in terms of how the tactics of the race and the cobbled classics play out, which seem at odds with the received wisdom for the rest of the cycling season. How the pace of the peloton jumps up at certain places, because the road narrows and you need to be at the front, because if you're at the back there's no coming back, and the only way you know where these pinch points are is to ride the roads on the regular, or race those races. Sagan has done neither and so needs to gain the experience, or have an experienced team mate to show him the ropes...

So even though you know where Boonen is going to test everyone, is different to being close enough to him, to try and close him down as the previous climbs and kilometres of racing may have put you in the middle of the peloton, squeezed between slowing riders with no way to move past them..

The thing that struck me about E3 was Cannondale just imploding after delivering Sagan to the front group, there were 5 guys who just disappeared within a km.

Sky are going to win something just by having 4-5 guys in the mix in the last 10km where other teams only have 1-3. Someone will make a mistake.

Sky have a lot of dangerous riders (Eisel, Hayman, Stannard, Thomas, EBH) and the tactic seems to be to front load the race and get into the elite group with numbers. The problem is once there they lack the rider with the explosive element. Or at least that should be EBH but he lacks form. And even on form you feel Sagan's got his measure.

After EBH I think Thomas. In E3 he was stuck further back and missed the Boonen move and had to chase with Cannondale. ONce he made it to the elite group he was the strongest of the Sky riders. He hung back when Cancellara made his move in the hope Hayman and EBH could get back and only belatedly worked with the group to bring back Cancellara, probably why he and Sagan had words at the finish line.

Races like that are all about being in the right place at the right time. I think Thomas lacks a bit of nous and experience, so I hope he's learning. I hope he may be able to do a long range attack and make it stick.

BTW Gent isn't appearing on the Eurosport listings, is it only on stream in the UK?

^ Yeh, it's all just Catalunya on Eurosport, which is a shame.

They've shortened the route for today due to weather, probably a good idea after M-SR. Quite funny how the concession to rider safety etc is by cutting out a whole 45km, still leaving the poor sods to cover 190km http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/537561/ghent-wevelgem-shortened-due-to-snow.html

In typical Eurosport fashion they miss all the important shit. One minute with 60k to go we have a break including Cancellara, Boonan, Hayman, EBH, etc with Sagan getting back onto the peleton after a bike change, then after an ad break we have 25k to go and Cancellara a minute up the road with Sagan, Thomas et al in G2 and the remnants of the original G1 behind, and commentary sounding like its being spoken through ten pairs of a cheap hookers tights and a 1980s Motorola mobile phone.

There was a problem with the audio on that segment. I was watching live and for a large part of the break movement there was no commentary at all just pictures. They then came back with the phone link. I guess they just had to cut the whole thing for the highlights..

Quick Step have strength in depth too (Boonen, Chavanel, Terpstra, Vandenbergh, Stybar).

But I agree, Cannondale (and Radioshack) look lacking in quality and depth when it comes to cobbled classics.

This so much.. More so for Cannodale they need to start buying big guns to look after Sagan otherwise his talent will be a waste

So.. moving on.

Anyone have a link for G-W today? My race has been cancelled so it's a feet up full rest day for me..

cyclingfans.com will have Sporza streams later (from about 1.20pm UK time, apparently).

I'll be on the turbo - hopefully the combined boredom of indoor cycling and early-part-of-race will cancel each other out.