General News Thread

[Samamba]

Wow that's an insanely hard one. I don't say it very often by I even think it could've benefitted from one easier stage. All in all spectacular route tho.

Both Catalunya and Itzulia are very hard this year

 

[YavorD]

That time trial in Bilbao is the same as the one in 2021 that Roglic destroyed, no?
Overall a great route, I love it.

 

[Red Rick]

https://twitter.com/x/status/2021525785631187156

View: https://x.com/ehitzulia/status/2021525785631187156?s=20

 

[Netserk]

did gorka design the vivero stage

its weird that they were fine with descending down to lezama in the tour when it bought them nothing, but here they dont

...

70.0 km, +1377 m. Bike ride in Urbi, País Vasco/Euskadi

ridewithgps.com

 

[Rou]

Now that's a proper vintage Itzulia route.
I really like that the races in Spain are not softening the routes like Paris-Nice and Tirreno.

 

[Breh]

Let's hope Scaroni pulls out so we can atleast get a competitive race.

 

[tobydawq]

Who had the brilliant idea to move the UAE Tour to the already extremely busy Algarve/Ruta del Sol/Var-Alpes Maritimes week in a year where it even also collides with the Winter Olympics?

 

[Netserk]

Who had the brilliant idea to move the UAE Tour to the already extremely busy Algarve/Ruta del Sol/Var-Alpes Maritimes week in a year where it even also collides with the Winter Olympics?

it was the same last year

(i agree)

 

[Netserk]

also made worse by o gran camino no longer being in the week after, where we get sardegna instead to fill the schedule with rwanda until the weekend

 

[tobydawq]

it was the same last year

(i agree)

True, I had forgotten that. But it still seems stupid. I guess it's to avoid clashing with Omloop but that was never really too much of an issue.

 

[Netserk]

yeah the demented meme with no wt races overlapping just wont die

 

[Devil's Elbow]

True, I had forgotten that. But it still seems stupid. I guess it's to avoid clashing with Omloop but that was never really too much of an issue.

I do think it's made opening weekend fields stronger, just a shame that that's mainly because Kuurne had a lot more big-name sprinters last year than in previous years.

 

[Netserk]

btw this is the route of sardegna

this is the main climb of stage 4 that tops at 25 km to go:

field could be similar to rwanda in quality, more for devo teams

 

[Samamba]

I do think it's made opening weekend fields stronger, just a shame that that's mainly because Kuurne had a lot more big-name sprinters last year than in previous years.

Yeah it just means more teams have a sprinter and will be passive, not a good thing imo.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

btw this is the route of sardegna

That final descent on stage 1 is going to be a nightmare in terms of safety, should be a near-complete peloton in full sprint preparation mode. You can't have a bog-standard descent finish on a mountain stage these days without taking a lot of heat, but somehow stages like this are fine?

 

[Netserk]

That final descent on stage 1 is going to be a nightmare in terms of safety, should be a near-complete peloton in full sprint preparation mode. You can't have a bog-standard descent finish on a mountain stage these days without taking a lot of heat, but somehow stages like this are fine?

hard stage to call, the main climb is harder than i thought itd be

Giro di Sardegna, stage 1

189.7 km, +3105 m. Bike ride in Comune di Castelsardo, Sardegna

ridewithgps.com

if the field is gonna be what i expect, i think its okay

 

[Rob5091]

Do we really need a Lance Armstrong movie now?

 

[RedheadDane]

Do we really need a Lance Armstrong movie now?

Have we ever really needed a Lance Armstrong movie?

 

[Berniece]

Have we ever really needed a Lance Armstrong movie?

Yeah, it’s an interesting story

 

[Pantani_lives]

Team Slovenia has a gold medal in ski jumping!

 

[RedheadDane]

Team Slovenia has a gold medal in ski jumping!

Future Vuelta winner!

 

[Rob5091]

Yeah, it’s an interesting story

Any coincidence with the new US team? But I think we know the story - there's a few pages on the forum for example.