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General News Thread

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Four World Tour teams had been announced, that they will participate in this years Tour of Austria (2nd-6th of july)


Interesting is that Bora which is the team with the closest connection to Austria is not one of these teams. In the same time Bora will therefore ride the Sibiu Tour in Romania.. Interesting priorisation of the Bora Management...
 
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Four World Tour teams had been announced, that they will participate in this years Tour of Austria (2nd-6th of july)


Interesting is that Bora which is the team with the closest connection to Austria is not one of these teams. In the same time Bora will therefore ride the Sibiu Tour in Romania.. Interesting priorisation of the Bora Management...
Yeah, great job by Bora...
Also, what has Ackermann done for getting send to this race after the Giro? A reward for climbing too well?
 
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Seriously, Bora can go **** themselves. There are literally four men's professional stage races left in German-speaking areas, two of which are only partially held there, and this one has been struggling to survive. As the only pro team from said areas and as the team with the biggest Austrian contingent, you therefore kind of have a duty to race it to help protect what little is left of the racing scene in your own back yard. But no, let's give the finger and go to Romania instead.
 
The relentless tide of bad news about the UK domestic scene continues. From next year, it's likely that there will no GB team entered for Avenir, The Baby Giro, or Orlens, where GB recently won stages. Oil company Shell took over as sponsors of British cycling for less money, which also led to a lot of people cancelling their membership payments for ethical reasons. I didn't as couldn't see how they were any less morally dubious than previous sponsors, HSBC. The net result is that this will be the last year the organisation runs a senior academy.

 
Seriously, Bora can go **** themselves. There are literally four men's professional stage races left in German-speaking areas, two of which are only partially held there, and this one has been struggling to survive. As the only pro team from said areas and as the team with the biggest Austrian contingent, you therefore kind of have a duty to race it to help protect what little is left of the racing scene in your own back yard. But no, let's give the finger and go to Romania instead.
Well, they won the last three years in a row in Sibiu (during the time when there hasn´t been a Tour of Austria). So they made good experiences there. But of course, now with the Tour of Austria taking place, it´s normally a must for them take part there...
 
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Well, they won the last three years in a row in Sibiu (during the time when there hasn´t been a Tour of Austria). So they made good experiences there. But of course, now with the Tour of Austria taking place, it´s normally a must for them take part there...
Maybe they had already made a pledge to the Sibiu organisers. I mean could they really have been sure the Tour of Austria would actually take place after the previous cancellations?
 
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Wow Greg Lemond movie w provocative titles.. " only American to win the Tour d France "..certainly a matter of opinion.
And American cycling is trying to kill itself.. Road racing withering into near nothing.. And the bread and butter of US racing criteriums..being cut up for lack of organization and diluted further still by the sudden gravel tsunami that is engulfing the country, if not the world.
US crits have an old school reboot w the NCL an American take on roller derby, bike racing and traditional velodrome points race w 3,2,1 points going to first 3 riders every lap and final sprint..9 winner,6 for second and 3 for 3rd .
Typical and traditional deception for the prize money.. Says over a million..5,6 race series with the catch being sex..prize money is based on combined point teams for women's and men's teams combined.. So as if US race fans couldn't figure anything out..again another rules twist.. The real life result is a good fast paced crit in a good city. Wildcard.. you can substitute riders.so sort of like a mechanical lap..rider can come in drill it for the single sprint and drop out to rest.. So flash in the pan by design.
Rules for lapping the field.. Dumb..if riders are nearby it's better for them to hang back and gsalesmanship.because if they catch sprint points are available to the combined group even though some are a lap down.
And now for the elephant.. Unbound..called the championship of gravel.. Takes place in Kansas.. Cool course 200 miles and a bunch of other distances available depending on ability and desire. The 200 mile event is the mainstay of cheerleading about world class and here on CN everyone looking to see if Valverde or anyone famous, recently or currently is racing.. the short answer is no..Wout no..Van der Poel, Pitcock..no..trade teams..no major names for obvious reasons.. lack of start money and prize money.. US to Europe travel times and expenses.. and European race schedule.. Nobody can break away for a one day event and stay on schedule for Tour d France or other offerings in Europe. In the US it's as if race organizers and bike manufacturers have put all their eggs in the gravel basket.. everything else is scraps..
And when you think things can't get more upside down.. Races,racers,media and federation are mixing up a transgender stew with few major race victories being argued by everyone, from current and ex elite racers,media, general public, race organizations and cycling federation.. so far it's only affecting road,cyclocross,mountain bike and track racing but it's still early.. and for sponsors and people looking for sponsors.. Have to ask what else can go wrong in the sport before almost every sponsor says this thing is radioactive. past,currently and in the future
Very very soon American cycling audience will see and hear people say that National Cycling League is world class, as good as it gets and at the same time watch 3 weeks of Tour coverage and competition and wonder if the claims by American race promoters are 99.9% hype or 110% salesmanship
 
Wow Greg Lemond movie w provocative titles.. " only American to win the Tour d France "..certainly a matter of opinion.
And American cycling is trying to kill itself.. Road racing withering into near nothing.. And the bread and butter of US racing criteriums..being cut up for lack of organization and diluted further still by the sudden gravel tsunami that is engulfing the country, if not the world.
US crits have an old school reboot w the NCL an American take on roller derby, bike racing and traditional velodrome points race w 3,2,1 points going to first 3 riders every lap and final sprint..9 winner,6 for second and 3 for 3rd .
Typical and traditional deception for the prize money.. Says over a million..5,6 race series with the catch being sex..prize money is based on combined point teams for women's and men's teams combined.. So as if US race fans couldn't figure anything out..again another rules twist.. The real life result is a good fast paced crit in a good city. Wildcard.. you can substitute riders.so sort of like a mechanical lap..rider can come in drill it for the single sprint and drop out to rest.. So flash in the pan by design.
Rules for lapping the field.. Dumb..if riders are nearby it's better for them to hang back and gsalesmanship.because if they catch sprint points are available to the combined group even though some are a lap down.
And now for the elephant.. Unbound..called the championship of gravel.. Takes place in Kansas.. Cool course 200 miles and a bunch of other distances available depending on ability and desire. The 200 mile event is the mainstay of cheerleading about world class and here on CN everyone looking to see if Valverde or anyone famous, recently or currently is racing.. the short answer is no..Wout no..Van der Poel, Pitcock..no..trade teams..no major names for obvious reasons.. lack of start money and prize money.. US to Europe travel times and expenses.. and European race schedule.. Nobody can break away for a one day event and stay on schedule for Tour d France or other offerings in Europe. In the US it's as if race organizers and bike manufacturers have put all their eggs in the gravel basket.. everything else is scraps..
And when you think things can't get more upside down.. Races,racers,media and federation are mixing up a transgender stew with few major race victories being argued by everyone, from current and ex elite racers,media, general public, race organizations and cycling federation.. so far it's only affecting road,cyclocross,mountain bike and track racing but it's still early.. and for sponsors and people looking for sponsors.. Have to ask what else can go wrong in the sport before almost every sponsor says this thing is radioactive. past,currently and in the future
Very very soon American cycling audience will see and hear people say that National Cycling League is world class, as good as it gets and at the same time watch 3 weeks of Tour coverage and competition and wonder if the claims by American race promoters are 99.9% hype or 110% salesmanship
Well, obviously most Americans don’t care anyways. I would love to see the fed govt (ha!) or states go in on a velodrome building binge and support track racing from the ground up, growing young riders and also cycling fans. I’m biased in that I have zero interest in crits—I’m glad they’re available to give American teams and riders places to race. But I don’t see them getting people more interesting in cycling. For spectators they are flashy and folks enjoy watching in the same way they will watch other spectacles at big city events. Crits have been around forever but I don’t see them building support for cycling supporters (again, it’s great that it gives racers a place to race regularly). What things have spurred development of road cycling and increased road cycling fans for brief periods in U.S. history? 1970s—outdoor recreation boom and introduction of ten-speeds as adult activity; 1980s: Lemond and “Breaking “Away”; 2000s—Armstrong and Postal.
 
Maybe they had already made a pledge to the Sibiu organisers. I mean could they really have been sure the Tour of Austria would actually take place after the previous cancellations?
Aleotti want's the Sibiu triple:D

Yeah, the Österreich Rundfahrt (now the are mainly using Tour of Austria as the name, god knows why) hasn't been exactly the most stable race over the last few years.
 
They could start by changing its dates. Not a single soul in the universe cares about the race when it takes place during TdF...
I have been saying for a long time that they should just move it a few weeks, as a potential Vuelta prep race.

This year the route also sucks. 2x Sonntagberg MTF at the end and earlier the stage over the Glockner with the finish in St, Johann im Alpendorf. as the only other real mountain stage. They do have a nice hilly stage around Innsbruck, but looking at the terrain that Austria has to offer it's a bit sad.
 
Btw, here are the stages of the Österreich Rundfahrt:
1-2023-hoehendiagramm.png


2-2023-hoehendiagramm.png

3-2023-hoehendiagramm.png

4-2023-hoehendiagramm.png

And stage 5 is Ybbs-Sonntagberg (2xSonntagberg), still no profile for that one.

Looking at the map the last small bump before the finish on stage 2 is the Höttinger Gasse (400m at 6.9%), but unlike the Innsbruck WC where they had a straight run in over the bridge and could carry all the speed this time there's a sharp left turn.
The Axams climb is the first 4.7kms of this climb:
AxamerLizum.gif
 

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