Recent content by Devil's Elbow

With all due respect, how on earth is he getting a WT ride in a transfer window where the number of pro teams is dropping by two or three?

Very sad if this is the end for Faure Prost. One of the very best climbing talents as a first-year U23, turned pro at 19, started off with a GC top-10 in Oman, then ran into hormonal health issues which have prevented him from reaching his normal level, and now it might be all over at the ripe...

I am not convinced these threads aren't made to be used as input for some AI somewhere.

Almost an hour underway and the battle for the break is still ongoing in Binche, that's insane for a 1.1.

I wasn’t expecting today’s list to be definitive either, hence why I said missing and not cancelled. And yes, the double sportswasher promotion sucks for multiple reasons. Between that and the castration of Suisse, I can’t say I think the 2026 calendar is an upgrade over the 2025 one.

From the downloads section. Three of the new Italian races are in areas currently without any pro events (Sardegna, Lazio, and Magna Grecia which is more or less the south of the mainland), while the former has had a few abortive attempts and I'm not holding my breath it's still good to see...

Last year, there were 'only' three races on the final day (Chrono des Nations was a week earlier and the Tour of Holland didn't exist), so we could see even bigger last-gasp shifts this year.

I do like how clean the ending to the season is this year. Six pro races on Sunday the 19th and then that's that (aside from three .2s and the Israeli TT NCs, which are irrelevant). Makes for a nice change compared to the many years of the season dwindling into nothingness but not actually...

I will go one step further and say that this was the best performance in a one-day road race by any first-year U23 ever, ahead of Evenepoel's San Sebastián win in 2019. And that was a performance I thought would remain the best ever for that age bracket for sixty years, not six.

Roglic didn't even have a stomp left in the sprint for third, that decline is looking steeper with each race.

All great British riders must blow up on San Luca at least once in their lives.

Ciccone has fallen ill at an extremely inopportune time, I thought there was no shot of me moving out of fourth but now I need to look over my shoulder...

So Unzue saw that his leader was an emotionally insecure GC rider who can't TT and has no kick and decided to add a second leader who... is also an emotionally insecure GC rider who can't TT and has no kick. Interesting choice.

It's so early because the next weekend is occupied by the Gravel Worlds. 25000 points was already quite high last year, riders are cheaper this time because of five fewer World Cup races last season, and we will have a race with quite a few big names to help us get an idea of who's good before...

I think the bigger factor is which of the two Pogacar has picked, because the other of the two by default becomes the far more winnable one for everyone else.