2024 Pro Cycling Season

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

8 hours ago, G650 said:

Holy shit.

 

I'm sure this will get the full weight of the law applied like always....

The driver has been arrested.

[G650 14229]

2 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

The driver has been arrested.

I saw that. Doesn't change my opinion he gets a slap on the wrist most likely, just like ever other time this happens.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

4 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

The driver has been arrested.

Saw that in the link and made the mistake of perusing the comments. Don’t do that. Same old FAFO, spandex, impeding the flow nonsense. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Visma Lease-a-bike has released their jersey and roster for the Tour.  Not sure about that look, but we’ll see how it looks on the riders. 
 

They’re bringing Jonas Vingegaard, Wout Van Aert, Matteo Jorgenson, Sepp Kuss, Jan Tratnik, Tiesj Benoot, Christophe Laporte, and Wilco Kelderman.  UAE is obviously coming into the Tour with the strongest team, but if Jonas and Wout are both able to come in at good level while continuing to improve, they might have the battle tested horses to keep things interesting. 

[G650 14229]

Yeah, they are bringing the big guns out. Hopefully there is enough fitness there!

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

After his injuries I just don't think Jonas can win again.

Re: the new TDF special on Netflix, one thing that bothered me is that Adam Yates got no face time at all and was barely even mentioned. They kept talking about who was going to end up on the podium and I get that they had to choose their horses before the Tour began but surely he deserved a bit more than that.

Phillipsen came off as an ass and I thought Ben O'Connor did, too.  Allanphillippe, Carlos Rodriguez, Jai Hindley and Thibault Pinot came off looking the best. I liked Pogecar and Vingegaard, too, though Vingo is a bit robotic. Alaphillippe's girlfriend is a smokin' hottie. All of those guys have attractive, fit girlfriends, though.  Pidcock's woman is definitely easy on the eyes.

 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

1 hour ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

After his injuries I just don't think Jonas can win again.

Re: the new TDF special on Netflix, one thing that bothered me is that Adam Yates got no face time at all and was barely even mentioned. They kept talking about who was going to end up on the podium and I get that they had to choose their horses before the Tour began but surely he deserved a bit more than that.

Phillipsen came off as an ass and I thought Ben O'Connor did, too.  Allanphillippe, Carlos Rodriguez, Jai Hindley and Thibault Pinot came off looking the best. I liked Pogecar and Vingegaard, too, though Vingo is a bit robotic. Alaphillippe's girlfriend is a smokin' hottie. All of those guys have attractive, fit girlfriends, though.  Pidcock's woman is definitely easy on the eyes.

 

The recovery and fitness of Jonas is certainly the biggest question mark coming into the race. Hard to tell if the team was serious or bluffing about only bringing him to the Tour if he’s in winning form.  I’ll surprised if he arrives in top form, but not as surprised if he rides into great form after losing time to Pogi and finishes on the podium. 
 

I have mixed feelings about these types of Netflix shows like Drive to Survive and Unchained. I love the sports, but hate the manufactured or enhanced drama like you see in lowest common denominator trash television. Agree Adam Yates deserved more coverage and about Jasper and Ben not coming off great. Not sure if it was on the mark or just a matter of the edit. Loved the Pinot bit. Dude left it all out there and appears to be winning at life. 

[idigTexas 2284]

The other side of the coin to Vingo's fitness is whether Pog is tired at all from the Giro (probably not enough to matter).  I like Vingo more than most, as I have a similar personality, so I'll be pulling for him.  It's also possible that he isn't fit enough to challenge for yellow, and ends up having to support Sepp or Matty.  

As for the new kits, I dig them (username checks out).  I was never a fan of the old ones other than it made them relatively easy to spot in the peloton.  

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

Marion Rousse, Julian Allaphillipe's girlfriend.

[G650 14229]

22 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Phillipsen came off as an ass

Because he is one

[Whitewater Horn 968]

UAE Team Emirates Tour squad announced. No surprises: Tadej Pogacar, Adam Yates, Juan Ayuso, Joao Almeida, Marc Soler, Pavel Sivakov, Nils Politt, and Tim Wellens. 
 

Barring injury, illness, or other unforeseen calamity to Pogi, the yellow jersey will have been decided well before the final TT in Nice. As the team selections are announced, it will still be interesting to analyze for potential horses in the GC.  

[G650 14229]

Bettiolllllll! Italian NC

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

Chat GPT predicts the Tour results:

https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling/special-chatgpt-predicts-2024-tour-de-france

 

 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

7 hours ago, G650 said:

Bettiolllllll! Italian NC

Bravo, Alberto Thought Ciccone may have made it closer. That’s three national champions for the EF Easypost team. Not bad. And one dismissed rider for transporting banned substances. 

[G650 14229]

4 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Bravo, Alberto Thought Ciccone may have made it closer. That’s three national champions for the EF Easypost team. Not bad. And one dismissed rider for transporting banned substances. 

4 I think? Sean Quinn from the US a couple weeks ago and 3 today.

 

And yeah Piccolo lol. What a maroon

[Whitewater Horn 968]

39 minutes ago, G650 said:

4 I think? Sean Quinn from the US a couple weeks ago and 3 today.

 

And yeah Piccolo lol. What a maroon

Yep, forgot about our own champion. That’s impressive for any world tour team. I wonder how many milliseconds it took for the cleaner than thou, smug Vaughters to shitcan Piccolo when they got word of his shenanigans. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

15 hours ago, Whitewater Horn said:

Yep, forgot about our own champion. That’s impressive for any world tour team. I wonder how many milliseconds it took for the cleaner than thou, smug Vaughters to shitcan Piccolo when they got word of his shenanigans. 

Re: Vaughters, Johan Bruyneel is not a fan.

 

 

 

[G650 14229]

Vaughters is a fucking clown.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

22 minutes ago, G650 said:

Vaughters is a fucking clown.

Bordering on comically hysterical at times. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

Sepp Kuss is out of the tour. Hasn't recovered from Covid, Visma announced.

[G650 14229]

Saw that this morning, what a bummer!

[Whitewater Horn 968]

Definitely a bummer, but not a shock. He didn’t look good at all I’m the Dauphiné. Let’s see how Lemmen goes for the Dutch. Another little bit of momentum for UAE, as if they weren’t already likely to crush the field. 

[idigTexas 2284]

I'll third the bummer.  Next man up on a leased bike.

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

Crazy prediction time:  Vingo does not make the podium but Matteo Jorgenson does.

[Whitewater Horn 968]

1 hour ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

Crazy prediction time:  Vingo does not make the podium but Matteo Jorgenson does.

I wouldn’t bet against that. I’m curious to see Jonas is within 10 minutes of Pogi when the last TT in Nice is finished. I also wouldn’t bet against 2 UAE rides on the podium, and it’s not out of realistic possibility that they sweep the podium. Even though it looks like a Pogacar blowout, there will still be a number of interesting things to watch.
 

I always want a close, competitive race for the yellow jersey, but there’s also a sick part of me that wants to see Pogacar just go savage on Stage 1 and blow the race apart. 

[G650 14229]

I just can't get too amped for this race. Mostly it's probably because of dashed expectations I think. We were supposed to have Jonas, Pog, Rog and Remco Duke it out, and now 3/4 of them are miles off form because of wrecks.

 

I'll obviously still watch every minute, castles and all that, but it's bittersweet. Mostly I'll probably be cheering Matty J

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

6 minutes ago, Whitewater Horn said:

 

I always want a close, competitive race for the yellow jersey, but there’s also a sick part of me that wants to see Pogacar just go savage on Stage 1 and blow the race apart. 

I do not want that at all. I want to see 5 men within 30 seconds of each other going into that final time trial on the last stage in Nice.

[G650 14229]

20 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I do not want that at all. I want to see 5 men within 30 seconds of each other going into that final time trial on the last stage in Nice.

Man, if we could get another LeMond 1989 type moment that would be insane

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

30 minutes ago, G650 said:

Man, if we could get another LeMond 1989 type moment that would be insane

That was my favorite day ever in the history of cycling ... Fignon with his stupid hair flying in the wind, Lemond stealing his cornbread, Fignon collapsing in shock at the end.

Edited June 27 by Hornius Emeritus

[Whitewater Horn 968]

1 hour ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I do not want that at all. I want to see 5 men within 30 seconds of each other going into that final time trial on the last stage in Nice.

Yeah, that’s not a serious thing I ever want to see in the Tour. More expressed out the frustration of expecting the Big 6 to all be lining up for this race and giving us a real show with some compelling competition. But who knows, maybe Roglic shows up with incredible form for one last run at the GC. Maybe a dark horse or two emerge to make it interesting. Maybe Jonas has recovered more than they’re letting on. Like y’all said, maybe someone stuns the status quo by unseating the yellow jersey on the final stage TT. And yeah, there’s also the chateaus, castles, and alpine scenery to watch. 

[G650 14229]

9 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

That was my favorite day ever in the history of cycling ... Fignon with his stupid hair flying in the wind, Lemond stealing his cornbread, Fignon collapsing in shock at the end.

Agreed

[idigTexas 2284]

13 hours ago, G650 said:

I just can't get too amped for this race. Mostly it's probably because of dashed expectations I think. We were supposed to have Jonas, Pog, Rog and Remco Duke it out, and now 3/4 of them are miles off form because of wrecks.

 

I'll obviously still watch every minute, castles and all that, but it's bittersweet. Mostly I'll probably be cheering Matty J

This is where I am.  I'm definitely not as amped as I normally would be.  

[idigTexas 2284]

12 hours ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

That was my favorite day ever in the history of cycling ... Fignon with his stupid hair flying in the wind, Lemond stealing his cornbread, Fignon collapsing in shock at the end.

I remember watching it unfold.  I don't remember if it was live or tape delay, but it felt live to me.  That's the day I became a cycling fan and a cyclist.  

[Whitewater Horn 968]

37 minutes ago, idigTexas said:

I remember watching it unfold.  I don't remember if it was live or tape delay, but it felt live to me.  That's the day I became a cycling fan and a cyclist.  

I had just relocated to the UK that year a few months before the Tour. We didn’t make it to Paris that year, but just being caught up in the race and watching that final TT live in our local pub with some other Americans and amazing Welsh friend  & neighbors is one of my best memories. Most thrilling cycling moment for sure, and high up on general sport moments as well. For so many reasons, I just don’t see how that ever gets topped. 

[Clintonaldo 2572]

I REALLY want to see Cavendish get one more win. I also want to see Jasper get his teeth punched in.

[G650 14229]

 

[G650 14229]

38 minutes ago, Clintonaldo said:

I REALLY want to see Cavendish get one more win. I also want to see Jasper get his teeth punched in.

Cosign

[Whitewater Horn 968]

1 hour ago, Clintonaldo said:

I REALLY want to see Cavendish get one more win. I also want to see Jasper get his teeth punched in.

Seeing Cav score a stage win and take that title at his age and circumstances would be pretty emotional and great for the sport. Still plenty of time and occasions for Jasper to get his teef punched in. 

[Hornius Emeritus 12449]

I want to see Cavendish get one more win, punch Jesper's teeth in, and Allaphillipe's gf take her clothes off in celebration of Cavendish punching Jesper's teeth in.

[G650 14229]

23 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I want to see Cavendish get one more win, punch Jesper's teeth in, and Allaphillipe's gf take her clothes off in celebration of Cavendish punching Jesper's teeth in.

I mean if the last thing happens the first two are just a bonus

[G650 14229]

https://sport.tv2.dk/cykling/2024-06-27-vingegaard-afsloerer-nye-detaljer-jeg-var-glad-for-at-vaere-i-live

Translation:

Jonas Vingegaard will start in the Tour de France on Saturday despite his severe crash in the Tour of the Basque Country back in April.

On Thursday, Vingegaard spoke for the first time since the crash. In an interview with TV2 Sport, he shared more details about his crash, where he immediately knew it was very serious.

"I was in a lot of pain – not just in my ribs, but inside my body. I could feel it was from the lung, and when I coughed up blood, I knew it wasn't good. From there, I was taken to the hospital, where they first checked my collapsed lung. They inserted a drain in the evening, and I think I had a drain in my lung for eight days, and besides that, I had broken several bones," says Jonas Vingegaard.

Thursday evening, the double Tour winner repeatedly expressed how happy he is to be able to participate in the French stage race. During the team presentation in sunny Florence, the Dane appeared calm and smiling. Jonas Vingegaard thanked the Italian audience for warmly welcoming him.

Now Vingegaard is fully focused on the Tour de France, but that wasn't the case in the first days after the crash. Thoughts of defending the Tour title didn't fill his mind at all.

"I think it was only towards the end of the 12 days in the hospital."

"Pretty early actually?"

"I would say quite late. I don't think I thought about cycling again in the first 12 days. I was really just happy to be alive. So it was probably only after 11-12 days that I started to think that I might make it to the Tour de France. Of course, I still had a lot of pain in my body at that time and in all the bones I had broken," says Vingegaard.

The Visma star has obviously not had the same build-up to the race as he has had in the past two years, where he has emerged as the overall winner after three weeks of cycling.

Therefore, he is also unsure of his form before this year's edition, which starts on Saturday in Florence.

"I know that I haven't had the same preparation as the other years – far from it, to be completely honest. Half of the time was spent on rehabilitation instead of training, so we’ll just have to see over the next three weeks As I’ve said before, it’s already a victory for me to be here, and everything from here is a bonus

[Whitewater Horn 968]

53 minutes ago, Hornius Emeritus said:

I want to see Cavendish get one more win, punch Jesper's teeth in, and Allaphillipe's gf take her clothes off in celebration of Cavendish punching Jesper's teeth in.

I support where this is going. 

[G650 14229]

So apparently Pog had Covid??

 

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-france/pogacar-confirms-covid-infection-roglic-feeling-no-pain-and-evenepoel-wont-throw-in-gc-towel/

[Whitewater Horn 968]

11 minutes ago, G650 said:

So apparently Pog had Covid??

 

https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/tour-de-france/pogacar-confirms-covid-infection-roglic-feeling-no-pain-and-evenepoel-wont-throw-in-gc-towel/

Saw that earlier this afternoon and didn’t post here because I checked several sources and they weren’t all consistent at the time. The first story I read made it sound like he just discovered he was positive for covid, and other stores made it sound like he had it a couple of weeks ago, barely noticed the effects, and is recovered. Man, at this point, everyone’s form and fitness at the start is going to be a mystery.  Who is really limited by injury/illness and who is playing possum or sandbagging? I don’t have much of a take on that, but I bet Chris Horner will…

[idigTexas 2284]

I do not think Vingo is sandbagging at all, and I will be surprised if he makes it to Nice.  His comments during team introductions and in interviews are very telling.  He's sincerely trying to temper expectations.  

[Whitewater Horn 968]

1 hour ago, idigTexas said:

I do not think Vingo is sandbagging at all, and I will be surprised if he makes it to Nice.  His comments during team introductions and in interviews are very telling.  He's sincerely trying to temper expectations.  

Yes, he really seems to using his words in the last few days to to do just that. Even WVA has been saying that he’s all in for supporting the GC goal and foregoing the pursuit of stage wins for himself. I wonder if that changes if it’s clear early on that Matty will be the most viable GC rider for Visma? They have some great results in 2024, but certainly aren’t looking to the machine they are in the last few editions of the Tour. 

[Whitewater Horn 968]

On 6/20/2024 at 9:48 AM, Hornius Emeritus said:

After his injuries I just don't think Jonas can win again.

Re: the new TDF special on Netflix

 

I saw your post on the Netflix thread promoting this season of TDF Unchained, and it reminded me of an interesting and very surprising conversation I had with my elderly mother a couple of weeks ago. 
 

We were chatting about the weather in Colorado and which birds were showing up outside her window, just chit chat like that. Out of nowhere, she casually asks, “Do you think Wout Van Aert will be ready for the Tour?” This is surprising because my mother, as far as I knew, had not kept up with anything to do with bicycle related sports since coming to some of my BMX races when I was a kid and teen, then later in my 30s when I was doing some TMBRA MTB races, she and a couple of friends came out to cook and provide all around support for our team in the 24 Hours of Rocky Hill. Since then, I don’t recall is ever discussing cycling with her outside of my travel that revolved around attending races. She told me she stumbled upon a televised race last year, but couldn’t remember which one,  but it made her fall in love with Wout, and that she began seeking out world tour races.
 

Imagine her joy when I told her there were two seasons of TDF Unchained on Netflix, as well as other cycling related shows focusing on professional world tour teams. It’s given us something new to talk about, and she’s all about it. She loves the Netflix show and texts every few days to thank me for telling her about it, and then we’ll talk in the phone about the episodes. I can see where Unchained could make cycling fans out of curious viewers the way Drive to Survive did for F1. 

[locodos 5387]

I was today years old when I learned that Ineos Grenadier is an SUV... go figure

[G650 14229]

Fuck, Jan Hirt got two teeth knocked out between sign on and the roll out. Brutal

[G650 14229]

Cav is fubared