Pro-cycling thread

I've got to hand it to Lotto Soudal. They may have totally stuffed up that bike change for Campenaerts just now but I'm using some Soudal caulk this weekend and it's next level, blows the cheap stuff out of the water.

Awful conditions out there today.

It's making for pretty poor coverage as well as only the fixed cameras seem to be working, heli and bike cams are just breaking up.

Tao's off though - we'll probably see in about 20 minutes, then about an hour, how he's getting on.

The Italian tourist board will be really happy after this week.

Yates as bad as the Italian weather today.

This is the second round of bad weather in Italy inside a year. I was living in Verona during the last period, there were trees floating down the Adige river, they were worried about the bridges collapsing at one point and in the mountains to the north most of the trees got flattened, they were calling it the strage di alberi (massacre of the trees). About 30 people died across Italy in that bout.

Maltempo (bad weather) literally means bad time, which seems appropriate today.

The Italian tourist board will be really happy after this week.

I noticed they kept inserting pre-recorded touristy sunny weather videos into the TT

sunny

Pls, don't use this word.

Two sunny cities, one great Intifada.

A pan flat stage followed by a time trial. The organisers really treating us this weekend.

Two sunny cities, one great Intifada.

Haven't there been two Intifadas? I'm presuming we're not counting the silent one.

In which case perhaps the slogan should be two sunny Intifadas, one intractable conflict.

You need to work on your heckles.

Next two stages are also pan flat. Tomorrow’s doesn’t have anything resembling a lump.

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I don't think my pans are even that flat

Knowing the Giro, there's probably a few 20% climbs in that stage.

Also, complaining about flat stages being boring is supposed to be reserved for that yellow race in July.

I like how they've created needless chicanes wihtin the last km to spice things up

Now I am back in the land of being able to watch Eurosport, any stages so far worth watching? Or do I just parachute straight in?

Stage 7 was decent, though I fell asleep first time I watched it, and woke at the finish, so any excitement was lost when I actually watched it unfold the 2nd time

just parachute straight in

You may even want to hold off until Friday.

Am I alone in using the Quest app? My mate told me about it and I used it yesterday. Chromecasts the Eurosport highlight show to my TV no bother and no adverts.

Not sure whether it’s the stage profile or the fact that Tommy Windmills crashed out early, but other than the Nibili comeback story I’m struggling to get into the Giro this year.

The GC hasn’t really started yet, we’ve just had a wearing down process so far. The effects of that will become clearer through the middle of next week.

Is today just a massive group tt?

The Gavia looks fine ...

Before the Giro, if you’d said that Viviani would be the last of the big five sprinters in the race (Ackerman, Demare, Ewen, Gaviria and Viviani) to win a stage, you’d probably have been laughed and jeered at.

And for what it’s worth, Sagan and his Ion Gottlich thing can fuck off.