Road Cycling
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That was worth staying up for.
Given the timing, it’s hard to choose which stages are worth it, but it was fascinating watching the big four chase down Hirschal. Heaps of tension, some awesome attacks, brilliant.
I felt super sorry for him that he couldn’t get the stage win after such a huge effort.
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interesting year with the fucked up prep meaning a few guys you expect to do well already popped.
Did you see Pinot's face when he cracked up that first climb? World of hurt
I enjoyed watching Hirschi power up the first big climb by himself. He's quite the young rider. Then i fell asleep. Will watch replay later.
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I see on Stuff Bennett saying he's been riding with a busted rib since his early crashes.. starting to come right.
One tough mofo -
@WillieTheWaiter They all must be as hard as nails.
You know when you're riding down a hill and you think, "Fuck, I'll munt myself if I come off here".
Those guys do and they're going twice as fast as me! And then they often get back on instead of lying there screaming for an ambulance!
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@Chris-B said in Road Cycling:
@WillieTheWaiter They all must be as hard as nails.
You know when you're riding down a hill and you think, "Fuck, I'll munt myself if I come of here".
Those guys do and they're going twice as fast as me! And then they often get back on instead of lying there screaming for an ambulance!
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@Chris-B they’re all hard as nails, or nutters. Didn’t Tyler Hamilton grind 11 teeth down after riding the Giro a few years back, with a broken shoulder and then rode most of the following TdF After breaking his collar bone in an early stage? Geraint Thomas also famously rode most of a TdF For Team Sky after cracking his pelvis , and had to be lifted on and off his bike each day. Truly hard men. Doing that without high powered (banned) pain killers too, though I guess in Hamilton’s case, overstepping the mark was not something that bothered him too much.
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Also, Sagan beaten again. And loses the Green for i think the 2nd time on Tour. That's unheard of. 30 years old and it's getting a bit hard? or just the fucked up prep?
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tylers a twat but he had some good quotes.. i remember his other one was that he knew he was in shape to ride the tour when he could see his internal organs through his skin.. I certainly never going to have a problem with that!
anyway shittest news about today is we lost one of our riders - Sam Bewley - busted wrist in first crash. Gutted for him, 1st tour, very late in his career.. he'll be spewing.
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@WillieTheWaiter said in Road Cycling:
tylers a twat but he had some good quotes.. i remember his other one was that he knew he was in shape to ride the tour when he could see his internal organs through his skin.. I certainly never going to have a problem with that!
anyway shittest news about today is we lost one of our riders - Sam Bewley - busted wrist in first crash. Gutted for him, 1st tour, very late in his career.. he'll be spewing.
Soft.
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@mariner4life said in Road Cycling:
Also, Sagan beaten again. And loses the Green for i think the 2nd time on Tour. That's unheard of. 30 years old and it's getting a bit hard? or just the fucked up prep?
he's never been a 'pure' sprinter so would 9 outta 10 times lose against guys like Bennett and Ewan.. he's always someone who wins when it's a hard stage with climbs etc.. but he's defo on his way down - been 2 years since he won anything.. he doesn't need to panic will just scoop up the points in the intermediate sprints when we hit the alps.. Trentin has been getting a few of hte int sprints.. not sure what his thoughts are he's wayy back.. but can climb a bit
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Sagan isnt making things easy for himself. Rides to second place in the stage but gets relegated for shouldering van Aert.
Loses a 10 point gain to Bennett at the end plus his points earned at the intermediate sprint.
Has a 68 point deficit that could have been 15!
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yeh he fcuked now.. i take back what i said earlier about him picking up intermediate sprints during alps - didn't realise but all the intermediate sprints during those stages are within first 60 k's of the stage starting so miss the climbs.. Sagans team will make it hard though they've got nothing else to fight for as their GC guy has crumbled already.
That sprint.. rubbin is racin.. few stages back when Ewan got through a similar gap it was one of the greatest sprints ever.. Sagan not helped by a slight curve in the road. Van Aert a bit of moaning twat about it tho, BS that it stopped him doing better - he'd gone waayyy too soon and was going backwards. Any other race it wouln't have mattered but since Poland they're being a bit anal about things I guess
I'd be more happy for Bennett to be in green but it's disappointing cause his normal leadout man and good mate is Shane Archbold - the kiwi mullet - and they didn't take him to the tour to support alaphillippe in the GC.. which has obviously turned to custard. Just gutted Shane not there to be a part of the success
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Maybe Ineos shouldn't have ditched two, massively experienced winners for the new best thing. He was rubbish lost night, no guts at all on the long climb. As a part Brit, I say
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Surprised that Quintana was ditched as well. He was sitting as a bit of a smoky there for a few days. Within reach of the lead if some luck went his way and/or an opportunity presented itself.
Roglic just needs to stick to Pog now and not let him chip away with bonus seconds. Pog is riding so strongly I can't see him being left behind.
The TT could get very interesting -
@Crucial Quintana always seems to have a bad crack in him somewhere. He'll probably take it easy for a couple of days now and then solo a win up a climb.
Bernal - a bit like Alaphilippe - just hasn't brought last year's form to the party. I guess the writing was a bit on the wall from a couple of days ago, when he got dropped at the end of the climb and had to bury himself not to lose a chunk of time.
I was thinking Roglic would have an advantage over Pogacar in the ITT, but I see Pogacar is the 2020 Slovenian national TT champion and Roglic came second. Pogacar will be absolutely spewing about losing that time in the crosswinds, because otherwise these two look to be absolutely matched - if anything Pogacar, without the benefit of having the controlling team, looks stronger.
Richie Porte is going really well - the best I can recall him. He'll be spewing about the crosswind time loss, as well.
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@Machpants said in Road Cycling:
Geraint Thomas sends Dave Brailsford a timely reminder from Tirreno-Adriatico
The 2018 Tour winner finished second in the Giro d’Italia warm-up race while Ineos Grenadiers continue to struggle without him at the Tour de France
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@Machpants On the other hand, I see Froome is in 91st place!
