Amstel Gold Race -18th April -257km

[auscyclefan94]

No podium competition this week, by the way.

Susan

 

[theyoungest]

Sastre imo is going into the giro a bit under done. He hasn't raced much.

I know bmc are driving some of there riders from Switzerland to holland last night euro time. How long would that drive take?

Your friend Cadel has to drive for 5 more hrs, according to his twitter. I've been to Switzerland quite a few times, I think the total traveling time will have been around 8 to 10 hrs.

 

[Moondance]

Sastre imo is going into the giro a bit under done. He hasn't raced much.

I know bmc are driving some of there riders from Switzerland to holland last night euro time. How long would that drive take?

Depends where you are in Switzerland.

From Geneva probably 9 hours or so depending on exactly how fast your bus is. By car you can do it in 7. From Zurich you can go by Autobahn through Germany, where you can speed to your hearts content and do it in 6 or so by car..... Again bus is a different story obv.

EDIT: Trust me Aus.... youngest might've been to Switzerland many times, but I lived there for 10 years!

 

[auscyclefan94]

Your friend Cadel has to drive for 5 more hrs, according to his twitter. I've been to Switzerland quite a few times, I think the total traveling time will have been around 8 to 10 hrs.

Jeez, i think the local (dutch) riders will have a day out tommorow! Would hate to have all that travel!

Supposedly from the Lugano area it would take about 7.5 hours to do it by car going through Germany

 

[Moondance]

Jeez, i think the local (dutch) riders will have a day out tommorow! Would hate to have all that travel!

Apparantly the plan for Cunego (and teammates I imagine) was to get on a train at 6:30 this morning, which would get them in Maastricht sometime this evening..... So don't be surprised if Cunego gets dropped sometime early into the race.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Sastre imo is going into the giro a bit under done. He hasn't raced much.

I know bmc are driving some of there riders from Switzerland to holland last night euro time. How long would that drive take?

Zürich-Maastricht = 439km as the crow flies. Probably close to 500km on the roads. That's 300 miles, probably 6 hours if it's all Autobahn and the roads are clear, but with all flights grounded there's going to be a lot of traffic, and that isn't allowing for travelling across the cities in the first place, which can easily take an hour or two on their own. We're talking a probable all-nighter here.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Zürich-Maastricht = 439km as the crow flies. Probably close to 500km on the roads. That's 300 miles, probably 6 hours if it's all Autobahn and the roads are clear, but with all flights grounded there's going to be a lot of traffic, and that isn't allowing for travelling across the cities in the first place, which can easily take an hour or two on their own. We're talking a probable all-nighter here.

Zurich is in the north of switzerland. The Lugano area is in the south. Two hours drive from those two places.

 

[Moondance]

Jeez, i think the local (dutch) riders will have a day out tommorow! Would hate to have all that travel!

Supposedly from the Lugano area it would take about 7.5 hours to do it by car going through Germany

That's very optimistic. You'd have to travel straight through the heart of Switzerland, over Luzern, and over the Swiss A2, which is always packed from the 50kms or so between Bern and Basel. Crossing the border into Germany is always a major hassle too.

Whatever Google maps tells you be sure to add at least an extra hour onto that for sh!tty traffic.

 

[auscyclefan94]

That's very optimistic. You'd have to travel straight through the heart of Switzerland, over Luzern, and over the Swiss A2, which is always packed from the 50kms or so between Bern and Basel. Crossing the border into Germany is always a major hassle too.

Whatever Google maps tells you be sure to add at least an extra hour onto that for sh!tty traffic.

True, he lives right in the south of suisse so that will not help. Would be handy if he was in zurich. Aren't some riders trying to get to Holland from Spain? Would they go through France?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Yea, hence why I said if it's all Autobahns and it's all clear - which it won't be since flights are grounded and lots of people are in the same boat. Crossing borders once you're in Germany will be no problem, but crossing the border from Switzerland (not an EU member state) will be a major delay.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

True, he lives right in the south of suisse so that will not help. Would be handy if he was in zurich. Aren't some riders trying to get to Holland from Spain? Would they go through France?

Yup. But France is a very long country in European terms, and Spain's not small, so if they're coming from Catalunya or the País Vasco, probably less of a deal, they just cross the Pyrenees and get on the Autoroute. But coming from further away could be problematic - the south of Spain will be a nightmare because you've got to go twice the distance almost, and Vicente Reynes Mimo, being from Mallorca, is simply going to be stuck there unless he takes a ferry to the Spanish mainland THEN travels all the way up from somewhere like Valencia.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Yup. But France is a very long country in European terms, and Spain's not small, so if they're coming from Catalunya or the País Vasco, probably less of a deal, they just cross the Pyrenees and get on the Autoroute. But coming from further away could be problematic - the south of Spain will be a nightmare because you've got to go twice the distance almost, and Vicente Reynes Mimo, being from Mallorca, is simply going to be stuck there unless he takes a ferry to the Spanish mainland THEN travels all the way up from somewhere like Valencia.

Your tip Libertine for Amstel?

 

[Moondance]

True, he lives right in the south of suisse so that will not help. Would be handy if he was in zurich. Aren't some riders trying to get to Holland from Spain? Would they go through France?

They could.... But that's a major drive. If you have to do it in a bus loaded with gear I'd almost say it won't be worth if it you had to leave this morning. Even if you're in the very north-east of Spain (i.e. Girona) you still have to go via Montpellier-Lyon-Dijon-Nancy-Metz-Luxembourg-Liege (horrible traffic area) and then you'd get to Maastricht... 14 hours by bus is an absolute minimum

 

[auscyclefan94]

They could.... But that's a major drive. If you have to do it in a bus loaded with gear I'd almost say it won't be worth if it you had to leave this morning. Even if you're in the very north-east of Spain (i.e. Girona) you still have to go via Montpellier-Lyon-Dijon-Nancy-Metz-Luxembourg-Liege (horrible traffic area) and then you'd get to Maastricht... 14 hours by bus is an absolute minimum

You going to be out on the course for Amstel? if so, where?

 

[Moondance]

You going to be out on the course for Amstel? if so, where?

Me? No. Got work to do. Am working on a paper as we speak, so naturally I debate cross-European car travel on an online cycling forum . Even though it's lovely weather (invisible clouds of Icelandic ash aside) I don't really feel like it this year. I've been there loads of times already.. I've probably been at most of the major climbs already. Last couple of years I was at Uni in Maastricht, so I could basically bike around to the various points myself with a couple of fellow cycling fan friends.... AMAZING fun, especially with a few beers in the backpack

Now I live a bit further north, and I'd have to go by train (I don't have a car) which gets you to Maastricht, but still leaves you a fair bit away from all the fun spots. Getting back by train is an incredible b!tch too from what I hear, and by car isn't a whole lot better.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Didn't read the last few pages, but a small round-up:

craiglewis85
Still sitting here in Girona with my bags packed. Pretty sure making it to Amstel is out of the question now.

According to Sporza Lampre should arrive early in the evening today (train from Milano)
Cervelo: Tondo had taken the car from Girona (should have picked up Lewis , Sastre and Gustov hope they can fly today (Schiphol should be openend again around 14:00)
Reynes probably won't make it off of his island.
Pozzato and Rodriguez took a plain to Swiss and will do the rest by car, like Evans and Freire.
Some Liquigas riders took a bus to Luxembourg and spent the night there.

Anyone with more info? Pretty cool the race started this early

 

[theyoungest]

The fact that Dutch airspace opens again this afternoon is probably good news for those who'll watch the race on television, because contrary to what I've read around here the broadcast was far from certain.

 

[Moondance]

Didn't read the last few pages, but a small round-up:

craiglewis85
Still sitting here in Girona with my bags packed. Pretty sure making it to Amstel is out of the question now.

According to Sporza Lampre should arrive early in the evening today (train from Milano)
Cervelo: Tondo had taken the car from Girona (should have picked up Lewis , Sastre and Gustov hope they can fly today (Schiphol should be openend again around 14:00)
Reynes probably won't make it off of his island.
Pozzato and Rodriguez took a plain to Swiss and will do the rest by car, like Evans and Freire.
Some Liquigas riders took a bus to Luxembourg and spent the night there.

Anyone with more info? Pretty cool the race started this early

Not really... That's when they said that they'll decide whether to open it again for the rest of the day. The cloud is slowly drifting away, but conditions around 2 wont be different than they are now. If I were Sastre I wouldn't get my hopes up.'

EDIT: From the NOS

Schiphol wil geen valse verwachtingen scheppen en waarschuwt niet te veel aan het tijdstip te hechten. Op die tijd wordt slechts opnieuw gekeken hoe de situatie is.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Not really... That's when they said that they'll decide whether to open it again for the rest of the day. The cloud is slowly drifting away, but conditions around 2 wont be different than they are now. If I were Sastre I wouldn't get my hopes up.'

EDIT: From the NOS

/note to self: stop reading telegraaf.nl

 

[Moondance]

The fact that Dutch airspace opens again this afternoon is probably good news for those who'll watch the race on television, because contrary to what I've read around here the broadcast was far from certain.

I don't know why people are so worried about the broadcast. All other TV is working fine, and helicopters don't fly at 5kms where the cloud is.

 

[Moondance]

/note to self: stop reading telegraaf.nl

Tut tut tut.... You should know better than to read that garbage for actual news. I don't think I've EVER looked past the sport pages there.

 

[theyoungest]

I don't know why people are so worried about the broadcast. All other TV is working fine, and helicopters don't fly at 5kms where the cloud is.

They don't just use choppers, they use airplanes as well to transmit the signal, from what I understand. NOS Radio discussed it last night, and I figure if anyone knows it it's them.

 

[theswordsman]

I was just at the official website, saw they promised a live race feed, clicked to check it out, and they're broadcasting. On rider said on twitter he was going to ride part of the course, and there would be thousands of cyclo-tourists.
This seems to be the finish line.

http://www.amstelgoldrace.nl/index....3:41:24&ct_f=13:39:21&l=NL&c=BA83868&player=1

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Usually 2 choppers with camera's, 1 chopper for transmission + 1 airplane for transmission.

 

[Moondance]

They don't just use choppers, they use airplanes as well to transmit the signal, from what I understand. NOS Radio discussed it last night, and I figure if anyone knows it it's them.

Use airplanes to transmit the signal? Okay.... Seems weird to me. Usually they have those big vans with a dozen or so satellite dishes mounted.