2016 'PRO' cycling discussion.

Questions about bike hire abroad and everything light bike related. No off-topic chat please

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Rondje
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by Rondje

I didn't say I didn't agree with him, just that the best rider can easily have the same badluck as Nibali had on a MTB.

I agree that races becoming more dull. Sky and co control in the mountains, sprint trains control in the flat races and in the handful of climbing 1 day races everyone waits for the last climb to attack. The only attractive races are usually the spring races between het Nieuwsblad till P-R. And that is because there is individual skill required in those. Other then that only the weather can make races more interesting, or smaller teams (and no communication?) like we've seen in the Olympics.

by Weenie


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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

yes, individual skills, that's precisely it, and I'm sure that's what Sagan meant - a rider on his bike equipped in nothing but his skills. that's what's alluring in MTB or XC, and completely missing from road racing. the moments when it's one guy making a difference are very rare, and as you said - can be noticed mostly during technical spring races. but that doesn't have to be - remember Sagans' 2105 ToC win? he shouldn't have - by all cycling rules - but have won it anyway. I believe Tim Wellens' TdP win this year can be put into same category. it wasn't calculated, brought to his feet by a super strong team, but just won on his very own.
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.

Norregard
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by Norregard

Rondje wrote:I didn't say I didn't agree with him, just that the best rider can easily have the same badluck as Nibali had on a MTB.

I agree that races becoming more dull. Sky and co control in the mountains, sprint trains control in the flat races and in the handful of climbing 1 day races everyone waits for the last climb to attack. The only attractive races are usually the spring races between het Nieuwsblad till P-R. And that is because there is individual skill required in those. Other then that only the weather can make races more interesting, or smaller teams (and no communication?) like we've seen in the Olympics.


Re: the part in bold: I'm not sure I agree. I think it's more the excitement of the 'koers' coming to Belgium again than the quality of the races. Looking at the monuments: MSR is boring as hell with nothing happening until the Poggio. RVV is a waiting game until the last time around the Kwarement/Paterberg. PR is a bit more unpredictable depending on the weather but is more often than not decided on Carrefour de l'Arbre. What I can agree with is that in the RVV and PR it's usually the strongest rider that wins, but that doesn't always make for an exciting race.

Second tier races like E3 and Kuurne can be exciting because you get a good mix of riders there (sprinters hoping for the peloton to stay together (especially Kuurne), big guns who are focussed on the monuments and looking at these races as a warming up, outsiders focussing on those races as their main goal). Stuyven winning Kuurne as an example of an exciting race this year.

Strade Bianche is awesome though.

Rondje
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by Rondje

But another reason those races are more attractive is because of the stories before the real final begins. RVV/PR etc are so chaotic (which San Remo isn't). Anything can happen and the favourites staying out of trouble is just as much interesting to me. Some do attack before the last round and it makes you wonder, will they stay up front: Terpstra, Kristoff, attacking earlier then expected in 2015 RVV, Boonen 2014's early P-R attack, Sagan also went earlier then expected this year with Kwiat and Sep.
There is also a real chance attackers can stay up front because there is less organisation. Who would have guessed Erviti or Claeys getting a top10 in RVV? And Hayman won P-R while being in front all day. And Gent-Wevelgem 2015 is probably the best race I've ever seen on TV, because of the unreliable spring weather.

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Kjetil
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by Kjetil

Norregard wrote:MSR is boring as hell with nothing happening until the Poggio.
It's just that you don't get it.
http://inrng.com/2016/03/the-sanremo-paradox/
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Norregard
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by Norregard

Kjetil wrote:
Norregard wrote:MSR is boring as hell with nothing happening until the Poggio.
It's just that you don't get it.
http://inrng.com/2016/03/the-sanremo-paradox/


Oh, I get it. That is a well written, very romantic view of one of the monuments and I can relate because it's the way I feel about a lot of other races across the season where I'll happily spend hours watching the build up of the race. It's almost written well enough to say "you know what, I don't know where I was going with my remark, MSR is great, I'm going to watch it from km 0 next year". But actually ... it's not. Not really. MSR is about as enjoyable as a flat sprinters stage at the Tour or the Fleche Wallone. Everyone knows what's going to happen but there's always that little voice trying to convince you that THIS is the time the breakaway heroes make it all the way to the finish line. And you're delighted when it happens, and disappointed when it doesn't. But the fact of the matter is that everything that comes before the final chase to the finish line, or the final push to the Poggio or the Mur de Huy, is largely meaningless. And to be fair, I feel as excited when the peloton turn onto the Poggio (or the Mur for that matter) without watching the 290km prior to that, than I would after watching the entire race.

nathanong87
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by nathanong87

dunno how i got here, but i stumbled upon Vlogs from Philip Hindes and laughed alot during them. Pretty cool videos he made in the lead up to RIO.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3-1NG ... NsQ/videos

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Kjetil
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by Kjetil

There you go, Norregard. I find MSR exciting (and inrng writes why better than I can) but FW as boring as any GT stage with a mountain top finish. To each his own I guess.
Bianchi-Campagnolo
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kkibbler
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by kkibbler

I find all the other classics to be worth watching if not always exciting, but Amstel is dreadfully boring.

Rondje
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by Rondje

kkibbler wrote:I find all the other classics to be worth watching if not always exciting, but Amstel is dreadfully boring.


Not to defend the Amstel, but how is it any different then F-W or LBL?

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kkibbler
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by kkibbler

I don't know how to spell it out, exactly. It might be the lappy nature of the route, but FW has that too and I don't mind it there. I do think the route misses the balance between being hard enough to shell out non-contenders and being too hard causing everyone to turtle up until towards the end. IMHO.

EDIT: WTF there was a saddle on the tarmac in the mess at the end of today's stage. Did someone break a seatpost? Is it the same crash that caught Steve? What the hell happened?

Rondje
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by Rondje

Kruijswijk broken collarbone by the looks of it. As what happened? The UCI and organisers in general not learning from previous mistakes (surprise surprise) as it seems.
Pais Vasco 2015: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/riders- ... try-crash/ and later "investigated" by the UCI: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-to- ... s-surgery/
Vuelta today: https://twitter.com/ReneKruithof/status ... 0232678400 Those 3 images give you a good idea of what happened.

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prebsy
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by prebsy

If you want to make road racing more exciting get smaller teams and reduce the peloton size slightly. That will allow an individual to make more of a difference.

Pieter
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by Pieter

prebsy wrote:If you want to make road racing more exciting get smaller teams and reduce the peloton size slightly. That will allow an individual to make more of a difference.

This. 5 riders per team, epic race.

by Weenie


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djcharlou
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by djcharlou

This morning I rode by Romain Bardet, we did the same climb and unlike last week (I saw him 4-5 times) he was on a full black bike, maybe a new Focus prototype ?

You can see a picture here : http://www.foxphotos.fr/folio/484/media/1C57HL23S3CZJU52L2D249/b11898.jpg.html

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