Itzulia Basque Country 2021, Spain, April 5 - April 10

[SafeBet]

Nonetheless there would likely be an entertaining factor involved. Each time the camera would switch, riding a different bike. Time difference becoming of a much less important factor.

P.S. Pretty sure UCI would ban it, being considered unsafe for some reasons involved.

I would ban it today, purely for aesthetic reasons.
But to each his own, I guess.

 

[tobydawq]

Honestly, I don't get why people have problems with bike changes.

 

[Bavarianrider]

Honestly, I don't get why people have problems with bike changes.

Because they are pathetic, ridiclous and give a horrible look. Back in the day Riders had 20 Kilo Bikes and one Gear. Today they need multiple bikes for a short TT. It is lunacy.

 

[tobydawq]

Because they are pathetic, ridiclous and give a horrible look. Back in the day Riders had 20 Kilo Bikes and one Gear. Today they need multiple bikes for a short TT. It is lunacy.

Yeah, of course you have a problem with it. I was more talking about people who don't pretend we still are in the first part of the 20th century.

 

[Red Rick]

Because they are pathetic, ridiclous and give a horrible look. Back in the day Riders had 20 Kilo Bikes and one Gear. Today they need multiple bikes for a short TT. It is lunacy.

Ok boomer

 

[Brullnux]

Because they are pathetic, ridiclous and give a horrible look. Back in the day Riders had 20 Kilo Bikes and one Gear. Today they need multiple bikes for a short TT. It is lunacy.

Back in the good old days when men were men and shorts were short

 

[SafeBet]

Yeah, of course you have a problem with it. I was more talking about people who don't pretend we still are in the first part of the 20th century.

I don't have any rational argument against it. It just looks bad to me. It's often awkward and labored, while to me cycling is one of the most harmonious and pleasant to watch sport out there (unless Bauke Mollema or one of his proselytes are involved).

 

[Cannavaro]

Honestly, I don't get why people have problems with bike changes.

For me it is important that they ride the race without help from outside. If you are unlucky and something is broken, then of course there should be some kind of help. But if you require (under normal circumstances) some person to carry an additional bike for you to some place, that feels bad for me. I think it depends on how you see cycling. From a purely entertaining point of view. there is nothing wrong with changing bikes. It even adds some drama. But if you see it also as some kind of fight against nature, travelling 200km over mountains through rain... then it feels bad.

Today some extra weight from 2.6 km to 10.5 km would be handy. So would anybody who likes bike-changes be disturbed if someone switches to a special bike weighing 30 kg?.

 

[Red Rick]

I don't have any rational argument against it. It just looks bad to me. It's often awkward and labored, while to me cycling is one of the most harmonious and pleasant to watch sport out there (unless Bauke Mollema or one of his proselytes are involved).

I think it's mostly down to excessively showing the bike switches by broadcasters and excessively talking about it by the commentators/pundits.

 

[ice&fire]

Because they are pathetic, ridiclous and give a horrible look. Back in the day Riders had 20 Kilo Bikes and one Gear. Today they need multiple bikes for a short TT. It is lunacy.

Back in the good old days when men were men and shorts were short

And there were no TTs in stage bike races

 

[Samu Cuenca]

The biggest problem with bike changes is that the races might not be decided by who has the strongest legs, but instead by who has the fittest mechanic/DS.

 

[SafeBet]

The biggest problem with bike changes is that the races might not be decided by who has the strongest legs, but instead by who has the fittest mechanic/DS.

Yeah that's also a problem for me. I don't like mechanics to impact the result of a race unless they have to fix a problem or prepare the bike before the race starts (which is normally their job).

 

[CyclistAbi]

Fittest mechanic. That's a first.

 

[johnymax]

Pogacar is going to wear his national champion jersey for the first time in a TT. Since he became ITT NC he was wearing some other jersey (yellow, green, white, etc) in every TT he's done so far.

 

[johnymax]

Vingegaard (better known as Chris Harper) to top 5 today.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

Vingegaard (better known as Chris Harper) to top 5 today.

He will not only have the advantage of knowing Roglic's time, but also having feedback from Rogla's run (if the team shares it with him).

 

[CyclistAbi]

Tactics are a key ingredient of any sport. From today's race perspective i am sure that most teams asked themself such questions, to change the bike or not, to start in a bit better wind conditions or not, use power meter or not ... Roglič choose a bit unorthodox approach today and lets see if such tactic will pay off.

 

[pablohidalgo7]

Vingegaard (better known as Chris Harper) to top 5 today.

Yeah!
He will be the fastest behind Pogacar and Roglic on the first climb and in the final, he is in great shape, he is a decent rider on the flat (when he is fit) and he was considered an uphill time trial specialist when he was U23. He has all the necessary factors to be in the top 5 today.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Vingegaard (better known as Chris Harper) to top 5 today.

I would be very surprised.

 

[Red Rick]

Roglic on the course.

 

[Bonimenier]

Is there a site with live timings and intermediates?

 

[Salvarani]

Roglic caught Gastauer about 10km in from what I can see. Probably no surprise.

Havent seen any times yet unfortunately.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Is there a site with live timings and intermediates?

Can't find anything and even the official website is offline

 

[Faserr]

It seems like we have to guess the times.
Roglic first

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Roglic caught Gastauer about 10km in from what I can see. Probably no surprise.

Havent seen any times yet unfortunately.

Primoż at 7'47'' on top of the climb, 15 seconds ahead of Bevin and 50+ seconds ahead of the rest. He'll be in that chair for hours indeed