General News Thread

[boneshaker]

Strade and Amstel are also lacking. And Omloop but he will probably not race that again.

And Giro stages.

These are Sagan's top tens from races he (so far) did not win:

Omloop: 2nd, 2nd
Strade: 2nd, 2nd, 4th and 8th
MSR: 2nd, 2nd, 4th, 4th, 4th, 6th and 10th
Amstel: 3rd and 4th

Tirreno-Adriatico: 2nd
Binck Bank Tour: 3rd and 7th

(and you can add 2nd nad 4th at La Vuelta's PC)

His worst best result from a race he has a chance to win is 3rd. Insane.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

For those interested, and able to understand Dutch, there will be an extra episode of Vive le Vélo wednesday on Belgian national TV, and livestreamed on Sporza.be (chances are you'll need a VPN if you're watching online from abroad). Normally you'll also be able to watch with VRTnu.be from across Europe, but you'll need a (free) confirmed Belgian account.

Looking back at 2019 with Wout van Aert, Remco Evenepoel and Eddy Planckaert.

Kijktip: Vive le Vélo legt woensdagavond het wielerjaar 2019 neer | sporza

2019 was een sprankelend wielerjaar met heel wat Belgische topprestaties. Karl Vannieuwkerke heeft voor de gelegenheid een winterse editie van Vive le Vélo in elkaar gebokst met tafelgasten Remco Evenepoel, Wout van Aert en Eddy Planckaert. Kijk woensdag om 20.45u op Eén of op sporza.be met...

sporza.be

 

[RedheadDane]

Pogacar and Evenepoel both get the same amount of votes as Espoir de l' Année at Le Gruppetto Season Awards

How did they solve it? Dance-off competition? Or they just shared the prize?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

How did they solve it? Dance-off competition? Or they just shared the prize?

I doubt there is any real prize involved. The title was shared.

 

[Breh]

Did we have a topic about the best races in 2019 yet?

 

[Red Rick]

Did we have a topic about the best races in 2019 yet?

I don't think we did

 

[tobydawq]

I think we need one. We can't just use the Pisti rule of counting pages this year due to the server issues in the spring.

 

[Red Rick]

I think we need one. We can't just use the Pisti rule of counting pages this year due to the server issues in the spring.

Contador rider of the year?

 

[Mayomaniac]

The Tour de Suisse will have a spectacular final, a hard hilly ITT followed by a short mountain stage that actually makes sense.

Source: https://www.tourdesuisse.ch/de/meta...ws/kantonuebergreifendes-zielwochenende-2020/

 

[roundabout]

wonder how the TT will work for team vehicles? the only viable route back to Disentis is again the Oberalppass

 

[Red Rick]

I can't find the rest of the route?

Anyway, those 2 stages look great. I hope the other mountain stage(s) are a bit longer though.

 

[roundabout]

https://www.tourdesuisse.ch/de/tds-2020/etappenplan/

looks a bit meh. I am guessing Leukerbad will be a 1 climb stage, but maybe stage 6 will have Oberalp instead of Lukmanier as the final climb, but I am not confident of that

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Reduced number of stages

 

[Gigs_98]

Reduced number of stages

Sucks but it just makes sense. The lack of good gc riders due to the Dauphine and some other races simply being better as tdf preperation has been an issue for years and the easiest way for the organizers to address that is shortening the race.

 

[Red Rick]

Hardly. I think the biggest reason riders go to the Dauphine is the extra week inbetween which makes it possible to go back to altitude in between.

 

[tobydawq]

A 21 kilometre ITT will be included in next year's edition of Volta a Catalunya

 

[Red Rick]

A 21 kilometre ITT will be included in next year's edition of Volta a Catalunya

What is this world.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

There used to be TTs in the race, albeit often MTTs, but since the rise to prominence of Purito, they have disappeared. Now, however, the top Catalan cyclist is Marc Soler, and if we look over the last 2 years, he's pretty decent at ITTs of this kind of length - 2nd over 18,4km in Paris-Nice '18, 5th over 14,2km in Ruta del Sol '18, 9th over 31km in the '18 Tour, 9th over 25,5km in Paris-Nice '19, 14th over 19,2km in Suisse '19, and 8th over 36,1km in the '19 Vuelta. In TTs where he's motivated and in races he's targeting, he's very competitive. That may influence some thinking.

 

[42x16ss]

The Tour de Suisse will have a spectacular final, a hard hilly ITT followed by a short mountain stage that actually makes sense.

Source: https://www.tourdesuisse.ch/de/meta...ws/kantonuebergreifendes-zielwochenende-2020/

I really like that TT route, it has Nibali and Roglic's name all over it. Time splits for the second half will be interesting

 

[PeterB]

Anyone here a fan of an ex-pro Maurizio Vandelli?

Obviously he was no super star (though finished 10th in the '88 Giro) but nevertheless, you can now bid to get his signed jersey on this site. Auction closes in less than 2 days and there's no bidder yet so chances are high. Part of the proceeds should go to a charity so I hope posting this here is fine.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

A 21 kilometre ITT will be included in next year's edition of Volta a Catalunya

Is that one of the stages being held around Algero/Alguer in Sardinia?

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

A 21 kilometre ITT will be included in next year's edition of Volta a Catalunya

See! By next year, did you mean 2020? Your post is from december 31st. Or did you mean 2021?
If 2020 it will be interesting to see how Mathieu handles it.

 

[tobydawq]

See! By next year, did you mean 2020? Your post is from december 31st. Or did you mean 2021?
If 2020 it will be interesting to see how Mathieu handles it.

2020. I did give a thought to you and RhD when I very deliberately wrote that, so I'm glad to see it being appreciated

 

[christopherrowe]

See! By next year, did you mean 2020? Your post is from december 31st. Or did you mean 2021?
If 2020 it will be interesting to see how Mathieu handles it.

From the race website (in English): El Pla de l’Estany will host an individual time trial in the 100th Edition of the Volta

 

[RedheadDane]

2020. I did give a thought to you and RhD when I very deliberately wrote that, so I'm glad to see it being appreciated

At least you aren't from New Zealand. Then it could actually have been January 1st when you wrote it, despite (European) time stamps saying December 31st.