General News Thread

[Red Rick]

LeMonds pre EPO sthick is so old

 

[theyoungest]

LeMonds pre EPO sthick is so old

The Last Pure Rider... what does that even mean?

 

[tobydawq]

LeMonds pre EPO sthick is so old

Yes, it's 33 years old. What's your point?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Yes, it's 33 years old. What's your point?

I‘m tellin‘ ya, bein‘ a drug addict was so much better before them crackheads came along an‘ ruined it all for us traditional folks, y‘know!

 

[tobydawq]

No, but what is your point @Red Rick? Have you unravelled that EPO was actually introduced to the peloton earlier than what is believed? Or what is it that you want to say here apart from general butthurtness? You can take me to the clinic if you want even though you (as an admin) was the one to start talking about doping here.

 

[Red Rick]

No, but what is your point @Red Rick? Have you unravelled that EPO was actually introduced to the peloton earlier than what is believed? Or what is it that you want to say here apart from general butthurtness? You can take me to the clinic if you want even though you (as an admin) was the one to start talking about doping here.

No it's just about how being from the pre-EPO days is the only way he markets himself like it's all he wants to be known for. Lemonds story is one of the great stories of cycling but I don't like kicking down on others to pat yourself on the back a little extra.

 

[Izzyeviel]

That's an interesting statement from Lotto Destiny. Someone has been sending inappropriate messages to women & they have receipts.

 

[Ricco']

I don't think so. Talent needs to be nurtured with competition, training plans, coaches that know what they're doing, support to go to races, family environment, money etc. Those who don't have these things don't go anywhere. It's rare now to see cyclists in big races/teams from outside the usual countries. It's a much more inequal sport than just a couple of years ago, in particular with the development teams so far ahead of normal under 23s now that that's one more barrier for outsiders.

van der Poel is the most privileged cyclist around wrt opportunities, background and support system, the richest of all rich kids.

Is it really? I honestly have the opposite idea. I checked the data for the nationalities of WT riders for another thread and between 2005 and 2023 the change is, although still not perfect, significant. There are 15% more nationalities represented in the top tier of professional cycling and the distribution between nations is not so heavily concentrated in the top-3 nations (in 2005 the top-3 nations represented 50% of the WT riders and nowdays that figure is on 36%). In addition we have 33% more nations with 5 or more WT riders.

Back then it was almost impossible for a rider like Biniam Girmay to be the top leader of a WT team. Now we have 6 riders from Africa (not counting South Africa who has closer tiers to anglo teams) vs 0 then and 22 riders from Central and South America vs 4 back then.

In the first decade of this century was also normal for the top-10 of the Giro and Vuelta to be full of home riders, while now it's the complete opposite.

We have a dutch Devo team who is full of norwegian talent (Hagenes, Staune-Mittet, Nordhagen and more) for example and Norway is far from being a traditional country.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

That's an interesting statement from Lotto Destiny. Someone has been sending inappropriate messages to women & they have receipts.

It's Allan Davis, former Sanremo runner up, world championships medalist and Tour down under winner. He works as sport director for the team and apparently likes to DM womens weird messages despite being engaged.

The guy is obviously very stupid, not much going on between his ears. But beyond that I don't know how much of an issue this will be.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1673620971578589185

View: https://twitter.com/sexandtheswiss/status/1673620971578589185?t=DTJoNSwkRyX7CSxH7BLPlA&s=19





Twitter is full of weird peoples

 

[Berflamand]

I know there's not a lot of love on this forum for Adam Hansen but I think this is a step in the right direction:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1674442733795291137

View: https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/1674442733795291137


Downhill finishes are staying but with better (audio) signing, new asphalt and more barriers with padding.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

A good step for the Tour, perhaps, but also a step that is going to be financially and logistically impossible for the vast majority of races. So a bad step if they're going to try to mandate this as the minimum standard everywhere because it would either kill a lot of races, or kill descents on a lot of races thereby making the routes far worse.

Also, brand new asphalt can also make a descent more dangerous depending on when it was laid and how good the road was beforehand, especially if it's raining it can really become a lot more slippery than older asphalt. The Loze cycling path opened less than five years ago, surely that was still fine and new asphalt there is only going to be detrimental?

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah, really fresh asphalt can be slippery, I often don't trust that one and take it easier when going downhill. I guess it's mainly to prevent half-arsed pothole fixing with still loose asphalt that can be a problem on descents.
Probably by far the least worst stuff that Adam Hansen has been involved with since he retired. I know, that isn't saying much, but I think we can all agree that better signalling on descents is a good thing. Would be nice to finally mention the safety risk that are team radios, but that's not gonna happen. Every rider has a ds screaming in his ear to keep pushing on a descent/stay near the front when the road gets narrower, yet when something happens only race organizers get blamed...

 

[Izzyeviel]

make every stage a hockey stick stage and we can stop worrying about dangerous descents. Look at me, I am the genius know!

 

[Nick2413]

I know there's not a lot of love on this forum for Adam Hansen but I think this is a step in the right direction:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1674442733795291137

View: https://twitter.com/HansenAdam/status/1674442733795291137


Downhill finishes are staying but with better (audio) signing, new asphalt and more barriers with padding.

It’s at least better than cancelling the descents but not good if this is going to set a precedent and become the mandate for all descents in every race moving forward. It’s not logistically feasible to be repaving roads and putting this much money into every descent anywhere but the Tour.

They also only mentioned these 2 descents, does that mean all the other descents in the race are deemed safe purely because they’re not at the finish, or do they really have better road conditions?

At least nice to see they’re willing to try to meet halfway rather than go with the abstinence policy and remove everything without offering a solution.

 

[RedheadDane]

A good step for the Tour, perhaps, but also a step that is going to be financially and logistically impossible for the vast majority of races. So a bad step if they're going to try to mandate this as the minimum standard everywhere because it would either kill a lot of races, or kill descents on a lot of races thereby making the routes far worse.

I have a pretty simple solution to the financial issue.
UCI gets a lot of money from fines, this seems like a useful thing to spend that money on.

 

[Andre]

In the news today: "
Italian bike brand and Ineos Grenadiers sponsor Pinarello has been sold by private equity firm L Catterton to a private office, with reports suggesting that the buyer is former Glencore CEO and Q36.5 investor Ivan Glasenberg.


News of the sale was shared officially by L Catterton on Thursday 29th June, while terms of the transaction were not disclosed. However, reports in the Gazzetta dello Sport confirm that Glasenberg is the new owner with rumours that the transaction price was around €200 million."

I see words like "private equity" and "private office" and "terms not disclosed" and "rumours". It makes me wonder and notice the amount of secrets there are in the high bushiness world today. Who is hiding what and why? Just a thought.

 

[Izzyeviel]

UCI released its yearly report last week

Can someone translate the finance stuff so an idiot like me can understand it? Thanks

 

[Unchained]

Major grocery chain with 179 locations closes 'underperforming' store for good

A MAJOR budget grocery chain has announced the closure of another store for good due to poor performance. Lidl confirmed the closure of its store in North Augusta, Georgia. The store has suffered f…

www.the-sun.com

They may have won today's stage but most business reports have Lidl pretty shaky..

 

[Red Rick]

Read a Ukrainian cyclist by the name of Anastasiya Honcharova died on the frontlines in Ukraine. Anyone know if there's a relation to Serhiy Honchar?

 

[Izzyeviel]

I don't know how Ukrainian surnames work, but Honchar isn't his real name. It's Gonchar so probably no relation.

RIP Anastasiya

 

[Põhja Konn]

I don't know how Ukrainian surnames work, but Honchar isn't his real name. It's Gonchar so probably no relation.

RIP Anastasiya

I'm not entirely sure, but Gonchar should just be the Russian language version of the name, whereas Honchar is a Ukrainian one. So basically it is the same name.

 

[Netserk]

English transliteration of Сергій Гончар is Serhiy Honchar.

 

[Izzyeviel]

I was just going by his wikipedia page

 

[Netserk]

I was just going by his wikipedia page

Read Ukrainian! - Transliteration system

 

[DNP-Old]

We know Vanthourenhout won't have the guts to actually do it, but Philipsen has just given him a proper reason to not take him to Glasgow. Now, the Belgium team is yet to be made public, which will happen next week, but Philipsen has already announced he is one of nine to be selected (Remco gets an automatic spot as defending champion). What does Philipsen offer that Wout doesn't you ask? Nothing much, but Philipsen, he says himself, is select for one reason and one reason only: the sprint. His role is to play the waiting game for every second of the race, until the last 200 meters.

First of all, I find it weird to already make decisions like these, for sprinting after 270 kilometers is vastly different than after 180, but that's another discussion. Secondly, this leaves Wout in a tricky situation, who will now have to be utilised as an attacker. So we're getting a sprint between Wout and Remco as to who can get a gap the earliest. But this is also another matter.

What is more important is that Philipsen decided to elaborate and say some things he probably should not have said:

Nog meer omdat Philipsen op de rustdag nog een andere knuppel in het hoenderhok gooide. Hij mag op Glasgow dan wel in de Belgische trui rijden, benadrukte hij, niemand mag van hem verwachten dat hij zijn ploegmaat bij Alpecin-Deceuninck, Mathieu van der Poel, op dat WK zou dwarsbomen. “Ik denk het dat het duidelijk is dat ik Mathieu nooit iets in de weg zal leggen”, sprak hij onomwonden. “Ook niet als ik voor de Belgische ploeg rijd. Ik ga nooit de persoon zijn die achter Mathieu ga moeten rijden.

In summary, Philipsen said that under no circumstances will he ever chase Van der Poel, despite riding for different countries. This is nothing new to Belgium, for Devenyns said the same in regards to Alaphilippe, but then subsequently withdrew himself from eligibility in Imola. My guess is Vanthourenthout isn't brave enough to do it, but Philipsen has presented a beautiful opportunity to remain at home. Vanthourenhout should know how tricky this is; Groenendaal vs. Nys flashbacks.