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The Bicycle Racing Thread 2014

The Boy said:
I think you mean DownwardDog. My handling skills are lame as a lame thing, and my ridiculous mass means even a false flat is a struggle :D

eta: no, Ted Striker is doing the cobbled madness I think.
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My pavé days are behind me since I moved from Belgium to Australia. I did ride in quite a few kermesse but it's a young man's game. I remember seeing the lad from the local friterie spinning out 53x11 on mud slicked cobbled descent in sleet and thinking I'm just not man enough for this..
 
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In a hell freezes over moment, Ag2r are apparently top of the team WT rankings. As they signed Europcar's cobbled stars for this season, they might even stay there for a while.
 
Nigel Irritable said:
In a hell freezes over moment, Ag2r are apparently top of the team WT rankings. As they signed Europcar's cobbled stars for this season, they might even stay there for a while.
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They've been a solid little team for a year or two now, just missing a little je ne sais quoi. Hopefully the improvements are legit, though to be fair it's largely a result of clever signings and young riders coming through.

In other news, yesterday's podium was aged 22-25. I remember when Degenkolb won 5 stages at the vuelta and thinking they were cheap wins. How wrong I was.

Sky's season seems to be getting worse every day. Stannard and Sutton off to hospo, Porte must be looking questionable for Giro if he doesn't get well soon, Thomas still struggling to stay upright. I imagine Froome still has to be favourite for the Tour, but it's been a challenging year for them so far.
 
Sagan tries to gift stage win to team mate; subconsciously decides he'd rather sexually assault a podium girl.
 
Boonen is 10/1 on paddy power for the Ronde - that appears very generous as chinny is 11/8 and Sagan is 7/2.

EBH 66/1, Wiggins 80/1 - same as Pozzato which seems nuts.
 
Boonen does look a good price. I've got a small e/w bet on Devolder @ 67.00 and Gallopin @ 101.00. One or two others are tempting but I've probably lost enough on this race already...
 
Thoroughly enjoyed the race from start to finish. Incredible action and a briliant finish. First class.
 
Great race - the route changes definitely helped improve things imo. Looking forward to next week now that the warm-up race is out of the way ;)
 
The way Cancellera finessed that win was brilliant. Vanmarcke must have nightmares about him.
 
The Boy said:
Great race - the route changes definitely helped improve things imo. Looking forward to next week now that the warm-up race is out of the way ;)
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You know I would normally agree with you but Roubaix will have to go some to match this years Ronde.

But then even as I type that I am thinking...hang on, this is Roubaix we're talking about, that is the peak of my cycling year. In Alan Peiper's book he describes getting lodging with the Planckaert family and coming downstairs one morning to find Ma Planckaert schooling her sons Walter and Eddy on the crucial secteurs between Cysoing and the Carrefour and how the race could be lost in just two off camber 90 degree cobbled bends. 'An thats when it hit me that these people didn't give a stuff about the Tour de France or the Giro or the Worlds - it was all about Flanders and Roubaix, nothing else mattered.'
 
Tony Martin does a Tony Martin in the Basque Country.

The Ronde was a great race but I'd have been much happier with any if the other three riders in the group winning. This Sunday I will again be hoping for anyone but Cancellara, and will again probably be disappointed. I don't even hate Cancellara, I just don't like seeing dominant favourites win repeatedly.
 
Do you lot think that we are heading for a battle of the mutants at the Tour this year, or is Contador's strong early season performance going to be irrelevant once Froome hits July?

I note that Porte isn't going to the Giro any more. Is something going a bit wrong with the Skyborgs this year? They've been pretty poor this year, by their standards. Other than Stannard at the Omloop, they've just picked up a couple of very minor stage races.
 
Porte is an interesting one. I know that a solid-given-the-circumstances podium might dent his standing as a genuine contender come contract time, but I would have thought given his age he would have been keen to have a stab regardless. Does seem a bit like Sky are maybe a bit more worried about Froome's back than suggested so not taking any chances now that Henao probs wont be there in July.

No idea about battle of the mutants, tbh, though aren't we due a high profile positive soon?
 
Nigel Irritable said:
I'd have been much happier with any if the other three riders in the group winning. This Sunday I will again be hoping for anyone but Cancellara, and will again probably be disappointed. I don't even hate Cancellara, I just don't like seeing dominant favourites win repeatedly.
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I would normally agree - Cancellaras methods have been all about power...which is pretty boring after a couple of wins. Sunday was all about guile and the application of all the power he could muster at the point when it mattered most ie how a great racer wins. I hate to say it but if he turns up with 90% of what he had on Sunday and stays upright he will win Roubaix too.
 
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Sigmund Fraud said:
You know I would normally agree with you but Roubaix will have to go some to match this years Ronde.

But then even as I type that I am thinking...hang on, this is Roubaix we're talking about, that is the peak of my cycling year. In Alan Peiper's book he describes getting lodging with the Planckaert family and coming downstairs one morning to find Ma Planckaert schooling her sons Walter and Eddy on the crucial secteurs between Cysoing and the Carrefour and how the race could be lost in just two off camber 90 degree cobbled bends. 'An thats when it hit me that these people didn't give a stuff about the Tour de France or the Giro or the Worlds - it was all about Flanders and Roubaix, nothing else mattered.'
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A Sunday in Hell was the (pretty much sole) reason I got into cycling. I reckon I've got 4 or 5 watches of it still in me before the Weekend
 
Nigel Irritable said:
Do you lot think that we are heading for a battle of the mutants at the Tour this year, or is Contador's strong early season performance going to be irrelevant once Froome hits July?
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A friend who knows far more than me told me on Sunday Valverde is going to win the tour. That depresses me, because the only way Valverde can win is if he dopes. Indeed I think his bouncebackability last year was highly suspicious and its not like he doesn't have form.
 
Sigmund Fraud said:
A friend who knows far more than me told me on Sunday Valverde is going to win the tour. That depresses me, because the only way Valverde can win is if he dopes. Indeed I think his bouncebackability last year was highly suspicious and its not like he doesn't have form.
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Short of something taking out Froome and Contador etc, I can't see Valverde winning the Tour. He's seemingly had a complete personality transplant this year and has been attacking constantly from crazy range, which makes him look fantastic against weaker fields, but Contador dropped him comfortably enough yesterday when he was one on one against a genuine contender. And Sky and Saxo aren't going to let him ride away dozens of km out, GP Mig style.
 
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