All roads lead to Aigle: Pro Cycling 2020

[Hot Orange]

Allez, Julian!

[Ray de Galles]

What's going on with him and the motorbike?

[longeared]

Fine gurning from Alaphilippe there.

[Hot Orange]

Fabulous. A fine reward for an always exciting rider.

[Ray de Galles]

Aw, brilliant. So pleased for him.

[longeared]

Slow burner of a race but an excellent and well deserved winner. Hopefully he'll now go and win Fleche on Wednesday in his stripey jersey.

Pidcock's on the telly saying that his legs were empty at the end. Well yes, Tom, that's because you've never raced anything like that distance before. He'll learn a lot from that.

[Ray de Galles]

Has the rainbow jersey been presented yet? If so, the BBC have ignored it so far.

[ursus arctos]

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/lequipe/status/1310236704746475520

[Ray de Galles]

Ah, the BBC finally got to it in an absolute balls-up of an end to the coverage.

[Felicity, I guess so]

My recorded Eurosport highlights didn’t do the podium either

[Ray de Galles]

Ineos confirm their team to support Geraint Thomas in the Giro - Jonathan Castroviejo, Rohan Dennis, Filippo Ganna, Tao Geoghegan Hart, Jonathan Narvaez, Salvatore Puccio and Ben Swift.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

I'm really looking forward to the Giro. Mostly for what could be a Thomas - Yates battle, but in part because but for Covid Signora Rogin and I would have been in Palermo on Saturday on a cruise. So at least I get to see it on the telly!

[longeared]

They'll have the usual Giro suspects to contend with - Nibali, Kruijswijk, Majka, Zakarin, Kelderman - along with a strong Astana line up in the shape of Fuglsang, Lopez and Vlasov. Lot of juggling of resources going on for teams at the moment what with the simultaneous runnings of the Giro / classics / Vuelta so some teams such as Movistar / Bahrain / Lotto are really scraping the barrel in terms of who they're sending.

Anyway, it's Fleche Wallonne day!!!!! Anna van der Breggen won the women's race for sixth consecutive year with a controlled ride up the Mur. No previous winners in the men's race so that adds an unusual level of interest. Pogacar's there so he'll probably win.

[Ray de Galles]

Oh, thanks for the heads up on that. It had completely escaped me in this revised calendar! Got Eurosport on now

[longeared]

This Vansevenant lad out front is a new name on me, though I remember his dad repeatedly finishing last in the Tour. Another 21 year old to note for the future.

[longeared]

Though it still ended with the usual big group up the Mur and Hirschi played the waiting game to perfection for the win.

[Me Old Flower]

In cycling-meets-politics news, I'm still coming to terms with the fact that both Chloe Dygart and Quinn Simmons are Trumpists.

[ursus arctos]

I don't know if Dygert is an evangelical, but she is from prime Mike Pence territory, whereas Simmons is a representative of the very significant number of Colorado reactionaries.

Given the other political leanings of Colorado cycling types, national team get togethers must be "interesting"

[Tony C]

Have any fellow cycling fans on here watched this David Millar documentary 'Time Trial'? https://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...wqq/time-trial
I found it by accident, watched the opening couple of minutes and quite liked the look of it.
Just wondered if it was worth devoting an hour and a quarter of my time tonight watching it.

We actually saw it at the cinema - stuff like that goes down a storm up here - and really enjoyed it. So too did my wife who has no interest in cycling.

[Tony C]

I'm really looking forward to the Giro. Mostly for what could be a Thomas - Yates battle, but in part because but for Covid Signora Rogin and I would have been in Palermo on Saturday on a cruise. So at least I get to see it on the telly!

Our trip to Sicily went the way of all things during the summer too.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Hope Giro isn’t a Thomas-Yates battle...
Fleche was great- Vansevenant’s head-bobbing attempt to hang on left ME with a stiff neck so he must have really hit the ibuprofens afterwards.

[Me Old Flower]

I don't know if Dygert is an evangelical, but she is from prime Mike Pence territory, whereas Simmons is a representative of the very significant number of Colorado reactionaries.

Given the other political leanings of Colorado cycling types, national team get togethers must be "interesting"

Trek have suspended Simmons until further notice, citing his recent behaviour on social media as the reason.

I saw Quinn in Richmond last year, prior to the start of the Junior WC Road race. I then watched as he tore the rest of the field to pieces on the course.

What a stupid, racist arsehole.

[longeared]

EF have decided to avoid a clash with the leader's jersey (take note, Jumbo-Visma) at the Giro and have got a one off kit for the race. It's, erm ..... different.

[Rogin the Armchair fan]

People are posting photos of the mountains that the Giro is planning to visit in week three ... it's already snowing. Will they cancel or shorten stages if the finish is under inches of snow, or do the cyclists just have to get on with it?