Cav's finished on the Road - has been for two years. Nothing to do with glandular fever either - he always needs an excuse when he isn't performing - it's part of his psyche. Be a blessing in disguise, as he's born to ride the Madison and its back in the Olympics next year. Might finally get that gold!
You'd only say that if you've never had glandular fever. Hugely debilitating. No one can know what would have happened if he hadn't been afflicted by it, it's just speculation. [Edit -just realised how long ago you posted that! :-) ]
Cav's finished on the Road - has been for two years. Nothing to do with glandular fever either - he always needs an excuse when he isn't performing - it's part of his psyche. Be a blessing in disguise, as he's born to ride the Madison and its back in the Olympics next year. Might finally get that gold!
You'd only say that if you've never had glandular fever. Hugely debilitating. No one can know what would have happened if he hadn't been afflicted by it, it's just speculation. [Edit -just realised how long ago you posted that! :-) ]
I had glandular fever when I was 15. Yep, was grim for three months, and I was tired for a good four or five after it.
Cav was on the decline for two years before he had it - it just became a convenient excuse once he couldn't carry on blaming his leadout, riders going off their line, being out of position etc etc etc. That Indian summer he had at the tour when he last won a load of stages was because Kittel basically never turned up and Greipel was a spent force at that point.
Is Adam Yates riding the Giro? If not can Simon win it? I'd say no, without Adam Mitchelton's Nieve or Chaves are not quite of the class to support in a Queen or King stage.
Is Adam Yates riding the Giro? If not can Simon win it? I'd say no, without Adam Mitchelton's Nieve or Chaves are not quite of the class to support in a Queen or King stage.
Simon - Giro, Adam - TdF.
Rumours out there that Simon may go to Trek-Segafredo and Adam to Ineos next season.
I think Cav could have won a Stage in 2017 as Greipel did in the Giro. But basically Leroy's right, sprinter's do not win much past 30. Pettachi's the only one I remember in recent history, and his doping history is long: Cipollini similar before. The bigger men can win a little bit later like Hushovd and Greippel, but rarely after 32. From memory there's only a few stages where Cav didn't win from a contested bunch sprint: 2008 when T-Mobile broke the peloton in crosswinds, and 2013 when he jumped on in a crosswind.
Past 30 he was never going to win more than a few stages, and at 32 they'd have been incredibly rare. Especially when you consider you have an excellent generation of sprinters, and probably the best generation of classic riders/sprinters since the Mercx years.
1 - There should NEVER be a downhill finish at the end of a race. Anywhere. Ever. ESPECIALLY in the world tour, where sprints hit 70k/h on the flat
2 - It's incredibly poor course design for the lead in to a downhill sprint to compound the problem by being 1km long and arrow straight. Two of our race circuits in the NW have had their finishes changed in the past year because the lead-in was too straight for too long - it encourages false starts in the sprint from people nervous and going too early. Last year on one of them I was fifth wheel when the bloke in front of me parked up 150 metres from the line because he went too early and ran out of gas, I managed to avoid him but only by grassing it and (somehow) staying upright - and that was at 60k/h not 75, and there weren't any barriers
3 - Groenewegen should be punished for deviating off his line badly, but the elbow is incidental - pushing it out is a balance issue, not an intent to injure (similar to the Cavendish/Sagan incident at th le tour a few years ago)
FFS, if BC can get this right at an amateur level in the UK, why can't the UCI do it properly at the world tour? 🙄
Hope Jakobsen will be OK - news from the hospital is a bit more encouraging than it was at first 🤞🏼
I hope you are right Leroy about his improvement and I am reading "old" news. The article below from the BBC says they are going to try and wake him from his coma today.
Michael Woods will be leaving EF Pro Cycling to become Chris Froome’s “right hand man” at Israel Start-Up Nation.
The Israeli WorldTour team have announced a string of big-name signings to support their new star rider Froome, who will be joining from Team Ineos next season.
Israel Start-Up Nation have recently signed Daryl Impey, Carl Fredrik Hagen and Patrick Bevin for next season.
I doubt it. He's probably sitting up so he can save energy to pull for Bernal on the Col de Porte. They've been using him as third domestique. Castrovejo's been the final one in line. It seems he's playing out a crucial role in the team. Without Froome their on road strategy could be a weakness.
Still it looks hard for them to beat Jumbo Vidma this year. You'd guess Bernal is on top form whilst Froome and Thomas will be tapering towards the Tour and it's third week.
Roglic looks very good. he's whole team look very good. especially Sepp Kuss, he don't half make it look easy.
the riders further down the mountain got a right old battering from hail storms. had similar yesterday myself from a thunder storm, the damage was one of my plants being ripped to pieces. the riders damage was a tad more severe. even the podium collapsed under the hail.
Skineos got that badly wrong yesterday. Kwiatkowski's pull was too intense and smashed the arse out of Thomas and Sivakov so they had nothing left in the finale and left Bernal isolated. Didn't shell enough people from the group and took too many to the finish with them. They should have sat up and let Jumbo burn some matches if they wanted the stage win. Roglic looks unbeatable - and they haven't even got Bennett and Kruiswijk with them this week. Brailsford will need to change tactics if he wants to win the tour this year. Froome is finished as a GT rider - Ineos know it, or they wouldn't have let him go at the end of this year. Be very surprised if they pick him for the tour - van Baarle and even Geoghegan-Hart or Dunbar would be as good as Froome at the moment and they wouldn't have the question of whether he's going to do what he did to Wiggins in 2012
Of course this'll all be irrelevant if the tour is cancelled cos of Covid 😭
Evenepoel into a ravine, after hitting an unmarked wall sticking out of a bridge, Schachmann left-hooked by an old dear who managed to somehow drive onto the last 5km of a monument finish - truly excellent course management at the Giro di Lombardia
Evenepoel into a ravine, after hitting an unmarked wall sticking out of a bridge, Schachmann left-hooked by an old dear who managed to somehow drive onto the last 5km of a monument finish - truly excellent course management at the Giro di Lombardia
I think this is a little harsh regarding the Evenpoel incident. What do you want RCS to do? The decent of Surmano is dangerous. Racing is dangerous and the guys were on the limit. The wall wasn’t ‘sticking’ out and Remco misjudged his speed. Rider error. First aid on the scene quickly and felt with.
Evenepoel into a ravine, after hitting an unmarked wall sticking out of a bridge, Schachmann left-hooked by an old dear who managed to somehow drive onto the last 5km of a monument finish - truly excellent course management at the Giro di Lombardia
I think this is a little harsh regarding the Evenpoel incident. What do you want RCS to do? The decent of Surmano is dangerous. Racing is dangerous and the guys were on the limit. The wall wasn’t ‘sticking’ out and Remco misjudged his speed. Rider error. First aid on the scene quickly and felt with.
Exactly what every other race organiser does. Put a bright yellow foam cushion there. I've done races here that had bridges near the bottom of descents and a risk assessment always has a note for organisers to mark a narrowing hazard. If BC can get that right in a Nat B race, RCS can get it right in a monument. The Sormano isn't a new addition to Lombardia - it should already have been marked.
This isn't necessarily a criticism of RCS specifically, more the fact that the UCI isn't fit for purpose. Their history is as corrupt as FIFA and, whilst it looks like the days of being in cahoots with teams and riders to ignore doping wholesale are thankfully behind them, their intransigence at dealing with rider safety (motorbikes in the peloton, tiptoeing around a concussion protocol, bowing to local pressure and allowing ridiculous sprint finishes etc etc) - all overshadowed by BC (who aren't exactly perfect themselves) is laughable
Nope. There's previous crashes there. You can see there's a gully next to the bridge wall, then the gully stops when the bridge wall crenellates in. Remco got stuck in the gully. MVP would probably have been able to bunny hop out as Remco was at a controllable speed. Remco's only been on a bike seriously for 3-4 years.
Either way that gully should have been blocked with temporary soft crash bales: Go into them before the dirt road splits down the bank you might lose the race but not your life. Terrible especially if it's the same place Bakelants went over a few years ago. Unlikely the peloton sticks together up to that descent, but if it did someone would be pushed through that gully and over the wall by the peloton. Simply not good enough by RCS Sport for a UCI World Tour Event, or any top UCI race.
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[Edit -just realised how long ago you posted that! :-) ]
Cav was on the decline for two years before he had it - it just became a convenient excuse once he couldn't carry on blaming his leadout, riders going off their line, being out of position etc etc etc. That Indian summer he had at the tour when he last won a load of stages was because Kittel basically never turned up and Greipel was a spent force at that point.
Rumours out there that Simon may go to Trek-Segafredo and Adam to Ineos next season.
Past 30 he was never going to win more than a few stages, and at 32 they'd have been incredibly rare. Especially when you consider you have an excellent generation of sprinters, and probably the best generation of classic riders/sprinters since the Mercx years.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5YF2abqPgY
I see that Australian kid potentially dominating the sprints at the Tour the same way Cav did himself
Roughly translated he gives the digit and says "fuck you, arsehole"
2 - It's incredibly poor course design for the lead in to a downhill sprint to compound the problem by being 1km long and arrow straight. Two of our race circuits in the NW have had their finishes changed in the past year because the lead-in was too straight for too long - it encourages false starts in the sprint from people nervous and going too early. Last year on one of them I was fifth wheel when the bloke in front of me parked up 150 metres from the line because he went too early and ran out of gas, I managed to avoid him but only by grassing it and (somehow) staying upright - and that was at 60k/h not 75, and there weren't any barriers
3 - Groenewegen should be punished for deviating off his line badly, but the elbow is incidental - pushing it out is a balance issue, not an intent to injure (similar to the Cavendish/Sagan incident at th le tour a few years ago)
FFS, if BC can get this right at an amateur level in the UK, why can't the UCI do it properly at the world tour? 🙄
Hope Jakobsen will be OK - news from the hospital is a bit more encouraging than it was at first 🤞🏼
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/53671028
Israel Start-Up Nation have recently signed Daryl Impey, Carl Fredrik Hagen and Patrick Bevin for next season.
some serious climbing this year. feel sorry for the sprinters, no real point in turning up.
Tomorrow's finish in on the Col de Porte.
Still it looks hard for them to beat Jumbo Vidma this year. You'd guess Bernal is on top form whilst Froome and Thomas will be tapering towards the Tour and it's third week.
the riders further down the mountain got a right old battering from hail storms. had similar yesterday myself from a thunder storm, the damage was one of my plants being ripped to pieces. the riders damage was a tad more severe. even the podium collapsed under the hail.
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/riders-forced-under-makeshift-rafts-as-hailstorm-batters-criterium-du-dauphine-462932
Of course this'll all be irrelevant if the tour is cancelled cos of Covid 😭
This isn't necessarily a criticism of RCS specifically, more the fact that the UCI isn't fit for purpose. Their history is as corrupt as FIFA and, whilst it looks like the days of being in cahoots with teams and riders to ignore doping wholesale are thankfully behind them, their intransigence at dealing with rider safety (motorbikes in the peloton, tiptoeing around a concussion protocol, bowing to local pressure and allowing ridiculous sprint finishes etc etc) - all overshadowed by BC (who aren't exactly perfect themselves) is laughable
Either way that gully should have been blocked with temporary soft crash bales: Go into them before the dirt road splits down the bank you might lose the race but not your life. Terrible especially if it's the same place Bakelants went over a few years ago. Unlikely the peloton sticks together up to that descent, but if it did someone would be pushed through that gully and over the wall by the peloton. Simply not good enough by RCS Sport for a UCI World Tour Event, or any top UCI race.