General News Thread

[Eshnar]

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/09/news/il-lombardia-gets-even-harder-year_420209

How come nobody has posted this yet? Looks to be an insane edition.

you couldn't check up to 3 posts above yours huh

 

[BigMac]

They better give us full coverage. Lombardia is not Lombardia without the Madonna del Ghisallo on TV.

And Aru won't win it despite the organisers' gift.

 

[staubsauger]

If Rosa, Zeits and Landa babysit him to the line he might ... Oops ...

 

[Brullnux]

Milano Torino route the same as last year's, no surprise there.

I don't care if it's a gift, because it's positive for all of us. Take out Bergamo Alta and there would be attacks from Sant'Antonio Abbandonato. Now I expect a some people to wait for the last little ramp, which is a wrong choice, not just for us but tactically too as it's not even close to hard enough to create significant gaps (like we found out in 2014. Hopefully the riders will think so too.

 

[Nirvana]

This is the cicuit of Vicenza bid for the 2020 World Championship, they took out the initially planned uphill finish on Monte Berico that will be at the beginning of the circuit and they add a new climb but last five kilometres are flat.

It's confirmed the start from Venice and a first part of the race along Riviera del Brenta before the circuit.

 

[Red Rick]

Looks like a great parcours, only shame is the length of the circuit.

 

[Netserk]

Why? (is it a shame)

 

[Billie]

Pippo Pozzato 2020 World Champ!!!!

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re:

Why? (is it a shame)

Would assume he would have liked it to be a little shorter = more climbing

 

[Brullnux]

Re: Re:

Why? (is it a shame)

Would assume he would have liked it to be a little shorter = more climbing

Knowing RCS that is gonna be a 275+km length race, otherwise known as real WC length. None of this 255 business that has become the norm

 

[Netserk]

Re: Re:

Why? (is it a shame)

Would assume he would have liked it to be a little shorter = more climbing

It'd (afaik) have less vertical meters per km if you shortened the circuit... (but you are free to draw an alternative circuit to show me wrong )

Why is the length of the circuit in itself a problem? I think it's great, especially how the last 5km are the easiest, while the rest of it doesn't benefit the bunch too much, so we will probably see real racing before the last lap.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Re: Re:

Why? (is it a shame)

Would assume he would have liked it to be a little shorter = more climbing

It'd (afaik) have less vertical meters per km if you shortened the circuit... (but you are free to draw an alternative circuit to show me wrong )

Why is the length of the circuit in itself a problem? I think it's great, especially how the last 5km are the easiest, while the rest of it doesn't benefit the bunch too much, so we will probably see real racing before the last lap.

I don't have any clue to how you could make the circuit, it was just my guess he would have preferred more vertical gain that way.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't like 20km circuit because you don't get that many circuits in the end. I have not looked at a map so I have no idea what the alternatives are. What I do like is that both climbs are about equally hard and that they're not at the last part of the circuit.

 

[Netserk]

Re:

I don't like 20km circuit because you don't get that many circuits in the end. I have not looked at a map so I have no idea what the alternatives are. What I do like is that both climbs are about equally hard and that they're not at the last part of the circuit.

But why does that matter, if the circuit is good? It has two climbs in it with about 10km in between, and it only has 6km of flat (7km, if you count the 1km before the second climb) out of 20.75km. The great advantage of the circuit length is that all the flat is not only concentrated to the end, but that it is 5.4km of flat in the end, so it really forces action further out, without being so large a part of the circuit that it is easily controllable. In fantasy land, where you are not limited by the roads and the area, I'm sure an improvement could be made, but even then, I think it's pretty damn awesome as it is given the difficulty as it is.

The easiest way to shorten it would be to skip the part between km 4.75 and km 13.2, so it'd be 12.3km long (much shorter, so much win!), or you could skip the second climb and replace it with flat (you'd take 3.7km away and replace it with 1.5km). I just don't see any shorter circuit that is better, given that you start by climbing Berico, but you could make it tougher, by adding a third climb (Via Pilla), but then the circuit would get longer (oh no!).

The relevant part of the circuit: http://i.imgur.com/0CgAszW.png?1 (the red dots are the original circuit, the marked part of the profile show what's added by the Pilla climb)

 

[janraaskalt3]

Re: Re:

I don't like 20km circuit because you don't get that many circuits in the end.

But why does that matter, if the circuit is good?

The fans at the circuit would see the riders less times, with longer intervals. Sixteen km maximum please.

 

[Netserk]

Fair enough, but there would also be space for more fans if it was a bit longer

 

[janraaskalt3]

Re:

Fair enough, but there would also be space for more fans if it was a bit longer

That usually isn't the problem, except for the climb(s) during last couple of laps of the pro road race.

 

[Matt92]

The map of the circuit, in case anybody's interested:
http://www.la-flamme-rouge.eu/maps/viewtrack/hd/76587

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

Fernando Gaviria Rendón (Etixx Quick Step)

Rigoberto Urán Urán (Cannondale)

Edwin Alcibiades Ávila Vanegas (Team Illuminate)

Carlos Eduardo Alzate Escobar (United HealtCare)

Jarlinson Pantano Gómez (IAM Cycling)

Jhoan Esteban Chaves Rubio (Orica BikeExchange)

Walter Alejandro Vargas Alzate (Orgullo Antioqueño)

Omar Alberto Mendoza Alzate (Movistar Team América)

Brayan Steven Ramírez Chacón (Movistar Team América)


list of colombian riders for the world championships. last 3 will also do the itt is my bet

really? not Uran?

uran lost any interest in itt since leaving quickstep

 

[Nirvana]

Gran Piemonte presented today

 

[WillemS]

Mentioned it in the Paralympic incident thread no one is going to read, but an Iranian rider in the Paralympic road race, Bahman Golbarnezhad, died after a crash early in the race.

http://www.bbc.com/sport/disability-sport/37398333

 

[Alexandre B.]

Tour de France 2017 will be the last competition of Thomas Voeckler as a pro.

A fitting end.

 

[Zinoviev Letter]

Re:

Aquablue, the proposed new Hiberno-French ProConti team, are saying that they've now sent ten riders final contracts to be signed after terms were agreed. So, much to my surprise, it does look like the team will actually happen. They've also bought the IAM team bus.

According to stickybottle, they will have a sixteen rider roster and are in negotiations with more than six riders to fill the remaining six team places.

It will be interesting to see both how many Irish riders they sign as, to be blunt, I'm not at all sure where they will find a substantial cohort of Irish riders who are ready to step up to ProConti level, and what level of international rider they bring in.

 

[Nirvana]

Provisional startlist of Giro di Lombardia
http://static2.ilombardia.it/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/CI0109PAR_lomb.pdf

No Quintana nor Valverde for Movistar.
There is Van Avermaet despite the hard route.

 

[Buffalo Soldier]

Re:

There is Van Avermaet despite the hard route.

Olympic RR was said to be too hard for GVA as well