The Bicycle Racing Thread 2014

[Ponyutd]

Quite easily the worst commentary ever.
Eurosport as well.

 

[The Boy]

Hmm. Quigley saying cab came in with the group too, so a little less surprising that ivan drago made it.

I'll put the difference in between the two at the finish down to the fact that cav is clearly focused solidly on the tour this year.

 

[ChrisFilter]

I dunno. All seems less than rosey at OPQS. Work needed!

 

[ChrisFilter]

Quite easily the worst commentary ever.
Eurosport as well.

It's terrible, isn't it? So, so bad.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Bring back Harmon.

 

[The Boy]

Think Cav will take this one...

edit: He says as almost immediately Cav disappears.

 

[Numbers]

The King is dead - long live new King Kittel.

 

[DownwardDog]

What the fuck was Maradona doing there? Apart from making Cav look thin, of course.

 

[The Boy]

Making Dubai look a little less gangster?

 

[The Boy]

Nice win f for Steve Cummings at the tour med. Good showing too from Zoidl on his debut in the big leagues.

Edit: I'm obviously playing a little fast and loose with the definition of 'big leagues'

 

[Ponyutd]

Goddeart killed after falling off bike.
What a horrific story.

http://road.cc/content/news/111329-iam-cyclings-kristof-goddaert-killed-after-being-run-over-bus

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Grim

 

[Nigel Irritable]

http://inrng.com/2014/02/book-review-ma-liberte-de-rouler-moncoutie

Moncoutie's autobiography reviewed. Unless you read French this is probably the best summary you will get.

 

[The Boy]

Grim news about Goddeart.

Reckon I may but but a copy of Moncoutie's book though. Sounds like it could be a bit dull*, tbh, but he seemed an all-round good egg.

*though sport biogs usually are when they don't have dirt to dish.

 

[The Boy]

Helluva marker Chris Froome just laid down.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Helluva marker Chris Froome just laid down.

Yes. It's one thing the Tour being over after the first mountain stage. Quite another it being over in February.

 

[The Boy]

Aye. If I was looking at taking on sky this summer I would be targeting stages three and five and hoping to get enough time to at least make him work for his second win.

In other news, stage one of tour du haut var. I haven't seen the highlights, but it looks like a bunch sprint between degenkolb and tiny Sam Dumoulin. Betancur wins.

*shrug*

 

[The Boy]

Anyone who thinks a lack of race radios don't make for better racing should watch yesterday's race.

 

[The Boy]

First bets of the new season for Kuurne-Not actually Brussels-Kuurne:

Demare @ 7.2, Coquard @ 16.00 & Kristoff @ 16.00

 

[Nigel Irritable]

A good weekend's racing.

Stannard was a deserved winner of the Omloop. It's always nice to see a heroic loser type actually get a big victory. Van Avermaet will have nightmares about the sprint however.

It was also good to see Boonen win KBK, because after the Omloop it looked like he may not be in form, which would be a pity given the potential cobbled battles this year.

And to top it off, two kids I like took wins today. Bardet took the Drome Classic, while Sam Bennett won the Clasica de Almeria. Bennett has had a very impressive start to his career in the pro ranks.

The only rough patch was a returning doper on the distinctly dodgy Tabriz team taking the lead in the Tour of Lankawi (and almost certainly the GC). Particularly as he just beat Kudus, one of the new Eritrean talents.

 

[The Boy]

Not to mention Bretagne séché environment scoring a win @ classic sud ardeche...

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

It's always nice to see a heroic loser type actually get a big victory.

I think that pretty unfair calling Stannard a 'heroic loser'. Granted he did screw up the finale of MSR last year. Yesterday was a great ride, he is a beast when the form is there and he seemed to have finally shaken off the ghost and applied brainpower with horsepower. It was a cracking race all right.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

I think that pretty unfair calling Stannard a 'heroic loser'. Granted he did screw up the finale of MSR last year. Yesterday was a great ride, he is a beast when the form is there and he seemed to have finally shaken off the ghost and applied brainpower with horsepower. It was a cracking race all right.

I didn't mean it in a harsh way. I like him a lot because he's a great rider to watch. But for a guy with his massive engine and bravery, his palmares are pretty sparse. Part of that is his lack of a finishing kick, but part of it is a result of him displaying more bravery and enthusiasm than good tactical sense. Over the last couple of years he's been pretty much the ideal guy to have in your break or attack - he will tow it along like nobody's business and then will sprint like a tortoise. Or at least he did until Saturday.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

There's an amusing post race quote from Bennett where he says he thought he'd be a total unknown and was surprised that Movistar knew who he was and were trying to drop him. They're a professional team! Of course they knew who the other sprinters were! It's not like it takes a lot of research to compare a start list with the cq database.

 

[The Boy]

I didn't mean it in a harsh way. I like him a lot because he's a great rider to watch. But for a guy with his massive engine and bravery, his palmares are pretty sparse. Part of that is his lack of a finishing kick, but part of it is a result of him displaying more bravery and enthusiasm than good tactical sense. Over the last couple of years he's been pretty much the ideal guy to have in your break or attack - he will tow it along like nobody's business and then will sprint like a tortoise. Or at least he did until Saturday.

More than a hint of the Chavanel about him, IMO.

 

[The Boy]

Dauphiné parcours is out. I like.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

I didn't mean it in a harsh way. I like him a lot because he's a great rider to watch. But for a guy with his massive engine and bravery, his palmares are pretty sparse. Part of that is his lack of a finishing kick, but part of it is a result of him displaying more bravery and enthusiasm than good tactical sense. Over the last couple of years he's been pretty much the ideal guy to have in your break or attack - he will tow it along like nobody's business and then will sprint like a tortoise. Or at least he did until Saturday.

Not a single mention of Stannard on the BBC website. Full of trackie bollocks. Maybe if he wins Paris-Roubaix they can give him one line below news of Wiggins announcing he will ride the commenwealth bleedin games.

 

[The Boy]

Not a single mention of Stannard on the BBC website. Full of trackie bollocks. Maybe if he wins Paris-Roubaix they can give him one line below news of Wiggins announcing he will ride the commenwealth bleedin games.

What's the story with the track team anyway? The women did fine, but the men didn't pick up a single medal. Was it just a blip, or a changing of the guard or what?

As for Stan, I imagine the BBC will start mentioning him once he started winnings tours de France. Or stages at least.

 

[DownwardDog]

Very strange KBK on Sunday. Lotto Belisol seemed to have no plan whatsoever to contain the OPQS/Belkin breakaway other than watch it disappear over the horizon. Let's have radios on the Euro Tour!

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

No lets not - lets instead go through the process of making riders use their brains again.