2014 4th Tour of Beijing, October 10 to 14 (WT)

[Afrank]

Beijing is currentely under orange level regarding pollution... It's the second highest.

This is a disgrace of a race. Local population is advised to stay inside and wear masks when going out.

Cyclists?

*sigh* do the right thing Cookson, and strike this race off the calendar. Give us something else instead, like a race in Colombia, that'd be cool.

Twitter campaign anyone? I'm sure there's plenty that would want to see Beijing go.

 

[jens_attacks]

i think beijing is already gone no?

3 years too late

 

[Tournesol]

Its already gone and thank god, worst idea ever, like a World Cup in Qatar in summer, and to think they moved the Race of the Falling Leaves to accomodate this, said it at the time this race wouldn't last, McQuaid continues to make me sick even though he's gone just like this race.

 

[MatParker117]

Cancel the rest of the race, give Mezgec the win. It's a joke to make riders race in 19th century britain.

 

[DFA123]

*sigh* do the right thing Cookson, and strike this race off the calendar. Give us something else instead, like a race in Colombia, that'd be cool.

Colombia would be good; although it might need a re-think of the whole calendar. Would probably be a bit tough to have right at the end of the season and doubt you would get many big names bothering with it.

Tour of Britain is growing hugely in popularity, maybe that could be moved to October and put on the World Tour. It's easy enough for an end of season race but would still have good crowds and would be attractive to good riders.

 

[djpbaltimore]

This is a disgrace of a race. Local population is advised to stay inside and wear masks when going out.

Cyclists?

Yuck. That makes me want to cough just looking at that. Contador and Valverde were smart to call it a season after GdL.

 

[Red Rick]

More like Tour of lung disease then anything else apparently

 

[roundabout]

The MTF is on a Monday?

Well done.

 

[coimbrawu]

The MTF is on a Monday?

Well done.

yes, from ToB official twitter
Stage underway... Due to weather in Yanqing, today's Stage 2 will finish at Km111 at Yan Jia Ping KOM not at Km147.5 in Yanqing. #ToB2014

 

[coimbrawu]

Due to weather conditions in Yanqing, today's Stage 2 will finish at Km111 at Yan Jia Ping KOM not at Km147.5 in Yanqing.
Yan Jia Ping KOM is 1 km at 8%, so should be an uphill finish.

 

[murali]

I cant suffer this race. looks like a movie stunt where the hero runs at 50kmph in thick smoke instead of an actual race.

if they want Asia, then why cant they try India, Indonesia or Malaysia. In october, any place in tropics would be good.

 

[Jagartrott]

Sky working for no-one in particular yet again.
Gilbert says thanks.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Sky loves working at the front. Every day.

Nice little sprint.

 

[wirral]

Gilbert won apparently.

 

[roundabout]

Due to weather conditions in Yanqing, today's Stage 2 will finish at Km111 at Yan Jia Ping KOM not at Km147.5 in Yanqing.
Yan Jia Ping KOM is 1 km at 8%, so should be an uphill finish.

long live the pollution. I was wondering why the hell was the finish uphill in the middle of nowhere

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So Gilbert is back to pre-2009, winning races nobody even cares about

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Sky must be getting paid by the UCI to perform pacemaking duties.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Reinardt 2nd?!

 

[Not Riding Enough]

Luckily the pollution looks like it will clear late tonight and be good for tomorrow and hopefully be OK for the rest of the race.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Stage 3 on Sunday:

Presumable Sky will be at the front for most of the way.....

Go Chernetckii

 

[pink_jersey]

So Gilbert is back to pre-2009, winning races nobody even cares about

Yeah,I'm sure that noboby cares about Amstel or Brabantse Pijl.
For me he looks like he's close to 2010 form or equal.

 

[BigMac]

Imbecilic organizers, do we have to wait more than an hour to get a stage and GC top 10. Arghhhh.

 

[roundabout]

Imbecilic organizers, do we have to wait more than an hour to get a stage and GC top 10. Arghhhh.

I presume that they couldn't move all the timing equipment to the new finish

 

[BigMac]

I presume that they couldn't move all the timing equipment to the new finish

It's been an hour and half since the race finished. All I ask is for the top10, even if they did not have the timing equipment with them (they did, you could see it), they could easily have done it by sight and inspecting footage, both television's and photo finish.

 

[Hugo Koblet]

It's been an hour and half since the race finished. All I ask is for the top10, even if they did not have the timing equipment with them (they did, you could see it), they could easily have done it by sight and inspecting footage, both television's and photo finish.

I've been looking at a top 20 for some time now