Covid
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It is just pissing down for the time trialComment
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Remco bossing this earlyComment
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Woah, woah, woah, Evenepoel's tested positive for Covid and is out of the race. He looked knackered doing his press today but .... blimey.Comment
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FWIW I don't think he would have won this race - he hadn't eked out enough of a margin today and looked to be suffering after his double crash day, although we'll never know how much his performance today was impacted by his illness and how it might all have panned out. My feeling is that he'd peaked too soon what with the big win in Liege, that was a fortnight before this race began and five weeks is a long time to hold top form.
Wonder if he might have a punt at the Tour now? A season programme can be reconfigured to that end, Sky did it with Bernal the year he won the Tour, he was meant to do the Giro but missed it after breaking his collarbone the weekend before the race. You'd assume it was part of Evenepoel's plans anyway to be in form for his Worlds defence in early August.Comment
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A real shame; I'm not as certain as longeared that he wouldn't have won but it was certainly starting to look interesting.
And of course what we are left with is tantalisingly open.Comment
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As an aside, is anyone else getting maddening 3rd party ads on The Cycling Podcast since their Super Sapiens deal ended?Comment
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Yes
In my case Employee Retention Tax Credits
SighComment
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Christian O'Donnell's Stuff Of Legends podcast. Please, no. That will serve me right for getting annoyed by the dudes from Super Sapiens.Comment
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If anyone's interested, Evenepoel is $6.25 (or 7ish:1) for the Tour.Comment
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Watching Vollering congratulate her team-mate Reusser after the latter took the Itzulia GC from the former was quite sweet. Another demonstration from this so strong SD Worx team.
I'm with Longeared that Evenepoel wouldn't have won, and already had Thomas and Hart down as live contenders, they look well in form and will be super keen now, unless they got COVID from Ganna.Comment
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Or Evenepoel himself, on the podium…Comment
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Flicked on to Eurosport this evening and they were showing yesterday's final stage in the Tour of Hungary. It was a series of circuits around Budapest. However it was pissing down so the stage had been called off (or at least wasn't being raced) but they were still riding round the course doing lap after lap. Which raises 2 important questions:
1. Why? If the race wasn't being raced why did they have to do the course?
2. Why in the name of fuck was Eurosport showing it a day later? Why not just show some actual sport?
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As to why they showed it, I guess that they could still sell ads for it. They don't have an unlimited volume of live sport.[Marc Hirschi (UAE Team Emirates) was declared the overall winner of the Tour de Hongrie after the final stage was cancelled on account of adverse weather conditions in Budapest. Rather than race the 150 kilometre circuit, riders instead will complete eight neutralised laps of a 9.5km circuit "for the fans."
In a Tweet(opens in new tab) published briefly before the scheduled start time, the organisers stated, “There will be no intermediate sprints, no points, no stage winner. The riders will do 8 laps around the circuit for the fans. GC stays the same as yesterday. The stage starts at 12:00 CET.
“After ongoing discussions with the teams, due to the weather conditions and the slippery track that comes with it, the 5th Stage of Tour de Hongrie is neutralized!”
]Comment
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Looking like a break: Cofidis, Corratec, Bardiani, EOLO all have someone right behind the car before the start.Comment
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On the ticker on the site it has this running banner "Evenepoel aside, the Giro has been plagued by a succession of covid cases. And further not very comforting news is coming this morning"
Anyone know what that is about? The morning is over (at least in Italy) so...?Comment
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Pozzovivo and Scotson have both been Covided out, so presumably that.
It's raining again and there were apparently discussions about shortening the stage, though seemingly this has come to nowt. The conditions at the top of the big pass are apparently due to be 3c and wet, which are going to be very much unpleasant but they're just within the boundaries of what is rideable.Comment
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They look understandably miserableComment
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Good discussion on today's Cycling Podcast of the ridiculous piece in the Gazzetta accusing Remco of leaving the Giro because he knew he couldn't win.Comment
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Ridiculous indeed, none of these riders want to miss out on a GT if they have even a sniff of a chance.
Vlasov dropped out so the GC field is getting whittled down and Kamna is now BORA's main man. This keyboard won't do an umlaut.Comment
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Gazzetta's conspiracy didn't hold up on any level you care to think. They may not hold the same view now given that four (four!) more Soudal riders have been Covided out this morning - Hirt, Vervaecke, Cerny and Cattaneo all gone. As is Andrea Vendrame at Ag2r.Comment
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At least it’s not raining.Comment
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