The Peloton
For observations and comments on the Pro scene.
Race Results 2019 - Men
| Event | First | Second | Third | Forth | Fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omloop Het Nieublad Elite | Stybar | van Avermaet | Wellens | Lutsenko | Teuns |
| Kuurne Brussels Kuurne | Jungles | Doull | Terpstra | Groenewegen | Lampaert |
| Strade Bianche | Alaphilippe | Fuglsang | van Aert | Stybar | Benoot |
| Paris - Nice (8d) | Bernal | Quintana | Kwiatkowski | Haig | Bardet |
| Tirreno Adriatico (7d) | Roglic | A Yates | Fuglsang | Dumoulin | Pinot |
| Milan San Remo | Alaphilippe | Naesen | Kwiatkowski | Sagan | Mohoric |
| Volta Ciclista a Catalunya (7d) | Lopez | Yates | Bernal | Quintana | Kruijswijk |
| E3 Harelbeke | Stybar | van Aert | van Avermaet | Bettiol | Jungels |
| Gent - Wevelgem | Kristoff | Degenkolb | Naesen | van der Poel | van Poppel |
| Tour of Flanders | Bettiol | Asgreen | Kristoff | van der Poel | Politt |
| Paris-Roubaix | Gilbert | Pollit | Lampaert | Vanmarke | Sagan |
| Amstel Gold Race | |||||
| La Fleche Wallonne | |||||
| Liege - Bastogne - Liege | |||||
| Tour de Romandie | |||||
| Giro d'Italia | |||||
| Criterium du Dauphine | |||||
| Tour de Suisse | |||||
| Le Tour de France | |||||
| Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian | |||||
| Vuelta a Espana | |||||
| Tour of Britain | |||||
| Grand Prix Cycliste de Montreal | |||||
| UCI Road World Championships | |||||
| Giro di Lombardia |
Race Results 2019 - Women
| Event | First | Second | Third | Forth | Fifth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Omloop het Nieuwsblad | Blaak | Bastianelli | van den Bos | van Vleuten | Ryan |
| Strade Bianche | van Vleuten | Langvad | Niewiadoma | Bastianelli | Ludwig |
| Ronde van Drenthe | Bastianelli | Blaak | van Dijk | Pieters | Kopecky |
| Trofeo Alfredo Binda Women | Vos | Spratt | Ludwig | Chursina | Cecchini |
| Driedaagse Brugge - de Panne Women | Wild | Wiebers | Kopecky | Lepisto | Anderson |
| Gent-Wevelgem | Wild | Wiebes | Paternoster | Bastianelli | Pieters |
| Tour of Flanders | Bastianelli | van Vleuten | Ludwik | Bertizzolo | van Dijk |
| Amstel Gold Race | |||||
| La Fleche Wallonne | |||||
| Liege-Bastogne-Liege Femmes | |||||
| OVO Energy Women's Tour | |||||
| Giro d'Italia Internazionale Femminile | |||||
| La Course by Le Tour de France Women | |||||
| GP de Plouay | |||||
| UCI Road World Championships |
I have greatly enjoyed watching Chris Horner’s YouTube channel. Having been in the pro peloton for years, Chris has a unique take on tactics, insights on riders, and general knowledge. His no holds barred, take no prisoners honesty spares no one. Commentators, directors, riders, and even Chris himself have been on the receiving end of his criticisms. On yesterday’s commentary on the Tour of Romandie commentary, Chris offered this gem: Richie Porte can’t descend in the wet. I know this for a fact because he can’t descend in the dry. I have been on his wheel in the Tour de… Read more »
On Carapaz’s DG from L-B-L for an illegal super tuck. I see the social media comments on it are pretty much against the UCI but I have to wonder (think) that the UCI bans are more to do with amateur riding. The other week (in the car) I passed a rider in a super tuck going downhill on a solo ride on a busy road. Given the level of control a rider has in that position it struck me as pretty stupid.
Watched him do it during the race coverage and we wondered if he would be DQ’ed. Personally, I would’ve relegated him (like they do for erratic/irregular sprinting). But if you’re going to DQ him, do it right then and there. Easy enough to call/radio the DS in the car and tell the team their rider is DQ’ed. You don’t wait until 24 hours+ after the fact. And since his result didn’t matter so what’s the point of DQ-ing him?
Great win for Tom Pidcock today in De Brabantse Pijl outsprinting van Aert and Trentin in the finish.
https://fb.watch/4SQInhXe1l/
Whilst in the women’s event Demi Vollering is the latest rider to suffer the “too early celebration” method of snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.
Good to see Cavendish get a win again. He seemed in better shape at the start of the season vs previous seasons. Maybe age or the DQS move has given him a different approach to diet/weight.
Yes indeed! A few placings and then, at last, a win. Then a second win to show that it wasn’t a fluke. Sure, the Tour of Turkey field isn’t the best, but Phillipsen is on form and Greipel knows what he’s doing. I’d imagine Cav rides better/best on a nice dose of confidence and these wins will certainly help. Here’s hoping he can stay fit and healthy for the rest of the year.
Paris-Roubaix has apparently been postponed to October 2-3 due to the COVID-19 pandemic increase in France.
The first women’s Paris-Roubaix race has been moved to Saturday, October 2 with the men’s race on the Sunday, October 3 creating a Paris-Roubaix weekend.
If I have not got it in the schedule already we’ll pick up the women’s P-R in OTRL.
Roubaix cancelled. No official word on possible re-scheduled date. https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paris-roubaix-called-off-due-to-covid-19-situation-in-northern-france/
Oops! Sorry for the double-tap!
E3 and Gent – Wevelgem could be under threat too. Starting to look like we may be in for another Autumn Spring Classics in 2021.
F*CK!
Unfortunately France and other parts of Europe are heading into further COVID lockdowns and Paris Roubaix plus other events could be under threat. UCI have made some other changes to the race calendar which I will check against the OTRL calendar but on first scan I think they are to events not included in the OTRL calendar.
Sad to see Ian Stannard has had to call time on his career.
So I guess King Sagan wasn’t quite done after all! What an incredible performance that was.
It’s a funny old season in terms of folk at peak performance. Maybe suits those who respond well to a short buildup whereas some of the perceived GT favourites are better with a long slow season burn.
That can actually be seen in more sports than cycling. I have never seen as many goals scored per game of football as in the start of this season in the English Premier League. 5-2, 6-1, 7-2, 4-3, with a bunch of silly looking mistakes. It looks exactly like what you say, these elite sports stars are having to play themselves into shape rather than complete a full preseason and it happens much faster for some than others.
Paris Roubaix cancelled due to worsening Covid situation.
https://www.velonews.com/news/road/paris-roubaix-canceled-due-to-coronavirus/
Not much else they could have done really. What an unholy mess this entire year has been…
Apparently, no final decision yet even though they already announced postponing it. Like WTF??? https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/paris-roubaix-not-yet-off-says-french-sports-minister/
Amstel Gold races (men and femmes) cancelled.
https://www.velonews.com/news/road/amstel-gold-race-canceled-amid-tightening-covid-19-restrictions/?fbclid=IwAR3f_TtJQjNW6sPOG4v4DR20TZdDjKmkEEZodKwn89lYfJIYYWBcjKe4rQw
If anyone wants to know why the pros are pros and were are just dilettantes: https://www.velonews.com/training/power-analysis-uci-elite-mens-world-road-cycling-championships/ Using time differences and VAM-based calculations, we can estimate that the front group was riding at well over 7w/kg on the final climb of the Gallisterna, with Alaphilippe’s attack coming at over 8w/kg. Compared to Kuss’ time of 3:58 (at 7w/kg) on lap 7, Alaphilippe climbed the Gallisterna in a time of 3:30, with a ridiculous VAM of 2177 meters per hour. Julian Alaphilippe – lap 9 on the steep section of Gallisterna: Time: 3:30 (Estimated) Average Power: ~465-500w (~7.5-8w/kg) Keep in mind that… Read more »
And if it had been figures posted by Froome the internet would be having a field day!
I think we may have to admit that these guys are just better than we are…
Adam Yates signs for Team Ineos
Introducing these rules for race organisation and management would seem to make a lot of sense.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-emden-makes-10-rider-safety-proposals-we-are-not-circus-animals/?fbclid=IwAR12RLziihcoKFLXMYliGM1WDyuLUbnB7cRJZUiTGJZaaNlqctrHXgbYN1Q
Nifty tap dancing by Brailsford. Bernal – Tour; G – Giro; Froome – Vuelta. Covers the bases and avoids seeing G and Froome being embarrassed in the big one..
Yea, watching Froome and Thomas at the Dauphine it was clear they didn’t have the form now. I question whether Froome will have it by the time the Vuelta rolls around. Frankly, it didn’t look like Bernal had the form now either but maybe he will as the Tour progresses. Should be a wide open and exciting Tour. Can’t wait!
Wow! G and Froome left off the Ineos team for Le Tour. Not many teams could afford to exclude a total of five Tour victories from their squad.
Froome is clearly not on the numbers and G is not currently hitting the front with any conviction so I don’t think they had much choice. I suspected at the end of last season that they would target winning all 3 GTs – though I was not guessing they’d do it the way they have announced.
An interesting analysis for those that know far more than me about power stats. At least it’s go FB conspiracy theorists going about someone other than INEOS for a change!
https://www.velonews.com/training/power-analysis-sepp-kuss-on-stage-5-of-the-criterium-du-dauphine/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=velonews&utm_campaign=bfcb4623-6a77-4c29-a4fc-9b3db3ca1e7f
Interesting that Quintana is struck by a car while training only days after he was critical of Colombian agent’s dealings with young cyclists.
Happy Birthday to Eddy Merckx. 75 years young today.
Bon anniversaire au cannibale!
Anti-doping samples from 2017 Tour de France retested in light of Operation Aderlass information
In spite of myself I watched the he new ESPN 30 for 30. It was the story of some cyclist, whose name escapes me, from Texas.
Did anyone else feel the need to watch this “documentary?” If so, I would love to know the impressions of anyone who, like me, couldn’t look away from this train wreck.
I hope everyone is safe, well, and able to ride outdoors, albeit with appropriate social distancing.
I found it surprisingly easy to find something better to do!
Oh and yes we’ve been able to ride outdoors all through this, so far. Interestingly though, I have been limiting my mileage per ride but now we are able to take unlimited exercise so stepped back up a bit. I seem to have discovered a couple of things 1) I’m now optimised for 50Km, 80Km seems a long way 2) 80Km with no cafe stop (they are all still shut) makes it even further!
I am glad that you found something better to do on Sunday. I planned on avoiding the show but my morbid curiosity got the better of me. I know what you mean about riding. My last real weekend of riding included a total of 219.8 KM with 2,715 vertical meters of climbing. For me at least that is pretty good form for mid-March. This past weekend I did my longest ride since that weekend. The 65.4 KM and 553 meters of climbing seemed like the Bataan Death March. My goodness where did that early season form go? We in NYC… Read more »
I’ve been able to get out frequently the last few months. Like you, I seem to be trapped in a 50-70km vortex. It seems to fit into the time I have available. As my fitness gets better, I’m ready to do longer rides, but the weather conspires against me. Today it’s supposed to be 112 degrees (44* C). Water stops are few and far between.
A couple of months ago I watched Stop at Nothing. From commentary of the ESPN story, it sounds like an almost identical narrative. Because of that, I doubt I’ll watch this 30 for 30 of some random Texan cyclist. Also, I heard a podcast interview a while ago, the voice of the person was suspiciously similar to the cyclist in Stop at Nothing. There was a lot of refection, perhaps some wisdom and humbleness creeping in as he aged. But then it ended with – knowing what he knows now, would he do it all over again? He said yes,… Read more »
I watched because … why not? I even added the Sling TV Orange package to get ESPN so I could watch. Nothing new or real revelations. Like him or hate him, Lance is Lance. And he (and his era) are part of the history of our sport.
So what are the chances of pro racing coming back by limiting or entirely excluding spectators at the start and finish? Do you think fans would generally stay distanced on the rest of the course? Personally, I prefer watching the races on TV so I can see the whole race, rather than momentary glimpses of the peloton as it roars by. It would be fun to hang out at the start or finish, but if that was eliminated, do you think most people would just stay home and watch on TV?
Well, I can see how it would be feasible lockdown the start/finish areas (towns/resorts) but the issue would be the classic parts of any event. ie the cobbled climbs on The Classics, the mountain stages on the GTs. So many people would still try to travel that the roads would be gridlocked if they tried to lock them down and then the event probably would not be able to get through. Not sure I can see it happening.
It would be great to have an Autumn Series of The Classics if only for this to come off.
https://racing.trekbikes.com/stories/trek-segafredo-women/first-ever-womens-paris-roubaix-announced-for-october?fbclid=IwAR37YzKZRkGSXtFkMP7QOnjaraGvuvIcTrSsAD8EANMWnd1Ddho0YSHbVNo
It appears that the handwriting is on the wall for pro cycling. The comments of the French Minister of Sports and the harsh reality that CCC is closing stores and restructuring make for a bleak outlook for the sport. While I understand the Minister’s point, I believe that a year sans the TdF may make sponsors reluctant to spend money on what is essentially advertising. In addition, closing stores and costs, as CCC is doing, makes it impossible to justify the expenditures necessary for a pro cycling sponsorship. As a result, I am concerned that we may not see any… Read more »
Another one bites the dust: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/jim-ochowicz-confirms-ccc-will-end-sponsorship-at-end-of-season-457445?utm_source=&utm_medium=cyclingweekly&utm_content=4ecbddd9-b6cb-4239-bb61-a54bbe30f613
The fallout from the COVID crisis should be a wake up call that pro cycling’s business model is outdated and not sustainable.
It would be nice if the world could get back to enough normality for Strade Bianche on Aug 1st….
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/strade-bianche-on-august-1-could-be-first-race-on-post-covid-19-calendar/?fbclid=IwAR3pvbaT5AvCQOhsA9C9GnQQrT_Yu8aGxGjavAAKBUo8OxP0fkNzAuWUbh4