Road Cycling
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@Machpants said in Road Cycling:
And a guy fell off a bridge this weekend - rugby’s safer!
best part was how they just moved his bike outta the way and left him there.. fark me.
then they let a car on the course that smoked the guy who came 5th or 6th after picking himself up and rolling to the finish with a busted collarbone.
Roglic didnt' start final stage while leading Dauphine cause of a crash. And that was after kruijswijk abandoned after earlier dislocating his shoulder in a crash so he'll be out for TDF.
Bernal pulled the pin with an injury, so did Quintana....
And then Thomas and Froome both finished over 33 mins down on the final stage - after losing similar time the day before.. Thomas said he was taking it easy to attack on this day - he came 2nd to last on the stage.
So overall a crazy weekend of racing.. Ineos are looking pretty farked for TDF, will be hoping for some jiffy bag magic to help them out!
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@Crucial he was named in the Tdf team a couple of months back. He was originally going to be leader for the Giro I think but was then swapped to being a super domesticity for the Tour. Given it’s unlikely that Kruijswijk will ride in the tour after dislocating his shoulder, Bennett may well be a protected rider for jumbo Visma.
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@scribe said in Road Cycling:
@Crucial he was named in the Tdf team a couple of months back. He was originally going to be leader for the Giro I think but was then swapped to being a super domesticity for the Tour. Given it’s unlikely that Kruijswijk will ride in the tour after dislocating his shoulder, Bennett may well be a protected rider for jumbo Visma.
still on bottle duty he said in his latest podcast... so unlikely he'll even have a chance to have a crack for a stage unless something goes seriously wrong for TD or Roglic.. they've also got Kuss waiting in the wings as another pure climber who won the last stage of the Dauphine.
have a listen to his latest podcast.. so farking 'kiwi' it's not funny. Has a massive weekend with some of the best ever results for an nzer - fans would be tuning in to hear about how the racing went.. but you get 30 mins of stories about drinking pi$$, a bit of a 'oh did you do alright in a race on the weekend' and the full analysis of the race constituted nothing but commentary on some handbags he had during the race.
here's a great pic of him during the race.. man in the hurtbox right there..
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@WillieTheWaiter that photo was the final roll of the dice. He dropped Vaslov, then when Fuglsang had a dig George couldn’t respond.
I’m not convinced Fuglsang rides clean though ...
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Froome and Thomas both dropped from Ineos tdf team.. this year just keeps getting crazier!
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@WillieTheWaiter said in Road Cycling:
Froome and Thomas both dropped from Ineos tdf team.. this year just keeps getting crazier!
what?!
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@mariner4life not unexpected (well for Froome anyway). Thomas clearly not in the right form at the moment. Because of the congested race programme, Thomas will now lead the Giro team in Oct and Froome the Vuelta, also in Oct. Thomas has a real chance to win the Giro; he should’ve won it in 2017 but for a Ill-placed camera motorbike.
Recent Ineos signing Carapaz (current Giro winner), must be livid. He’s now been drafted in to support Bernal in the Tour rather than defend his Giro title.
Brailsford is a ruthless mutha.
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Team lists for the TdF.
TJV look very strong, as expected, but I'm not convinced Dumoulin quite has the package to win if Roglic fails.
Ineos backing Bernal with plenty of firepower. Yates, Valverde and Pogecar have some decent support as well.
Pinot, Alaphilippe, Lopez, Landa, Uran, Quintana all look a bit short on either support or overall talent to win (to me).
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@Chris-B report quoting Roglic’s partner saying he might not even make the start line as he’s still suffering from his Dauphiné crash. Sounds a bit like a smokescreen.
Fuck knows who is going to win. Not convinced by Bernal or Roglic with their injury concerns. I like the look of the young guy Pogacar (UAE), for a podium spot.
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As usual I'll be following CCC
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@scribe Only just getting around to looking at the course preview.
No team time trial and the only ITT is up a climb!
Mountain Stage on Stage 2!
Looks like the course might have been engineered for Pinot (and Alaphilippe).
If things go wrong for TJV early,some cards might still fall George's way.
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
No team time trial and the only ITT is up a climb!
Mountain Stage on Stage 2!Good. All I'm interested in is cyclists climbing hills and pretty countryside.
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@antipodean said in Road Cycling:
@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
No team time trial and the only ITT is up a climb!
Mountain Stage on Stage 2!Good. All I'm interested in is cyclists climbing hills and pretty countryside.
best parts by far
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@antipodean I think I saw the presence of the podium girls will be "reduced"this year, as well! Presumably even slimmer versions!
Here's an article on the route.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/tour-de-france/tour-de-france-route-192041
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
@scribe Only just getting around to looking at the course preview.
No team time trial and the only ITT is up a climb!
Mountain Stage on Stage 2!
Looks like the course might have been engineered for Pinot (and Alaphilippe).
If things go wrong for TJV early,some cards might still fall George's way.
It would have to be very early though. George will be expected to pull the others up the mountains as much as possible so won’t be on the leaderboard if he works hard then rests.
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@Crucial Yeah - I'd more expect a chance to go for a stage win, somewhere.
I read somewhere that George might even sit up and take it easy on Stage 1 - I guess that supposes that the peloton splits.
Edit: Here it is: "Bennett has even been instructed to sit up and lose time on the opening stage in order to keep his legs fresh for the mountains, which is when Jumbo-Visma will be counting the Kiwi climber to protect Roglic and Dumoulin."