"PRO" Cycling Discussion

[KWalker]

Phinney has had some exciting wins in the past year and in different manners as well, sort of like how Terpstra has won.

[AGW]

Nate, a gif of Phinney's bow had better be in the works.

[jooo]

grade A type A asshole. Sorry, but every video or rider interview with anyone that has worked with him has painted him as being arrogant, demanding, and short-tempered. Social ineptitude is one thing, but he just sounds like a head-strong turd.

Self reflection?

[KWalker]

Except that no one that has worked with me or that knows me in real life has ever said the same things about how I conduct myself. Sure I've gotten plenty of critiques over the way I word written communications and how shitty they come off, having strong opinions that can come off as unyielding/domineering, being a bit overanalytic/critical, being a bit neurotic about cycling, etc., but never behavior that people see Evans engage in.

Evans on the other hand has been caught on camera yelling at his teammates after stages, almost everyone that has worked for him in a race has said that he is extremely demanding and unopen to working as a team, and incredibly rude when he doesn't get the result he wants. I may be many things but I would never act that way to teammates or co-workers and believe me events have transpired just as poorly for me as they have for him in many respects.

But hey, its easy to write a sneering comment and shows how much of a troll you are and how you have absolutely nothing to contribute in the way of pro cycling discussion. I feel sad that that is how you get your laughs.

[CulBaire]

Cadel is a grade A type A asshole. Sorry, but every video or rider interview with anyone that has worked with him has painted him as being arrogant, demanding, and short-tempered. Social ineptitude is one thing, but he just sounds like a head-strong turd.

Funny as in person I found him to be quite humble, and quite spoken?

[petepeterson]

Let's get the good vibes going....

Two former riders (Tuft & Routley) who got their start on a small team out of Vancouver (Symmetrics) winning at the highest level this week.

Super stoked to see Will Routley get a huge result at ToC. Hasn't won a Giro but I guarantee will never had to say sorry "I made some bad decisions 8 years ago". Perfect example for young guys who may not come up winning everything but worked hard and stuck with it.

[petepeterson]

http://www.bicycling.com/video/bmcs-post-stage-banter#/video/all

[petepeterson]

Sorry... I can't help myself

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-fe79ZuDKfk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrpL6BA6PBQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FikzgWE3t0A

[vdrey]

^For a second there I thought I was watching Renshaw with all of those headbutts being thrown around...

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[jmilliron]

I love Cuddles. Great to see him slugging it out.

[petelars]

So Purito began the Giro with two broken ribs. Broke another, and a thumb, and still finished the stage yesterday.

That's... Wow.

I cracked a rib on a ride last week (car forced me off the road), and I haven't slept properly, or been able to go full power yet.

[de zwarten]

It's unbelievable that it is so slippery.
As for Evans gains, well, yes, he took advantage of the situation, but I think it's worth noting that they increased their advantage, instead of the bunch pulling them back.

I have read, that the roads in Southern Italy are especially slippery because of olive tree gardens (and other vegetation with leafs with some wax on it). So when it rains, the wax comes with the water on the streets and fills the pores of the asphalt.

As for Evans and BMC, the crash happened at approx. 10kms from the finish (which is 5 to the start of the climb). It took some time to get things organized in the back, and with half of the riders having gone to the max. to reform the chasing group, most of riders were already at their limit at the start of the climb. It has to be said though that Wegelius, Durbridge and especially Morabito did great work by increasing the pace from the crash on.

And still for the defenders of the BMC/OGE tactics: the whole peloton (minus 8 riders) was held up in the crash loosing time on GC. This was quite extraordinary and I do not remember a situation like this before. It can very well turn out that the crash has no consequences on who wins the giro, but BMC will have a lot less sympathy in that giro peloton.

[xnavalav8r]

Interestingly, the only people complaining about the finishing "tactics" of OGE/BMC at the Giro are the armchair quarterbacks in bike-related forums. I have not seen a single rider or team staffer weigh in on the situation. No one is complaining.

If I was Evans I would never wait a nano-second for anyone... not after that flat and disastrous wheel change in Spain a few years ago. Waiting isn't bike racing. Bike racing is cutthroat elimination of your competitors. Waiting only makes sense when a handful of guys are going mano-a-mano and someone wants to make some chivalrous gesture. It waiting were the norm, we shouldn't bother having timed stages. Cycling should simply be a series of sprints.

[MarkGiardini]

Agreed

[HillRPete]

Does Katusha have anyone else for GC at the tour? Would this warrant considering pulling the plug on his Giro and building towards July?

World Tour teams are obliged to attend the top-level races, I don't think they can just pull out entirely.