General News Thread

[Red Rick]

Re:

E3 Harelbeke changes it's name to the E3 BinckBank Classic, only minor changes to the route.

 

[tobydawq]

Re: Re:

E3 Harelbeke changes it's name to the E3 BinckBank Classic, only minor changes to the route.

Their presentation video is quite cool, though.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9CbfVmLZjA8&t=6s

 

[Nirvana]

[quote="Nirvana":17y4irlg]Lappartient in an interview for the Gazzetta (I don't post it because is mainly on clinic related stuff) said that he wants two WC in Africa in the next decade (they already have candidatures from Rwanda and Marocco for 2025).

But the really important thing (and something that could affect vastly the calendar) is that he said he's working for 2020 to have California in the first week of May and Giro start postponed to the second part of May to avoid the overlapping of the two races and allow riders to ride both. In this case I wonder if they need to postpone also every race after the Giro or they'll overlap the Giro with Dauphine and maybe even Suisse and reduce to only three or four week the break between Giro and Tour. And what they'll do with the usual preparation races for the Giro, riding in California could become more attractive than going to Tirol or Romandie with more likely cold and bad weather and almost a month before the start of the Giro.
And not to mention that for 2020 we could also have the Olympics overlapping with the Tour considering that RR is scheduled for the 26th of July, the likely Sunday of Champs Eliseé.

Scheduling disaster waiting to happen. Who decides what week the race is?

Anyway, I don't believe the Tour would clash with the ORR[/quote]
If they want to avoid a clash between the Tour and Olympics they need to start the Tour at the end of June so it could end the 19th of July, but in that case there will be only two or three weeks between a Giro that could start in the second half of May and the Tour. And with the Olympics RR the Sunday after the end of the Tour will still be hard for riders interested in going for gold finish the Tour, going to Japan it's not like going to San Sebastián.

 

[RedheadDane]

I'm honestly a little confused here. Lappartient wants to move around the Giro and ToC, so said two races won't clash. Yet there are no words about P-N and T-A, or CdD and TdS…

 

[tobydawq]

Re:

I'm honestly a little confused here. Lappartient wants to move around the Giro and ToC, so said two races won't clash. Yet there are no words about P-N and T-A, or CdD and TdS…

He can't unclash all races... What about London, San Sebastián, Poland, Canadian Classics, Hamburg, Vuelta?

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

I'm honestly a little confused here. Lappartient wants to move around the Giro and ToC, so said two races won't clash. Yet there are no words about P-N and T-A, or CdD and TdS…

He can't unclash all races... What about London, San Sebastián, Poland, Canadian Classics, Hamburg, Vuelta?

Exactly. Like, dude, just stop!
And that's just the various clashes between WT races...

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

I think it is a wonderful idea - Giro has been pushing to start a week later which will 99% ensure there are no issues for bad weather.

They have already obtained the extra week they wanted, next year the Giro will start the second week of May instead of the first but that won't change anything because Dauphine and Suisse will also move and all the races after will maintain the slot used this year after the Tour was moved for football World Cup (as well as all the races after the Tour).
What Lappartient wants is pushing the Giro forward another week or two to put California in the first week of May and then another week or two to allow the riders to come back to Europe and start the Giro, in that case the Giro will start around the 20th of May and end mid June, to maintain the actual calendar with this move Dauphine and Suisse should move to late June, national championship to early/mid July, the Tour between mid/late July and early/mid August and so on, I doubt that could be sustainable because the season will end in November and moving only the Giro and California will screw the calendar and no one will benefit.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

[quote="Nirvana":229bpqwi]Lappartient in an interview for the Gazzetta (I don't post it because is mainly on clinic related stuff) said that he wants two WC in Africa in the next decade (they already have candidatures from Rwanda and Marocco for 2025).

But the really important thing (and something that could affect vastly the calendar) is that he said he's working for 2020 to have California in the first week of May and Giro start postponed to the second part of May to avoid the overlapping of the two races and allow riders to ride both. In this case I wonder if they need to postpone also every race after the Giro or they'll overlap the Giro with Dauphine and maybe even Suisse and reduce to only three or four week the break between Giro and Tour. And what they'll do with the usual preparation races for the Giro, riding in California could become more attractive than going to Tirol or Romandie with more likely cold and bad weather and almost a month before the start of the Giro.
And not to mention that for 2020 we could also have the Olympics overlapping with the Tour considering that RR is scheduled for the 26th of July, the likely Sunday of Champs Eliseé.

Scheduling disaster waiting to happen. Who decides what week the race is?

Anyway, I don't believe the Tour would clash with the ORR

If they want to avoid a clash between the Tour and Olympics they need to start the Tour at the end of June so it could end the 19th of July, but in that case there will be only two or three weeks between a Giro that could start in the second half of May and the Tour. And with the Olympics RR the Sunday after the end of the Tour will still be hard for riders interested in going for gold finish the Tour, going to Japan it's not like going to San Sebastián.[/quote]

Tour start at the end of June happens regularly.

Don't consider a super short GT lay off to be a huge problem, cause few riders ride Giro/Tour anyway. Tour too close to Vuelta would be a big problem for the Vuelta.

But yeah, still can't imagine it's good for the Olympic Road Race. Might see a loooot of riders going Giro/Olympics/Vuelta/Worlds in 2020 then.

 

[roundabout]

A potentially climber-friendly WC in 2020 as well

Although it would be 7 weeks between the Giro and Olympics, so not really a great build-up

 

[Nirvana]

ASO wants to put mortar between the cobbles in Aremberg, that's even worse than Lappartient calendar works.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/arenberg-sector-of-paris-roubaix-cobbles-set-to-be-made-safer/


With this continuous degeneration toward a non sense research of safety everywhere i fear the day that will be a rainy Roubaix they'll cut out three quarters of the cobbles sectors from the race.

 

[Laplaz]

Tour of the Alps 2019 route presented!
https://tourofthealps.eu/it/

Great to have Monte Giovo and San Genesio in the race!

 

[May0maniac]

Re:

Tour of the Alps 2019 route presented!
https://tourofthealps.eu/it/

Great to have Monte Giovo and San Genesio in the race!

Great route, the ascent before San Genesio is also irregular and on a rather narrow road.

 

[hrotha]

Re:

ASO wants to put mortar between the cobbles in Aremberg, that's even worse than Lappartient calendar works.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/arenberg-sector-of-paris-roubaix-cobbles-set-to-be-made-safer/


With this continuous degeneration toward a non sense research of safety everywhere i fear the day that will be a rainy Roubaix they'll cut out three quarters of the cobbles sectors from the race.

I'm fine with this as long as they also level the Tourmalet or at least dig a tunnel underneath.

 

[RedheadDane]

Guys, the mortar is quite probably just as much to ensure that the Arenberg will actually stay in the race.

"It won't mean that the sector will be less difficult," Amis president Soulcier insisted, hoping to allay the fears of fans. "We're not trying to change the character of the most iconic part of the race."

If I know those guys they're probably going to take great care that every rock and stone is exactly as loopsided as it was before, and with mortar there'll be no leveling out any stone afterwards.

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

Guys, the mortar is quite probably just as much to ensure that the Arenberg will actually stay in the race.

"It won't mean that the sector will be less difficult," Amis president Soulcier insisted, hoping to allay the fears of fans. "We're not trying to change the character of the most iconic part of the race."

If I know those guys they're probably going to take great care that every rock and stone is exactly as loopsided as it was before, and with mortar there'll be no leveling out any stone afterwards.

I think that this is only PR, it's obvious that the intention is to make the surface smoother.
And not to mention the fact that grass and mud over the stones are part of the difficulties of Aremberg, already with a total cleaning you make it easier, then add to this a filling of the gaps between the stones

 

[RedheadDane]

How is it obvious? Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix - who, you know, have expressed their concerns too - have so far been doing a pretty good job of fixing the roads by making sure they remain as bad as always. That's literally what they do; ensure safety while maintaining difficulty.
It's quite possibly going to be no more than a few centimeters of mortar, right at the base of the stones. There will still be plenty of possibility for mud/dirt to get over the stones from the - plowed up - paths along the side.
I mean, come on. Is safety really that bad?

 

[roundabout]

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsjnovGXoAIG3vK.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsjnovDXQAEXrxx.jpg

Guess the best part about Colombia next season will be the field and not the parcours

 

[Nirvana]

Re:

How is it obvious? Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix - who, you know, have expressed their concerns too - have so far been doing a pretty good job of fixing the roads by making sure they remain as bad as always. That's literally what they do; ensure safety while maintaining difficulty.
It's quite possibly going to be no more than a few centimeters of mortar, right at the base of the stones. There will still be plenty of possibility for mud/dirt to get over the stones from the - plowed up - paths along the side.
I mean, come on. Is safety really that bad?

Safety is good, what is bad is the degeneration toward a continuos non sense research of it even when not needed, Roubaix is not the only evidence of this but I think is the one most affected, we have already seen that in the last two edition when they did extensive cleaning of some sectors on Friday and Saturday because otherwise they would have cut them out, and in both cases there was only some rain at the beginning of the week. I consider something like that ridiculous, the mud has always been a symbolic part of the race.

Anyway regarding sectors maintenance, the sectors are always easier after it because the position of the stones is corrected during maintenance and they reduce the gaps between the stones. But ASO wants to go even beyond that, their intention is to avoid mud deposit and therefore grass growth between the stones with mortar, maybe the assaciation is concerned but if ASO asks for that they are forced to do what they want. I can easily see ASO saying something like "without this work we won't use Aremberg anymore because is too dangerous".

 

[Nirvana]

Today I found a good news, according to what they wrote on the Italian forum Tirreno next year could return to his classic design without the MTF that Vegni added in recent editions and local media reports suggest there will be two stages in the hilly part of Marche so we could expect at least a stage with multiple muritos.
The official presentation should be in December.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Re:

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsjnovGXoAIG3vK.jpg

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DsjnovDXQAEXrxx.jpg

Guess the best part about Colombia next season will be the field and not the parcours

They want Froome to win this race.

 

[RedheadDane]

Re: Re:

How is it obvious? Les Amis de Paris-Roubaix - who, you know, have expressed their concerns too - have so far been doing a pretty good job of fixing the roads by making sure they remain as bad as always. That's literally what they do; ensure safety while maintaining difficulty.
It's quite possibly going to be no more than a few centimeters of mortar, right at the base of the stones. There will still be plenty of possibility for mud/dirt to get over the stones from the - plowed up - paths along the side.
I mean, come on. Is safety really that bad?

Safety is good, what is bad is the degeneration toward a continuos non sense research of it even when not needed, Roubaix is not the only evidence of this but I think is the one most affected, we have already seen that in the last two edition when they did extensive cleaning of some sectors on Friday and Saturday because otherwise they would have cut them out, and in both cases there was only some rain at the beginning of the week. I consider something like that ridiculous, the mud has always been a symbolic part of the race.

Anyway regarding sectors maintenance, the sectors are always easier after it because the position of the stones is corrected during maintenance and they reduce the gaps between the stones. But ASO wants to go even beyond that, their intention is to avoid mud deposit and therefore grass growth between the stones with mortar, maybe the assaciation is concerned but if ASO asks for that they are forced to do what they want. I can easily see ASO saying something like "without this work we won't use Aremberg anymore because is too dangerous".

Just relax! You're acting as if they'd announced their intention to pave over the entire route, that would be in absolutely no one's interest.
I mean, come on! Do you really want a repeat of the situation with Mitch Docker, who had to grow a stupid-looking mustache because of a crash?
However, another important safety feature would be to make the Arenberg (and possibly other sectors as well) completely off-limit to TV-motors.

 

[sir fly]

I'm sure the organizers of the races and the fans gathered in various associations know very well what's the best for the routes and races. They're, practically, living on those roads and the most of us only have an idea how it looks like and what the effects are.
Take the Koppenberg for example... Has the race lost or gained anything since it's restoration? And it was much more extensive work than in the case of the Arenberg (well, it was much worse too, to be fair).
And there we are in Flanders... Next year's Omloop will have Elverenberg, which looks like an interesting addition (or substitution), and the rest of the course is pretty much the same as it was this year.
Flanders Classics is opening the season with the old De Ronde experience, climaxing five weeks later in Oudenaarde. I'm not questioning organizers' intention to round up their events, offer the old, iconic, De Ronde experience to new fans and remind older fans about it (organizers and locals know the best, as I've mentioned earlier), just to point out that it will take some time to get used to new outlook of the race just like it was the case with De Ronde.
And right when we get used to it, I guess Flanders Classics will find a fitting place for Lange Munte somewhere inside the five weeks, as they've done with Muur-Kapelmuur and Bosberg.

 

[Nirvana]

The Mallorcan races that were missing from next year calendar have been presented some days ago so we don't have to extend the list of disappeared races.

Anyway there is a big change, from the usual two to zero flat races with a MTF in the first one and Puig Major not only in Trofeo Serra de Tramuntana but also the previous day.

 

[Ricco']

The last day will be a sprint stage. It's the same Palma classic as usually, the profile overestimates the difficulty of the climb.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

Mont Faron returns next year at Tour du Haut Var. <3

Etape 1 : Vence-Mandelieu
Etape 2 : Vidauban-Mons
Etape 3 : La Londe- Toulon mont Faron