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 |
Possibility of a Milan San Remo Femmes next year and changes to the Giro d’Italia Donne.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/womens-milan-san-remo-planned-for-2023/?utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=socialflow&utm_content=cyclingnews&fbclid=IwAR2RNFlsb-R0Dx6Q7eUmdLjnPRQQ1WCzAPEwH6E2WCsJ_6eUsOCJ92Ouhbw
The final stage of the Tour of Britain is here on try home patch on the Isle of Wight culminating in a hill top finish at The Needles. I’ll take some photos of the climb to post.
https://www.tourofbritain.co.uk/stages/stage-eight/
This seems like as good place as any to post this. Check out the drone footage (it’s on Twitter) in the article.
https://cyclingmagazine.ca/cyclocross/the-uci-banned-camera-drones-on-the-first-lap-of-a-cross-race/
It would appear that the TdF is going to sue that *&^% spectator with the sign, if they can identify them. Not before time IMHO. With all the injuries and broken bikes that could be a very large bill to pay.
How Soler managed to complete the day after the second crash, apparently with 2 broken elbows is quite astonishing.
It seems that the culprit has been found. https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/police-find-and-arrest-spectator-who-caused-mass-tour-de-france-crash/?fbclid=IwAR3HWfOeaAfo7fPg5GZ1fwAZqvCYrRPg2WWAdkSy09BXapax83YBA-SW2Ng
Sam Bennett out of The Tour following a knee injury and Mark Cavendish in. Shame for Bennett and a bit of real competition for the Green Jersey goes with him but great to see whether Cavenish can increase his Tour stage win total.
Yeah, lots going on in the Bennett situation – injury and (apparently) leaving at year’s end. I think (hope) Cav can surprise us all with a couple of wins. He might not be the fastest in a straight-up drag race, but he’s a smart, wily competitor who knows how to ride in the wheels. After all the injuries/bad luck he’s had, a win would be wonderful.
Great result for Tom Pidcock in the MTB Worlds today.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/races/uci-mtb-world-cup-xco-nove-mesto-2021/eilte-men-xco/results/?fbclid=IwAR2qYAFH9H8upDKtqOdzcHLNmq6waQq3szGCTzHNA01AXYv0XWvIRX1J9O4
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!