Pro-cycling thread

Awful crash in Scheldeprijs

Horrible crash. Now I can just hear Carlton Kirby heavy breathing over a really quiet interview with Caleb Ewan.

Ackermann dsq, presumably for causing the crash.

Pretty clear; veered and took out the front wheel: https://twitter.com/ebbenieuweboer/status/1316398504848379905?s=20

It was pretty clear at full speed that he’d moved massively off line.
Any news on the injured riders, I couldn’t look after the first time.

He seems ok, was sitting up talking. Hopefully just a bit battered and bruised.

Saw a steward checking for pulse and feared for the worst.

DSQ is a good sign, I hope there will be a clear line in the UCI’s decisions on what’s acceptable and what’s not.

clear line ... what's acceptable

Look before you move?

Ackermann wasn't DQ'd, though, just relegated, wasn't he? He shows up in the results with a placing.

His DS reckons it wasn't the right decision and that he didn't touch anyone's wheel.

(I haven't seen the crash.)

‘Pascal found a hole and launched his sprint without touching any rider. Unfortunately, one guy touched his back wheel then and took a fall.‘

He didn’t touch anyone but someone else touched him?
Pretty clear that he took out the rider’s front wheel....

https://twitter.com/lvckv/status/1316397115694698499?s=21

Thanks, I misinterpreted the quote I saw here:

Bei Bora – hansgrohe konnte man die Entscheidung allerdings nicht nachvollziehen. "Das war eine klare Fehlentscheidung der Jury. Pascal hat etwa 150m vor dem Ziel rechts eine Lücke gefunden und ist durchgefahren, ohne einen Fahrer zu berühren. Ein Fahrer hat sich dann an seinem Hinterrad aufgehängt und kam zu Fall. Das ist schade, aber ein Rennunfall", sagte der Sportliche Leiter Steffen Radochla.

https://www.radsport-news.com/sport/sportnews_122185.htm

He first says that Ackermann got through without touching another rider and then that another rider 'hanged himself up' on his wheel, a sloppy and vague German expression that's untranslatable and whose main purpose here seems to be to transfer the blame for the crash to the other rider. It could also mean, but probably wasn't intended to mean, that the rider got spooked by the wheel so close in front of him and then crashed. (The English translation you quote is an interpretation of what Radochla meant, and probably an accurate interpretation, but I didn't pick that up.)

(As before, I have no idea who caused what.)

"I didn't punch him in the face, he head-butted my fist".

Looking forwards to tomorrow's Giro stage, as they're doing the Nove Colli course. I was supposed to be riding it for the seventh time this year, which obviously never happened. It'll be interesting to see how fast the pros can do it. My best time is a shade over 8 hours. I'm guessing it'll be just over half that.

Little known fact about this year's Giro...

Movistar are taking part.

And, amazingly, are only sixth in the team classification. Must be keeping their powder dry for a full on assault on it in the final week.

They're winning the Fair Play ranking though.

Perhaps their main objective?

Maybe there's a Stealth Prize they're going for - the team which finishes the event and does the least in it.

rubio sat on de gent for a bit then didn't have the legs. that made a difference right? right?

As brilliant as it was, I’m wondering if I’m missing something about Sagan’s win?

Rob Hatch was breathlessly calling it the ride of the century and Velon ‘one of the best rides ever’.

Of course he’s Sagan and has to deal with extra marking etc, but was there something in the winning move/numbers that put it ahead of some memorable classics wins? Is it because it was at a GT?

This always stands out as a benchmark on numbers: https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/kristoff-averages-insane-345-watts-for-5-hours-26-minutes-to-win-gent-wevelgem/

Apparently Sagan’s ride was 330avg for 177km. PATHETIC.

I only skimmed through the highlights so feel free to ignore me, but I think he was involved in kicking off the break which very nearly got caught. When the break settled down everybody (?) else had at least one teammate except him.

I was also a bit surprised by how effusive they were being.

Come on, the break was chased hard by FDJ for ages, but resisted, then a full on GC race kicked off behind and he managed to stay away alone. It was very impressive.

Yeah, this. FDJ decided to reel it back in with 100?K to go, even Demare was pulling. Gap got to less than 30 secs, but they eventually had to give up. Sagan could have dropped out at any point and the break would have been allowed to go, so I bet he didn't make any friends.

that and he was continually being double-teamed in the break and having to chase down attacks on the lumpy last 50ks. it was an incredible ride.

Yeah I imagine Sagan is someone that no one wants in the breakaway.

Most likely be chased down by the peloton or if you stay away, beat you in a sprint.

James Knox said Ganna and Sagan made the start of the stage so hard that they missed their feed and ended up just stopping at their car to get their musettes and were just laughing about the intensity of it all.

Yeah, the entire peloton missed the first feed zone as it was one massive line.

Average speed for the stage was 43.9 km/h, which normally would be above average for a second week Giro stage. Except this Giro has been ridiculously fast so far. Should we get to the third week then the time gaps could be huge.