Pro-cycling thread

excellent! thanks for posting

Exactly one year to the day before yesterday's race:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-vleuten-hit-by-car-in-italy/

Incredible. What a comeback only to be hospitalized again before finishing the race. In an interview today she says she knew she was very tired taking on the descent, but clear headed in her own perception, knowing full well even Nibali crashed out the day before. Reminds me of Kruijswijk in the Giro, in a descent it only takes a split second of lack of focus to put a promising situation upside down.

They are from Yorkshire. Of course they'd have a pop.

They're a bit like Texans there, aren't they? :)

Without the firearms. Or lawyers.

No need: strong knuckles.

What the Guardian says:

Mark Cavendish left frustrated in Rio, claiming Wiggins ‘wants to be the hero’

What Cav said:

“That’s the reason I left the Tour early, because of the team pursuit,” Cavendish told Sky. “[For] the omnium, finishing the Tour would’ve been a benefit. It’s a little bit [disappointing], but it’s how it works. Especially Brad, he has been super stressed. He wants to be the hero and all that. I’m kind of just doing the omnium stuff now. That’s what I was aiming for the whole time. The team pursuit’s a bonus to that anyway.”

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/aug/10/mark-cavendish-criticises-bradley-wiggins-olympic-team-pursuit-snub

Apparently saying the Omnium is his main focus and that riding the team pursuit would be a bonus, apparently it may re-open old wounds between the pair of them as Wiggins freezes him out in pursuit (sic) of personal glory. Except the same article acknowledges the four that will ride the pursuit have been working towards it solely for a year. Talk about spin.

When was Cav ever earmarked/training for the pursuit? I really don't understand what's happening. Is this a story about a non-story?

A rumour I'd heard was that Cav might ride in first TP round then swap out for the A-lineup to go on and win Gold, meaning Cav has his medal. Risky? Maybe there's now nerves so they want strongest 4 all the way, would be understandable if so.

In other news why isn't Dowsett out there for TT? Probably been asked before so apols.

Yes. Cavendish might ride the pursuit if someone is ill or under the weather. Otherwise the four selected will ride all the rounds.

The TT rider(s) have to come out of the road race team, Dowsett wasn't selected for that as it was too hilly for him, ergo he misses out.

Too hilly for Dowsett I'd think. Much more chance with Froome and Thomas.

I think early on Cav fancied the pursuit, but it was clear the Omnium was his best shot at making the plane, so now he is sub. Derfinitely not a Wendy Houvenaghel situation, despite the Guardian's desperate attempt to stretch it into a story.

WHat are his chances on the omnium? Not great as far as i can see. I`m a massive Cav fanboy and I want to believe

His strengths will be the scratch, points and devil-take-the-hindmost and presumably the individual pursuit as he will have been training for that. IIRC his kilo isn't much cop, not sure about the flying lap. But he was flying in the spints at the Tour, as fast as he has ever been, and this is his last chance. He'll fully commit, should be a joy to watch.

All those quotes, taken from Sky interview, make more sense in context rather than edited for print. Watch the video and it doesn't look like it reads...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHK5V8LV8O0

in other news - World Championships Team TT boycot (from AIGCP facebook):

AIGCP informs that an overwhelming majority of its WorldTour members voted to skip the 2016 Team-Time-Trial World Championships in light of UCI’s unwillingness to offer fair and consistent terms of participation. This position was adopted at the July 1st AIGCP General Assembly and was ratified earlier this week after UCI failed again to address the demands of WorldTeams which are compelled under UCI regulations to participate in UCI’s TTT World Championships at their expense.

This situation is highly irregular in the context of professional road cycling,

• insofar as the WorldTour licence should only compel the teams that are granted one to take part in the events which are granted a WorldTour licence by an independent Licence Commission;

• and even when required to take part in a WorldTour event, WorldTeams are always granted a participation allowance to cover some of their costs;

• insofar as it evidences the fact that the governing body has passed exceptional legislation which solely favors the one road competition it owns and commercially exploits.

The abovementioned terms of participation which exist nowhere else in the sport are undeniably abusive and reveal the abuse of power which UCI incurs in when it enforces them solely for the one road competition it operates. All WorldTeams are expected to skip the TTT World Championships until these abusive practices are abolished.

@andyp @pifko understood, ta.

Olympic ITT looks pretty grim

Terrifying! That descent after the peak of the climb is horrible.

Pretty sure I'd stack it on the first right turn - those tiles look slippery

Whoops, Van Dijk missing the road

Dat descent - NOPE

great recovery, fastest time atm even with that mistake. I think she'll be slapping herself in the face a bit later on :-/

So looks like title is likely to go to a Russian whose doping ban expired less than a year ago..

Actually, scratch that. For some reason all the channels I was following ignored Armstrong until the last two minutes. Did she crash after she finished, or just collapse?