The Pro Road Cycling Thread

chesterbells said:
Yep, he’s done 3 Monuments now, 2 to go!

If he turns out to have a blemish-free career - and let’s be honest, in pro/cycling you’d be crazy not to put in that caveat - to win multiple Grand Tours and all five big ones, could make him the greatest ever.

Do you reckon he could win San Remo and Roubaix at some point?
Both courses lack enough climbing, so I reckon they’d very tough for him …
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He’d have to win all 5 Monuments, the Worlds and the Giro/Vuelta to be even mentioned in same breath as Merckx. Then win them all several times. Then do the Hour. Merckx IMHO will never ever be matched. Pog still has some distance to be even ranked with Hinault. All my opinion and plenty might say he’s worthy of being spoken about in their bracket but Merckx is / was just something else. 7 MSRs!!!!
 
chesterbells said:
Yep, he’s done 3 Monuments now, 2 to go!

If he turns out to have a blemish-free career - and let’s be honest, in pro/cycling you’d be crazy not to put in that caveat - to win multiple Grand Tours and all five big ones, could make him the greatest ever.

Do you reckon he could win San Remo and Roubaix at some point?
Both courses lack enough climbing, so I reckon they’d very tough for him …
Click to expand...
I’d put him above Van Looy and De Vlamaniek because of his Grand Boucle wins.
But def behind Hinault and Merckx. For now...! (And he’s never ever catching Eddie. Ever.)
 
chesterbells said:
Yep, Easter Sunday for the rest but Christmas Day for cycling fans. Lots of cat & mouse at the moment to try and get a breakaway - conditions look great for the riders (though as a viewer I’d like some mud!)
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I agree, last years was epic. Overall though, perhaps it’s the woman in me (oo’er) I don’t half miss Peter Sagan now he’s past his best;)
 
johnnytapia said:
I’d put him above Van Looy and De Vlamaniek because of his Grand Boucle wins.
But def behind Hinault and Merckx. For now...! (And he’s never ever catching Eddie. Ever.)
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Good replies, cheers.
There’s always my caveat of course, but that applies to the those names from the past too of course. If I was around following the sport at the time of Merckx I would have been highly doubtful/suspicious of his performances - for one rider to be that dominant of those variety of challenges just seems (is) unnatural.
 
normskih said:
I agree, last years was epic. Overall though, perhaps it’s the woman in me (oo’er) I don’t half miss Peter Sagan now he’s past his best;)
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Yep - and a shame to hear just now he’s withdrawn :-(
It’s a shame when riders carry on past their best isn’t it? Cycling is so unforgiving in that way; you just wish they’d leave at the top.
 
chesterbells said:
Yep - and a shame to hear just now he’s withdrawn :-(
It’s a shame when riders carry on past their best isn’t it? Cycling is so unforgiving in that way; you just wish they’d leave at the top.
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Thanks for the update, I wasn’t aware. I suppose that’s just the fight in them, never say die spirit. I’m dipping in and out of it, every half an hour.
 
chesterbells said:
Good replies, cheers.
There’s always my caveat of course, but that applies to the those names from the past too of course. If I was around following the sport at the time of Merckx I would have been highly doubtful/suspicious of his performances - for one rider to be that dominant of those variety of challenges just seems (is) unnatural.
Click to expand...
Maybe Merckx was so dominant because there wasn’t the same level of competition. Hinault is still my all-time favourite rider. Such a leader, warrior. His LBL win my favourite win of anyone ever. 53 x 12 in the sleet, snow and a balaclava!!
I’ve had to stop watching today but I’ll go MVP to win
 
johnnytapia said:
Maybe Merckx was so dominant because there wasn’t the same level of competition. Hinault is still my all-time favourite rider. Such a leader, warrior. His LBL win my favourite win of anyone ever. 53 x 12 in the sleet, snow and a balaclava!!
I’ve had to stop watching today but I’ll go MVP to win
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MVP , killer ride.
 
Well, nearly here: First Grand Tour of the season underway tomorrow, with the battle for the greatest trophy in sport, The Giro D’Italia.

It looks like being the Remco vs Roglic Show, and personally I’ll be rooting for the Belgian wonder. Either way, just hope neither rider is taken out prematurely by an accident.

A lot of time trialling on this route, including an insane ITT penultimate stage on Sat 27th May, with 22% ramps.
 
Just catching up on the highlights from this afternoon.

Sublime from Remco; he averaged over 55km/hr, streets ahead. Great technique but his “engine”:form coming into this looks formidable.
Let’s see how the rest of the first week pans out …
 
Sprint stage today.
Some gorgeous scenery, but the racing a tad boring.

Be fascinating to see what kind of form Cavendish shows here. I’m sure he won’t complete the full 3 weeks, but you’d think a large part of him would be focussing on keeping himself safe. Any accident here could be fatal for the Tour, and let’s be honest, that’s all that matters for Cav, and that’s putting it mildly.
 
normskih said:
Great finish to the stage. Cavendish caught up in the crash. Hope he’s not too badly hurt.
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Yeah, just had a glance at social media and it seems he rolled in ok. Footage shows a cut/gash on his left elbow. I’m guessing he’ll be feeling a bit of extra pain for a couple of days, but fingers crossed it’s only superficial.
Would be the cruelest of luck otherwise.
 
4 hours of watching a breakaway and then 30 seconds of sprinting isn’t for me I’m afraid and as ever, the race will come alive when we hit those big fucking ramps!
 
First hillock finish, not raced hard judging by the numbers left in the the 3k, Orla watch, well just banging as usual, AB bingo almost got there very disappointed in his shirt not loud enough.

Tuesday coming 15 mins walk from my air bnb I will be cheering all the lads over line.
 
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