Pro-cycling thread

Whatever his form, he's going to need a big dose of luck and get his positioning and tactics spot on. Him or Geraint have a good chance, but chance is all it is.

I'd love it if Wiggins won P-R...last year it was great having both himself and Thomas at the front of the race. I can't help but fell that all the things he's saying now about P-R (the history...his best form etc...) are exactly the same things he was saying before the Giro in 2013, when as the going got tough, he backed off, and ultimately out.

The whole PR being a lottery might be a touch overplayed - Don't get me wrong it's no vanilla sprint stage, though Fab's consistency surely proves it's possible for the cream to permanently be in with a shout?

The two unknown factors for me are the Peloton - The uber-focus around him on his glorious swansong can go one of two ways - it's either riled people enough (esp EQS peeps out for revenge for Stannards mugging or Oleg telling Peter it's his last chance to redeem himself) such that he'll be marked out the game or, on the flipside, they might roll over a little, perhaps out of respect, and perhaps because when Brad puts his mind to something...

The other problem is the team instructions/politics - Whilst he's probably plan A, and G would in theory be a Plan B domestique 'no matter what', realistically that's not the case, and especially owing to G's ridiculous Classics form (and proof he can go toe-to-toe with the best of them), how much worse will they tolerate Brad's position/condition (vs G's) during the race before calling G to consider himself Plan A? They've not shown too much love for the exiting star IMO, and wouldn't be surprised if they call it 'may the best man win' (and secretly root for G).

Either way I haven't been as buzzed about a race day since...forever. I got into cycling via the Sunday in Hell film and my then boss having cycling on the office TV permanently in 2012. I'm doing the sportive Saturday again then rocking up to the Velodrome early doors Sunday to watch it.

So he's guaranteed to fuck it up on the first section ;)

Either way, those few minutes last year when the 9 or so lead group was a who's who of Classics badmen - if it's half as good as that, it'll be proper cycling goosebumps stuff.

Are we going to have another 12 days of this?

All this talk of Roubaix being a lottery, it's increasingly rare for an outsider to win and one of the few races where the main contenders are marking moves with 80 kms to go.

They've not shown too much love for the exiting star IMO, and wouldn't be surprised if they call it 'may the best man win' (and secretly root for G).

I don't think so. Two things: 1) if that was their tactic, wouldn't Brad have been in last year's tour? 2) G's had a good start to the season, seems like a "good chap", and would look like a cunt were he to attack Wiggo (like someone else I shall not mention).

If Brad cracked, and G was on his own, that's a different story.

/armchairds

/what's ds means?

De Panne: peloton now speeding at about 70km/h (making things tricky for the cars ahead)

Yes!

It's more of a lottery than a time trial or pursuit.

Are we going to have another 12 days of this?

This. We should talk about football instead.

It's never too early to talk about Paris-Roubaix.

Sky unveil killer P-R tactics..

^^ Shameless plug, great photo.

Wacky average of the first hour (56 km / h)

54 seconds has the break

BUT BARRY ROUBAIX IS THE GREATEST RACE EVER.
it's the only cycle race to watch, now all the plebs are watching Le Tour.
I'm clearly more in the know.

Oleg Tinkov, not as black/white as you'd expect:

Here is my statement: World cycling has to change... or die, or maybe just lurch from scandal to scandal for another decade as we watch teams come and go. That is today's situation, where teams do not have income, just huge expense that would be unthinkable in other professional sports. Teams depend on sponsorship for 99% of their revenue and this model is neither viable nor durable. This is the origin of the doping, the endless scandals and the whole 'grey tinge' of this wonderful sport. The paradox is that cycling is the world's second most popular spectator sport, after football, but at the same time it is the poorest sport.

Why is this happening? I will try to analyse the problem funnel.

This is how the chain should look ideally:

• income (from television and participation in races) for teams
  
• race organisers receive MORE from TV channels
  
• TV channels get more viewers and more demand
  
• races are an interesting show - this is entertainment
  
• a cycling star academy should be created and we should work on increasing viewing figures (see experience of Formula 1)
  
• ALL!!! stars should participate in these races (here we should look to the experience of Tennis)
  
  

Of course, you could look at this funnel from the bottom up. People obviously need to watch the races rather than sleeping during siesta time in Continental Europe:-).

We need to find a way to get them interested during long and boring stages. We probably need to make them shorter or start to show them later, when there is a final battle.

We need to make races more interesting and think-up new ones. As an idea: GP Monaco on Saturday before the motor racing, and sell seats in rows that are already set up. But it is important that the best sprinters come for this kind of event - the best mountain racers should go to all the grand tours. That is why I proposed the 'Three Grand Tour Challenge' which provoked such a heated discussion - which made me very happy! If you want to have a real show, you need to have the very best competing against the very best. We definitely need to reduce the number of races - noone is interested in these provincial races that get no TV coverage. Here I am talking about World Tour teams - I think that teams with lower status can participate in those more local events and so they do have a place in the sport.

Again, everything hinges on the idiotic 'ciclismo storico' . I agree with Fabian Canchelara - who needs this tradition of 'do as my grandad did'? Spain, Italy, France, Belgium are all stuck in a 20th Century paradigm - this is an anachronism in the age of the Internet, the iPhone, mass mobility and a broad-based approach to sport and life in general. In those days you really did have to ride your bike without gear changes and a lamp strapped to your forehead. We need to cut the number of races, reduce their duration and make them more viewer-friendly. For example, we could have more 'ring' races around cities, etc.

Cycling has to change. The times of Sainz, Bryneel and Riis are over - they were stuck in the 2000s and that is not necessarily about doping. They just don't get some obvious things and don't know how to manage teams in modern way. Managing a team is not just about issuing instructions from a car radio or about casting a spell over the riders at which Riis was unsurpassed, for example. Managing a team is about boring, monotonous work in the office. The day of the boring and meticulous managers has come - guys like Dave Brailsord and, I hope, our new Director Stefano Feltrin.

Directing the team and its riders from preparation today must be driven by mathematical and statistical analysis and data mining. Sport science is the king now! Today the winner is not the one that trains the most but the one who trains the right way, not the one who injects EPO, but the one with a healthy diet and the one who consumes the right drinks before, after and during lengthy training sessions.

It is for this reason that I am not considering the torrent of offers of 'Riis replacements' that I have been inundated with from all over the globe. We don't need this - this is the old way of thinking and it is no longer viable!

We have some of the best riders in the peloton, we have a superb team of trainers and specialists and, hey, cycling is a team sport - let's not forget that. So I believe in my team - Tinkoff-Saxo and in our team of like-minded professionals! We don't need a star-manager - we are a team of stars of world cycling: Stefano Feltrin, Steve de Jong, Sean Yates, Bobby Julich, Daniel Healey, etc. and together we will make our team into a Super-Team.

But of course if cycling itself doesn't change as I wrote above, then it will be that more difficult. And everything will stay the same as it is now - each man for himself fighting to save his own skin. I call out to all teams to unite to establish new rules of the game, to influence the UCI and race organisers. I realize that this is difficult task, and there needs to be more team-owners rather than former sportsmen who managed to find sponsors and survive, earning their million-a-year.

I believe in my favorite sport and I believe in the dialectic of life too....

/

I think we just need more windy days really

It's all about Tro Bro Léon these days. You pleb.

Sporza live http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/matchcenter/mc_wielrennen/Comp_Driedaagse_De_Panne_2015/1.2284768

and Eurosport http://www.yopika.tv/20150331/v-haha_sport_9_name-1037064-551a20a5e4aab5.59044212.html

Are we going to have another 12 days of this?

I suggest we don't stop and carry on right after this year's race for another year. Can I have a seconder? :)

I like Wiggins' whistlestop tour of such very different events as he's covered in his career. I, too, really hope he wins it, but at the very least it will be a more interesting battle royale because of his presence.

I like the honey and nougat original best.

.

1 Attachment

I agree with half, and disagree with half. He clearly got someone to polish it up though :)

Fabian who?