How are people enjoying the cycling season this year?

[auscyclefan94]

How are people enjoying the procycling season this year?

I must admit, I have barely watched any of the races live this year and when I watched the highlights, they have largely been quite boring.

The racing is stagnant to me, even last night during De Ronde, I was rather bored.

 

[veganrob]

Well it really is just starting in Michigan. Did 30 miles Tues and 25 today. Cold don't bother me at all but snow, ice, rain wind has made it bit difficult to get out till now. Weather has genuiney turned finally. Yay. First race in 5 weeks. I have been on the rollers this winter but I just can't stand it anymore. ***.

 

[Netserk]

Booooooooooooooring.

 

[woodenswan]

awesome

poll season awesome too

Tirreno stage 6
Dan Martin in Catalunya
Cancellara vs Sagan rivalry
Voeckler pipped at the line! by none other than Gatto!
a great edition of la classica di Primavera
crazy weather

just.. awesome

 

[Afrank]

My first thought was it's been a boring season, Oman was a sprint fest with no wind, Omloop wasn't nearly as good as previous years, Sky did their neutralize all racing in a couple races, and RVV today was only good in the final 20 km.

But on the other hand SB and RM were great, Nibali, sagan, and Purito were great in derailing Sky at Tirreno (+Phinney's epic ride), the final of MSR was very good, and I did really enjoy finally getting to see Cance solo away in E3 and Ronde (even if the rest of Ronde was boring).

So I would say it's been an okay season thus far. Not overly great, but not bad either. Whether the rest of the season is going end up being a really great and exciting season or not will depend a lot on the strength of Sky.
Still waiting to see a really epic ride though.

 

[gooner]

As was said the Ronde was a letdown and that mightn't change in the foreseeable future as the organisers have the dollar signs coming right out of their eyes at the moment at the expense of the route so it would seem as though they are more at fault here than the riders. Strade Bianche stands out while MSR had a good finale and was as entertaining as it could be in the circumstances with a section of the course including La Manie being the taken out due to the weather. The Prato di Tivo stage in T-A was disappointing with Sky nullifying everything until Froome got the win in the last km or so. I enjoyed the stage Nibali won but Acquarone comments afterwards saying the course was too extreme means we probably mightn't see a route like that again from him. He seems to be pandering at the first opportunity to riders who complain about it which is mainly because he is probably worried that the top riders will chose P-N in the future if he was to persist with it. While taking into account Porte won the Col d'Eze TT P-N was in essence over and all decided when he took a significant amount of time in the last km at Lure over Talansky and lacked suspense at the end as a result. The stage at Vallter 2000 in Catalonia was a bit of a damp squib even though I was happy that Quintana won albeit only from an attack in the last km. A huge amount of riders came within a minute of each other and that shouldn't be happening on a climb the length of that which points heavily to negative racing here. From a selfish point of view I was delighted Dan Martin won the following the day but taking away my bias I thought it was an enjoyable stage and refreshing to see his break come to fruition where it deservedly punished the likes of Rodriguez and Quintana who left it too late to attack. Surprisingly Oman was a highlight for me not just because of Green Mountain but the up and down circuit where Contador, Froome and Rodriguez had a great battle. A mention has to go to the TV coverage which needs to improve from its 30 mins highlights programmes the following day.

Ok at best for me.

 

[The Hitch]

Not that much to be honest. Canc's win today has been by far the highlight of the season for me followed closely by the argentian commentators in Rrrrrraaaaaadioo Poplar de San Luis.

But both have been personal pleasures rather than triumph of racing. Contador going beserk in Oman hill stage was nice as was Dan Martin attack in Catalunya and el loco Guevara in san luis but I didn't see any of them myself. But even the Nibali stage it was only action for about 15k yet we've been so deprived of great racing everyone thought it was one of the best stages in a while

 

[greenedge]

Surprisingly Oman was a highlight for me not just because of Green Mountain but the up and down circuit where Contador, Froome and Rodriguez had a great battle. A mention has to go to the TV coverage which needs to improve from its 30 mins highlights programmes the following day.

I voted good- highlights for me have been Wilunga, Bookwalter at Qatar, Oman (as above), E3, Omploop, DDV, M-SR, T-A, Catalunya, SB, G-W and even RVV- which had the strongest rider win.

Young riders have also continued to perform, Quintana, Phinney, TJVG, Talansky, Moser, Slagter...

 

[HiCadence]

awesome

poll season awesome too

Tirreno stage 6
Dan Martin in Catalunya
Cancellara vs Sagan rivalry
Voeckler pipped at the line! by none other than Gatto!
a great edition of la classica di Primavera
crazy weather

just.. awesome

This pretty much.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

its been OK against personal expectations.

Oman, SB and MSR being the highlights for me. The odd stage in other races provided good entertainment,

Holding out for P-R to save the cobbles season.

 

[Pippo_San]

A very good start of the season!

Some nice stages in Oman, a wonderful couple of days with Strade Bianche and Roma Maxima (did everyone already forgot Kadri's solo win? it was amazing!), a truly incredible Tirreno Adriatico and Milano Sanremo (I guess especially thanks to the weather), even a couple of good stages in Paris Nice (the one won by Talansky was really awesome).

The Ronde Van Vlaanderen has been a total disappointment for me, anyway Gent Wevelgem was quite good, Also a couple of great stages in Settimana Coppi e Bartali (the ones won by Ulissi and Caruso).

A full 8/10.

 

[theyoungest]

How are people enjoying the procycling season this year?

I must admit, I have barely watched any of the races live this year and when I watched the highlights, they have largely been quite boring.

The racing is stagnant to me, even last night during De Ronde, I was rather bored.

Yeah, BMC have been largely invisible

 

[Ruudz0r]

I really like it so far, we ve had some good races, the only bad thing is races were shortened/cancelled due to the weather. (+ the weather could have been a bit better to do some more training myself )

 

[Pentacycle]

It's not all bad:

> TDU for once offered some good racing on 2 stages and had live coverage
> San Luis had good mountain stages with nice surprises
> Following Radio Popular San Luis
> Sagan wins a lot (although some won't agree that's great)
> Omloop was nice, Paolini finally wins a cobbled classic
> PN offered some action outside Montagne de Lure
> Tirreno had a fantastic fight for the overall, Porto Sant'Elpidio was the best so far this season
> MSR was obviously great, Ciolek finally back on top
> Catalunya's queen stage by Dan Martin, and De Gendt's win
> DdV, E3 and GW weren't disappointing, many attacks and favourites going far from the finish
> Despite the long wait, I loved seeing Canc destroying everyone on Kwaremont and Pater
> PR should be nice if Canc: had a bad night before the race/has three flat tires/forgets to eat/almost suffocates in the clouds of dust/has Sagan in his wheel/takes a wrong turn/crashes. But the domination will be a great to watch though.(even though I'll turn off my TV when he goes at 50k)

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

> PR should be nice if Canc: had a bad night before the race/has three flat tires/forgets to eat/almost suffocates in the clouds of dust/has Sagan in his wheel/takes a wrong turn/crashes. But the domination will be a great to watch though.(even though I'll turn off my TV when he goes at 50k)

Apparently, Sagan was only going to race PR if he won RVV.

 

[Pentacycle]

Apparently, Sagan was only going to race PR if he won RVV.

I know he doesn't race, I'm just pointing out PR will definitely be won by Cancellara.

 

[wwabbit]

It's not all bad:

> TDU for once offered some good racing on 2 stages and had live coverage
> San Luis had good mountain stages with nice surprises
> Following Radio Popular San Luis
> Sagan wins a lot (although some won't agree that's great)
> Omloop was nice, Paolini finally wins a cobbled classic
> PN offered some action outside Montagne de Lure
> Tirreno had a fantastic fight for the overall, Porto Sant'Elpidio was the best so far this season
> MSR was obviously great, Ciolek finally back on top
> Catalunya's queen stage by Dan Martin, and De Gendt's win
> DdV, E3 and GW weren't disappointing, many attacks and favourites going far from the finish
> Despite the long wait, I loved seeing Canc destroying everyone on Kwaremont and Pater
> PR should be nice if Canc: had a bad night before the race/has three flat tires/forgets to eat/almost suffocates in the clouds of dust/has Sagan in his wheel/takes a wrong turn/crashes. But the domination will be a great to watch though.(even though I'll turn off my TV when he goes at 50k)

You could have summarized all that into one point:
> There were plenty of races not won by Sky

 

[Libertine Seguros]

A lot of the time I've just watched the cross-country skiing or biathlon and just looked at catching up with the cycling later, and half of the time I haven't been interested enough in what's happened to do so.

Now, there's no cross-country skiing or biathlon to watch instead, so I guess I can develop a more fair opinion, but really little of what's happened has enthralled me this year even enough to watch the highlights and see how it happened.

 

[saganftw]

boring as fck

last time i was excited watching cycling was when contador went all *** in vuelta and won the race

 

[Carols]

After the long, cold, cycling depleted winter I've mostly been enjoying the season to date. T-A was outstanding as was Strade Bianchi and Catalunya!

 

[movingtarget]

Yeah, BMC have been largely invisible

Like last year they are visible near the front and working but no results to show for it. Ballan was the only rider for them that got results last Spring and he's not riding. Unless Gilbert can do something the cupboard will be bare again. GVA is always thereabouts but can't seem to find the next level.

 

[movingtarget]

I voted good- highlights for me have been Wilunga, Bookwalter at Qatar, Oman (as above), E3, Omploop, DDV, M-SR, T-A, Catalunya, SB, G-W and even RVV- which had the strongest rider win.

Young riders have also continued to perform, Quintana, Phinney, TJVG, Talansky, Moser, Slagter...

For me the highlights have been Moser at SB, Porte at PN, Nibali at Tirreno, Martin at Catalunya and Cancellara at Flanders. Disappointments were races having to be shortened at Wevelgem and MSR understandably and Evans lack of form since Oman.

 

[cineteq]

After the long, cold, cycling depleted winter I've mostly been enjoying the season to date. T-A was outstanding as was Strade Bianchi and Catalunya!

Pretty much this ˆˆˆ

 

[maltiv]

It's been a little one-dimensional so far really, with the Skyborgs smashing every MTF and Sagan/Cancellara being the strongest in every single classic.

P-R will probably suck this year too, with Cancellara being such an overwhelming favourite that I doubt anyone will even bother to try and follow him.

At least the Ardennes might be exciting

 

[SKSemtex]

*****
Nibali´s steal in TA

****
Martin, Quintana attacks in Catalunya
Cannondale double in SB,
Sagan beating Cav in Narni Scalo TA,
Cancelara´s demonstration of pure strength in E3, RVV
Ciolek´s steal in MSR after "almost perfect" race of Sagan

***
Sagan´s win in training or " come and catch me if you can" mode in Driedaagse De Panne
Sagan´s "breaking of ice" in G-W

**

Cavś " I am the king of sprint" win in De Panne
OPQS "constant" failing this spring (except the Chavanel of course)


To tell the truth I found it quite entertaining but if Netserk says: this season is boring I just can ´t wait to see how exciting the cycling is when it is excellent or at least good.