2017 'PRO' cycling discussion.

[wheelbuilder]

The Junior women's TT was supremely entertaining. So great to see young riders able to compete on such a huge stage. It was very cute to see some very tight budget equipment choices, ill-fitting floppy helmets, baggy club-fit skinsuits, cheap shoes, etc. I hope they are all very proud of themselves as they should be. A must watch in my opinion!

[Ghost234]

I think the equivalent of the tennis "calendar grand slam", where you hold all the major titles in the same calendar year would indeed be very hard in the modern era. I guess if all three grand tours put some big TT and/or TTT mileage in the same year then you could see Froome currently having enough to get a lead and hold it. But that would be an unlikely scenario.

I could however see someone holding all three titles at the same time, most likely Tour/Vuelta in one year and the Giro in the following. If I were serious about historical legacy in cycling and I was in Froome's postion right now - I'd be thinking do the Giro next year even if it means missing the tour. Only my opinion though.

Nino Schurter has been unbelievable this year, won all six rounds of the World Cup this year, as well as his sixth world championship, also he's Olympic champion and also won Cape epic early in March.

He's dominated MTB XC more than all Team Sky put together, no one seems to question him, no alarm bells ringing??

For me he is amazing but made the sport I love watching quite boring this year.

There is a small difference between road and XC. You can be a fitter racer in XC and still not win. Technical skill and smarts account for a bigger factor than fitness. Road is much more of a fitness contest (comparatively speaking). Nino is able to win on uphills, downhills, technical sections, or mistakes of other riders. He is incredibly dynamic and is able to exploit situations to help him win.

I'm not saying he is 100% clean. But I do believe that drug use in XCO is much less than in road. And any physical performance gain in XC is significantly smaller than road as you need to be technically proficient enough to handle it. Nino also has to go through the same bio passport protocols are the roadies.

[jooo]

Sorry, that line of thought is completely bogus. It's the same fallacy used by tennis/soccer etc to try and divert attention from their doping problems. It's much easier to remain technically proficient (in any sport) when you've got a better program than your opponents

I'm a big XCO fan, but let's be honest here, Absalon's peak was during an era with hi-octane doping and Schurter has already been around long enough to fit into that category. Why should they face less scrutiny than someone racing on the road?

[tymon_tm]

Tony Martin angry about organizers not asking him what sort of course he wants to ride in the TT WC

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tony-martin-angry-about-uphill-finish-to-time-trial-world-championships/

[wingguy]

He's got a point about the bike swaps though. GCN just popped up a vid of the Belgians practicing bike swaps and the mechanic gives a massive running push to get the rider back up to speed. How can it be legal to plan on getting a 20 yard push in the middle of a TT? If someone else does the whole course on one bike could they ask their mechanic to give them a big push up the steepest section just to even things out?

[tymon_tm]

agree with the pushing thing, and I'd argue if rules allow the bike swap thing shouldn't be allowed

[micky]

Free push for everyone!
Legalize the pushing, it will be a level playing field!

[kingkongsfinger]

Free push for everyone!
Legalize the pushing, it will be a level playing field!

Then there will be 100 metre sprint champions/ bob sledge champions sat in the back of the car to give the strongest quickest push

[Kjetil]

Free push for everyone!
Legalize the pushing, it will be a level playing field!

No no no. Pushing only for the Norwegians. (EBH plans to use an S5 with clip-ons, no bike swap.)
Good to see a number of ill fitting jackets in the junior men's ITT today.

[itsacarr]

Reminds me of when Orica had an olympic bobsledder to push after a swap:

https://www.greenedgecycling.com/news/m ... en-overall

Not a huge fan of allowing bike swaps but everyone gets to do it so what the hell I guess. Wouldn't mind seeing someone botch the transition though

[ave]

Tony Martin angry about organizers not asking him what sort of course he wants to ride in the TT WC

Of course he is angry, as he has no chance. You expect him to be happy about this huge climb?

[bilwit]

Tony Martin angry about organizers not asking him what sort of course he wants to ride in the TT WC

Of course he is angry, as he has no chance. You expect him to be happy about this huge climb?

IMO he's just removing expectations off of him, not angry about the course not suiting him--he always makes similar comments on uphill TTs and the like. Definitely seems mad about the bike swap though. I think it would be fair to rule only one type of bike allowed. With "strategic" swapping, you take away a little of the cycling element and delve into weird territory of who can dismount-remount-get-going the fastest.

[IchDien]

Who does everyone think for the Men's ITT then?

[CrankAddictsRich]

Who does everyone think for the Men's ITT then?

I think Rohan Dennis.... or maybe Primoz? (spelling?)

[Epic-o]

Moscon solving deprecated cubic equations in order to choose bike
https://ibb.co/dH91Ok