General News Thread

[Koronin]

I do not know if this has been reported in any language other than Spanish.
Omar Friar and his girlfriend were involved in a traffic accident on Sunday when they returned from the memorial Isabel Clavero of Las Rozas (Madrid). The Basque of Astana Pro Team has a fractured rib, and his girlfriend suffered 6 fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra and will be operated on.
https://www.ciclismoafondo.es/competicion/noticias-resultados-ciclismo/articulo/omar-fraile-y-su-novia-sufren-un-accidente-de-coche

 

[ice&fire]

Re:

I do not know if this has been reported in any language other than Spanish.
Omar Friar and his girlfriend were involved in a traffic accident on Sunday when they returned from the memorial Isabel Clavero of Las Rozas (Madrid). The Basque of Astana Pro Team has a fractured rib, and his girlfriend suffered 6 fractured ribs and a fractured vertebra and will be operated on.
https://www.ciclismoafondo.es/competicion/noticias-resultados-ciclismo/articulo/omar-fraile-y-su-novia-sufren-un-accidente-de-coche

Astana posted about it in their twitter account:
https://twitter.com/AstanaTeam/status/1069652094590877697
https://twitter.com/AstanaTeam/status/1069652197238075400

 

[Koronin]

It sounds like the Tour of California is going back to Mt Baldy this year.

 

[RedheadDane]

Samuele Manfredi, from the FDJ continue team, is in an induced coma after a serious training accident.

 

[Scarponi]

by the seriousness of the accidents cycling has to be the most dangerous sport on earth.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re:

Samuele Manfredi, from the FDJ continue team, is in an induced coma after a serious training accident.

To be clear, he was (or that's the info i read) hit in a traffic accident, during training.

 

[Squire]

Is he in any way related to the late Andrea Manfredi? Not a good time for being a Manfredi. :sad: Hope he recovers well.

 

[RedheadDane]

Update (from the Groupama-FDJ Facebook page):

Samuele Manfredi is now in a stable condition but remains in an induced coma.
The Pietra Ligure hospital medical staff are making every effort to improve his health status.

 

[Red Rick]

Vuelta 2020 to start in Utrecht.

Stage 1. Utrecht TTT
Stage 2. Den Bosch - Utrecht
Stage 3. Breda - Breda.

As per usual from Dutch GT starts, don't expect anything but flat from the road stages. Given that city and provincial governments are paying for it, don't get your hopes up for the stage to Breda to go through Zeeland so we might get some echelon action.

 

[Alexandre B.]

Tirreno-Adriatico 2019
http://www.tirrenoadriatico.it/en/percorso/

The route of the TTT is composed of two virtually straight sectors, rolling along the two lanes of the same road (Camaiore-Forte dei Marmi seafront). Halfway, the route takes a “square turn” around a block.

The stage starts uphill, taking in climbs up Montemagno and Pitoro over the first kilometres. A long flat stretch follows, leading all the way to the final undulations. The route passes through Castellina Marittima, Riparbella, Montecatini Val di Cecina and Volterra (taking in their respective climbs), up to the final ascent leading to Pomarance. The stage is made for finisseurs, and GC contenders should keep an eye on them.

The route is initially wavy, and becomes flatter and flatter as it approaches the finish. This long stage follows the constant undulations of the territory of Siena, including Passo del Rospatoio, enters Umbria through the Trasimeno plain and brushes by Assisi and Spello, all the way to the final sprint around the walls of Foligno.

This stage (and the next one as well) will be the hardest of the race. Starting from Foligno, the route follows a wavy but uncomplicated course and then brushes by Fossombrone. Here, the route takes in a series of walls, with more or less challenging gradients, on narrow roads across the Marches valleys, all the way to the double closing circuit, with a double pass over the Muro dei Cappuccini, just a few (5.7) kilometres away from the finish in Fossombrone.

The peloton will be confronted with the iconic “muri” of Recanati. Starting from Colli al Metauro and covering a semi-circuit through Saltara, Calcinelli and Lucrezia, the stage then follows a mostly flat route all the way to Recanati. Past Loreto, the route will take in 9 consecutive milder or steeper climbs, with a final 22.3-km circuit, to be covered 3 times, featuring two leg-sapping walls (especially the one that is closest to the finish, with gradients of around 18%).

Despite a wavy and bumpy start, the stage is made for sprinters. Starting in Matelica, the route covers a short semi-circuit and then heads for Castelraimondo and San Severino Marche. After the Valico di Pietra Rossa climb, towards Cingoli, the route levels out and leads all the way to Jesi, to cover 3 laps of the final 12.3-km circuit.

Individual time trial of 10,050 m, on a route that mainly follows the final circuit of the conclusive stages of the late 90s and recent 2000s, and has been the same since 2015. The last 2.5 km are almost on straight ground.

 

[tobydawq]

Amazing. Sagan should be in with a chance wrt GC.

Ok, not at all amazing. There are still four crappy stages but at least there is no silly mountaintop finish.

 

[May0maniac]

Without the TTT it would be a decent route, having both an ITT and a horrible TTT in this race is just too much.

 

[Red Rick]

Re:

Amazing. Sagan should be in with a chance wrt GC.

Ok, not at all amazing. There are still four crappy stages but at least there is no silly mountaintop finish.

Almost a free win for Kwiatkowski.

Dumoulin would be the only challenger if he rides it, which I'm not sure he will.

 

[May0maniac]

The stage finishes are actually decent

Stage 2:

Stage 4:

Stage 5 will have this circuit 3.5 times, penultimate climb 3 times, the final one 4 times, a hard stage:

Source: Lasterketa Burua on Twitter

 

[Red Rick]

I propose that we replace the first 5 road stages of the Giro with the road stages of Tirreno

 

[Red Rick]

Re: Re:

Amazing. Sagan should be in with a chance wrt GC.

Ok, not at all amazing. There are still four crappy stages but at least there is no silly mountaintop finish.

Almost a free win for Kwiatkowski.

Dumoulin would be the only challenger if he rides it, which I'm not sure he will.

Scrap that.

I have had to come to the conclusion that Kwiatkowski is overrated on murito's. Thomas vs Dumoulin if they both show up.

Maybe Roglic could be in the mix as well if LottoNL rides a good TTT.

 

[Robert5091]

Mind you, if Sky are still looking for a new sponsor, it could be "all men for themselves".

 

[GuyIncognito]

Re:

Mind you, if Sky are still looking for a new sponsor, it could be "all men for themselves".

"The Marginalpack"

 

[tobydawq]

Ok, it's too tough for Sagan. Damn.

 

[Velolover2]

T-A might be Yates vs. Bernal as a warm-up to the Giro.

Moscon can win a race like this too.

 

[Velolover2]

Re:

Ok, it's too tough for Sagan. Damn.

But Bala should consider riding this combined with Strade Bianche and Milano-Sanremo.

It's almost tailor made for him.

 

[Red Rick]

Actually

It would be fun if Valverde rode Tirreno for once. This route is good for him.

 

[Gigs_98]

Let's hope something happens on stage 4 and riders don't wait for stage 5. It's not a great Parcours but I honestly prefer it over the dull routes where the gc was decided on one mtf and one TT. This one probably won't have any super memorable race day but it could be a very close affair all the way to the end with some very tense stage finishes

 

[sir fly]

I like this Tirreno route.
The absence of a classic Apenninian uphill finish and stress on the hilly stages instead should open up the contenders field.
The organizers should stick to this (road) format, imo. The fast-men inclined beginnings and transition to Paris - Nice resemblance don't have the potential and identity of this approach. MSR aspirants should even more gladly race Tirreno, while the GT riders won't be repelled.

 

[Red Rick]

Let's hope something happens on stage 4 and riders don't wait for stage 5. It's not a great Parcours but I honestly prefer it over the dull routes where the gc was decided on one mtf and one TT. This one probably won't have any super memorable race day but it could be a very close affair all the way to the end with some very tense stage finishes

I think it's just hard enough to not really matter.

Tirreno is just such an annoying race cause it's almost always stupidly unbalanced in some way or another.

Especially the hilly stages being too reliant on circuits and murito's and always having 2 sprint stages of 5 road stages, and the 3rd hilly stage generally just being that moderate uphill sprint, it never really does enough.

Also, the MTF tends to be kinda unbalanced, either being overwhelming or underhelming. Frankly the MTF I liked most ws the one that got canceled in 2016.

The best thing the Tirreno can do is use Lanciano well and make stages like the one in 2013. Cause apparently dropping the TTT will always be too much to ask.

Now that I've bitched that much, that murito is still more selective than Sasso Tetto this year.