General race thread 2021 **spoilers**

I've no idea how TV missed the second crash. They definitely looked to be sat up to let him back on the first time but the second time the hammer went down big time first from Bora then Astana then you had Geschke pull on the climb to help his fellow countryman.

It was fascinating to watch how many riders from other teams with nothing to gain from the day were willing to give Roglic a turn too. FDJ did a lot of work to get him in sight of the cars. The tractor nearly bringing him cross country, Campenaerts, Nacer Bouhanni doing what he could. Speaks volumes re: what others in the peloton think of him.

I struggle to think of another race when a GC leader has been dropped and has been put to the sword like that has had any help or maybe when it happens they don't try like Roglic did to get back on.

EDIT: I was also fascinating to see the race and riders behind the main groups today as they never get shown under normal circumstances.

EDIT EDIT: Worth watching as Roglic crosses the line there are 2 auld lads sat on the right side of the road obviously surprised that he has his arse out of his shorts

griffin100

Wow what a day. That’s why I love bike racing. I managed to avoid seeing any results until a couple of hours ago when I sat down with a few beers when the wife and kids went to bed and I watched the recorded highlights of each race.

Roglic was unbelievable in his efforts to get back to the front of the race. The way he breezed past the back markers was unreal. As Enfilade says above it was good to see what the back end of a mountain stage looks like with riders dawdling up the climbs. I think his team let him down today, if he had a bit more support he might have got back on, he was only a few seconds back at one stage.

And what about MVDP.........I’m a big fan from watching him in cyclocross and today he was amazing. I love his full on go for it style of racing. Reminds me a bit of Vinokourov in his pomp but hopefully without the doping.

cblanc

dahat wrote: »

An excellent days racing, had everything for me.

Roglic discloscated his shoulder in the first crash apparently.

Did he crash twice ?

dahat

cblanc wrote: »

Did he crash twice ?

Yes, on the same descent & needed a bike change after the second one which ultimately cost him the race.

mewso

Incredible day of cycling yesterday. Can't wait to see the reaction and analysis on Irish radio and tv. Although they will need to dedicate a small amount of time on Ireland's lackluster win over Scotland of course.

Dodge

dahat wrote: »

Yes, on the same descent & needed a bike change after the second one which ultimately cost him the race.

It’s pretty incredible that the crashes weren’t caught by TV cameras. Just unlucky I suppose but commentators were struggling to explain what happened

cblanc

Dodge wrote: »

It’s pretty incredible that the crashes weren’t caught by TV cameras. Just unlucky I suppose but commentators were struggling to explain what happened

Roads were too small I guess

mr spuckler

Stefan Kung has beaten Ganna in the TT! I wonder how long it is since he was last beaten?

retalivity

mr spuckler wrote: »

Stefan Kung has beaten Ganna in the TT! I wonder how long it is since he was last beaten?

Was 8 TT wins in a row for Ganna before today, so probably a year at least.
Wonder what price he was at the start, probably 1/5 on or something mad.

EDIT: Those 8 TT wins were since August last year

https://twitter.com/ProCyclingStats/status/1371717311095316480

Macy0161

Racing was only back in August.

Mefistofelino

Decent little Sporza interview with Cav before and after yesterday's Nokere Koerse race. Particularly like the bit where Cav is saying how he can ride cobbles and the only person who thinks he can't is DS Wilfried Peeters - followed by a shot of Cav having fallen on yesterday's cobbles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iWorxLy2fTc

Macy0161

Watched the last 70km of Nokere Koerse, in fairness to Cavendish up until the crash, he'd be doing well. The only time he got dropped was in the wind, and it was the rider in front who let the wheel go not him (and played it well then waiting on the next group and playing the "man up the road" card).

Proper cobbled classics weather of wet and wind.

devonp

Nokere Koerse


watched a bit of this near the end


who was/is the female commentator ...very good pronunciation it seemed dutch / belgian twang ??

Macy0161

José Been - very good journalist. Also works for Cycling Tips.

devonp

devonp wrote: »

Nokere Koerse


watched a bit of this near the end


who was/is the female commentator ...very good pronunciation it seemed dutch / belgian twang ??

Jose Been, dutch commentator. Her dad was a Ds on a cycling team I think.

odyssey06

devonp wrote: »

Nokere Koerse
watched a bit of this near the end
who was/is the female commentator ...very good pronunciation it seemed dutch / belgian twang ??

To paraphrase Blackadder there was a lot of phlegm in her pronunciation of the Flemish names!

CramCycle

The Quickstep rider who was knocked out gave me a shock when they were on him, he was out cold.

at1withmyself

Catalunya starts tomorrow in Spain with 7 days of racing.

Some stacked teams such as Ineos, Israel SN & jumbo visma so should be a good week with some tough looking profiles.

Hopefully Dan is in good form as I can't imagine frome being in the running but woods also there so will be interesting to see who the team leader is.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/volta-ciclista-a-catalunya/

CramCycle

Great finish for the Italian Champ today, she looked delighted, was pulling time out of the chase group all the way to the line.

dastardly00

at1withmyself wrote: »

Catalunya starts tomorrow in Spain with 7 days of racing.

Some stacked teams such as Ineos, Israel SN & jumbo visma so should be a good week with some tough looking profiles.

Hopefully Dan is in good form as I can't imagine frome being in the running but woods also there so will be interesting to see who the team leader is.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/volta-ciclista-a-catalunya/

Was there ever any more news released as to what the illness was that caused Dan to miss Tirreno Adriatic?

As far as I can recall they said Michael Woods pulled out because of bronchitis but they didn't say what was wrong with Dan.

CramCycle

CramCycle wrote: »

Great finish for the Italian Champ today, she looked delighted, was pulling time out of the chase group all the way to the line.

Delighted for for her, always feel like she deserves more wins than she gets. Dani Row made a fair point in commentary about the women's game and needing a sprint for a lot of races.

dastardly00

Just looked at the results from Stage 1 of Tour de Catalunya. Both Dan and Nico finished safely in the peloton. Froome has lost a bucket load of time already.

at1withmyself

dastardly00 wrote: »

Just looked at the results from Stage 1 of Tour de Catalunya. Both Dan and Nico finished safely in the peloton. Froome has lost a bucket load of time already.

Whilst its not really a target race for him it was still weird seeing him struggle at the back of he peloton on the climbs when the sprinters where holding on OK.

I am happy though for 2 reasons, 1 I never trusted him and 2 now it gives Dan a better chance at leadership but I imagine the TT tomorrow could make that decision for a lot of teams

Great finish today, the last 25 km was very good.

Wasn't expecting much from Froome but the climbs he was getting dropped on even I could drag myself over.

Delighted for Kron. The Danes have a serious pool of talent.

velo.2010

At 5.5 million a year, ISN have no real choice but to take Froome to the Tour, even though he offers nothing to the team in his current (and likely future) form. Froome will have to suffer the igmony of the camera moto's following him while being dropped early on every significant climb during the Tour.

Froome has only regressed since he returned last year. Approaching two years of rehab and training, we should have seen some upturn in form by now. It just goes to show how bad his injury was at the time. I do have some sympathy for him.

CramCycle

He found the team that would pay him not the team that could support him if he thought he could get back. Fair play to him, he made the choice I would have made, he accepted he was past it but he made damn sure someone was stupid enough to pay him. Now maybe ISN made it in ad revenue and coverage, whatever, I doubt it. Did he have much more to give if the accident didn't happen, maybe but I don't see it, I think it afforded him a way to hide that he was 12 months from going out the back door and sell a comeback to the highest bidder.

TLDR, I feel bad for him but I think it afforded him an opportunity that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise financially, as terrible as that comes across.

TheBlaaMan

Froome has returned to form.

It just happens to be the form he originally had in 2011.

velo.2010

CramCycle wrote: »

He found the team that would pay him not the team that could support him if he thought he could get back. Fair play to him, he made the choice I would have made, he accepted he was past it but he made damn sure someone was stupid enough to pay him. Now maybe ISN made it in ad revenue and coverage, whatever, I doubt it. Did he have much more to give if the accident didn't happen, maybe but I don't see it, I think it afforded him a way to hide that he was 12 months from going out the back door and sell a comeback to the highest bidder.

TLDR, I feel bad for him but I think it afforded him an opportunity that he wouldn't have gotten otherwise financially, as terrible as that comes across.

I think he genuinely believed he could get back to top form when he signed that contract and didn't believe he was past it. However, I'd agree that he has proven himself to be a bit of a ruthless SOB and wouldn't put what you said past him.

Now that he's unlikely to ever return to form (and finally accept it himself), I can't see him wanting to stick around to honour whatever is stipulated in his contract beyond the Tour. I see Froome as someone who will walk away completely from cycling when he's done. However, his hands may be tied up for the next couple of years with this ISN deal.

Macy0161

Obviously assumes no performance clauses in Froomes contract. Only watched the highlights this morning, but was surprised how early he was tailed off. At that point, it was looking like a sprint!

retalivity

Roche didn't sign on for the TT today

EDIT: Dan losing a minute to a lot of the other GC guys