General News Thread

[May0maniac]

Good Lord, the Volta field will be extremely weak this year. 46 yr old Rebellin to challenge the 460 watt trains. It's ridiculous beyond imagination.

http://www.volta-portugal.pt/equipas.php

Don't think I can watch it this year.

C'mon, everybody loves some August cringe. :razz:

I'm sure the motorbikes won't disappoint.

They invite Team Vorarlberg the year after Sérgio Sousa retires. Back when they had him or De La Parte they could have done something in the Volta, but now their team is too weak.

 

[tobydawq]

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will change its finale to the old Ronde finale with the Muur, the Bosberg and finish in Meerbeke.

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/1.3011529

 

[Maaaaaaaarten]

Re:

Omloop Het Nieuwsblad will change its finale to the old Ronde finale with the Muur, the Bosberg and finish in Meerbeke.

http://sporza.be/cm/sporza/wielrennen/1.3011529

While I really like the old finale of the RVV and dislike the new route, completely changing another race which was a great race in its own right is really not the right solution for me.

Omloop had a unique dynamic with flat cobbles after the hill section, that will now be lost.

 

[Nirvana]

Good Lord, the Volta field will be extremely weak this year. 46 yr old Rebellin to challenge the 460 watt trains. It's ridiculous beyond imagination.

http://www.volta-portugal.pt/equipas.php

Don't think I can watch it this year.

Yesterday i read an article where is reported that Rebellin singned only for six months until 30th june.

 

[StryderHells]

Good Lord, the Volta field will be extremely weak this year. 46 yr old Rebellin to challenge the 460 watt trains. It's ridiculous beyond imagination.

http://www.volta-portugal.pt/equipas.php

Don't think I can watch it this year.

C'mon, everybody loves some August cringe. :razz:

I'm sure the motorbikes won't disappoint.

Even a "fully fit" Rebellin will struggle at the Volta

 

[BigMac]

Good Lord, the Volta field will be extremely weak this year. 46 yr old Rebellin to challenge the 460 watt trains. It's ridiculous beyond imagination.

http://www.volta-portugal.pt/equipas.php

Don't think I can watch it this year.

C'mon, everybody loves some August cringe. :razz:

I'm sure the motorbikes won't disappoint.

Even a "fully fit" Rebellin will struggle at the Volta

You bet on that.

 

[May0maniac]

Androni will continue as a team in 2018, the main sponsor stays with the team.
Source: http://www.tuttobiciweb.it/2017/06/29/102697/androni-c-E-il-rinnovo-per-il-2018

 

[MikeTichondrius]

Good Lord, the Volta field will be extremely weak this year. 46 yr old Rebellin to challenge the 460 watt trains. It's ridiculous beyond imagination.

http://www.volta-portugal.pt/equipas.php

Don't think I can watch it this year.

Honestly I couldn't even recognize most foreign teams other than Vorarlberg and Armee de Terre (is the Euskadi one the new basque team that came to be after Euskaltel folded? JLT Condor also rings a bell). Long past are the days of the likes of Lampre, Saeco, USPS, Euskaltel, Banesto...I'd even take the B teams at this point. These fields are miserable...

For good or bad, the Volta is way too steeped in Portuguese tradition to have a reset and refocus. Algarve is the only proper Portuguese race today.

 

[ManInFull]

Lance Armstrong is doing a podcast of this year's TdF. I listen to a number of podcasts and nearly all of them have ads to fund the podcast. Armstrong's podcast has no ads. How is he making money??

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Euskadi will at least be visible, with Bravo, Txoperena, Iturria and Bizkarra. Aitor González won the Volta a Galiza with a big MTF win at La Manzaneda a couple of years ago but don't see him as more than break fodder as a pro mind. Loubet and Gaudin give Armée de Terre some possibilities. Israel Cycling Academy are ok, they've got some good riders, Mihkel Räim is good on the kind of terrain we'll see here for possible stage contention in rolling stuff, Turek's a useful stagehunter potentially. JLT are a British team of mostly rouleurs but they have some experienced names like Ian Bibbby and Russell Downing. Kuwait obviously have the calcified remnants of Davide Rebellin, but also Stefan Schumacher although he's done sweet FA racing this year so don't know if he's injured or something. Grijalba's no mug and I'd be interested in how Salaheddine Mraouni gets on, he's been a beast in the North African races but has struggled in his European endeavours so far. Thurau and Jim give some WT experience at least too. For Metec, Jasper de Laat was good in the Volta ao Alentejo. Vorarlberg's link to the Volta is gone now the likes of Sérgio Sousa and Victor de la Parte have moved on, but Patrick Schelling was 3rd in the Österreichrundfahrt last year and Cesc Zurita is a typical Spanish "not-quite-a-sprinter". Unieuro are the old Trevigiani development team, they have people like Abderrahim Zahiri and José Danieln Viejo, will probably be quietish adapting to the pace.

And let's face it, the domestic teams are going to set a brutal one to fight among themselves. Still, it's 19 teams, not that long ago 15 would be lucky.

 

[SafeBet]

Sadly, Adriano Malori has retired from the sport.

 

[del1962]

Re:

Sadly, Adriano Malori has retired from the sport.

Sad indeed, however he is training to be a coach, all the best in his new venture.

 

[GuyIncognito]

Yeah, Unzue said as much at the Giro.

viewtopic.php?p=2114054#p2114054

Good luck to him.

 

[the asian]

Re:

Sadly, Adriano Malori has retired from the sport.

Sad news indeed.

I was hoping he might come back even next year.

 

[glassmoon]

Zubeldia is apparently riding the ongoing TdF
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-de-france-zubeldia-battles-on-in-grand-boucle-number-16/

 

[Kopuliak]

welcomebackPeter 2011->2017

 

[GP Blanco]

Campina (dutch dairy producer) will join Lotto-Jumbo as a sponsor.
http://m.telegraaf.nl/telesport/article/28659015/campina-sponsor-bij-lotto-jumbo

 

[ice&fire]

La Vuelta will modify its podium protocol: there will be no kisses; there will still be podium girls but there will also be podium guys.
http://www.elmundo.es/deportes/ciclismo/2017/07/18/596d226522601dcf208b45df.html

Unipublic has also created a sort of podium celebration director, something like the rol Bernard Hinault played for the Tour until last year. And they have chosen another Tour winner for the job: Oscar Pereiro!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Why do we need podium guys among the podium girls? What nonsense. What absolute nonsense Guillén.

I like the fact that Pereiro will join in tho in the role of Bernard, thats cool!

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Re:

Why do we need podium guys among the podium girls? What nonsense. What absolute nonsense Guillén.

Why do we need podium girls in the first place?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Ill let race organisers decide why we should have that. But lining podium guys up, in a mens race, is just.. yeah, I don't know. While it doesnt matter much its just ridiculous that we apparently consider that as gender equality.

 

[StryderHells]

Re:

Ill let race organisers decide why we should have that. But lining podium guys up, in a mens race, is just.. yeah, I don't know. While it doesnt matter much its just ridiculous that we apparently consider that as gender equality.

Who's the WE in this situation?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

Sadly, Adriano Malori has retired from the sport.

Sad news indeed.

I was hoping he might come back even next year.

Sad for him, yes... but not nearly as sad as the alternative.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Ill let race organisers decide why we should have that. But lining podium guys up, in a mens race, is just.. yeah, I don't know. While it doesnt matter much its just ridiculous that we apparently consider that as gender equality.

Who's the WE in this situation?

We as in the majority involved in that decision that apparently thought it was a great idea. For some reason.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Ill let race organisers decide why we should have that. But lining podium guys up, in a mens race, is just.. yeah, I don't know. While it doesnt matter much its just ridiculous that we apparently consider that as gender equality.

Who's the WE in this situation?

We as in the majority involved in that decision that apparently thought it was a great idea. For some reason.

Hahaha thats fair enough