Announcement

Collapse
No announcement yet.

I Belong To Glasgow: Pro Cycling 2023

Collapse
X
 
  • Filter
  • Time
  • Show
Clear All
new posts

    QUEEN OF ALL THE HORSES

    Wonderful finish.

    Comment


      Yes, wonderful last 10k, especially the final 1k.

      The men will struggle to top that.

      Comment


        Originally posted by delicatemoth View Post
        We'll get to see the men from the pre-start rollout, won't we?
        Better retract this, they've been going for a while. Three man breakaway with a decent gap.

        Comment


          The chasing group has borked this

          Comment


            They absolutely did, inexcusable. But a gutsy win, achieved with skill as much as power.

            A decent pair of races.

            Comment


              I wish every team were like Uno X. You can actually spot their riders at a glance from helicopter shots, the kit is that distinctive.

              Comment


                Puck Pieterse's Strade recon.

                If you're in a group and can't avoid some of those washboard or pothole sections it must be near unrideable.

                Comment


                  This TTT is weird. Everyone is getting individual times, it's not taken from the fourth rider. Looks odd to see the first rider across the line on his own.

                  Comment


                    Ooh, the first Bahrain rider just got (inadvertently) baulked by a trailing Israel rider on a narrow section and rode by him too close and forcefully for the latter's liking. If this format provokes a punch-up it would be entertaining but would probably end the experiment.

                    Simon Yates in the lead at the moment, 45 seconds ahead of Ineos' best rider Martinez. Some teams are adapting better than others and it's quite fascinating to watch.

                    Oh yeah, it's not Yates in the lead, but Jayco-Alula, cos TTT. But they get the individual times.
                    Last edited by delicatemoth; 07-03-2023, 14:51.

                    Comment


                      That was an interesting variation of a TTT and it'd be worth repeating in future. I'd like to see that tried early in a Grand Tour as there's some tactical subtleties to be teased out about how many GC riders to protect and how to go about delivering them to the line. UAE were amusingly messy although didn't lost much time, so if ASO want to anti-Pogacar the Tour next year all they have to do is include a TTT (although the early indications are that he'll do the Giro and then rest up until the Olympics). EF used to be brilliant at TTTs back in the old Garmin days, then they turned absolutely rubbish at them, and now they seem to have learned how to ride them again.

                      The other good thing about the event was that it didn't create race crushing time gaps and thanks also to the benign weather on the opening couple of stages there's still a quarter of the field within a minute of the lead. Another entertaining feature of the race has been seeing some of the lower level transfers I'd missed over the winter, like Jungels to Bora or Tratnik to Jumbo.

                      Comment


                        The Ursus Collective get everywhere. Tirreno-Adriatico yesterday:

                        Comment


                          For a sprint that was a good stage 2 on Tirreno. Apart from the camera failing to pan away in time to avoid a rather spectacular nature break.

                          Comment


                            Paris - Nice hasn't had much luck with the wind this week, it didn't get up on the opening days across the plains which meant that the peloton didn't get ripped to shreds. Then on the longest stage yesterday they had a headwind rather than the Mistral sweeping them along which suitably stymied all attacks. Now today it's so windy the stage first got shortened and has now been cancelled outright as the infrastructure at the finish keeps getting blown over. It was likely to be a breakaway day rather than GC but that's still a bugger for the race, there are riders out of GC and not having major team duties who would have been pinning a lot of hopes on prospects for today.

                            Pog should win the race overall as he duffed up Vingegaard on the summit finish the other day. Even though they've won two stages I don't get what Jumbo have done this week - they seem to have sent most of their Giro riders to this race and a lot of their Tour team is at Tirreno supporting Rog, who won in a familiar manner on their summit finish yesterday. Gaudu has looked good all week and now the poor bugger is going to have to put up with the French press bigging him up massively for the next three and an half months.

                            The Women's Tour announced a route yesterday, although they admitted they have a funding shortfall so it's still questionable whether the race will take place. The race has lost a day regardless, which was quietly glossed over. Sweetspot's model is clearly in trouble, there was a report a while back about how they've not refunded the Isle of Wight authorities the hosting costs for the stage of the men's race which got Queened off last year.

                            Comment


                              Today's summit finish at Tirreno has also been shortened due to high winds

                              Comment


                                Urgh; Kirby on Tirreno, first time I've encountered him this season and he's still mangling the English language and hasn't got a clue about basic tactics. A group of twenty plus is not a "major selection", Carlton. Anyway Caruso's attack didn't stick, Mas tried to get away but couldn't sustain his effort, and Roglic won obvs. Think that puts him in the race lead.

                                Comment


                                  Yes, he has four seconds over Kamna and also holds all of the jerseys

                                  Comment


                                    Putting aside today’s misfortune I’m enjoying Tirreno a lot more, of the two.

                                    And oddly I’m warming to Carlton Kirby, but more when the race is in quiet (boring) phases. Overall I prefer Rob Hatch. And Jose Been whose punctuations of names are magnificent, but she doesn’t tend to get the top gigs.

                                    Been is another member of the new Escape Collective (Cycling Tips exiles) which smashed its funding target inside a week. They might even improve that website soon.

                                    Comment


                                      I'm going to Nice next month so I'm looking forward to the coverage this weekend, just to see where I'll be. I think today starts in town and heads out up a hill but tomorrow might have a city centre finish?

                                      Comment


                                        Yes it starts slightly west of the city, does a big loop north into the Alpes-Maritime then east and south to hit the coast around Èze and back into Nice from the east. Should be spectacular.

                                        Comment


                                          They're starting in Nice both today (which kinds of undermines the underlying principle of a race from Paris to Nice, although that ship sailed a while ago) and tomorrow, from the map it looks as if they're on the Promenade des Anglais, then both days they go up the Paillon valley and into the hills behind. Today they finish on LE COL DE LA COUILOLLE and tomorrow they ride back to Nice. All familar roads for this race and next year they'll also form the climax of the Tour de France.

                                          Comment


                                            https://twitter.com/PACBI/status/1634158663471357952?t=J1YbDRNXjLqcLWvtN6U2Mg&s=19

                                            Comment


                                              Very true.

                                              Comment


                                                Pidcock has crashed and withdrawn from Tirenno

                                                Comment


                                                  Pogacar. Wow. He really is something else.

                                                  Comment


                                                    It was an impressive ride, but he was spot on in his post race interview when he said attack was the best form of defence - he hadn't eked out an enormous lead over Gaudu and that was the best way to go about winning the race on that course. Not a vintage edition in general mind, the weather didn't help but also the hierarchy was too obvious and didn't change much, and Pog / Vingegaard turning up kind of smothered the race overall. Next year neither of them will be here and we'll get to watch a more interesting battle between something like Roglic / Evenepoel / Gaudu / somebody from INEOS / Yates / Almeida.

                                                    Comment

                                                    Working...
                                                    X