Pro-cycling thread

I meant for sunday rather than U23s- I've seen a timetable showing a 3.30ish finish?

Sorry didn't get that. The road race starts at 10 am local time, 277 kms long so a finish between 1530 and 1600 our time looks likely.

Euro cooking lager or euro prime Munich lager?

So long as the ABV is above 5% it's dealer's choice.

Krombacher kanoes!

Stella Skiff

http://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/latest-news/john-degenkolb-hospitalised-suffering-serious-lack-power-352284

Weird shit. Hope the Furious Chicken is ok

"problems breathing and suffering a ‘serious lack of power’."

Me on every climb.

Only joking. I love Deggers and hope he's okay.

Did anyone else watch the end of the u23 race? I'm still of the opinion that once a rider signs for a WT team, they shouldn't be eligible for the u23 race, but both Kamna and Cosnefroy rode really well to hold off the chasing peloton.

Not sure what it tells us for Sunday. The descent and run in to the finish are technical enough to make it hard for a small peloton to close the gap. The hill is longer and harder than advertised so a puncheur like Alaphillipe, Kwiatkowski or even Gilbert could get a race winning gap. Sagan will be hard to beat in a sprint (but we knew that already).

Just watched it now and the finish feels a lot like San Remo. I fancy it to be a sprint from 6-8 riders i.e. Demare, Sagan, GVA, Gaviria etc.

Unlikely to bother putting it on until two laps to go unless twitter persuades me otherwise.

For some reason, the French didn't pick Demare, they are all in for Alaphillipe. Which seems strange, as having two leaders on a course like this, one to attack and one to sprint, would seem the obvious strategy.

#Pray4SeaArnold

Lot of crashes in the juniors. Most look like a touch of wheels.

Stunning scenery before they hit the circuit and it gets a bit suburban.

Norway is the most amazing place.

I want to move to Bergen.

Just from the pictures I've seen.

hmmm... it sure looks fantastic...but do you ever complain about British weather?

http://www.touristmaker.com/blog/what-is-the-rainiest-place-in-europe/

I don't. I lived in Manchester for 10 years.

My family probs would.

Textbook win, extra kudos for winning after crashing ❤️ Chantal Blaak 🌈

Any chance of a Dutch win tomorrow to continue the joy ?

Fantastic racing by the Dutch team, and a well deserved win. Thought the British team rode really well too, making it in all the key moves.

Fuck knows why Garfoot was shaking her head as she crossed the line though, if she'd actually done some work with Barnes and Niewidoma they could've pulled Blaak back. Wheel sucking aussies.

Nah. Dumoulin said he's in good shape but the course is not selective enough, so he would have to choose a surprise attack and gamble. Same goes for Mollema, Terpstra. Maybe a very late attack (last 2k) by Boom but I really can't see it happening.

If it'd been vd Breggen or v Vleuten that attacked, they (UK, France, Denmark as well as Oz riders) would have raced to close the gap. Really don't understand why they somehow expected the two favorites in orange to do it for them when Blaak went. Silly.

Anyhow, this was an incredible day for the team

1. Blaak
   
2. Van Vleuten
   
3. Van der Breggen
   
4. Brand
   
5. Van Dijk
   
6. Ensing
   
7. Pieters
   
8. Vos
   
   

Edit: forum software has its own ideas about the top 10 apparently

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An exciting couple of laps. Doesn't seem hard to predict which of the men will be there at the end tomorrow, though if the weather changes it might be less preordained.

Has there been a significant group come to the line to contest the finish in any of the races on that circuit yet?

Not sure we can read too much into it as the men's elite has the extra distance as a factor but it does seem to offer a chance to a strong rider if they can get clear.

Really hard to pick a name so I've let my heart rule my head and backed Boasson Hagen.

Men's U23 was the closest, the break of two were just 3 seconds up at the line on a big group.

I think the difference between the Elite men and the rest of the races, is the depth of the field. There are at least 8 nations who would expect to have numbers up front on the last lap, so if they have a sprinter then they have an incentive to chase. The distance from the top of the last climb to the finish favours a chasing peloton, so any break would have to cooperate to stay away.

I wouldn't like to call it, I can see a good break staying away, but can also see there being a sprinter in there, like Sagan, who they don't want to take to the finish, and I can see the likes of Australia and Italy chasing a group down to set up Matthews and Viviani.