Pro-cycling thread

If Thomas is in 2018 form, I can see him beating Roglic.

And doesn't crash.

I'm sure he won't crash.

He's been super non-crashy this year.

crash ? never

As long as it's not cold, not a bit wet and there aren't any super fast descents then he'll be fine.

Tricky finish in the Belgium tour, very small bunch going to the line and a predictable sprint winner. Most of the other guys left it too late with a couple of tricky bends at 300 to go

You forget him missing his handlebars and face planting in the floor (and still winning the GC) and also falling on the last downhill the other day and chasing back on to maintain third on GC?

I’m hoping he stays upright, maybe he’s done with crashing for the year….

I assumed it was sarcasm.

I missed that, clearly heatstroke from the beachZ

🙄

Pretty sure Carapaz will win again tomorrow, or at least leave the other contenders behind, but still great to see Uran win today. And not by a little bit either, what a ride.

Marc Hirschi was 5.52 down today. He must be miserable.

Saw Hirschi getting spat out the back earlier in the week to absolutely zero comment from the TV team. Clearly nothing to see.

He’s not a GC rider, so why are people surprised he’s not doing well on GC?

Odds on Cav going to the tour? Would love to see him win one last stage.

But could he win five more? That would be something.

He wasn’t grupetto fodder either

What's a brief summary of the Hirschi situation?

Great breakout season last year, including a stage win at the Tour. The team fka Sunweb cut ties with him suddenly because they thought something was fishy?

Is that accurate, and is that speculation or or has something happened?

It was an unusual, and very sudden, transfer and there were hints, or insinuations, from DSM about why they were happy to let him go. There was nothing more substantive than that but it was certainly a peculiar move and open to rumours and doubts. He wouldn't be the first rider to move to a new team and lose his form though or never settle in. Either way he must be feeling crappy about the season so far.

By some accounts, DSM refused to give him an improved contract after his breakout performances last year. He felt he deserved it, DSM management clearly decided he didn't.

Riders buying themselves out of their contract to move teams is not unheard of, so one assumes that's what he's done. For reasons we don't know, DSM management decided to make insinuations about doping when the news broke that he was moving teams.

No-one comes out of it looking good.

Thanks both.

The last line of Andy's is for sure - if it did turn out that DSM had proof he'd been doping and then went down the NDA route rather than hanging him out to dry, that's not good for the sport.

There does seem to have been a lot more doping chat in the last twelve months. More than the usual low-level Sky rumouring. Should we be concerned?

I thought JV had sorted it.

You mean like Soler or Valverde?

Oi, leave the lads out of this!

Yeah, yeah, I only just caught up with the Porte-a-toes à la Dauphinoise.

18 year old Juan Ayuso wins the u23 Giro. He’s already signed a long term deal with UAE.

Ireland’s Ben Healy wins the final stage, riding for Trinity Racing, and his teammate Thomas Gloag, another VCL alumni, finished fourth overall.

Apparently he climbed the Passerino at higher w/kg than Bernal, Carthy, Landa etc.

Yes - I know it’s Antoine Vayer.

https://twitter.com/festinaboy/status/1402199731317706753?s=20