The Bicycle Racing Thread 2014

[The Boy]

New season is still a ways of tbh, but I'm bored and I keep reading interviews with riders about the new season which is doing a very good job of reminding me of the fact there is no racing on telly currently.

Also, I have just had my first bet of next season (over 5.5 riders in yellow at 2.5 since you ask). So you can fully expect Froome to stay in yellow from stage four through to Paris.

Reckon the giro is looking like having a pretty awesome line up ATM. Porte, Quintana, Uran, Pozzovivo, Pinot and Dan Martin all look to be gunning for pink. Could be the pick of the GTs, although I'm not such a big fan of the parcours as some.

TdF could be chaos in the sprints. As well as the usual suspects FdJ appear to be planning on bringing both their sprinters, and europcar are talking of building their squad around Coquard. Prediction: Cav to reassert his dominance.

Vuelta: uphill sprints, suspect winner, purito second.

Betancur to win at least one hilly classic.

Stybar to win Paris-Roubaix.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Stybar to win Paris-Roubaix.

What makes you stick your neck out this far before the xmas turkey is even slayed?

Sven Nys to win CX worlds...again.

Actually in the spirit of sticking things out very far I will go even further and say Boassen-Hagen to win a classic (either MSR or Flanders)...

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Actually in the spirit of sticking things out very far I will go even further and say Boassen-Hagen to win a classic (either MSR or Flanders)...

That one really does deserve two holy shit smilies.

If we are going to go with "first time classic winners" theme, surely the Slovakian sex-pest has to actually win one soon.

Other predictions:

Giro: Quintana, with a generally competitive Porte having one dogshit day. Probably the best race of the GTs, given that there's a big cast of fun secondary contenders.

Tour: Froome unless he crashes.

Vuelta: Christ knows. With Cobo and Horner amongst the recent winners, it could be basically anyone.

 

[Ponyutd]

New season is still a ways of tbh, but I'm bored and I keep reading interviews with riders about the new season which is doing a very good job of reminding me of the fact there is no racing on telly currently.

Also, I have just had my first bet of next season (over 5.5 riders in yellow at 2.5 since you ask). So you can fully expect Froome to stay in yellow from stage four through to Paris.

Reckon the giro is looking like having a pretty awesome line up ATM. Porte, Quintana, Uran, Pozzovivo, Pinot and Dan Martin all look to be gunning for pink. Could be the pick of the GTs, although I'm not such a big fan of the parcours as some.

TdF could be chaos in the sprints. As well as the usual suspects FdJ appear to be planning on bringing both their sprinters, and europcar are talking of building their squad around Coquard. Prediction: Cav to reassert his dominance.

Vuelta: uphill sprints, suspect winner, purito second.

Betancur to win at least one hilly classic.

Stybar to win Paris-Roubaix.

Careful with the word 'Roubaix' there. You'll have those lovely people at Specialized after you.

 

[The Boy]

What makes you stick your neck out this far before the xmas turkey is even slayed?

Sven Nys to win CX worlds...again.

Actually in the spirit of sticking things out very far I will go even further and say Boassen-Hagen to win a classic (either MSR or Flanders)...

EBH for a monument? Brave man

 

[The Boy]

Careful with the word 'Roubaix' there. You'll have those lovely people at Specialized after you.

 

[The Boy]

Anyway, europcar confirmed as world tour for two years. No surprises this time around, with all teams being allowed in. So that's two French teams in the WT.

Will be interesting to see what the green monsters can do without either cortisone or their two main threats for the classics.

Edit: fuck me, I'm a dick. Three French teams on WT. Been a while since there's been three top level teams on France.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

I thought maybe you were excluding Ag2r for being good now.

 

[The Boy]

I thought maybe you were excluding Ag2r for being good now.

By that logic if have to also exclude FdJ for not being bad. Which would take us back to the one token French team. Equilibrium had been restored.

 

[The Boy]

Useful summary of team transfers for the new season here BTW
http://www.pelotonwatch.com/teams/2014_transfers.html

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Careful with the word 'Roubaix' there. You'll have those lovely people at Specialized after you.

Most stupid corporate blunder since Monsanto tried to patent Basmati Rice.

 

[The Boy]

German lab has developed a test for AICAR. Seen a few reports suggesting that samples from this year's tour have been sent for testing but none of them seem to have any sort of quotable source

 

[Nigel Irritable]

German lab has developed a test for AICAR. Seen a few reports suggesting that samples from this year's tour have been sent for testing but none of them seem to have any sort of quotable source

Interesting to see if they catch anyone. AICAR sounds in theory like something an athlete would be using well in advance of a competition, rather than something that would be used the night before, but if riders didn't know there was a test, they may not have been careful.

 

[poului]

Tiernan-Locke facing an anti-doping hearing.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/25415274

Are we about to see Team Sky's bubble finally burst?

 

[The Boy]

The variations in his passport are from before he signed with sky, so if he's found guilty then they just get rid and problem solved.

Assuming the stories about them not carrying out their own tests before signing him are correct though, then it shows at least massive naivety of the sort that sees a team signing the doctor behind the biggest doing program this side of lance Armstrong without so much as googling his name.

 

[The Boy]

Interesting to see if they catch anyone. AICAR sounds in theory like something an athlete would be using well in advance of a competition, rather than something that would be used the night before, but if riders didn't know there was a test, they may not have been careful.

Yeah, helps with dropping weight while maintaining power, right? If so I would have thought samples from early season races might be more enlightening.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

How long before the media start calling Tiernan-Locke Irish instead of British?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Mick Rogers popped for clenbuterol at the Japan Cup.

Currently on Saxo. An important domestique for Sky during Wiggins Tour win. Spent years on T Mobile.

 

[The Boy]

Mick 'Freiburg' Rogers, eh? Same substance as Contadope, so possible he was clean at sky and got back on the sauce under renowned clean DS riis?

Always took his leaving sky as being related to his not wanting to sign the no history of doping statement thing.

Edit: Kobe beef!!!!!!

 

[The Boy]

A crélan-euphony rider also popped for clenbutarol. Is their really a widespread issue with contaminated meat?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

A crélan-euphony rider also popped for clenbutarol. Is their really a widespread issue with contaminated meat?

There is in China and Mexico, according to WADA.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Still no word of any contract anywhere for Samuel Sanchez or the most recent GT winner, Horner.

Horner would have been better off coming fifth at the Vuelta.

 

[The Boy]

Still no word of any contract anywhere for Samuel Sanchez or the most recent GT winner, Horner.

Horner would have been better off coming fifth at the Vuelta.

Both old, both probably quite expensive. Actually, definitely so in the case of Horner.

I'm still amazed lulu Sanchez has found a ride for next year, tbh.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Both old, both probably quite expensive. Actually, definitely so in the case of Horner.

I'm still amazed lulu Sanchez has found a ride for next year, tbh.

Isn't Lulu effectively riding for free, because Blanco/Rabi/whatever are still paying him?

As for the other two, well, yes, they were probably asking too much for riders their age, but you'd think someone would offer something.

 

[The Boy]

Isn't Lulu effectively riding for free, because Blanco/Rabi/whatever are still paying him?

As for the other two, well, yes, they were probably asking too much for riders their age, but you'd think someone would offer something.

Bought him out of his contract. I had assumed he'd be drawing a salary of some sort, but he doesn't need the cash and if he's riding for free I suppose it's a sensible move for caja rural in terms of risk/reward.

The other two have very little to offer in a year when world tour points are basically worthless.

 

[The Boy]

On, and can I also add to my earlier predictions? Breakout rider of the year: Davide Villella.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

The other two have very little to offer in a year when world tour points are basically worthless.

The man who won the most recent Grand Tour has little to offer? On recent form he's one of the top four GT GC racers in the world. There are obviously significant potential downsides to signing him, but he has a more than reasonable shot at a Grand Tour win to offer.

 

[The Boy]

The man who won the most recent Grand Tour has little to offer? On recent form he's one of the top four GT GC racers in the world. There are obviously significant potential downsides to signing him, but he has a more than reasonable shot at a Grand Tour win to offer.

From a sponsor's/exposure point of view? Not in my opinion, no. The obvious exception to this is Trek as he seems to me like the perfect demographic for their target audience, but they weren't interested for whatever reason (presumably price*). Add in the fact that many fans don't see his Vuelta performance as credible, his age (potentially one reasonably bad fall/injury away from retirement), lack of value of his WT points etc and he is a very risky investment at any price. At $1M/year for two years? No chance.

Who is a safer bet to build a GT team around? Uran/Cav, Pinot/Demare/Bouhanni, Clenbutador**/Roche, Rolland/Voekler, Kittel, Sagan and so on. Or do you take an expensive gamble on Horner?

I mean, I have a deal of sympathy for his situation, and if he had won the Vuelta in 2012 then I imagine teams would have been queuing up to sign him at his original asking price. It's just bad luck for him that it is a buyer's market for cyclists this time round.

Perhaps I was being slightly harsh saying that he had "nothing to offer", and should have added the caveat "at the sort of prices he is (allegedly) asking".

*I'd actually really like to know the reasoning behind their decision though.
** Yeah, ok. Maybe not him, but he's already under contract.

 

[Ich bin ein Mod]

Perhaps I was being slightly harsh saying that he had "nothing to offer", and should have added the caveat "at the sort of prices he is (allegedly) asking".

Precisely, he missed most of this year (which he pointed to being a large factor in his Vuelta win) and he'll cost far too much to gamble that he won't miss most of this year too.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Perhaps I was being slightly harsh saying that he had "nothing to offer", and should have added the caveat "at the sort of prices he is (allegedly) asking" .

Now there we agree. Two years at a million a go is just too much risk. But I'm really amazed that someone hasn't signed him on more favourable terms now that it's sunk in that he won't be cashing in as he'd hoped. One year at 750,000 is a completely different level of risk, and whether we like it or not he does represent a real chance of a Vuelta or even Giro win. It's not as if there's a shortage of brazen teams either.