General News Thread

[Ferminal]

Ha, yep. Four MTFs is a bit much but the stages are ok. Bemuses me how we consistently get pretty good P-N and Dauphine routes but have to deal with mostly garbage in July.

 

[Gigs_98]

The dauphine has become the first training camp with an official winner

 

[pastronef]

The dauphine has become the first training camp with an official winner

quite entertaining last year even as a training camp
every race has its history, Dauphine is always hard fought

 

[Bye Bye Bicycle]

Oscar Sevilla was attacked and robbed during training in Colombia. https://twitter.com/team_medellin/status/975370718660751361

 

[Gigs_98]

The dauphine has become the first training camp with an official winner

quite entertaining last year even as a training camp
every race has its history, Dauphine is always hard fought

Yeah the dauphine is usually very entertaining but I'm just annoyed that the only purpose of this race seems to be a preparation for the tour. The giro del trentino has also always been a popular prep race for the giro but the race organizers still first and foremost care about their own race and don't include giro climbs, make the stages super short and include gimmicks like TTT's if there is one in the giro

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Good news, Dubai is a utter crap race, Abu Dhabi is to a certain extent as well, so why not? Making the race longer will probably mean we get to see some harder stages, there has been talk about a much tougher MTF for example.

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Good news, Dubai is a utter crap race, Abu Dhabi is to a certain extent as well, so why not? Making the race longer will probably mean we get to see some harder stages, there has been talk about a much tougher MTF for example.

Green Mountain all the way up would be nice, 13.5km at 10%.

 

[Forever The Best]

Mont Noir <3
The stage looks good as well. 2 HC climbs before Mont Noir and it would be an awesome TDF stage.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dubai and Abu Dhabi are technically the same country, right? So, makes sense they'd have the same race.
Yes, I know that Catalonia and The Basque Country are also technically the same country - for now - but Spain is slightly bigger than the United Arab Emirates, and has a longer history of cycling races.

 

[Koronin]

Re: Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but Dubai and Abu Dhabi are technically the same country, right? So, makes sense they'd have the same race.
Yes, I know that Catalonia and The Basque Country are also technically the same country - for now - but Spain is slightly bigger than the United Arab Emirates, and has a longer history of cycling races.

Yes.
It would be more like have two stage races in one of Spain's provinces.

 

[rghysens]

Re:

The 2020 Tour de France will start in Nice.
http://www.europe1.fr/sport/cyclisme-le-tour-de-france-2020-partira-de-nice-3597188
Now we only need Zomegnan to design the first few stages, a col d'eze time trial on stage 1 and a traditional Nice-Nice stage on stage 2.
Just imagine the outcry when they'll announce that we'll get two sprint stages at the start...

You forgot the TTT.

 

[GP Blanco]

Re: Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Good news, Dubai is a utter crap race, Abu Dhabi is to a certain extent as well, so why not? Making the race longer will probably mean we get to see some harder stages, there has been talk about a much tougher MTF for example.

Green Mountain all the way up would be nice, 13.5km at 10%.

Green Mountain is Oman, isn't it?

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Good news, Dubai is a utter crap race, Abu Dhabi is to a certain extent as well, so why not? Making the race longer will probably mean we get to see some harder stages, there has been talk about a much tougher MTF for example.

Green Mountain all the way up would be nice, 13.5km at 10%.

Green Mountain is Oman, isn't it?

I think it's the same mountain - it's called Green Mountain on the Omani side of the border and Jebel Hafeet on the UAE side.

 

[StryderHells]

Re: Re:

Dubai and Abu Dhabi Tours will be combined for one 7 stage race next year. Don't know if this is good or bad news.

Good news, Dubai is a utter crap race, Abu Dhabi is to a certain extent as well, so why not? Making the race longer will probably mean we get to see some harder stages, there has been talk about a much tougher MTF for example.

Green Mountain all the way up would be nice, 13.5km at 10%.

Green Mountain is Oman, isn't it?

I think it's the same mountain - it's called Green Mountain on the Omani side of the border and Jebel Hafeet on the UAE side.

Green Mountain and Jebel Hafeet are different mountains, Green Mountain is also known as Jebel Akhdar and not on the border but Jebel Hafeet is indeed close to the border of Oman and UAE.

 

[May0maniac]

Yeah, my bad, I had a brain fart.

 

[jonan92]

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm pretty sure Debesay won't be racing. Didn't he just fracture his pelvis during Langkawi? Or he's being really optimistic about his recuperation... "I'll be back in a couple of weeks, no problem."

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

You really shouldn't mess with Bahrain Merida, not here, nor in the Ardennes. I think they will be the hardest competitor for Movistar in Pais Vasco and in the Ardennes with those riders, some serious firepower and everyone in great shape.

 

[Gigs_98]

Re: Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

You really shouldn't mess with Bahrain Merida, not here, nor in the Ardennes. I think they will be the hardest competitor for Movistar in Pais Vasco and in the Ardennes with those riders, some serious firepower and everyone in great shape.

I don't expect big things from Nibali though. The race just doesn't suit him. I actually think Ion is more likely to win the gc.

Also, since when is the Pais Vasco website not complete rubbish?

 

[DNP-Old]

Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

Sivakov with the French flag next to his name already. Do they know more than we do?

 

[jonan92]

Re: Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

You really shouldn't mess with Bahrain Merida, not here, nor in the Ardennes. I think they will be the hardest competitor for Movistar in Pais Vasco and in the Ardennes with those riders, some serious firepower and everyone in great shape.

I don't expect big things from Nibali though. The race just doesn't suit him. I actually think Ion is more likely to win the gc.

Also, since when is the Pais Vasco website not complete rubbish?

The Basque Country tourism office has taken care of the webise, that's why it looks better and more tourist oriented. That's also why in the second stage we will see Gaztelugatxe from the helicopter, the church on a rock that appeared in Game of Thrones

 

[Gigs_98]

The mascot of the world championships in Innsbruck has been revealed. Now, that usually wouldn't really be worth mentioning if it wouldn't be so funny, since the mascot is Helmi.
Helmi is the "protagonist" of a popular Austrian TV show for kids, called Helmi, since 1980 (and when I write kids, I'm not talking about 10 year olds, but rather around 5 years old), which teaches kids about the dangers of life. The word Helmi is a belittlement for the word Helm, which is German for helmet, and since cycling is a very dangerous sport I guess Helmi kinda fits as a mascot. Still I couldn't help but laugh when I heard that a puppet from a crappy TV show for 5 year olds becomes the mascot of a world championship. To me, someone who watched this when I went to Kindergarten, this is like making the teletubbies the mascots for the fifa world cup

If you want to see a five minute episode of the show, here is a link to it. I think this might even be funny to watch if you don't understand a word since no words are needed to realize this crappiness (also the sound is so horrible that even I have troubles understanding the kids )
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_F9yDCT6c5g&t=193s

Also this racist song was once in the show:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JcNokhUSc3M

I'll translate the first few lines:
Blackamoors on coffee beans
Chinese on lemons
Hunter on melons
are hard to see.
:lol:

And nope, this is no joke

 

[Koronin]

Wait, you're telling me the Worlds have a Mascot? I had no idea. I definitely don't remember seeing one in Richmond, doesn't mean one wasn't there. I'll just chalk this up to: Learn something new every day.

 

[LosBrolin]

Re: Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

Sivakov with the French flag next to his name already. Do they know more than we do?

(very clumsy) Google translate from Directvelo interview :

After that ? "I do not know if I will be able to take the French nationality as of 2018 according to the UCI regulations ," he says. Advantage to run under hexagonal label: "The logic, I am still more French than Russian" . Disadvantage: "It is more difficult to be selected in the national team for a World Championship" . The file remains unresolved.

Lire la suite : https://www.directvelo.com/actualite/58261/pavel-sivakov-en-questions

RUS flag still on UCI-website tho

 

[DNP-Old]

Re: Re:

Tour of the Basque Country Startlist

Sivakov with the French flag next to his name already. Do they know more than we do?

(very clumsy) Google translate from Directvelo interview :

After that ? "I do not know if I will be able to take the French nationality as of 2018 according to the UCI regulations ," he says. Advantage to run under hexagonal label: "The logic, I am still more French than Russian" . Disadvantage: "It is more difficult to be selected in the national team for a World Championship" . The file remains unresolved.

Lire la suite : https://www.directvelo.com/actualite/58261/pavel-sivakov-en-questions

RUS flag still on UCI-website tho

From what I’ve heard, if he elects to ride got France, he won’t be eligible for selection of the national team for two (or three?) years. Weird procedure.