The Bicycle Racing Thread 2015

[Nigel Irritable]

Almost certainly the funniest finish we will see all year.

Great win for Stannard. Hopefully just the start of a run of good results, rather than basically the start and end like last year.

 

[The Boy]

Sepulveda wins sud ardeche today too. I was tipping him for (relatively) big things for the tour last year before he got injured in the lead up.

 

[Ted Striker]

Strong line up for Tirenno Adriatico
CONTADOR Alberto
NIBALI Vincenzo
QUINTANA Nairo
FROOME Christopher
[URL='http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/Peter_Sagan']SAGAN Peter[/URL]
TERPSTRA Niki
CANCELLARA Fabian
CAVENDISH Mark
KITTEL Marcel

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Strong line up for Tirenno Adriatico
CONTADOR Alberto
NIBALI Vincenzo
QUINTANA Nairo
FROOME Christopher
SAGAN Peter
TERPSTRA Niki
CANCELLARA Fabian
CAVENDISH Mark
KITTEL Marcel

Yes it's crazy really. Pretty much a TdeF field. All of the big names at TA while Paris Nice has a cast of bit players.

 

[ChrisFilter]

Mental. I love this season already.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

shit, I didn't realise Claude Criquielion had died , he was only 58 too.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/claude-criquielion-dies-aged-58

 

[Ponyutd]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/09/doping-cycling-uci-commission-epo-worldtour

 

[The Boy]

Froome out of Tirreno.

 

[DownwardDog]

Froome out of Tirreno.

Glowing.

Wiggo's white skinsuit at the P-N prologue was a bit unfortunate. If it had rained we'd have been able to see his anus.

 

[poului]

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/mar/09/doping-cycling-uci-commission-epo-worldtour

Are we to deduce that doping is now more rife at an amateur level than in professional cycling because of it's not regulated as thoroughly or do we think it's still doom and gloom across the cycling landscape?

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

Glowing.

Wiggo's white skinsuit at the P-N prologue was a bit unfortunate. If it had rained we'd have been able to see his anus.

Still better than Boonens tribute to Ag2R in P-R (2010) - where he did most of the race with brown shorts from a dicky tummy.

 

[The Boy]

Boonen busted collarbone?

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Boonen busted collarbone?

Looks like he's out of the cobbled classics. Even if he lines up, he's not going to be in shape.

 

[The Boy]

Aye, at least 3 weeks out and possibly longer if surgery is needed. Feels a bit like he's fading away tbh - can't have that long left really, can he?

 

[The Boy]

Lloyd Mondory +ive for EPO in an out of competition test. B-sample still to be tested though.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Lloyd Mondory +ive for EPO in an out of competition test. B-sample still to be tested though.

For some reason random career domestiques getting popped makes me sad in a way that big names don't.

 

[Sigmund Fraud]

just too much to catchup with right now. Only just watched the weekends Strade Bianche - fantastic race made all the better by having no radios. Now getting stuck into P-N and TA, stupid to have some much crammed in at the same time.

 

[Ted Striker]

just too much to catchup with right now. Only just watched the weekends Strade Bianche - fantastic race made all the better by having no radios. Now getting stuck into P-N and TA, stupid to have some much crammed in at the same time.

Hopefully the hilly finish of PN will be done in time to see the Cav vs Kittel finish

 

[The Boy]

Hopefully the hilly finish of PN will be done in time to see the Cav vs Kittel finish

Kittel not riding.

 

[Ted Striker]

Ah, shoot

 

[The Boy]

Ah, shoot

Yeah, fell ill iirc.

 

[Ted Striker]

Nice 1-2 for Sky in PN

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Nice 1-2 for Sky in PN

Yep, looks like Geraint Thomas is the latest non-climbing specialist to turn into a climbing star at Sky.

Viviani was lucky to get away with a bad case of road rash over at T-A. That crash looked terrible.

 

[The Boy]

For some reason random career domestiques getting popped makes me sad in a way that big names don't.

I'd agree with that, fwiw.

 

[The Boy]

Yep, looks like Geraint Thomas is the latest non-climbing specialist to turn into a climbing star at Sky.

Viviani was lucky to get away with a bad case of road rash over at T-A. That crash looked terrible.

Tbf to him, it was only really a 10km effort, most of which was spent behind Roch and Nordhaug. We've seen him shred the peleton on worse than that before and he only got 8s on Kwiatkowski and Fuglsang in the end. I'll believe the school of thinkers who insist he is a future GT contender when he actually shows it.

I've not seen the Viviani crash yet, but it did indeed sound nasty.

 

[Nigel Irritable]

Tbf to him, it was only really a 10km effort, most of which was spent behind Roch and Nordhaug. We've seen him shred the peleton on worse than that before and he only got 8s on Kwiatkowski and Fuglsang in the end. I'll believe the school of thinkers who insist he is a future GT contender when he actually shows it.

True. Most of the top climbers who are there were also beaten by a few other non-specialists, not just Thomas. It's hard to be definitive about an early season performance against a weak field.

 

[The Boy]

Another thing to consider: Gallopin was in the top ten. I expect rides like he and Thomas have targets in the classics so will be a lot closer to their peak form when compared to riders who are focussed on June.

 

[Ponyutd]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...r-fan-appears-to-knock-handlebar-video-162087
What a complete idiot!

 

[The Boy]

Things which are no more #14326: mechanics hanging out of cars using the magic spanner. Well, they're only dishing thousand franc fines.

 

[The Boy]

Serious stage in P-N today. Race of the year so far, imo. Cracking ride from the stage winner.