Gotta say it was a second consecutive poor edition of the Giro - They need to ro-organize the course design by having a more balanced route and having at least 2 GC relevant stages in each week.
1 Like
Certainly wasn’t up there with the classic Giros of the past.
■■■■■■ parcourse, Covid drop outs, terrible weather, it all combined to one of the more dull editions.
did you guys see the ironman hamburg bike accident - filming motorbike rider passed away after crashing into athlete on the bike.
wow.
What the hell where there so many motos alongside the riders? That’s just asking for trouble.
Masks to be worn at the TDF in all public areas pre and post stages - Cycling is one sport who treats COVID seriously - Most teams after a COVID positive make the riders rest for seven days, then they undertake heart screening before resuming normal training.
2 Likes
Mask wearing in cycling events in Europe seems to depend on the organisers of the event and individual decisions - as evidenced at the Giro and the Cri de Dauphine.
Nice ride by our Ben. SBS has its pom poms out for him in the TDF
2 Likes
@yaco55 is Simon Yates riding the TdF? He’s been missing in action since the first stage of Romandie.
26 years old. Too sad. These riders really do put their lives on the line. RIP Gino.
2 Likes
Just awful.
It’s hard to get info from Jayco at the best times - My understanding is that Yates was never riding Dauphine or Suisse, but was supposed to ride Slovenie - You have to think he had a setback but AFAIK he’s going to the TDF - We’ll know if he’s in the battle for GC after stage 6 or 7.
I am not confident about Jayco at the TDF - You could see in the lead up races to the Giro that the whole team was in form - Watching the lead up races before the TDF, I can only see Mezgec and Groenewgen in form.
1 Like
I have previously posted that descent finishes in multi-mountain stages are unnecessray- In saying that, Mader was not in the GC battle, so he would not be going full gas. Apparenty he crashed two minutes after Sheffield in the same place - There is a thought that he crashed avoiding the vehicles on the side of the road that were attending to Sheffield.
Evenepoel has called out the organisers on safety in using a descent for the finish of a stage.
In the biggest shock result so far in 2023 Jayco’s De la Pena wins a dramatic queen stage of Slovenie - This is the second year neo-pro who has barely raced in 18 months - he’s had a total of 28 race days in 2022/2023 - He spent the first three days riding in front of the peleton for Groenewegen, while today he crashed on the descent of the first climb, had to chase back to the peleton - then he split the peleton on the final climb to allow Zana to attack , then he marked moves from the chasers and then attacked them on the top of the final climb - He was within 10 seconds of Zana before Zana crashed, continued on riding on a small gear because his bike was damaged from the crash and he won the stage by 17 seconds - Wow!
3 Likes
Let’s hope the weather in France gets calmer on the routes of the TDF from 1 July.
Drought across much of France, wildfires in part of the Pyrenees, an earthquake in the south west with road damage, forecasts of storms and flooding.
Disruptive civil protests might abate for the summer.
2 Likes
Jayco team for the TDF is Groenwegen, Yates, Mezgec, Reinders, Harper, Durbridge, Juul-Jensen and Durbridge.
This is an underwhelming team with only one evident stage winner in Groenewegen - Even if Yates does a good GC it will be tough for him to win a stage from the GC Group.
I would have included Scotson and Sobrero who could help in the lower mountains and possibly win a stage - I would leave out Craddock who is better suited to the Vuelta and one of Durbridge or Juul-Jensen.
I fancy jayco to win a stage but if something happens to groenewegen then they have problems.
In other news will team with partner up with Hagens Berman who are one of the premier under 23 Development teams - This has several benefits including first access to talented riders, being able to rotate riders up and down, consistency of a training program and of course Hagens has struggled for funding in the last two years - Ideally, they’ll also set up a women’s conti team.
3 Likes
TDF starts in Bilbao fortunately, no strikes or protests.
This the TDF game day thread!!
Hoping for a good stage winning showing from the Aussie boys.
Think Pog wins from Vin.
2 Likes
This is a tough first stage - I doubt that the MVP make the final - My selection is Wout van Aert.
1 Like