General News Thread

[Mayomaniac]

He was second in the Grimpeur EC last year behind Großschartner.
Not an explosive rider, good uphill, very similar power curve to Vergallito according to what they often say in their podcast.
Limited experience in a peloton (only a few u23 races) and with a reputation of crashing a lot since he was a late starter.

Hard to say whether it's enough to win the Academy (training partners winning it back to back would pretty cool) and even harder to predict if he can be successful among the pros. But it's a nice story and these guys are trying to change the traditional Italian approach to cycling, which has proven outdated lately.
I've made a couple of posts about him in 2023, you should be able to find them easily with the search function.

With all the respect to him and the participants, the overall level at that MTT EC was really low. I could probably beat the 15th placed guy on a good day (he finishes last).

 

[SafeBet]

With all the respect to him and the participants, the overall level at that MTT EC was really low. I could probably beat the 15th placed guy on a good day (he finishes last).

Yeah the field was weak. The gap between Großschartner and Gaffuri was relatively small though and he beat competent climbers like Rapp and Martin Messner.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Yeah the field was weak. The gap between Großschartner and Gaffuri was relatively small though and he beat competent climbers like Rapp and Martin Messner.

To me it actually looked like Messner underpeformed a bit. Probably too light for the Tremola cobbles...

 

[Netserk]

Itzulia route revealed. Below average, but good to have a (short) ITT back. I hope that the Eibar finish sticks instead of Arrate, but I'd prefer if the two loops were switched around.

H/t @ammattipyoraily

 

[Netserk]

So don't get me wrong, I very much like the final stage as it is, but I do think there's still room for improvement.

Eibar > Eibar

140.0 km, +3801 m. Bike ride in Elgóibar, País Vasco/Euskadi

ridewithgps.com

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Itzulia route revealed. Below average, but good to have a (short) ITT back. I hope that the Eibar finish sticks instead of Arrate, but I'd prefer if the two loops were switched around.

H/t @ammattipyoraily

I like the time trial, too, and also the fact that there's a stage that is entirely set in the French part of the Basque Country.

 

[Netserk]

I like the time trial, too, and also the fact that there's a stage that is entirely set in the French part of the Basque Country.

Is km 0 after the border?

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Is km 0 after the border?

Ok, the start might be just before the border, so let's say almost entirely in France.

 

[Netserk]

Ok, the start might be just before the border, so let's say almost entirely in France.

It is indeed fully in France, I've just mapped that stage:

Irun > Kanbo

160.0 km, +2501 m. Bike ride in Urrugne, Nouvelle-Aquitaine

ridewithgps.com

It's disappointing that they don't do Col de Pinodieta (a second time) like in the 2018 Tour ITT. Instead, they stick to the main roads throughout the stage.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

They are running far too scared of things being decided before the Eibar/Arrate stage lately. At least it's an improvement over last year's route. Now, if they actually do anything useful in the next few years with Urkiola and/or the Iparralde now that they've remembered those exist, I'll be happy.

 

[yaco]

The parcours doesn't really matter when you've got the calibre of riders i Remco, Jonas and Primoz.

 

[Netserk]

The parcours doesn't really matter when you've got the calibre of riders i Remco, Jonas and Primoz.

Matter for what?

For the number of stages where we'll have GC relevant action, the parcours matters a lot. We won't have any for stage 2 & 3.

 

[yaco]

Matter for what?

For the number of stages where we'll have GC relevant action, the parcours matters a lot. We won't have any for stage 2 & 3.

Which is fine for a six-stage race. And of course, this is assuming no rider has bad luck which of course can happen.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Like the ITT, but stage 2-5 are just very disappoiting.

In fairness stage 4 is solid in isolation, but it should never be the second-hardest stage.

 

[ingsve]

Damn! I had not realized how how much cycling is broadcast on Europsport these days. It seems like they are showing almost every single pro mens race on the calender or close to it at least. Next week they are showing both AlUla Tour, Etoile Besseges and Tour of Valencia all in the same week.

Is it like this all year long? When I last followed cycling more closely you'd be happy to even get 1/3rd of that coverage.

 

[Sciatic]

Damn! I had not realized how how much cycling is broadcast on Europsport these days. It seems like they are showing almost every single pro mens race on the calender or close to it at least. Next week they are showing both AlUla Tour, Etoile Besseges and Tour of Valencia all in the same week.

Is it like this all year long? When I last followed cycling more closely you'd be happy to even get 1/3rd of that coverage.

I don’t know which country’s Eurosport you’re using but that’s been the case on French Eurosport for years.

 

[ingsve]

I don’t know which country’s Eurosport you’re using but that’s been the case on French Eurosport for years.

Well, it's getting close to 10 years now since I followed the sport closely. And probably even longer than that since I watched all cycling I could come across.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

The distance of Strade Bianche will be above 200 kilometer mark for the first time. Also four more white road sectors, which means a total of over 70k of sterrato.

Vier extra grindstoken en nieuwe finale: Strade Bianche telt dit jaar 215 kilometer

De Strade Bianche wordt dit jaar (2 maart) nog een pak zwaarder dan de voorbije edities het geval was. De klassieker in Toscane wordt 31 kilometer langer en telt nu 215 kilometer, waarvan meer dan zeventig kilometer over grindwegen. Ook de finale is danig hertekend.

www.hln.be

 

[nightowl]

The distance of Strade Bianche will be above 200 kilometer mark for the first time. Also four more white road sectors, which means a total of over 70k of sterrato.

Vier extra grindstoken en nieuwe finale: Strade Bianche telt dit jaar 215 kilometer

De Strade Bianche wordt dit jaar (2 maart) nog een pak zwaarder dan de voorbije edities het geval was. De klassieker in Toscane wordt 31 kilometer langer en telt nu 215 kilometer, waarvan meer dan zeventig kilometer over grindwegen. Ook de finale is danig hertekend.

www.hln.be

Not sure how I feel about this change.

On the one hand, I’m a fan of the increase in distance, which I’ve been hoping they’d do for a while. On the other, this now means the longest, hardest gravel sectors (Pieve a Salti to Monte Sante Marie) end over 70km from the finish - almost too far for any big moves to set up the finale.

I’d have much preferred they added more distance to the first half of the race and kept the finale as-is. This feels like it might take some of the importance of the gravel away from the race, but fingers crossed I’m wrong about that.

 

[Max Rockatansky]

72k of sterrato

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Monte Sante Marie starting at 84k to go? They had better provide proper-length coverage...

 

[awavey]

Both Tour of Britain & Women's Tour have been taken off the schedule in the UCI latest calendar update, though Women's tour still showing in Women's world tour pages calendar...presumably just a case of UCI not updating all the pages properly yet.

It was largely expected at this point, though British Cycling are expected to make an announcement about the Tour of Britain this week.

They published the Elite road racing task force, whove since disbanded, recommendations over the weekend, which I don't think is going to help BC find the answer to road racing in the UK, even if some of the suggestions are fairly practical.

 

[Netserk]

72k of sterrato

A loop near the end so that they do two sectors twice? Bah. There are so many options, and there is no good reason to change the last 110 km of the route as it was.

Distance is good, but this is not a good way to achieve it.

 

[Samamba]

A loop near the end so that they do two sectors twice? Bah. There are so many options, and there is no good reason to change the last 110 km of the route as it was.

Distance is good, but this is not a good way to achieve it.

So Monte Sante Marie is basically further from the finish now? Let's hope the riders still go full there then.

 

[zlev11]

is RCS hellbent on making all their races suck this year or something?