Pro-cycling thread

Cummings had no chance of winning today.

Really chuffed for Greg - good race.

Majka looks like he was in a helluva lot of pain by the end.

Yeah it almost seemed punitive for forcing himself into the team, just used to chase down a breakaway in the middle of a 240k race. Meanwhile Froome stops and changes his bike and gets paced back in by G.

Would you have said GVA had a chance before or even during the race?

I disagree, I reckon he'd have had at least as much a chance as Van Avarmaet.

He has a pedigree in one day races.

What a race, GvA, what a boss!
Wonder what would have happened without the crashes though

I'm glad jingoism isn't dead

And Cummings has previous with regards to stage hunting on hilly/mountainous stages and cheeky solo attacks at the end of stages.

Sigh.

This.
We actually have more evidence against GvA than Nibbz.

The British rider who had the best chance of a medal self evidently was Thomas.

So many crashes, I was flinching.

Great finish, feeling bad for Majka, he was 2km short of a fairy tale finish. Well deserved medals, felt like the GB team were mostly burned out from the season so far, regardless of crashes.

Sagan could have a done a job there

That was a brutal race and I really enjoyed it. I kind of liked the lack of split data and stats - You had no idea who was attacking one group and who was trying to bridge to another group. You had about as much info as the riders themselves.

I had hoped for a Niballi win, but GvA deserves that gold medal.

Not lumpy ones like this. I kept expecting the pure climbers to drop him. That said the sheer length of the race was a strength for him.

I think Froome looked below-par, but then he has no pedigree in long, one-day lumpy ones like this parcours. Perhaps he should have taken the Ardenne more seriously. Stannard was used as diesel first half of the race until we think he got a mechanical in the last cobbles. Then they stuck Cummings at the front for no flipping reason I could fathom, the Soanish were chasing. I thought Thomas looked boss, but he has form for crashing on descents and and you might have predicted one on that nasty-looking, technical SOB, I mean it even took out Best Ever Descender Nibali. I reckon he would have jumped with GVA and would have contested the sprint #jingoismwillneverdie

Can 'we' put a stop to calling Niballi the best descender in the peloton now?

Also, I loved the sight of Valverde having to chase the Italian team break.

Agreed with Froome, he's still a hack with one-days. But G et al were probably exhausted from the Tour and other commitments there's no way their heads were fresh enough for that much variation in a single race. No idea what was going on with Cummings, wasted effort there and with Stannard.

I think Nibali was taking risks, because, Gold.

I imagine the scene in Belgium is unfettered joy, happy such a cycling-mad nation won gold, prolly the most coveted by them. We would have rejoiced but just added it to table while awaiting the Avalanche of gold in athletics and the velodrome. Wish I was in Belgium right now

We might be saying totally different things now if Thomas hadn't crashed, who knows.

I think Nibali was taking risks, because, Gold.

This. It was All In for him there.

Agree with @Jimmy_Fingers tho, had G kept it upright and been top 10 would folks be saying he was clearly knackered from the Tour?

I dunno @rhb @Jimmy_Fingers I think Majka was suffering from the tour, if he hadn't won himself a jersey barely weeks ago he would have sailed through the last 4km to glory, instead his legs said "nope".