All roads lead to Harrogate: Pro cycling 2019

[San Bernardhinault]

I found her description of the incident at the top of the instagram comments. What a complete an utter scumbag of a driver. I hope they're able to lock (him?) up.

[delicatemoth]

Ugh. I do think that now motor racing takes safety seriously cycling is possibly the most dangerous sport there is* - certainly in training. While I love watching it I'd be far too scared to actually ride a bike.

*Barring some 'extreme' sports, maybe

[Kevin S]

Oh, is the story not there on the Instagram page? Some cunt of a driver cut her up and then braked hard in front of her.

[delicatemoth]

What happened? People are wishing her a speedy recovery, but from what? All I see is a picture of someone on a bike.

[Kevin S]

Fffuuuuu...
https://www.instagram.com/p/B3C9XCyF...on_share_sheet

Poor woman. Suppose it's too much to hope that they catch the bastard.

[Billy Casper]

Dire conditions at the top of Pot Bank on the finishing circuit. We sat under some trees and watched the road turn into a river.
Anyway, as well the weather, we didn't see any real race defining moves and I didn't get any photos I'm thrilled with.

But...

My twelve year old and I got three bidons.

Third best. A spare GBR one (filed with water) after the riders came past for the final time, from an official who had been handing them out to riders.

Second best. Two laps from the end I saw a dropped Costa Rica rider, shouted "Andrey Amador". and he tossed me his Movistar bottle (lemon flavoured).

Best. Two laps in, a dropped Belgian rider tossed my son his yellow bidon (cherry) with the initials 'RE' written on the lid. That's our favourite rider sorted for the next fifteen years then!

[Felicity, I guess so]

Well Valverde did say it was a race for Mads men!

[Cesar Rodriguez]

Saw footage of the womens junior race in Yorkshire (won by an American gal from So Cal) and there mustve been half a dozen crashes. Which seemed an absurdly high amount. The commentator half heartedly said the course was in terrible shape but didnt really expand on this to convince me that he had a point. Is that the case or was it the cyclists doing?

[longeared]

Meanwhile Bahrain-Merida have used this opportunity to bury the news that they terminated Rohan Dennis's contract a couple of weeks back, which explains his bike choices the last few days.

[delicatemoth]

Ohhhhhhhhh Trentin. What were you doing?!

[longeared]

Blimey.

[longeared]

MVdP blows completely in a manner that suggests he's forgotten to eat enough.

[longeared]

Tour of Britain redux as MVdP and Trentin duking it out off the front.

[delicatemoth]

God I'm glad my very loose plan to combine a week of camping in beautiful Yorkshire with watching the Worlds didn't come to fruition. Yeesh.

[longeared]

Sam Bennett was dropped on Oak Beck just as full pictures came back and abandoned when he reached the pits. Valverde has also gone (pity) and described it as "a race for madmen".

[ursus arctos]

Evenepoel has also abandoned

[longeared]

And now Gilbert's abandoned in tears. That was probably his last chance for a second stripey jersey - next year in Switzerland will be too mountainous for him and 2021 seems a long way off at his age.

[longeared]

The plane they use to relay the live images has had to return to Donny airport to refuel, so they're on static cameras only. Kind of like coverage when it rained at the London Marathon in the 1980s.

Evenepoel paced Gilbert back after a crash and was recently shown tapping up the climb, so he's not in contention.

[Mumpo]

Now lost moto cameras on the curcuit

[Mumpo]

Even the commentary has gone now

[longeared]

Predictably horrendous weather today to the extent they've had to significantly change the route - the major climbs up Buttertubs and Grinton Moor have gone owing to flooding and they've added in a couple more laps of the finish circuit. That brings different riders into play as possible contenders - Kristoff and Bennett have to be given serious consideration now. The early break includes Quintana, Roglic and Carapaz, presumably they're getting involved in the race so they can get off early once they get caught. Rohan Dennis is on the front of the peloton and is again riding a BMC bicycle.

[Capybara]

Pleased to read that people enjoyed it today. Having seen all the races since Wednesday I opted today to go and see my lot play 'football' ffs. I'll be back at my favourite spot around Norwegian Corner tomorrow. Getting wet in all likelihood. And the grass will be fine.

[Billy Casper]

Ha. I heard a farmer loudly complaining to the police when his road home had closed. If only someone had put some signs up warning of road closures...

[longeared]

Back from Harrogate-on-Glastonbury. Great day out in the sunshine, unbelievable ride, not a thrilling race because the outcome was clear long before the end. Didn't see how the situation formed as I was sat in the Old Bell having a very agreeable pint, but when I got my spot at 60m from the finish there were 75k remaining and it was clear the chase behind wasn't cohesive.

After the race had finished I went and stood by the funnelled section where the riders return to their buses so got to see most of them come back past. Was stood next to Tiffany Cromwell giving an interview, so if anyone catches that do listen out for someone clapping loudly midway through - that'll be me applauding Cecile Uttrup Ludwig coming past. Chloe Dygert had to be helped past, I hope we haven't broken her. Also saw Marcel Kittel summarising for German telly - they were in the gazebo next to the BBC.

Much bigger crowd than Wednesday, plenty of support for different nations including some Slovaks with a megaphone. As I alluded to then before the hackers ate my post, Harrogate is getting a bit of a mess what with all the people tramping on grass. The fan zone in particular is a right mess underfoot, might take a couple of years for that to get back to normal. Disgusted Of Harrogate will be complaining about the effect on the crocuses next spring I expect.

[Billy Casper]

Different class. I was there today on the circuit and you could just see she wouldn't be caught.