The Pro Road Cycling Thread

[Rascal]

Saw some of the TT from Basque today; 2nd & 3rd respectable for Sky - and has the added benefit of leaving it in no doubt who will be their No1 riders for the Giro and Tour

I watched it all, Quintana was very impressive and his team got it right. Sky had spent so much time on the front this week with only 6 riders after Boswell and Edmonson withdrew through illness at the start they were bound to be tired and today made sense of why Movistar didnt attack Sky yesterday. The whole race was really enjoyable to watch and Brian Smith is a brilliant co-commentator who adds so much to the coverage.


Shands said earlier in the thread it looked like Contadors Tour team were there and they dissappointed on the whole as what looks like Skys main mountain domestiques beat them.

 

[Shands]

Haven't seen any of the last four days of the Tour of The Basque country, though I do have each night's highlights sky+d so I'll hopefully catch up on those tomorrow. Sounds like it was a tight affair for the most part? Quintana underlining his considerable talents once again.

P-R tomorrow had slipped my mind too, glad I checked in on this thread!

 

[chesterbells]

The official Giro magazine has just been published & a set of handy 1 min stage guides has been put online - link to first one below if anyone is interested.
Just watched all 21 and it certainly makes your mouth water for May. Some great time trialling (not straightforward), chances for Cav in sprints, including one stage which looks unbelievable - downhill virtually the whole way from start to finish!!!
Oh yes, and a final week of sheer pain!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52oOXtvKm9M&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

 

[Rascal]

Haven't seen any of the last four days of the Tour of The Basque country, though I do have each night's highlights sky+d so I'll hopefully catch up on those tomorrow. Sounds like it was a tight affair for the most part? Quintana underlining his considerable talents once again.

P-R tomorrow had slipped my mind too, glad I checked in on this thread!

Some great racing in awful conditions. Only 73 finished the race.

Well worth a watch mate<br /><br />-- Sat Apr 06, 2013 8:23 pm --<br /><br />

The official Giro magazine has just been published & a set of handy 1 min stage guides has been put online - link to first one below if anyone is interested.
Just watched all 21 and it certainly makes your mouth water for May. Some great time trialling (not straightforward), chances for Cav in sprints, including one stage which looks unbelievable - downhill virtually the whole way from start to finish!!!
Oh yes, and a final week of sheer pain!

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52oOXtvKm9M&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/youtube]

Thanks pal

Gonna watch that now ;)

 

[Shands]

What do Milan-San Remo, Tour Of Flanders and Paris Roubaix have in common? Geraint Thomas has crashed in all of them! Think the lad needs to work on his positioning somewhat!

 

[Rascal]

What do Milan-San Remo, Tour Of Flanders and Paris Roubaix have in common? Geraint Thomas has crashed in all of them! Think the lad needs to work on his positioning somewhat!

Thomas was on the floor 3 times today i think.

Brilliant race, really enjoyed it. Felt very sorry for Czech lad who got smacked by a camera

 

[chesterbells]

Agreed, an incredible finish, coming down to a track sprint finish & 1 bike length after 5hrs45 in the saddle. Last hour especially was great to watch.

Was gutted to see Cancellara in a group of 4 but then 2 of his rivals then derailed by idiots in the crowd (apparently one of them has already uploaded his phone footage on YouTube - hope he's proud of what he did). The loss of Stybar from the lead group was especially bad wasnt it, as the commentators reckon he had the sprint to beat Fab.

 

[Shands]

Agreed, an incredible finish, coming down to a track sprint finish & 1 bike length after 5hrs45 in the saddle. Last hour especially was great to watch.

Was gutted to see Cancellara in a group of 4 but then 2 of his rivals then derailed by idiots in the crowd (apparently one of them has already uploaded his phone footage on YouTube - hope he's proud of what he did). The loss of Stybar from the lead group was especially bad wasnt it, as the commentators reckon he had the sprint to beat Fab.

I felt sorry for Stybar as he had done brilliantly to follow Canc's wheel, however it has to be said he wasn't taking any pulls on the front at all so would he have been a deserving winner? Vanmarcke on the other hand perhaps did a bit more work than he really should have done, but I can't knock him for that, he just wanted to give everything. Either winner would have been fitting in the end, and as you say the track stand stuff was just pure drama and intrigue. Top ride from Gaudin too I thought, he really put a lot into that race.

I watched the highlights of Wed, Thu and Sat from Basque (Friday didn't record!). Not as much action as I was hoping for, no significant difference between any of the main guys until the TT was there really. Don't think it gave many clues as to how the TdF will play out, except for confirming that SKY are permanently on form, Movistar look increasingly strong and Saxo have a lot of improving to do.

 

[chesterbells]

Agreed, an incredible finish, coming down to a track sprint finish & 1 bike length after 5hrs45 in the saddle. Last hour especially was great to watch.

Was gutted to see Cancellara in a group of 4 but then 2 of his rivals then derailed by idiots in the crowd (apparently one of them has already uploaded his phone footage on YouTube - hope he's proud of what he did). The loss of Stybar from the lead group was especially bad wasnt it, as the commentators reckon he had the sprint to beat Fab.

I felt sorry for Stybar as he had done brilliantly to follow Canc's wheel, however it has to be said he wasn't taking any pulls on the front at all so would he have been a deserving winner? Vanmarcke on the other hand perhaps did a bit more work than he really should have done, but I can't knock him for that, he just wanted to give everything. Either winner would have been fitting in the end, and as you say the track stand stuff was just pure drama and intrigue. Top ride from Gaudin too I thought, he really put a lot into that race.

I watched the highlights of Wed, Thu and Sat from Basque (Friday didn't record!). Not as much action as I was hoping for, no significant difference between any of the main guys until the TT was there really. Don't think it gave many clues as to how the TdF will play out, except for confirming that SKY are permanently on form, Movistar look increasingly strong and Saxo have a lot of improving to do.

Agree with 95% of that, but wasn't Stybar in the break of 2 that Fab caught up with? If so, he must have put a fair shift in earlier on (but could be wrong as I can't recall the exact order how it panned out). I think if you are in a lead group of 3 including Cancellara- with all hr has won-with only a few km left, knowing you're a decent sprinter, it's understandable he adopted the tactics he did. I know there are unwritten codes of conduct in pro cycling and all that, but I honestly think its harsh to attach any blame to him. If he'd beaten the hot favourite in a sprint finish, yeah I think he would certainly have deserved it!

 

[Shands]

Agreed, an incredible finish, coming down to a track sprint finish & 1 bike length after 5hrs45 in the saddle. Last hour especially was great to watch.

Was gutted to see Cancellara in a group of 4 but then 2 of his rivals then derailed by idiots in the crowd (apparently one of them has already uploaded his phone footage on YouTube - hope he's proud of what he did). The loss of Stybar from the lead group was especially bad wasnt it, as the commentators reckon he had the sprint to beat Fab.

I felt sorry for Stybar as he had done brilliantly to follow Canc's wheel, however it has to be said he wasn't taking any pulls on the front at all so would he have been a deserving winner? Vanmarcke on the other hand perhaps did a bit more work than he really should have done, but I can't knock him for that, he just wanted to give everything. Either winner would have been fitting in the end, and as you say the track stand stuff was just pure drama and intrigue. Top ride from Gaudin too I thought, he really put a lot into that race.

I watched the highlights of Wed, Thu and Sat from Basque (Friday didn't record!). Not as much action as I was hoping for, no significant difference between any of the main guys until the TT was there really. Don't think it gave many clues as to how the TdF will play out, except for confirming that SKY are permanently on form, Movistar look increasingly strong and Saxo have a lot of improving to do.

Agree with 95% of that, but wasn't Stybar in the break of 2 that Fab caught up with? If so, he must have put a fair shift in earlier on (but could be wrong as I can't recall the exact order how it panned out). I think if you are in a lead group of 3 including Cancellara- with all hr has won-with only a few km left, knowing you're a decent sprinter, it's understandable he adopted the tactics he did. I know there are unwritten codes of conduct in pro cycling and all that, but I honestly think its harsh to attach any blame to him. If he'd beaten the hot favourite in a sprint finish, yeah I think he would certainly have deserved it!

Sorry Chester I didn't put across what I meant there very well really. I don't attach any blame to Sytbar at all, I agree completely that tactically it was exactly the right approach by him to sit in the wheel, that was the only way he could have the chance to win the race. Even if he did have a desire to do some pulls i'd imagine that's easier said than done when Canc starts to rev up the pace, and just being able to follow him is deserving of huge credit. All I meant was that because the other two did do so much pulling, it would perhaps be fairer more or fitting that they won it. You're probably right though, if you make it into that select company with 30k or so to go then you deserve to win it by whatever means you do.