Bicycle Racing 2012
- Thread starter The Boy
- Start date
Bollocks. Forgot about Orica.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
I don't have Eurosport. Can anyone recommend sites for live coverage of the worlds? Or is it a case of going to cyclingfans and steephill and poking around randomly?
In case anyone needs the schedule: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/534725/road-world-championships-2012-schedule.html
In case anyone needs the schedule: http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/534725/road-world-championships-2012-schedule.html
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
I agree with this point in general: His estimates for performances on individual longish to long climbs are of more interest than his estimates of average performance on the climbs in a GT. Race averages - like the figures you see for the average speed of whole Grand Tours - are too easily skewed by other factors. And crucially, while all of these averages are well within expected limits, they tell us nothing about whether every climb was within those limits. After all, to get an average, some individual climbs are necessarily going to be above that average by some amount or other. The main reason these figures are of interest is to see whether the very fastest climb performances are super-human are not, and an average isn't going to tell us that unless the rider concerned is absolutely taking the piss.
I'm not sure that I agree with the Landis point though. Landis was a relatively weak Tour winner and he raced crucial stages in a wildly sup-optimal way. No matter how doped you are, you aren't going to put up spectacular numbers on a climb at the end of a stage you've spent on a one man suicide attack. I'd expect his numbers, both as an average and on individual climbs to be quite low by the standards of Grand Tours at the time, despite practically having hot sauce seeping from his eyes.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
Yep, pretty much.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
No need for steephill - it's on the BBC site, vomplete with Hugh Porter.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
Anyone else watching the men's TT? The crowd seems to be 10x bigger than it was for the women's. I'm bored already. Hard to get excited when so many big cheeses aren't riding.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
ITTs just aren't very exciting to watch. At least when they are in a stage race, the context lends them a bit of interest.
On another note, Phinney is a huge talent. It's amusing how obviously he couldn't give a fuck about his second place.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
Kreuziger finally confirmed to Saxo, by the way. I actually can't remember Contador having a genuinely strong team built around him before. I mean, he was on a very strong Astana, but they were Armstrong's team not his.
Frumious B.
Well-Known Member
I take back what I said about being bored - best TT action ever! Did you notice Tony Martin complaining the other day about convicted dopers reentering the sport https://twitter.com/TheRaceRadio/statuses/246971040469770240 ? Four days later he's against a Mr A.Contador who is hotly tipped to win because of the bumpy course. Oh no, will the convicted cheat steal the title from the only member of the peloton who's spoken out against dopers lately? Martin only goes and catches him for two minutes. 
He blasted past like an Intercity 125. Then he caught a motorbike, which had Mr Contador shaking his fist at the shocking unfair advantage. 
He blasted past like an Intercity 125. Then he caught a motorbike, which had Mr Contador shaking his fist at the shocking unfair advantage. Big day today, then. Get yer predictions out here, my fantasy team is currently thus*:
Philippe Gilbert
Greg van Avermaet
Alejandro Valverde
Simon Gerrans
Michele Albasini
Tony Gallopin
Jon Tiernan-Locke
Moreno Moser
Lars Peter Nordhaug
*subject to a couple of last minute changes - may try and find a way to get Sagan in there which will involve other manoeuvring. And there was someone else I fancied as an outside bet but can't remember
edit: Hang on, it's still only Saturday today. @ self big day is tomorrow.
Philippe Gilbert
Greg van Avermaet
Alejandro Valverde
Simon Gerrans
Michele Albasini
Tony Gallopin
Jon Tiernan-Locke
Moreno Moser
Lars Peter Nordhaug
*subject to a couple of last minute changes - may try and find a way to get Sagan in there which will involve other manoeuvring. And there was someone else I fancied as an outside bet but can't remember
edit: Hang on, it's still only Saturday today.
@ self big day is tomorrow.Bit early to start a Tour 2013 thread, but there have been a few rumours about next year's parcours published in the Dauphiné Libéré. One TTT early on and then two ITTs, one of which will be a mountain TT on the penultimate stage. And they seem to be going ahead with the Alpe twice in one stage idea which will suck hard I imagine.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rep...scents-of-lalpe-dhuez-for-2013-tour-de-france
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/rep...scents-of-lalpe-dhuez-for-2013-tour-de-france
Sigmund Fraud
893 all the way.
As its the 100th edition we can expect a 'greatest hits' package...another reason why this years parcours was a tad pedestrian.
Numbers
an ting!
I envy you mutha fuckas who have been into cycling for years, I've said elsewhere I've recently (last year and a half or so) got into it and boy am I hooked. I'm a big boxing fan as you prob' know.
I'm nearly finished Pantani's book, read Cav's before that and am going to read Wiggo's next. Been Youtube'ing some old race footage, watched the history of the tour, understand what gradients are, domestiques, attacks, etc...
One thing which just elates me is the 2012 tour finish, Wiggo in the yellow jersey leading out Cav on the last km.
You Mutha fuckers been enjoying this for years.
I'm nearly finished Pantani's book, read Cav's before that and am going to read Wiggo's next. Been Youtube'ing some old race footage, watched the history of the tour, understand what gradients are, domestiques, attacks, etc...
One thing which just elates me is the 2012 tour finish, Wiggo in the yellow jersey leading out Cav on the last km.
You Mutha fuckers been enjoying this for years.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
I envy you mutha fuckas who have been into cycling for years, I've said elsewhere I've recently (last year and a half or so) got into it and boy am I hooked. I'm a big boxing fan as you prob' know.
I'm nearly finished Pantani's book, read Cav's before that and am going to read Wiggo's next. Been Youtube'ing some old race footage, watched the history of the tour, understand what gradients are, domestiques, attacks, etc...
One thing which just elates me is the 2012 tour finish, Wiggo in the yellow jersey leading out Cav on the last km.
You Mutha fuckers been enjoying this for years.
They are the two sports I'm most interested in too!
You picked a good time to get into cycling. If you have Eurosport there's just an incredible amount of live cycling on the TV. And, while there's still plenty of doping about, the whole thing is much less of a freakshow than it was a few years ago.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/534958/wiggins-to-target-giro-and-vuelta-in-2013.html
Shane Sutton (of Sky and British Cycling) arguing that Wiggins should ride the Giro/Vuelta next year. This is sound advice in my view, but I still find it hard to imagine Wiggins doing it.
Shane Sutton (of Sky and British Cycling) arguing that Wiggins should ride the Giro/Vuelta next year. This is sound advice in my view, but I still find it hard to imagine Wiggins doing it.
sleaterkinney
Well-Known Member
So Purito ends the season with a monument win in his pocket. Couple of nice wins for the South Americans too.
Paris-Tours tomorrow. Have decided to make it a bit more interesting by having a little flutter - fiver each on Degenkolb and Bouhanni and a couple of quid on Greg Van Avermaet to podium.
Paris-Tours tomorrow. Have decided to make it a bit more interesting by having a little flutter - fiver each on Degenkolb and Bouhanni and a couple of quid on Greg Van Avermaet to podium.
twistedAM
Left Of The Dial
I envy you mutha fuckas who have been into cycling for years, I've said elsewhere I've recently (last year and a half or so) got into it and boy am I hooked. I'm a big boxing fan as you prob' know.
I'm nearly finished Pantani's book, read Cav's before that and am going to read Wiggo's next. Been Youtube'ing some old race footage, watched the history of the tour, understand what gradients are, domestiques, attacks, etc...
One thing which just elates me is the 2012 tour finish, Wiggo in the yellow jersey leading out Cav on the last km.
You Mutha fuckers been enjoying this for years.
Read Fignon's book.
Nigel Irritable
Five, Ten, Fifteen Years
There's some French dude who runs a blog tracking the UCI relegation and promotion standings, or at least trying to do so given that whole thing is Top Secret, or at least mysterious, arbitrary and deliberately unclear.
The 18 World Tour licences get a team into all of the big races. There's a sporting criterion ranking, featuring a points system that is itself somewhat mysterious and not the same as the normal UCI points rankings. The top 15 teams are guaranteed their WT spots, as long as they have the finances in place. Then teams from 16-20 are assessed using other not properly explained criteria in a race for the remaining three spots.
Those sporting criterion points are assembled by adding the points gained by the best 15 riders on a squad and then throwing in a few points earned by the team (this last part is less than 10%). Just to make the whole thing even murkier, rider points move with the rider, so a team that wins a bunch of races can get relegated if they lose the star who got them the wins. There are some odd ways that a rider can get sporting criterion points (winning races in Asia or Africa for instance), so you get clever teams signing some seemingly out of place riders as a result.
Anyway, according to our French blogger friend's estimates, this year's magical mystery point ranking, after Beijing and with about a week to go is:
13 Vacansoleil 730
14 Ag2r 659
15 Argos Oil – Shimano 627
16 FDJ 593
17 Lotto – Belisol 589
18 Euskaltel 496
19 Saxo Bank 483
20 Europcar 424
21 Saur - Sojasun 203
http://nicosix.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/classement-uci-pour-2013/
Those from Vacansoleil up are safe. Those from Saur down are definitely out of it, and Europcar are apparently happy to stay ProConti. So that leaves six teams and seven spots. I'd laugh if Saxo didn't make it, but it looks to me like Euskaltel are the most likely to miss out.
The 18 World Tour licences get a team into all of the big races. There's a sporting criterion ranking, featuring a points system that is itself somewhat mysterious and not the same as the normal UCI points rankings. The top 15 teams are guaranteed their WT spots, as long as they have the finances in place. Then teams from 16-20 are assessed using other not properly explained criteria in a race for the remaining three spots.
Those sporting criterion points are assembled by adding the points gained by the best 15 riders on a squad and then throwing in a few points earned by the team (this last part is less than 10%). Just to make the whole thing even murkier, rider points move with the rider, so a team that wins a bunch of races can get relegated if they lose the star who got them the wins. There are some odd ways that a rider can get sporting criterion points (winning races in Asia or Africa for instance), so you get clever teams signing some seemingly out of place riders as a result.
Anyway, according to our French blogger friend's estimates, this year's magical mystery point ranking, after Beijing and with about a week to go is:
13 Vacansoleil 730
14 Ag2r 659
15 Argos Oil – Shimano 627
16 FDJ 593
17 Lotto – Belisol 589
18 Euskaltel 496
19 Saxo Bank 483
20 Europcar 424
21 Saur - Sojasun 203
http://nicosix.wordpress.com/2012/10/13/classement-uci-pour-2013/
Those from Vacansoleil up are safe. Those from Saur down are definitely out of it, and Europcar are apparently happy to stay ProConti. So that leaves six teams and seven spots. I'd laugh if Saxo didn't make it, but it looks to me like Euskaltel are the most likely to miss out.
