Yet Another Cycling Forum
General Category => Freewheeling => Racing => Topic started by: Ewan Houzami on 23 February, 2013, 03:24:08 pm
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Just a heads-up really, but the season's started, Omloop's on and G's in the break with 5 k to go!
Might have missed a bit of what was going on as trying to multitask with the Rugby, but G finished 4th ahead of Chava in the gallop, but all in all a good start for the Welshman
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The classics have started so spring's here, yay!
[I'll ignore the snow that was falling on my ride this morning]
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That was a good race. G looked good, especially considering he had a heavy fall earlier.
Kind of a shame they let those two escape - once they were away, the result was a foregone conclusion.
Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne tomorrow - the first showdown of the season between Cav and Greipel. Can't wait.
d.
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Luca Paolini is a right powerhouse isn't he? Being more of a one-day man he doesn't seem to have as much of a profile as the stage racers. I find the number of riders racing today's Omloop who're on the start list for KBK tomorrow to be quite an eye-opener; Paolini, Vandenbergh, Boonen, Thomas, Flecha and other masochists. I forget at times that they do this for a living and probably approach the weekend as a two stage race, but they're still nutters as far as I'm concerned, especially considering the temperature can't be much more than 0oC.
Can't wait for the opening Cav/Gorilla ding-dong tomorrow either. Hopefully I'll remember it's on before the closing 10k this time.
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Was that on Eurosport?
Good to see Geraint back on form after practically a year out. He's due a big Classics win.
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No idea! I clicked one of the links on cyclingfans.com. Eurosport are showing KBK but not until late evening by the looks of it, so I'll be chasing noisy low-res streams via said website again tomorrow, and postpone any month by month subscription to Eurosport until Paris Nice kicks off. Possibly.
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Eurosport have kbk live from 2.15 gmt on my guide. Plus you'll get feeds linked on procyclinglive and cyclingfans websites.
Can I just get my 15 minutes of fame and say I picked Paolini in my fantasy team coz he is know as a good early spring/cobbled classics rider. Not really a surprise. My surprise was picking another 4 in the next 7 home which no doubt will never happen again. And I never had any money on it.
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Eurosport are still showing skiing and stuff, they weren't even showing the World Track Championships. They did show Qatar, Oman and the Algarve though. The Spring Classics are my favourite, I'll check to see if KBK is on tomorrow.
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KBK is on Eurosport 2 live at 14.15 then highlights at 21.15 today
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KBK is cancelled due to dangerous conditions. :(
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A*se.
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Bah! I was looking forward to that, couldn't understand why it wasn't on when I got home now. I notice that Cav (or Geraint) had tweeted a very snowy photo, didn't mention it was cancelled. A recap of Wiggins's tour win it is then!
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Anyone else catch the end of the Roma Maxima yesterday, where Filippo Pozzato won the sprint and what he thought was the race - and celebrated as if he'd won - oblivious to the fact that Blel Kadri had crossed the line 37 seconds earlier?
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Yes, one of the benefits/flaws of having no race radio. I guess the peloton only saw the five-man chase group and didn't realise there was another chap up the road.
Great ride by Kadri. Would have been cruel if they'd caught him.
Did you see the Strade Bianche on Saturday too? Superb team tactics by Cannondale to nullify Cancellara, with the happy side effect that they took the top two places on the podium. :thumbsup:
d.
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E3-Harelbeke today. Can Boonen make it number 6? I don't think so myself. I'm going for Pozzato for this one.
Ghent-Wevelgem on Sunday.
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It's easy to admire Cancellara. He's not afraid to make a move, and when he does make that move, it's 100% effort from a long way out. What's more he's always forcing the top riders to compete.
Good show from Geraint Thomas, he's consistently in the mix with the big guns.
Great win today for Spartacus, and plenty of excitement to come in Flanders and Roubaix
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Good show from Geraint Thomas, he's consistently in the mix with the big guns.
Great leadout for Sagan! ;D
He's showing some good form. He just needs to get himself in a break without Sagan and maybe he'll win something big soon.
Great win today for Spartacus, and plenty of excitement to come in Flanders and Roubaix
Yeah, great to see he's still got it. That was a fantastic ride by him today. Much prefer watching him ride like that than listening to him whinge about other riders.
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As much as I like Sagan and he's a real Merckx-esque rider, it's also good to see he's beatable and can feel 'empty in legs' like the others. There's looking to be a proper patch/period of quality riders for the next few years
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I can't see Ghent-Wevelgem on Eurosport's schedules for today :o :(
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Is it definitely going ahead? There were reports of snow from Ghent yesterday and the route has already been curtailed by 45km.
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Is it definitely going ahead? There were reports of snow from Ghent yesterday and the route has already been curtailed by 45km.
It's going ahead, but the Casselberg may be cut from the parcours, depending on what conditions are like today.
I'm not sure if Philippe Gilbert's ear-warmers are UCI-approved though... ;D
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/gent-wevelgem-start-moved-to-gistel
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/photos/gallery-on-the-startline-at-gent-wevelgem/258149
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No Eurosport coverage for Gent-Wevelgem (anybody know why?) I'd rather see that than the Volta stage, I'll try a Dutch feed from steephill.tv later...
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On Sporza now in French. Some of them must be thinking 'It's bloomin' freezin'. Why didn't I get picked for the Volta squad?' Stannard was doing turns on the front, and is going to usurp G's position as Sky's classic's man at this rate. And when does JT-L get to spin his legs? I know he's down as a puncheur for the stage races, but I'd have thought it might be worth giving him a shot at a one-day.
(Edit: For some reason I was getting French commentary when clicking a Sporza link. Back to Dutch now)
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He'll probably come to the fore more in the Ardennes.
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G and Spartacus have both packed.
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And Boonen came off, and was limping some way behind. Probably packed by now.
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Nice ride by Sagan. And a wheelie to celebrate. Excellent!
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Sagan really is frightening! To launch yourself off the front with a couple of km's to go and gain fifteen seconds over those he left in his dust is quite incredible. A cheeky two fingers-up to Spartacus as he slowed down to cross the line on one wheel too. And he wasn't wearing gloves like his Mum told him to. Does he have a nickname yet? If not, I'm thinking "Cyborg" or "The Assassin".
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He's the Terminator, like his bike.
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And he wasn't wearing gloves like his Mum told him to.
He was wearing massive gloves earlier. He must have taken them off near the finish. Obviously making sure he looked cool. Which he is...
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I can't see Ghent-Wevelgem on Eurosport's schedules for today :o :(
Highlights at midnight on sky sports 4 (repeated several times) if you missed the sporza feed.
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He's the Terminator, like his bike.
Tourminator, innit?
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Tourminator, schmourminator.
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And he wasn't wearing gloves like his Mum told him to.
He was wearing massive gloves earlier. He must have taken them off near the finish. Obviously making sure he looked cool. Which he is...
(http://www.nrtoone.com/forum/download/file.php?id=188)
Peter mit gloves. He went back to the car just before the dénouement and divested himself of gloves and body warmer.
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Thomas is down, oh no!
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Has Thomas ever actually finished a race?!
FLAME ON!!!!!
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Sagan :( What a jerk. Totally inappropriate behaviour.
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Sagan :( What a jerk. Totally inappropriate behaviour.
I was beginning to like the guy (wheelies on road-bikes, cool). Idiot.
The right man won that one, to be sure :thumbsup:
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Are you referring to this?
(http://homepage.ntlworld.com/rhys.llangefni/lluniau/sagan.jpg)
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Very good!
(I suspect we may be seeing more variations on that ...)
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(https://pbs.twimg.com/media/BGwk9ruCAAAjcMH.jpg) is another one..
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;D The way I see it, this is the best way of drawing people's attention to the absurdity, cheesiness and anachronism of the whole podium girl thing. That said, I know a couple of women who do this sort of thing and they get paid a good whack.
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Very good!
(I suspect we may be seeing more variations on that ...)
Not my work that one, but a lot of my clubmates have been posting photos on facebook from Majorca today. I have GIMP open... :demon:
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Paris Roubaix highlights will be on ITV4 (Freeview 24) 2100-2200 Sunday. Repeated 1350 / 1355 Monday.
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Looking forward to tomorrow's bumpy jaunt. I think Ladagnous will put in a big ride, but they've all got Cancellara to beat.
Agenda: Go for a ride in the morning, watch the race in the afternoon, reflect on a day well spent.
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Vandenburgh would have been in with a good shout there*, had it not been for that pesky fan.
*Spartacus notwithstanding
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..and Stybar
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Jeez. That didn't look easy, but what a finish!
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Massive pull by Cancellara to bridge the gap alone to the front group of seven. Would have been interesting to see if Stybar could have sat on his wheel all the way to the velodrome.
44 kmph average speed, those guys are incredibly strong
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Went over to watch with a few friends this year who've been before so had planned 4 sections to watch at before we holed up in a bar to watch the finish, its been a great day out, another hour and I'll be home.
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The backmarkers at Paris-Roubaix: http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/extra/opvallend/130409_opvallend_nos_Achterkant_hel
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Thanks for posting that Ivo.
It does give a good insight into how difficult the sport can be.
As for the Europcar rider trying to get some sleep in the van; good luck on those cobbles !
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Another film from the Sporza site, Sagan completing his apologies to Maja:
http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/videozone/v_opvallend/wielrennen_opvallend/MV_130410_OPV_Sagan_Bloemenmeisje_bloemen
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Sagan very hot favourite for Amstel, but they'll be loads of skirmishing on the hills, Albasini to put in a big ride.
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The finish has been moved a bit away from the top of the Cauberg. So the ranks of favourites have grown, not only the Gilbert style riders but also the sprinters with climber's legs are favourites now.
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Europsort mentioned that race radio had reports of a crash resulting in Tommy Voeckler breaking his leg. They didn't show the crash, and didn't say more, but I hope it wasn't as bad as they thought.
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They later reported that he had broken his collarbone.
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Ah, that makes more sense. I was envisaging a gory Wilfrid Nelissen-type scenario. His gurning exploits in the Tour won't be in jeopardy then.
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Did the commentator really say "It's a Stella turn-out for the Amstel Gold" ? ;D
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L-B-L: That was a cracking finale to the race. Top riding by Dan Martin (who seems to be losing his 'bag of spanners' style of riding..). Sky really don't have much of a clue on the classics. Did Geriant Thomas manage to avoid crashing this time?
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Did Geriant Thomas manage to avoid crashing this time?
He wasn't in the race. Though that's no guarantee that he didn't crash.
Brilliant ride by Martin. And Hesjedal too for that matter - Garmin got the tactics perfect. Unlike Sky. Again. I thought they were looking well set with about 30km to go - Lopez was in the breakaway, Froome was well placed and looking strong... and then it all seemed to go to pieces. Still, they weren't the only team who failed to deliver yesterday.
There's been a lot of talk of the Giro being a two-horse race between Wiggins and Nibali, but after a slow start to his season, Hesjedal looks like he's hitting his peak at just the right time for the Giro. And Dan Martin looks like being not just a supremely capable lieutenant, but potentially a genuine contender himself.
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L-B-L: That was a cracking finale to the race. Top riding by Dan Martin (who seems to be losing his 'bag of spanners' style of riding..).
I'll second all that. LBL does produce some exciting finales, I think it's possibly my favourite classic.