General News Thread

[Breezy1985]

2 questions I cant find an answer to.
Why do the Legion team spell it L39ion. Is there a significance to the numbers?
Also one of them wears a California jersey. Is this a regional champs kit and do other places do that ?

 

[Bonimenier]

2 questions I cant find an answer to.
Why do the Legion team spell it L39ion. Is there a significance to the numbers?
Also one of them wears a California jersey. Is this a regional champs kit and do other places do that ?

Your first question is answered on their wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L39ION_of_Los_Angeles

 

[Devil's Elbow]

If it's 200+ kms of flat and an uphill sprint really bad, but this type of stages in general doesn't deliver at the beginning of the Tour, in 2018 they even tried their best with Quimper very hilly and the Mur two times but still nothing happened.

Then again the Epernay stage the year after was pretty good and that was a better design than either of those in 2018.

 

[Pinot's goat]

If it's 200+ kms of flat and an uphill sprint really bad, but this type of stages in general doesn't deliver at the beginning of the Tour, in 2018 they even tried their best with Quimper very hilly and the Mur two times but still nothing happened.

In van der Poel we trust.

 

[Red Rick]

Limburg hills aren't really that great to avoid a bunch sprint unless you put in a bunch of them or finish almost directly on top of them. For a Tour route I'd way prefer a hard stage in the Belgian Ardennes, perhaps using the hardest climbs of the Ardennes and using them closer to the finish than the standard LBL type setup.

I'm not against the hilly finish in the first Tour week, but I don't like overreliance on Mur de Bretagne, and I'd love a proper Murito everyone and then.

 

[Breezy1985]

Your first question is answered on their wiki page https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L39ION_of_Los_Angeles

Don't know how I missed that they had a wiki page. I was rooting around interviews and stuff trying to find the answer

 

[RedheadDane]

What. The. HECK?

Team DSM rider files police complaint after being throttled by angry motorist - Cycling Weekly

Oh, and... yeah... this also happened:

22-year-old national TT and road champion suffers multiple fractures after being hit by driver during training ride - Cycling Weekly

But at least that could have been an accident.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

According to Guimard, Pogacar is already above Merckx. But if Evenepoel comes back to his former form, who will be able to beat him? And let's not forget Bernal... So basically, everyone and his dog is better than Merckx.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Merckx competed in an era when cycling was not nearly as globalised as it is now and as a result far less competitive, not really sure how you can compare riders from such different eras.

 

[tobydawq]

Merckx competed in an era when cycling was not nearly as globalised as it is now and as a result far less competitive, not really sure how you can compare riders from such different eras.

Agreed, nobody will ever beat Merckx' record and therefore, he is by default the best there ever was and the standard for everyone to be measured against. But try plopping Pogacar into a race against Merckx, and you'll see who'd win.

 

[Pinot's goat]

Pretty much every sport is far more competitive than is was 30+ years ago so I consider the GOATs to be the sportsmen who are the best of recent times and I will likely say the same thing in 30 more years time.

 

[RedheadDane]

Agreed, nobody will ever beat Merckx' record and therefore, he is by default the best there ever was and the standard for everyone to be measured against. But try plopping Pogacar into a race against Merckx, and you'll see who'd win.

I suspect Pogacar might have trained just a little bit more than Merckx.

 

[Netserk]

He would still get his ass handed to him by Indurain, Pantani and the likes.

 

[RedheadDane]

He would still get his ass handed to him by Indurain, Pantani and the likes.

I think I could beat Pantani these days.

 

[Red Rick]

Pretty much every sport is far more competitive than is was 30+ years ago so I consider the GOATs to be the sportsmen who are the best of recent times and I will likely say the same thing in 30 more years time.

Some sports do take nosedives, it's not always forward, but every sport has come along way since the 70s.

 

[BlueRoads]

It's just not possible to compare athletes of different eras, that's like comparing different sports, it doesn't make sense, in neither direction, in my opinion.

 

[Sciatic]

Pretty much every sport is far more competitive than is was 30+ years ago so I consider the GOATs to be the sportsmen who are the best of recent times and I will likely say the same thing in 30 more years time.

Well, except for Marita Koch and her cohort . . .

 

[tobydawq]

It's just not possible to compare athletes of different eras, that's like comparing different sports, it doesn't make sense, in neither direction, in my opinion.

The same when people make lists of current best athletes and it's a mix of men and women, that is also a bit nonsenical.

 

[Pinot's goat]

The same when people make lists of current best athletes and it's a mix of men and women, that is also a bit nonsenical.

They often put Serena Williams near the top but there are hundreds of active male tennis players who would beat her so it does not really make sense. In Great Britain they always combine the sportsperson of the year award which I always thought is silly.

 

[Netserk]

They often put Serena Williams near the top but there are hundreds of active male tennis players who would beat her so it does not really make sense. In Great Britain they always combine the sportsperson of the year award which I always thought is silly.

By that measure, Indurain is the GOAT of cycling and likely won't be surpassed in a really long time.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Well, except for Marita Koch and her cohort . . .

I'd also say that in sports like XC skiing the sport has become less competitive, you only have very few nations at the top nowadays.
With cycling it's more about specialization of riders and the field becoming even more international, but on the other hand you have the shirking talent pool in countries like Italy, France and Spain, that evens things out a bit.

 

[RedheadDane]

Well, except for Marita Koch and her cohort . . .

Jousting isn't what it has been either! Nobody takes it serious these days, it's all Medieval fairs, and what have you.

 

[ciranda]

With cycling it's more about specialization of riders and the field becoming even more international, but on the other hand you have the shirking talent pool in countries like Italy, France and Spain, that evens things out a bit.

I think actually cycling is less international than ten-fifteen years ago with basically no one around today in the wt from Eastern Europe except some super talented individuals. Most development teams also seem to pick from the same countries.

 

[Pinot's goat]

international, but on the other hand you have the shirking talent pool in countries like Italy, France and Spain, that evens things out a bit.

I don't think the talent pool is shrinking in those countries, the level of riders in other countries has risen so much it means a lot of the riders from countries like Italy, France and Spain that used to make up a lot of the peloton and would have been pro decades ago are not good enough now.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I don't think the talent pool is shrinking in those countries, the level of riders in other countries has risen so much it means a lot of the riders from countries like Italy, France and Spain that used to make up a lot of the peloton and would have been pro decades ago are not good enough now.

That's probably true when it comes to the pro ranks, but the number of kids riding in the junior ranks and at an even younger age is getting smaller and smaller in those countries, the talent pool is shrinking.
An example would be the number of male junior riders in Italy over the last few years.
2017: 1.684
2018: 1.664
2019: 1.567
2020: 1.516
Source: https://www.federciclismo.it/it/document/i-numeri-della-fci/96293f2d-296b-4a70-bde8-3b34c4d2f5d3/

That's a significant drop in only a few years and the number of athletes was much bigger in the 90ies and early 2000s.
Edit: Those numbers also include MTB, CX and Track cyclists.