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Brussels sprouts a new winner? Tour de France 2019

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    And he's going to pump you up

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      Katusha-Alpecin will call it a day at the end of the season. Riders were apparently told of the situation last night.

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        Alpecin are switching their sponsorship to Mathieu van der Poel's Corendon team. Katusha's DS has denied the L'Equipe report that the team is stopping. There's some suggestion they might merge with Israel Cycling Academy - the bloke behind that has been looking for a way into the World Tour for a while.

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          Canyon are also ending their relationship with Katusha and looking to get on the van der Poel train

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            I love Colmar, and those Alsace villages above it full of delicious and ridiculously affordable wine.

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              Noob question incoming: Is there a lot of cachet for the bike manufacturers in the winning of stages/races?

              I figured the answer is yes (I thought that Trek largely built their profile on the back of LA's exploits) but I've noticed that Bianchi and Specialized have won all 5 stages thus far and that has not been mentioned in the coverage that I have watched thus far.

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                It tends not to get mentioned on commentary (in part because the kind of people who are interested in spending several thousand dollars on a bike already now which teams ride what bikes), but you can be sure that sales reps are keeping very close tabs on what is going on and making sure that potential customers know.

                Successful races will also be trumpeted in adverts in the specialised press.

                The Trek/Armstrong thing was a bit different because he appealed to a market that was much newer to the sport (in much the way that Nike tried to use Tiger Woods to break into golf).

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                  I think at this point everybody who wants to fall off their time trial bike knows to buy a Pinarello Bolide.

                  And I'm not sure Specialized will be very happy with this advertising




                  Slightly more seriously, there is definitely value in having the bike nerds see your bikes. I'm pretty sure some of the people I know who ride Pinarellos do so because Team Sky did. And the few people I know who ride Bianchis still have a nostalgia for seeing them in the tour in the 80s and 90s. But I don't know if there's an extra cachet in winning stages - maybe winning the Tour itself adds to the sales, but winning a sprint in Colmar probably doesn't.

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                    I remember when Cube came back to the Tour - 2017, with Wanty-Group Gobert, I think - the team sent one of their riders off impossibly early on a massive solo breakaway, clearly so that the cameras would be on the bike.

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                      There is also a lot of bike porn on teams' social media accounts.

                      The five minute video that Mitchellton Scott did on AVV's dominant time trial in Italy spent a minute on her bespoke TT bike.

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                        ITV have just shown some footage of the new section of the Planche des Belles Filles finish. Fucking hell! That looks proper steep, like one of those silly Vuelta walls that turn into a ramp test rather than a race. They couldn't get more than 200m from the finish, not because of race restrictions, but rather because the cameraman's Segway gave up.

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                            My 1st live stage so far. No Carlton Kurby, looking forward to the drama

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                              Andre Greipel is in the 14 man break. He went for the intermediate sprint and got outpaced by Nils Politt and Andrea Pasqualon. That was rather sad to watch.

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                                Skip between channels to avoid Israel ads and hear that Gilbert had never sprinted on a track before when he won Paris- Roubaix.

                                in other news I like the Trek shorts, because I like Segafredo logo and the 2 white bands, but haven’t found any for less than 80 Euro

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                                  Last night’s ITV highlights had a Matt Rendell piece about Panini stickers and he interviewed Nibali about him still collecting them. Bless.

                                  Just been on eBay to buy a few token packs...

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                                    That was mentioned in French commentary during the race

                                    I still am a bit dubious that a Belgian cyclist could have completely avoided the track

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                                      FIGS, I can't believe that you aren't willing to shell out 80 quid to have "splunk" splashed across your hind quarters.

                                      The 87 Panini album from Colombia
                                      Last edited by ursus arctos; 11-07-2019, 12:40.

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                                        Haha! Point of information: 80 Euro isn’t quite 80 quid. Yet.

                                        sadly berhane covering his Eritrea flag with a plain cofidis gilet

                                        skipping channels often takes you from ad break to ad break, sadly

                                        I can recommend Aldi’s very cheap “94 points”
                                        Italian red Aimone a glass of which I have just enjoyed with a hastily improvised chorizo carbonara

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                                          Baffling Movistar Tactics Klaxon

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                                            Valverde swings off after all that Movistar work and Landa and Quintana just look at each other. Never fucking change, Movistar.

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                                              I think that Alaphilippe is going to keep the jersey

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                                                Monster ride from Gaudu

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                                                  Oh, Romain.

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                                                    Woah, Geraint!

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