The Bicycle Racing Thread 2014

[The Boy]

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

^^ this x 1,000,000.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

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?
.

They always have an off year between Olympics - but given the amount of money thrown at them as a group this years champs can only be viewed as a failure for the men.

 

[The Boy]

Fair enough. I have to admit, a lot of my surprise was that they had done so badly the year before an Olympics. I've learned to count since my initial post.

 

[DownwardDog]

There was a nasty crash in Le Samyn when the pavé pummled the bike of a Bretagne-Séché rider into a submission and it snapped in half! The bike was a 'Kemo' apparently. Never heard of them...

 

[Ponyutd]

Enjoying the racing today, excellent course.

 

[Ponyutd]

This is brilliant, first time I have watched the Strade Bianche. Why have I not seen this before, all the big boys in it.
Stannard going well.

 

[Ponyutd]

Sagan just came up a hill like he was propelled out of a canon....amazing!
Commentators have decided to call him Petter....Peta Todd style

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Best modern race in the sport. Kwiatkowski is an animal.

 

[Ponyutd]

Sagan looked a little sheepish after that mauling. Brilliant to watch.

 

[The Boy]

Kwiat is a beast. Nice rides too by Evans - life in the old dog yet. Barguil looking like he's improving too. I'd quite like Cunego to fuck off.

Is Sagan the new Boassen Hagen?

 

[The Boy]

Couple of quid e/w on Coquard @ 11.00 for tomorrow's stage in P-N.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Another top quality Italian one day race today, only very slightly spoiled by the winner

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Paris Nice is looking distinctly sub par in terms of field this year. Almost every top tier sprinter or climber is in Italy. It's odd really: You'd think some enterprising team would spot the chance of cheap wins away from the other favourites and send their top rider to France.

Nice win by Bouhanni while injured, mind you.

 

[The Boy]

Fucking dick that I am, watched the P-N stage first after I got home from work. But it had obviously recorded the end of Roma-Maxima so I saw piti.valv crossing the line.

Then the recording of P-N ended with 10k to go. And, to top it all off, Bardet loses over a minute. Le sigh.

 

[The Boy]

Also, I heard Kelly talking about "making the calculation" at least three times. By my reckoning that means the season is officially under way.

 

[The Boy]

Couple of quid e/w on Coquard @ 11.00 for tomorrow's stage in P-N.

Just seen the sprint finish from yesterday's stage. My initial reaction of "couldn't even beat Farrar " was more than a little unfair due to his being forced into the barriers just as the sprint was kicking off. Have plumped for Coquard e/w again for today's stage @ 13.00.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Not too bad a shout... 6th today.

 

[The Boy]

Interest that a few riders who will be aiming for the GC lost a handful of seconds today due to breaks in the peloton. And Meersman lucky to still be in the race imo.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Yeah, that was really taking the piss.

Question for the knowledgeable types. One of the quintessential scenes from last year's tour, for me, was Kiryienka dragging Sky up the mountains. Fully deserving his Robocop nickname. It got me wondering who the greatest 'super domestiques' of all time are. I'm sure there was a thread on this but I can't find it.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Eddie Scheppers has great super dom rep. His first ever role as a pro was shielding a past it Merckx in his final season. He rode right through to the early 90s but is best known for being a human shield for Stephen Roche across 4 teams - quite literally shielding Roche from gob and bottles of piss at the '87 Giro.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Yeah, he gets a few mentions in Rough Ride, right? Kimmage was lusting after his role.

 

[sleaterkinney]

This is brilliant, first time I have watched the Strade Bianche. Why have I not seen this before, all the big boys in it.
Stannard going well.

The full race is here, great stuff.

 

[The Boy]

So looks Le Manie *might* be back in for Milan - San Remo.

 

[DownwardDog]

And Meersman lucky to still be in the race imo.

That was fucking ludicrous; how did they think they would get away with it?

 

[The Boy]

That was fucking ludicrous; how did they think they would get away with it?

I imagine they "made the calculation" and figured the worst ASO would do would be a couple of small fines and a time penalty. Price worth paying for a short at a stage win I suppose.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Yeah, he gets a few mentions in Rough Ride, right? Kimmage was lusting after his role.

The very same.

You could also start a thread on neo pros who went to be super doms before assuming leadership as their leader's light dimmed. Think Kelly at Flandria, Hampsten, Indurain. Actually reading Kellys book he bests the truculent Marc De Meyer (RIP) in his first season despite being brought in to be his lead out man

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

So looks Le Manie *might* be back in for Milan - San Remo.

The 'organisers' of MSR are a fucking joke. Heres a novel idea; announce the route and stick with it. Whats all this bollocks about the road surface not being good enough on the Pompeiana? It was shit a year ago, why has nothing been done to fix it till now and why is the route announced as going over an iffy road?

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

double post

 

[ChrisFilter]

Just a quick heads up. Dr Ferrari used to reckon you need a power (in watts) to weight (in kilos) ratio of 6.7 to win the tour. Based on a 45 miler I did on Sunday I have a ratio of 1.57.

I'm probably not going to win it this year, guys. Sorry.

 

[The Boy]

The 'organisers' of MSR are a fucking joke.

I'd also add the organisers of Roma Maxima if the stories from Gilbert et al about having to dice with public traffic are true.