Pro-cycling thread

He has a fractured shoulder blade I believe. Was training on his TT bike, got passed by a lorry and the turbulence caused him to lose control.

Nasty.

Woulnd't have happen if he was fat though... think about that, kids... #fatwins

Boonen signed a fat check to the Belgian tax man: 3 million € to settle his case on tax dodging (he has a Monaco address but spends most of his time in Belgium) and escape trial. Most of his fellow team mates chose to do the same, but Pat Lefevere refuses to settle and will probably face a court order. Cycling is big business for a happy very few, I knew, but to read the numbers, wow.

It's funny how it's mainly rich people who have to settle tax cases, isn't it?

Not sure how it works in other countries, but when Swedish sports stars moves to monaco for tax reasons it just goes to show that double standards are everywhere. Most athletes making a living from their sport do so thanks to tax funded incentives early in their career / childhood. It'd be nice if they could pay some of it back.

Most big corps are operating in countries because of tax breaks. Be nice if they could give some of that back. But tax minimisation is just sensible isn't it? It's fuckers employing fleets of lawyers to find loopholes or tie up HMRC and paying properly bullshit tax amounts that winds me up.

+1

I don't mind tax minimisation as long as it happens in the country where the person lives or where the business happens. Ireland making monies of me buying an american laptop in sweden is a bit odd no?

And then we (tax payers in England) bail out Ireland because they're skint.

Hey Ireland, how about increasing your fucking corp tax if you're skint?!

Great to see EBH back riding like it's 2009

I'm sorry, I think you'll find this is the taxation thread, post about pro cyclists elsewhere.

Is that when the UCI introduced motors in bikes?

Sure... Cav surviving the Cipressa and Poggio, Andy solo-ing into Liège, Wigans giving up on the grupetto, Thor's long break in the Alps. It all makes sense now.

Kittel wins again. http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/marcel-kittel-beats-andre-greipel-to-win-opener-in-volta-ao-algarve-212350

What was Damien Garcia? thinking at the end of stage one of Andalusia? The race ended a minute a go and he somehow doesn't see the entire peloton and plows into the back of some poor fucker

Ok, first day of my biggest ever race, completely shagged, my DS won't be happy... hang on, if I sprint and catch this rapidly-slowing peloton, I definitely won't hit anyone and I'll be given the same time as Benna.

Ouch.

Love Edvald but WTF

He had his head down but then looked up and I guess didn't slow enough. Carbon rim braking...

Shoulda gone with UCI approved discs. Speaking of which, are they now allowed to ride discs in races whenever they like or still test events only?

AFAIK, it's selected races only.

http://cyclingtips.com/2015/11/disc-brakes-to-be-allowed-in-worldtour-races-from-january-can-be-used-in-amateur-ranks-in-2017/

All races, Roompot are racing exclusively on them this year

They're not WorldTour though are they?

So, they're still 'testing' them, but in all races...

"Initial trials were carried out in August and September 2015, with UCI WorldTour teams being given the opportunity to use bikes with disc brakes at two events of their choice.

After extensive discussions with its stakeholders, the UCI has decided to allow the use of disc brakes by riders across all divisions of UCI professional road teams:

UCI WorldTeams
UCI Professional Continental Teams
UCI Continental Teams
UCI Women’s Teams.

The use of disc brakes will be carefully monitored throughout the year with a view to definitively allowing them to be used in professional road cycling from 2017.

Following the decision to further test disc brakes, the UCI has modified articles 1.3.017 and 1.3.020 of its Regulations relating to frames and forks. These changes will operate from the 1st of January 2016.

The UCI has also approved several modifications to its Regulations with regards to saddles and wheel safety characteristics (articles 1.3.014 and 1.3.018). The former will come into force on the 1st December 2015 and the latter on the 1st January 2016."

Didn't realise they had to be

What did he do wrong/?