Pro-cycling thread

I’m guessing people mean more the preparations for riders….?

Thomas doesn't crash, comes second on the stage, three seconds behind Evenepoel, and takes the GC.

Wacky paint job, is that a new bike or secret aero coating or something?

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Would guess he'll at least be joint Ineos protected rider at the Tour this year then after that? His form seems to have surprised himself as much as anyone else, I wonder if the result would have been different without all the Covid dropouts?

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And the think people said the QR code was dead

It’s a new disc brake Bolide

I thought Ineos were largely against disc brakes?

I’m not convinced a 36 year old Geraint Thomas can get close to Pogacar on his day.

Edit: apparently they’re fully behind disc brakes since last September https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ineos-grenadiers-finally-switches-to-disc-brakes/

I'm not convinced he can get close to him either, (Pidcock or Hayter in a classic/1 dayer maybe but not in a 3 week tour at the moment) but I'm not sure who else they have at the moment who could either, and at least Thomas seems to be on good form...

I'd bet on Vingegaard if I betted at all.

I'd bet on Covid beating Pogacar, but that's about it at the moment.

Liquidate your remaining Crypto portfolio and put it all on Mas for the tour. You’ll be back to riding lambos and fitting £40k kitchens again.

Interesting…

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Nothing I enjoy more than Lance shitting on JV

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If Dani Martinez comes fourth, I'll eat my chamois.
Outside the top two, it's a crap shoot. I think Vingegaard will have to sacrifice himself to get Rog near to Pog and might miss out.

The bitterness is in plain sight and he's also not wrong. Nobody goes to EF to win Grand Tours; they go to have a "fun" environment until they retire.

Ryder Hesjedal disagrees.

The next 6 weeks are the worst part of the cycling season - no races for two weeks, except national championships, then the all-consuming Tour, then the post Tour week. At least we have the Tour de France Femmes avec Zwift to watch in that post-Tour week.

A periodic reminder of Gaimon's thoughts on riding for Vaughters

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I think that's how things are done across the board in procycling, the behaviour certainly isn't unique to Vaughters.

As Philippa York says, cycling is a what-have-you-done-for-me-lately sport. If you don't have a contract renewal offer from your current team by the Tour, you need to find a new team or start winning races.

I skimmed the tt stage of tour de suisse.
Why was GT dripping water on the start line?

Effing hot

Had he been hosed down or something? Even his overshoes were leaking.

it’s aero marginal gains. water trapped in advanced fabrics gives greater laminar flow eddy currents due to less friction in the right places.

I read that on velo-news (behind paywall)

Still not entirely sure that Giro was kosher… could have just been best form of his life combined with good luck but the rest of his career wouldn’t have you guessing he would win the giro. He admitted to doping in the past so I just can’t shake Cobo and Horner vibes.