General News Thread

[Armchair Cyclist]

The 1.1 Elfstedenronde (which currently finishes in Brugge) will therefore be forced to relocate away from the city to an as-yet unspecified town,

it presumably has 11 to choose between

 

[tobydawq]

Everyone's favourite WT race, Classic Brugge-De Panne, is moving its finish to Brugge and rebranding as the Ronde van Brugge. The 1.1 Elfstedenronde (which currently finishes in Brugge) will therefore be forced to relocate away from the city to an as-yet unspecified town, but is currently planning to keep going.

https://sporza.be/nl/2025/06/11/bru...mt-afscheid-van-elfstedenronde~1749635543386/

Aw, the finish in De Panne was so loveable and safe

 

[CTQ]

new circuit Grand Prix de Quebec
https://gpcqm.ca/en/gp-quebec/

View: https://vimeo.com/1089677103

 

[awavey]

One of the worst kept secrets in cycling... nonetheless, great for her.

theres a difference between knowing someone is pregnant, and announcing theyre pregnant, you generally wait to the second trimester

 

[Tim Cahill]

new circuit Grand Prix de Quebec
https://gpcqm.ca/en/gp-quebec/

View: https://vimeo.com/1089677103

This leans a little more towards puncheur than the current Quebec versatile sprinter meta doesn't it, though not so much such that they won't have a chance of winning, I believe this is the climb they used pre-covid? Matthews arranging his annual North American superpeak as we speak.

I like the balance of the Canadian double-header currently.

 

[Samamba]

This leans a little more towards puncheur than the current Quebec versatile sprinter meta doesn't it, though not so much such that they won't have a chance of winning, I believe this is the climb they used pre-covid? Matthews arranging his annual North American superpeak as we speak.

I like the balance of the Canadian double-header currently.

Pretty sure the route has always been the same?

This looks harder yes. Not sure if I am a fan of, I thought the mix of a race more for versatile sprinters and non climby punchers and a race for punchers and climber types was perfect. Even tho Quebec was getting stale so I get they wanted to change something. But this isn't any better. It's probably even more waiting till the last 2km, just probably with a different type of winner. Climb is 600m at 9% with some slopes well over 10%. Same climb as previous years if I'm correct, but now they do it till the top (before it was the first 350m of it) and they go straight to the finish (which seems to be on a different road but kinda parallel to the previous one).

 

[search]

I seem to remember road works leading to a route change in Canada for a couple of editions, but can't really remember which race it was.

Here's a 2d version of the new course as well, btw, and the former one for comparison. Less climbing in total, but the finish looks a bit harder indeed.

looks alright to me, but not sure why it needed a change to begin with. The old finish was totally fine.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

So long as they insist on running the circuit counter-clockwise, the first three-quarters will always be without climbs. So this is not the change this race needed.

 

[Potomac]

So long as they insist on running the circuit counter-clockwise, the first three-quarters will always be without climbs. So this is not the change this race needed.

Well, we do drive on the right hand side of the road in north America, so of course the circuit is counter-clockwise.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Well, we do drive on the right hand side of the road in north America, so of course the circuit is counter-clockwise.

Wouldn‘t you always want to turn right (clockwise) in that case.

 

[awavey]

Uci have approved next years world tour calendars https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/th...mens-worldtour-and-uci/4Eom6DCpjNwy5BeppuLXg3

 

[Samamba]

Uci have approved next years world tour calendars https://www.uci.org/pressrelease/th...mens-worldtour-and-uci/4Eom6DCpjNwy5BeppuLXg3

So De Panne is now replaced "The Great Sprint Classic". You just know this is going into the direction of "The Great Crash Classic".

 

[Samamba]

"Moreover, a new points system allowing road teams to benefit from a certain number of points based on the results obtained by their riders when they participate in events in other disciplines will be introduced from the 2027 season onwards."

Oh boy... The UCI is at it again.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Oh boy... The UCI is at it again.

At least they banned TT-helmets in road races and have some rules for minimum handlebar width (ok, I guess?) and maximal fork width for road bikes (Factor will probably not be too pleased).

 

[TourOfSardinia]

I can't find the the thread on Eurosport to TNT/Discovery....
Just before the Tour there is a new showdown, this time in Italy for Sky subscribers:
Translated from the italiano here

Eurosport's television channels, which broadcast many cycling events, both on the road and off-road, could be removed from Sky's subscriber offering. This prospect, which is reported by many as very likely, is based on disagreements between Sky and Warner Bros. Discovery, the owners of Eurosport. The two parties are unable to reach an agreement so that Discovery's offerings remain available in subscriptions to the Sky platform, and the result of this failed agreement would be a "separation" starting from July 1st.

The basis of the disagreements would be the fact that many of the events available to Eurosport are also broadcast in free-to-air, on other channels. This is the case, among others, of cycling, which is often (but not always) also broadcast on Rai channels. If the affair were to end with an actual separation between the parties, Eurosport would therefore remain available only through "its" Discovery platform, unless the owners themselves study some different solution for the immediate future.

 

[Unchained]

The idea that Michael Matthews has heart problems is crushing!! Guy is a standout

 

[yaco]

The idea that Michael Matthews has heart problems is crushing!! Guy is a standout

It's not heart problems. It is a blood clot which of course is more likely to be found at altititude. Its a blow for Jayco because he is their leading UCI points scorer and they are not exactly out of the woods with relegation. Also he could have filled a number of roles in the TDF as well as a chance to win a stage.

 

[search]

In the Tour de Suisse post race show, SRF showed a small feature about the VAR in cycling. The English interview has German voiceover, but I thought it was interesting to get a small look into it how it works

Der VAR, er ist längst auch im Radsport angekommen - Tour de Suisse -Veloclub - Play SRF

Im Rahmen der 2. TdS-Etappe durfte SRF Sport dem Video Assistant Referee Joey Ermens über die Schulter blicken.

www.srf.ch

without geo-restriction:

Watch Tour_de_Suisse_2025_Stage_2_Veloclub_VAR_[SRF] | Streamable

Watch "Tour_de_Suisse_2025_Stage_2_Veloclub_VAR_[SRF]" on Streamable.

streamable.com

Looks like they are using normal UCI commissaires for it. Joey Ermens was (a.o.) still chief commissaire at last year's Giro, at least.

 

[KoopaCycling]

There been lots of stuff around Eddy cause of his 80th birthday.
I once read in passing how he crashed hard, and he was less good after.

But I never realised just how severe that crash was. How early it happened in his career. And that he brought a wrench with him in his backpocket, so he could adjust his saddle so as to counter his pain by changing saddle position.

I mean 4/5 th of his major victories came after that crash. When he was already physcially diminished.
Guy was an absolute monster.

 

[Tim Cahill]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1937948334183825425

50 Million!? Surely something lost in translation.

Italian Eurosport playing silly beggars, still Nike coming back is interesting, though I think they're already with the FDJ women.

I'm on my bike, busting my ass.

 

[Pozzovivo]

I'm on my bike, busting my ass.

What are you on???

 

[Pozzovivo]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1937948334183825425

50 Million!? Surely something lost in translation.

Italian Eurosport playing silly beggars, still Nike coming back is interesting, though I think they're already with the FDJ women.

I'm on my bike, busting my ass.

It's a misquote. It's the projected total budget of Visma-Lab.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm on my bike, busting my ass.

A saddle might help...

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Eddy est... finé?
https://www.idlprocycling.com/cycli...-cyclist-forced-to-end-career-i-had-no-choice

(What was the thread we had for retirements etc? I tried searching for Adieu in thread titles, which is what I thought I remembered it as being, but only found a reference to my asking where that thread is on a previous occasion)

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Eddy est... finé?
https://www.idlprocycling.com/cycli...-cyclist-forced-to-end-career-i-had-no-choice

(What was the thread we had for retirements etc? I tried searching for Adieu in thread titles, which is what I thought I remembered it as being, but only found a reference to my asking where that thread is on a previous occasion)

Adios!