All roads lead to Harrogate: Pro cycling 2019

[ursus arctos]

Alaphilippe, Van Aert and Fuglsang have gone off the front with 21 km to go That may be the final selection

[ursus arctos]

AVV rides away from the field to win Strade Bianche

[Me Old Flower]

Callum Skinner has announced his retirement from cycling at the age of 26.

[ursus arctos]

They should just rename this race as le Grand Prix Le Fevere.

[longeared]

Good race that and another win for Deceuninck as Florian Senechal outsprints Aime de Gendt, Boom and Terpstra after Tim de Clercq didn't quite have the legs to stay away. There was a WIGGINS rider in the front group towards the end and a Canyon rider crashed on a descent with a Lotto with about 15k left, otherwise didn't see anything of the British teams.

[Me Old Flower]

GP Le Samyn today. Will be interesting to see how British Conti teams Canyon, WIGGINS, and newcomers Swift Carbon get on.

[ad hoc]

Sorry just seen DM mentioned this on the previous page

[ad hoc]

Women's cycling race forced to pause after lead rider catches men's race
https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...y_to_clipboard

[longeared]

Brilliant win by Jungels there and a fine finale. Old Deceuninck trick of chucking riders up the road and forcing others to chase. Quite a weekend for them really.

[ursus arctos]

And does!

[ursus arctos]

Jungels trying to time trial to the line.

[longeared]

Sporza's coverage has been geoblocked, the buggers.

That corner on the roundabout that Trentin just cut, seem to remember several riders taking that route in previous years.

[ursus arctos]

Fine win by Stybar yesterday.

30km to go in KBK, which seems very likely to end in a bunch sprint.

[delicatemoth]

And Blaak does indeed ride away from the rest for a fine solo win.

Men's race looks like the peloton is going to shatter quite soon.

[ursus arctos]

Blaak wins by over a minute. Van der Breggen wins the chasing group sprint. Great performance by AVV in her first race back.

[ursus arctos]

Chantal Blaak leads all the way over the Muur and looks to be the strongest today

[ursus arctos]

Maps and profiles for both courses

The women climb the Kapelmuur with about 18km to go.

[ursus arctos]

Van Vleuten in the break.

Absolute legend.

[delicatemoth]

Race neutralised because the women have caught the men up? Nice shot of lone breakaway Hanselmann shivering as she waits for the race to restart, that'll be good for muscles. Earlier a car got on the course and drove the wrong way at a group of three chasers.

[delicatemoth]

Women's Omloop has just started, can be watched for free sans commentary (but with on-screen graphics) at Proximus Sports' Facebook page (you don't need to have a Facebook account) - https://www.facebook.com/ProximusSpo...1060175811537/

[ursus arctos]

Bravo Primoz!

He rode a very smart race from the outset.

[longeared]

Roglic outsprints Dumoulin and Gaudu at the top of Jebel Jais which will seal his victory in the UAE Tour ahead of the expected sprint tomorrow. About 15 riders in the lead bunch, the climb simply wasn't hard enough to split the group further. James Knox 10th. Dubai Sports Kirby is shouting a lot at that finish.

[Ray de Galles]

Laura Kenny pulls out of the rest of the Worlds due to illness. She'd blamed the Team Pursuit loss on her not being 100% and will be replaced in the Omnium starting today by Katie Archibald.

[Ray de Galles]

What a finish in the Scratch (I think) Olivera had a massive lead but tied up and got caught 70m or so from the line.

Caught by Sam Welsford, one of the guys who had destroyed the Team Pursuit World Record half an hour earlier, too.

[longeared]

Rather a scruffy finish to the women's team pursuit and another Australian victory over Britain. Think they'll be happier than the men with their performance at this stage of the Olympiad - even accounting for the usual improvement for the Olympics two and a half seconds is a big gap to close.