Pro Cycling 2015

[DaveC]

Let's talk about cycling. Here's the major dates for this year:

Paris-Nice: 8-15 Mar
Milan-San Remo: 22 Mar
Tour of Flanders: 5 Apr
Paris-Roubaix: 12 Apr
La Fleche Wallonne: 22 Apr
Liege-Bastogne-Liege: 26 Apr
Giro d'Italia: 9-31 May
Criterium du Dauphine: 7-14 Jun
Tour de Suisse: 13-21 Jun
Tour de France: 4-26 Jul
Vuelta a Espana: 22 Aug-13 Sep
World Championships: 20 Sep

 

[Hewson]

 

[DaveC]

Looks like one of the longtime familiar teams won't be in the tour this year: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-requests-withdrawal-of-astanas-worldtour-licence

I wonder what this will mean for Nibali's attempt at a TDF repeat? Will the riders be able to transfer to another team or are they stuck on a disqualified team because of their contracts? The article is unfortunately quite short on the details of the implications of this.

 

[DaveC]

Paris-Nice started today and lasts all week. Some big names racing in it.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/paris-nice-2015

 

[DaveC]

I have a feeling I might be hearing a lot of crickets in this thread, at least till July.

Tirreno-Adriatico starts tomorrow as well.

 

[DaveC]

Next weekend

I don't have cable anymore though so I'm not sure how to watch it, anybody know of a streaming service that shows it every day? I can get access to BBC Sports, French TV (although I'd prefer English commentary), using my VPN, or NBC Sports if I have to but I would rather not pay for an NBC subscription for the sake of one 3-week event.

 

[nielsgov]

So it's started!

Quite a surprising win for Dennis. I also thought it was funny how our commentators were saying Quintana had done a bad TT for about two hours when he's actually done better than expected in comparison to the other favorites. I'm rooting for him. I'd be okay with contador as well. Winning the Tour and the Giro would be incredible. Other than those two, it's anyone but Froome for me. Can't stand the guy.

The crowd was amazing as well of course. The noise during Dumoulins ride was deafening. They're starting near me on Monday but I'm not sure I'll be able to go yet.

 

[Hollow Island]

The announcers were talking about how Valverde had been named co-leader of Movistar and that Quintana was unhappy about that, but just yesterday Cycle Sport had reported that Valverde was riding in support. I wonder if they were just being dramatic, or if something had changed. It would be nuts for them to throw their support behind Valverde. He's got a chance at being in the top 10, but he's not going home in yellow.

Contador is my guy this time. It would be amazing to see him win the double. I'd like to see Nibali win too, to silence people who say that he wouldn't have won last year if Froome and Contador hadn't crashed out. He's won all three grand tours, and unlike Contador hasn't been found guilty of doping. I wonder how he's managed to escape the rumours given Astana's record.

I hope Sagan has a better tour this year than last.

 

[DaveC]

Quintana's achilles heel has always been TTs, same as Rodriguez. He did well today, though. He's never going to gain time in TTs.

I found a dubiously legal way to watch the race

I just hope this year all the contenders fight to the end. I want to see who the best is this year, not just who can survive.

 

[nielsgov]

The next few days are going to be pretty crazy though so it wouldn't surprise me to see someone crashing out again.

And I'm pretty sure Quintana is Movistar's only leader. It's the only logical thing to do.

 

[Hollow Island]

Quintana's achilles heel has always been TTs, same as Rodriguez. He did well today, though. He's never going to gain time in TTs.

I found a dubiously legal way to watch the race

I just hope this year all the contenders fight to the end. I want to see who the best is this year, not just who can survive.

We probably use the same method

Even when Sportsnet broadcasts it I'd still opt to watch it online because the idiots that run that channel have no idea when to run commercial breaks. The number of times I've seen them cut away when someone's attacking, or the announcer is in mid-sentence...

Good finish today. Nice to see Sagan catch up and nab second place. I hope this isn't another year where he gets a bunch of top five finishes but no victories. It's funny how they were talking about him being the next Merckx a few years ago. Poor bastard. Once you're anointed "The Next Great" you have no choice but to fail.

 

[nielsgov]

What a great stage today. It's a shame that Etixx didn't get anything in return for all their hard work. Renshaw made a big error at the end which cost Cavedish. And because Cavendish let Cancellara nab third place, Martin doesn't even get the yellow jersey.

 

[Popmartijn]

It was a wonderful party in my city the past couple of days. Loved the spectators cheering for every single cyclist during yesterday's time trial. Though, of course, they did cheer louder for some.
It was also a wonderful moment this afternoon to see them cycle under the Dom Tower (and a bit later on one of the canals). Plus, they went very close to my place! The peleton passed by in 10 seconds or so, but still. It was great.

Today's stage was also great to watch. With the weather (a bit of wind & rain) preventing a mass sprint at the end. Instead, there has already been quite a shake-up in the ranking. It will be interesting how this will play out in the end.

 

[DaveC]

Day 3 and Team Sky is already wearing yellow. Now (barring catastrophe for Froome) we get two and a half weeks of watching the cycling equivalent of the neutral-zone trap. How exciting.

 

[nielsgov]

Yeah I hope this isn't a sign of things to come. I wouldn't read too much into it yet. I've still got hope that Quintana can dominate in the mountains. It's not looking good for Contador though. He really seems tired and unsurprisingly so.

 

[nielsgov]

So yeah... Tour's over already. Such a shame.

Sent from my H60-L04 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[DaveC]

Game over. Kinda hoped this would be interesting after last year's snooze fest - not so much. I hate it when the Tour is decided so early, unless Froome crashes out or has a historically brutal bonk in the Alps it's beyond done. Nobody has shown the form to gain that time back. Fuck.

 

[nielsgov]

Quintana will probably improve and may match Froome in the latter mountain stages, as was the case in 2013, but that'll be it.

 

[phanan]

Yeah, unless he crashes out, Froome has this in the bag.

 

[nielsgov]

Yeah I read somewhere that the toughest thing Froome is going to face these next two weeks are the doping questions. How true.

 

[nielsgov]

.

 

[DaveC]

I watched the final climb last night as I was going to bed (I follow along with the text feed at work during the week), and I gotta say that honestly did look suspicious to me. The kind of cadence Froome was pushing out that entire time was clearly MUCH faster that everyone else. He was obviously in a lower gear but even still to push the pedals that quickly for that long and be still pulling away by the end is a huge red flag for me.

Combine that with Richie Porte and Geraint Thomas staying with the best in the world and passing them without much issue, and the fact that the day before was a rest day...ugh, it really doesn't look too good.

I will reserve my final judgement after seeing how those three do today as they should be fairly wiped after that kind of effort if they're doing it clean. If they are attacking on the Tourmalet even after that, yeah the whole team is on something.

I also read an article that broke down Froomes watts per kg and he was putting out something on the order of 6.2 w/kg for 42 straight minutes yesterday, which is a number that hasn't been seen since a certain rider won seven Tours in a row. I'll try to find the article, it's very obviously one sided but pretty convincing nonetheless.

EDIT: here it is - http://sportsscientists.com/2015/07/day-1-in-the-mountains-one-more-pixel-context-mistrust/

 

[nielsgov]

Yeah I'm convinced Sky have something the others don't have. They're the richest team and clearly the most professional. They've definitely got some great scientists trying to get the maximum out of the riders. The question is if they've got something legal or not.

The biggest alarm for me is Thomas. That guy rode with the best during the cobbled classics and he's flying up the mountains.That isn't normal in modern day cycling.

Sent from my H60-L04 using U2 Interference mobile app

 

[DaveC]

Yeah they're dirtier than a hippie in a mudslide.

At least 10 years ago the dopers were exciting and fun to watch. I hate Team Sky tactics, they're effective but less interesting than watching the fat guys in power scooters race each other down the sidewalk.

Alright, enough with the similes.

 

[nielsgov]

Yes Van Avermaet! Finally. I'm so happy for him. I don't think there are many riders in the peloton who deserve a big victory like this more than him. For the past three years, he's constantly been up there in almost every race he enters.

 

[DaveC]

Good for Van Avermaet, glad he got a stage win. Always so close and never quite the victory until today. Hoping Sagan gets one as well before the Tour ends but today may have been his best chance. We shall see.

I always get so antsy during the transition stages between the mountains - can't wait for the Alps, despite the race being effectively over it's still my favorite week in sports every year

 

[nielsgov]

Great stage today. Along with yesterday's stage this shows that shorter stages are the way to go. More excitement in less kilometres.

 

[DaveC]

Hot damn, what a finish. Quintana will have his yellow jersey soon enough.

 

[nielsgov]

Hopefully. This Tour was tailor-made for him however. If there's a 40-50k TT he'll have to make up even more time to guys like Froome.

The people booing (and doing worse things to) Froome are pathetic BTW.

 

[DaveC]

Yeah that's despicable. Some of the "fans" on Dutch Corner were also apparently attacking the Sky team cars ahead of the race coming through.

Think what you want about his and his team's tactics but at least show him some respect as a human being.

I was not a fan though of Paul and Phil exhorting people to spread the spitter's photo and personal info (they suggested his home address and phone number should be passed around as much as possible if it could be found) around social media so that someone could "go have a chat with him"