I Belong To Glasgow: Pro Cycling 2023

[Sits]

Was Jens Voight a dick when he was racing? On the back of the motorbike, distracting riders trying to ask them questions. I hope GCN tell him to stop.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/inrng/status/1658828971587272710?s=61&t=xvOireV8JOIS_CpbTtDBow

Geoghan Hart has abandoned. Oscar Rodriguez hit the edge of a stone building and is still down.

[delicatemoth]

I think the organisers told him to stop.

TG Hart fell badly in a crash and has been driven off in an ambulance. G Thomas and P Roglic also involved.

[ursus arctos]

https://twitter.com/giroditalia/status/1658831131435835393?s=61&t=xvOireV8JOIS_CpbTtDBow]

[longeared]

Away from Italy it's good to see Romain Gregoire take his first pro win at the 4 Jours de Dunkerque. They had a crashtastic day yesterday as well, de Lie fractured his sternum, and Astana's Gleb Syritsa was a DNS today what with these injuries.

https://twitter.com/AstanaQazTeam/status/1658515299677634560

[Sits]

First big Alpine stage has been absolutely slashed to 74km due to adverse conditions on the Grand St. Bernard Pass. They will now start by going straight up a mountain. This Giro seems cursed.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Just seen Jay Vine's sulk interview. Seems like a prick.

[longeared]

ALLEZ THIBAUT

[Felicity, I guess so]

Dommage, not quite

[Sits]

Just seen Jay Vine's sulk interview. Seems like a prick.

Where’s that? Couldn’t find on YT.

[Sits]

Geraint Thomas and Luke Rowe’s podcast Watts Occurring skirts the fringes of BANTZ at times but it’s been interesting listening to it as things develop during this Giro. After The Cycling Podcast, obviously.

Thomas certainly gives the impression of being relaxed.

[Felicity, I guess so]

Where’s that? Couldn’t find on YT.

I saw it on the Eurosport build up/filler before the stage started

[Sits]

I saw it on the Eurosport build up/filler before the stage started

Thanks, maybe it will be on my GCN. When I’ve heard him interviewed he’s just struck me as extremely honest about financial expectations.

[ursus arctos]

GC contenders taking today off in an area we know very well,

Real shame that the weather on the Simplon was so bad.

[ursus arctos]

INEOS.may be trying to shed the jersey today.

Pelotonore.than 19 minutes behind

[delicatemoth]

A hilarious finish sees Derek Gee well regulated by Nico Denz, who inadvertently backhands him as he celebrates his second stage win of this Giro. A splendid 20+ minute gap to the group means that Bruno Armirail is now in pink.

[longeared]

Fantastic stuff from the mighty Cofidis there, managing to not stick a rider in a 29 man break.

[Sits]

Fantastic stuff from the mighty Cofidis there, managing to not stick a rider in a 29 man break.

Clearly keeping their powder dry.

[Sits]

Stage 15, we were promised GC action and got another entertaining break instead.

longeared will have been heartened to see a COFIDIS rider in it. Until it got serious, and Ben Healy, head titlted, almost grabbed another stage.

[Sits]

Bergamo looks delightful.

[ursus arctos]

Alta Bergamo absolutely is

One of our favourite places in the whole country

Bassa Bergamo rather less so

[ursus arctos]

Cavendish widely expected to announce his retirement in the rest day

End of an era

[longeared]

And now Cavendish has confirmed his retirement at the end of the season. Not a great surprise, Astana was always a marriage of convenience and it has looked like a year too many for him. It was a bit unbecoming watching him scrabbling round for a ride last winter and likely the same thing would have happened this. An extensive career, huge longevity for a sprinter, obviously he'll always be associated with the 34 - and maybe, just maybe he might add to that - stage wins at the Tour but there was more to him than that, he's still the only British man not called Tom Simpson to win a Monument or the Worlds road race. He's ridden the Tour of Britain loads of times down the years so I wonder if he might stop with that?

The Giro suffered badly this last week from the loss of Evenepoel as we've been left with three main GC contenders who are fundamentally defensive riders and who are probably going to try and crack the others rather than ride off into the distance themselves. They can't all be waiting for Saturday's mountain time trial surely? Whatever it looks like it's going to be another duffer of a Giro, RCS need to look at the structure of the route and stop designing courses where they have a fortnight looking at the splendour of the country and then the final week riding up Dolomites for the GC battle. It used to be that the Giro was the anarchic Grand Tour and the Tour much more controlled. They seem to have swapped round these last few years.

[Mumpo]

Which TdF stage(s) do we think he might go for?

[ursus arctos]

3, 4 and 7 just in the first week