Pro-cycling thread

Crashed, dnf

Feel bad now

The Arkea Bianchi stem is a right dog.

Sram eh.

Can I get an s5?

Can I have DVB's cardiovascular system?

Not without a lengthy prison sentence.

Holding a 15 second gap for well over 10k, in style, what a rider.

Will Van Vleuten be 'at the appointment' today in the ladies' race?

Blowing a hoolie down in South East France - Drome … makes for exciting racing though , yesterdays race was great , some bonkers descending by Alaphillipe and Gaudu.

Hilarious/terrifying drone operator at O Gran Camiño.

The last 5 kms of yesterday's stage was wild.

I'm amazed the riders/teams didn't complain vociferously.

Guessing Ion Izaguerre did a fair amount of complaining !

KBK was a total capitulation to Jumbo Visma. Are they just training at a much much higher level than every other team? Or are they on something? Formerly decent riders becoming world-beaters with alarming regularity.

Well if the rest of the peloton teams decide to just let one man (Senechal) try to close the gap and not form some sort of coalition, they have no chance of getting closer to a lead group like today's, consisting of super strong rouleurs. But yes, very strong and dominant ride from team JV, looks like they have the team to back up these tactics and get the wins.

Yeah, the 'chase' was pretty woeful.

Haven't seen the race unfortunately, but hooray for Tiesj getting his first big result since Strade 2018. And for Taco getting a good result, I hear he was in the breakaway all day, to survive all the way to the final. What a rider.

As for JV dominating, it may raise an eyebrow. But QS and Sky have done it in the recent past as well. Although perhaps the dominance is even bigger considering they won the TdF (including a lot of stages by non-GC riders) alongside the many classics. I don't mind though, any team with a major focus on the classics has got my support. A team that only has eye for the TdF can gtfo.

They've got strength in depth now, with Benoot, Van Hooyodonck, Tratnik, van Baarle, Leporte (and Van Aert still to come) and they use that strength to their advantage. They'd softened up the group in a cross wind section today, then one of their team (not sure who it was) let a gap go and suddenly they had three men up the road and only Mohoric and Wellens had the strength to get across. Two riders in a break of five is always going to make the win likely, but they actually played it quite badly and got a lucky that Benoot's attack came just as Wellens closed down Van Hooyodonck, so he wasn't going to go again that close to the finish.

I don't think this is surprising; they showed last year that a) their team strengthening has been consistently good the past few seasons and b) tactically they seem to be a step ahead of everyone these days.

One for @leggy_blonde - is Lukas Nerurkar another pesky VCL kid?

They were saying he was on the commentary.

The Drome Classic was a right laugh, riders leaning all over the place and detouring in to the bushes.
The Gran Camino deserves to be upgraded, with more World Tour teams it would be a real punch up.
Do people still underestimate Vingegaard? I know only the most astute observers predicted his win last year but the commentators were talking as if his time trial might be a weakness.

I don't see how you can underestimate someone who finishes second in the Tour after stepping up when his leader crashed out, then wins it handsomely the year after. I know a lot of pundits seem to think his Tour win was lucky and he'll not win it again, but I think they are wrong.

Pogacar may have been a bit below his best last July, but he was soundly beaten in the end. UAE have strengthened again this year, but so have Jumbo-Visma, so I can't see Vingegaard lacking in team support when he needs it most.

I'm sure someone on here predicted he would win the Tour last year but I can't put a name to it...

I predicted he’d win Camiño.

I predicted commentators would mangle his name at every opportunity.

I predict a riot