General News Thread

[QueenStagiaire]

The route of the Österreich Rundfahrt (still refusing to use the English name as the official one) has been revealed

2. Juli	Prolog	St. Pölten (3 km)
3. Juli	1. Etappe	Bad Tatzmannsdorf - Bad Tatzmannsdorf (174,9 km)
4. Juli	2. Etappe	Maria Taferl - Steyr (179 km)
5. Juli	3. Etappe	Schladming - St. Johann/Alpendorf (153,1 km)
6. Juli	4. Etappe	St. Johann/Alpendorf - Kals (151,5 km)
7. Juli	5. Etappe	Kufstein - Kühtai (143,8 km)

The official stage profiles:

Once again the Steyr stage features the Porscheberg near the final.

The Alpendorf upill finish. The biggest climb of the day is the Dietner Sattel

The Penultimate stage features the Glockner from North.

Imo a finish in Lienz after the Islsbergpass would have been better, but whatever. The final climb is the one where MAL won ahead of Pinot in the TotA 2 years ago.

The penultimate climb goes up to Igls, but the big climb of the day is the Kühtai Sattel

That one km is actually 12.9% on average. I've done this climb multiple times when I still lived in Innsbruck.

Overall clearly an improvement from last year, Konrad Senior made an acceptable route.

Beautiful profile for the prologue, looking like a real Tappone.

 

[Gigs_98]

The route of the Österreich Rundfahrt (still refusing to use the English name as the official one) has been revealed

2. Juli	Prolog	St. Pölten (3 km)
3. Juli	1. Etappe	Bad Tatzmannsdorf - Bad Tatzmannsdorf (174,9 km)
4. Juli	2. Etappe	Maria Taferl - Steyr (179 km)
5. Juli	3. Etappe	Schladming - St. Johann/Alpendorf (153,1 km)
6. Juli	4. Etappe	St. Johann/Alpendorf - Kals (151,5 km)
7. Juli	5. Etappe	Kufstein - Kühtai (143,8 km)

The official stage profiles:

Once again the Steyr stage features the Porscheberg near the final.

The Alpendorf upill finish. The biggest climb of the day is the Dietner Sattel

The Penultimate stage features the Glockner from North.

Imo a finish in Lienz after the Islsbergpass would have been better, but whatever. The final climb is the one where MAL won ahead of Pinot in the TotA 2 years ago.

The penultimate climb goes up to Igls, but the big climb of the day is the Kühtai Sattel

That one km is actually 12.9% on average. I've done this climb multiple times when I still lived in Innsbruck.

Overall clearly an improvement from last year, Konrad Senior made an acceptable route.

It's alright, but I would have prefered an easier mountain stage on the last day. Oh well, it's not like it matters that much in a race this small.

 

[Roku]

Alexei Tsatevich has passed away for undisclosed reasons. He was just 34 years old.

Former pro for several seasons with Katusha and also with Gazprom, he was a winner of Le Samyn (with a different finish back then) and the Montjuic stage on 2016 Volta Catalunya, defeating none other than Primoz Roglic.

As many countrymates, he was a brilliant prospect for hilly and reduced bunch sprints that did not live up to expectations.

Rest in Peace.

 

[Red Rick]

Alexei Tsatevich has passed away for undisclosed reasons. He was just 34 years old.

Former pro for several seasons with Katusha and also with Gazprom, he was a winner of Le Samyn (with a different finish back then) and the Montjuic stage on 2016 Volta Catalunya, defeating none other than Primoz Roglic.

As many countrymates, he was a brilliant prospect for hilly and reduced bunch sprints that did not live up to expectations.

Rest in Peace.

Read he was in the Russian Army. May have died in Ukraine.

 

[Red Rick]

Meanwhile, Tour de Romandie route is out.

Guess what? Red Rick not likey

2km meme prologue, usual short hilly ITT, and this time 2 weak MTFs

Leysin is climbed to about 3km from the top. The only hard climb that is 9km 9% is pointlessly placed at near the start of the stage. Finally, there's everyone's favorite thing. Romandie sprint stages. Yay.

To top it all off with my signature sunny disposition, the fight for the win is gonna be an absolute cracker with Ayuso racing and bringing by far the strongest team in the race.

 

[topcat]

Meanwhile, Tour de Romandie route is out.

Guess what? Red Rick not likey

2km meme prologue, usual short hilly ITT, and this time 2 weak MTFs

Leysin is climbed to about 3km from the top. The only hard climb that is 9km 9% is pointlessly placed at near the start of the stage. Finally, there's everyone's favorite thing. Romandie sprint stages. Yay.

To top it all off with my signature sunny disposition, the fight for the win is gonna be an absolute cracker with Ayuso racing and bringing by far the strongest team in the race.

Would you complain about a route you designed yourself?

 

[Red Rick]

Would you complain about a route you designed yourself?

Obviously

"It was way too much work, and they didn't wanna pave these 3 not even goat tracks for me. And I keep getting calls from Adam Hansen, I demand a restraining order

 

[SHAD0W93]

Emergency Operation for Eddy Merckx, Cycling’s Greatest Ever Rider

Belgian Merckx is recovering at home after recent surgery. Multiple Tour de France champion Merckx is regarded as the sport's G.O.A.T

velo.outsideonline.com

Merckx had a bowel obstruction, most likely from his cannibalism.

 

[awavey]

British Cycling are gearing (sorry, not sorry) up for an announcement tomorrow 15th, at 5pm about the Tour(s) of Britain, though I can't help note the Women's Tour of Britain is absent on the UCI calendar again, if you can find it that is, which probably means it's still there but they've just lost the will to update the mess of a site they've got now.

 

[RedheadDane]

Looks like Peter Øxenberg Hansen's Coll de Rates record won't be beaten any time soon. The mountain's on fire!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1779537856429432971

I'm pretty sure he didn't do it.

 

[awavey]

Tour of Britain Women stages announced as countdown to Grand Départ begins

The hosts of the 2024 Tour of Britain Women stages have today been announced, as preparations for the inaugural edition of the race progress ahead of the Grand Départ in Welshpool on Thursday 6 June.

www.britishcycling.org.uk

 

[Sciatic]

Looks like Peter Øxenberg Hansen's Coll de Rates record won't be beaten any time soon. The mountain's on fire!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1779537856429432971

I'm pretty sure he didn't do it.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Tour of Britain Women stages announced as countdown to Grand Départ begins

The hosts of the 2024 Tour of Britain Women stages have today been announced, as preparations for the inaugural edition of the race progress ahead of the Grand Départ in Welshpool on Thursday 6 June.

www.britishcycling.org.uk

Let's hope the Tours of Britain will survive for longer than this season.

 

[RedheadDane]

Why are you smiling about the fact that there's a literal forest fire? That's weird!





Was it you?

 

[rallybanana]

Looks like Peter Øxenberg Hansen's Coll de Rates record won't be beaten any time soon. The mountain's on fire!

https://twitter.com/x/status/1779537856429432971

I'm pretty sure he didn't do it.

4th photo in the tweet does not look like a real fire

 

[RedheadDane]

4th photo in the tweet does not look like a real fire

Whaaaaaaaaaat? I thought it was just a very big flame. It looks so realistic.
🔥

 

[Sciatic]

Why are you smiling about the fact that there's a literal forest fire? That's weird!





Was it you?

Because of the “I’m pretty sure he didn’t start it” that I took as humor not serious.

 

[awavey]

Anna Shackley, 22, has been forced to retire from the sport after it was diagnosed she had cardiac arrhythmia that is not compatible and clearly not fixable, with the demands of the sport

https://twitter.com/x/status/1780182260878115274

View: https://twitter.com/teamsdworx/status/1780182260878115274

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Anna Shackley, 22, has been forced to retire from the sport after it was diagnosed she had cardiac arrhythmia that is not compatible and clearly not fixable, with the demands of the sport

https://twitter.com/x/status/1780182260878115274

View: https://twitter.com/teamsdworx/status/1780182260878115274

That's a huge shame. Hopefully it won't be something that will affect her too much in whatever career she decides to pursue in the future.

 

[awavey]

Anna has also posted on Instagram about it

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C50ydTRMgFB/

 

[Sciatic]

Anna has also posted on Instagram about it

View this content on Instagram

View this content on Instagram

View: https://www.instagram.com/p/C50ydTRMgFB/

Will the team honor the rest of her contract since it was as an MD’s decision she should stop. Do the women pros have any guaranteed money in their contracts? I’m guessing not for the latter:

 

[awavey]

Will the team honor the rest of her contract since it was as an MD’s decision she should stop. Do the women pros have any guaranteed money in their contracts? I’m guessing not for the latter:

well theyre supposed to be guaranteed a minimum wage thesedays as a world tour team rider, though what the ins and outs of that guarantee might mean when you are forced to quit on medical grounds I dont know, would they pay up the remainder of the contract ? youd like to think so, but..

Possibly Im reading too much into a typically blunt Dutch statement translated in to English , but "we'll work to see how we can help" isnt nearly as enfusive as the British Cycling statement which was "weve offered Anna our full support now and in the future" even though both may amount to the exact same level of support.

I do believe she had only this year left on the current deal she was on with SD Worx. and also given her age and experience whether it was much more than the minimum, again cant really say, but youd presume at the lower end of pay scale, certainly compared to others on that team.

she was also on the GBCT olympic podium programme, which fwiw isnt automatic for GB women in the pro road ranks still, so was getting national lottery funding for that as well, which due to the unique way its funded, may well carry on till the Olympics happen.

 

[roundabout]

Tour de Suisse 2024

1. Etappe: Vaduz - Vaduz
2. Etappe: Vaduz - Regensdorf
3. Etappe: Steinmaur - Rüschlikon
4. Etappe: Rüschlikon - St. Gotthard
5. Etappe: Ambri – Cari
6. Etappe: Locarno – Blatten-Belalp
7. Etappe: Villars-sur-Ollon - Villars-sur-Ollon
8. Etappe: Aigle - Villars-sur-Ollon

Stages 4-8 all end uphill. Stage 8 is an MTT, stage 1 a short ITT/prologue

Pretty bland as expected, only stage 7 looks somewhat interesting, but it's before the MTT

Etappenplan

Insgesamt sind 1’300 Kilometer und über 20’000 Höhenmeter zwischen dem Startschuss in Küssnacht und dem finalen Zielstrich bei der Stockhütte zurückzulegen.

www.tourdesuisse.ch

Spoiler: Profiles

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Pretty bland as expected, only stage 7 looks somewhat interesting, but it's before the MTT

Etappenplan

Insgesamt sind 1’300 Kilometer und über 20’000 Höhenmeter zwischen dem Startschuss in Küssnacht und dem finalen Zielstrich bei der Stockhütte zurückzulegen.

www.tourdesuisse.ch

Spoiler: Profiles

I‘m guessing they didn‘t wanna include any downhill finishes after what happened last year.

 

[Wyndbrook]

well theyre supposed to be guaranteed a minimum wage thesedays as a world tour team rider, though what the ins and outs of that guarantee might mean when you are forced to quit on medical grounds I dont know, would they pay up the remainder of the contract ? youd like to think so, but..

Possibly Im reading too much into a typically blunt Dutch statement translated in to English , but "we'll work to see how we can help" isnt nearly as enfusive as the British Cycling statement which was "weve offered Anna our full support now and in the future" even though both may amount to the exact same level of support.

I do believe she had only this year left on the current deal she was on with SD Worx. and also given her age and experience whether it was much more than the minimum, again cant really say, but youd presume at the lower end of pay scale, certainly compared to others on that team.

she was also on the GBCT olympic podium programme, which fwiw isnt automatic for GB women in the pro road ranks still, so was getting national lottery funding for that as well, which due to the unique way its funded, may well carry on till the Olympics happen.

Small point, national lottery funding is means tested based on your professional salary.