2014 Pro-cycling season thread

But hey, we ought to respect him as a former tour winner..... :)

Pondering getting a Eurosport online subscription to be able to watch things in yummy HD and it's only £3.99 a month, but it's a minimum 12 month contract. How many more good cycling events are going to be on Eurosport once the Classics are over? Would it be worth it?

Probably too late now if you've gone for the £3.99 x 12 deal, but I just do the £5.99 a month (it was £4.99 last year) from the start of the spring classics to the end of the tour.

Even at £5.99 a month it's £36 for six months v. £48 for the year - but there's nothing I actually want to watch between the end of the tour and the first classic.

Either way the quality is WAY better than the crap free streams, especially on a big monitor with decent broadband. Well worth it.

Now I can really see that steam being sucked away without the need for an extractor fan.

but there's nothing I actually want to watch between the end of the tour and the first classic.
.

Not even the last classic?

Gilbert seems to finally be back at his best :-)

^^or the world champs?

i've always been able to find a stream, but sometimes the ad comes up at just the wrong time. maybe it's time i went legit.

Do you get Eurosport working on a mac? Tried it last year but couldn't get silverlight to work

Works fine for me. Mostly watch on iPad but works fine on my laptop when I need it to- after various updates to silverlight. Works much better on chrome than safari.

Probably too late now if you've gone for the £3.99 x 12 deal, but I just do the £5.99 a month (it was £4.99 last year) from the start of the spring classics to the end of the tour.

Even at £5.99 a month it's £36 for six months v. £48 for the year - but there's nothing I actually want to watch between the end of the tour and the first classic.

Either way the quality is WAY better than the crap free streams, especially on a big monitor with decent broadband. Well worth it.

Now I can really see that steam being sucked away without the need for an extractor fan.

This is what I was going to get rather than what Scoot went for. Presunably you can cancel at any time? Only really want it for the Giro. Will watch the TdF/Vuelta on ITV4.

I bought it a few years in a row for July but stopped after ITV picked up Tour coverage. I'm fine with finding streams a few days a month (this time of the year), but it's pretty frustrating when you're fighting for coverage for three weeks straight (which, thankfully, isn't a huge issue anymore).

I got the 12 month £3.99 one but after the Tour finishes I can probably sell it to my housemates to watch football on.

Had trouble getting it to work on sumo's iffy macbook as silverlight didn't seem to want to download, but then I tried it on my identical model macbook and it worked instantly.

Why do people take such pleasure from mocking Andy Schleck?

Because he's an easy target, given the height he's fallen from. He was always mentally fragile, but this seems to have worsened in recent years. He's rumoured to have dependency issues, which would explain the abject nature of his form in the last few years.

In my view, he'd benefit from some time out of the limelight, maybe even quitting the sport altogether, but he probably has an agent and a few others who are reliant on his income, so he'll never get that advice.

I've no idea if he was doped in the past or is clean now. Cyrille Guimard, who knows talent when he sees it, thought Andy was the greatest natural talent he'd ever worked with, which is saying something when you realise that he managed Van Impe, Hinault, Fignon and Lemond.

It feels a lot like kicking a man when he's down, given the injuries and other problems he's had. It's a joke that has run its course.

It's sad more than anything

In my view, he'd benefit from some time out of the limelight, maybe even quitting the sport altogether, but he probably has an agent and a few others who are reliant on his income, so he'll never get that advice.

And his dad?

Rodriguez riding tomorrow. Says he's still sore at high output, but good news if he's to be competitive for Sunday.

That's great news.
a/ because he's a nice dude
b/ he's in my classics fantasy team, because he's a nice dude

Kolobnev texting @ 19%. You know. As you do.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4nm5hMfQET8/U1bRlUlvT-I/AAAAAAAASpo/WNvSp5gm_Y8/s1600/2014_fleche_wallonne_mur_de_huy_alexandr_kolobnev.jpg

Why can't people pronounce Fuglsang? It's not "Fulgsang".

Silly names >>>

Was his SRM head unit; I wondered wtf was going on there but rewound to check ;)

I didn't need to rewind. I'm that good.

#ionlyrewindforcrashes

Why do people take such pleasure from mocking Andy Schleck?

Because Frank Schleck isn't riding.

Kolobnev riding a triple @ 19%. Fucking cyclotourist!
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4nm5hMfQET8/U1bRlUlvT-I/AAAAAAAASpo/WNvSp5gm_Y8/s1600/2014_fleche_wallonne_mur_de_huy_alexandr_kolobnev.jpg

ftfy

Lizzie Armitstead did very well to place second at Fleche. She wasn't positive about the Mur pre race.

The result no one wanted.

Indeed.

My hatred for Valverde knows no bounds.

decent effort by dan martin though