2014 Pro-cycling season thread

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UC_X6NTIzi0

I don't agree with Giant-Shimano tactics in the final stage of the sprint(6:25), one of their lead out man blatantly serving across the whole field and ease up in front of Cav's lead out. Glad he saw it and made his move to Degenkolb.

awful moto footage. Like it was shot on an iphone by someone on a the back of a BMX.

Sounds like an exciting stage in California yesterday.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-california-1/stage-1/results

Is it just me or does Phinney blatantly slag of Wiggins here?! Unless I've missed something about Sky tactics?

Sky were up there for Swift. I think he's just stating that.

awful moto footage. Like it was shot on an iphone by someone on a the back of a BMX.

Also Phil Liggett and this is from the land of showbiz!

From what I've seen the women's ToB coverage has been really good and better than that from Cali'.

Swift is at the Giro not the TOC

Sky were up there for Swift. I think he's just stating that.

Swift is in Italy.

Sounds like an exciting stage in California yesterday.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-california-1/stage-1/results

Is it just me or does Phinney blatantly slag of Wiggins here?! Unless I've missed something about Sky tactics?

I think he is saying they would have gone faster if Wiggins wasnt there as he is a major GC contender and so teams either will chase him donw harder or not pull him as hard in the breakaway?

^^^ & ^^

Woah, I'm seriously crossing the streams. You are right.

In that case Sky were not putting anyone up for a sprint, just keeping Wiggo safe and it may well be a dig.

There are separate threads for both Giro and ToC, in case you want to stop confusing yourselves and others. :)

https://www.lfgss.com/post4230068.html
https://www.lfgss.com/thread126694.html

Hippy should bight the bullet and merge them all in to this one.

Think I'll bring some UK pro racing in here.

Yanto takes Lincoln GP

I was playing on that hill a few weeks back. Its steep but very enjoyable.
Did you race?

Yes. Avoided the crashes and crosswinds but didn't have the legs to get round.
It was HARD. But awesome racing.

Just watched the last 6km of stage 7 in the tour of Turkey and was wondering if Cav spoke about what happened in the final run in.

To me it looked like Steegmans went full gas after the final corner and Renshaw(?) couldn't keep up and dropped out of the line leaving Cav to bridge up to Petacchi. When Steegmans eventually peeled off Cav looked like he slapped out at him in frustration, or maybe Steegmans was coming into Cav's line? Didn't look like a happy bunny.

The video quality was pretty poor quality and I know nothing about sprinting so maybe I'm mis-interpreting the pixels...

The video is this one and the action starts at about 4:50. On reflection though, I think it mightn't be Cavendish that I'm looking at, and maybe it's Mr Bonet from Caja Rural? Serves me right for trying to catch up using steep hill links...

From what I could see it looks like Cav is moving Steegmans, or just putting his hand out to let him know he is there. You often see the Quick Step guys pull off and then drift back into the line, creating another obstacle for chasers.

I'm not sure what Renshaw is doing there, it could be that he's is trying to bully the rider who is trying to hop onto the Quick Step lead out (you see him take another rider with him across) —*and assumes Cav can close that gap easily. Unfortunately Steegmans really hits the gas at that point and Cav has burn a match to get onto the wheel, which is 3 bike lengths by then, instead of the original 1.

Exciting finish but I shuddered watching that crash at the end.

Certainly looked like Cav, but I think it was more 'keep out of my line' than anything else, especially seeing the chaos Steegmans caused behind Cav as he weaved all over the road.

Edit: ^ What he said

^^^ yeah that's just a 'I'm here' hand on shoulder.

Cav had to push a bit to close that gap though! Steegmans is a machine.

I know this was ages ago, but to clear it up - Cav was 3rd wheel when the gap goes - behind him. He's then 2nd wheel after Steegmans pulls off. This is pretty obvious simply from the number of riders in line. I think the guy who taps Steegmans on the back must be from Caja Rural.

Sorry for the topic dredge!

Find the selfie

wow

I saw that on the telly footage and was wondering wtf was going on

DC and I stalked Evans & Roche back to the paddock. They were basically riding unsupported on open roads. Even got stuck in a traffic jam. See the spotted thread.

It was rad but also a bit creepy

Kittel crashed on the second stage? Didn't see that.

That was him collapsed in exhaustion after the sprint yesterday

I LOVE THE INTERNET

Another case closed by Inspector Dubtap.

That is bloody brilliant.

Lol. What a dick. Hope Kittel gives him some payback :-)

Slightly less sinister than it looks - the lad is in Nicholas Roche's performance racing team - according to Instagram.