Itzulia Basque Country 2024, April 1-6

[Tim Cahill]

I think this is the right thing to do, and probably what should've been done on Gran Camino last year with Moscon etc

 

[armchairclimber]

There is no commentary on the Discovery+ feed at the moment. Is it on somewhere else?

 

[Jumbo Visma Fan :)]

The breakaway fights for the win I guess….

 

[AnotherArmChair]

The breakaway can race for the stage but not the peloton ????
Hmmm

 

[glassmoon]

Any further information on Jonas?

on the stretchers in the ambulace... luckily he was able to move his arms and legs

 

[Samamba]

Official neutralization. Strange that they say that riders in front can dispute the stage???? That announcement was the weirdest!

Not that anyone cares but it's weird to just say "yeah front group you can sprint for the win".

 

[QueenStagiaire]

What the hell, why are they giving the breakaway the stage but neutralising it, that‘s totally random.

 

[perico]

Yeah, but none of those riders were as dominant throughout the season and within the races as the top riders have been in the last couple of years.

So? That’s irrelevant to the fact that crap happens and favorites get taken out- and in 2014 Contador and Froome were every bit as dominant that season as anyone this year.

 

[Volderke]

OK, after watching the crash again and again:

1. Landa went into that curve really on the limit.
2. Those on the outside of that curve, at the same speed (the first rider to crash, Remco, Vingegaard,...) had no chance as the curve went down on the outside, making those riders accelerate / having to undergo much greater G-forces in order to hold the curve. Some riders on the outside didn't crash because they braked immediately (not possible for e.g. Evenepoel anymore).
3. riders were crashing independently.
4. Remco was already having his back wheel uncontrolled / slipping before he decided he wouldn't hold it and it was better to go straight and hope for the best crashing in the grass in between rocks and trees.
5. Vingegaard crashed hard against that ditch, and his team mate hit him while on the ground. He really got the biggest blow.

 

[noob]

There is no commentary on the Discovery+ feed at the moment. Is it on somewhere else?

In my small country there is full commentary.

Vine can speak it just said.

 

[Elos Anjos]

I change what I wrote above.

On a closer look you can see different riders crashing independently of each other: likely speed and some leaves are the main causes. Teams, DS and organization could have helped preventing this one.

 

[pastronef]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1775903264568901686

View: https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1775903264568901686

 

[glassmoon]

The breakaway can race for the stage but not the peloton ????
Hmmm

yeah... really strange. hopefully they still have at least one ambulance available

 

[Escarabajo]

Not that anyone cares but it's weird to just say "yeah front group you can sprint for the win".

That sounds like a reward for the front riders for not crashing and a punishment for the peloton for crashing!

 

[Krzysztof_O]

Oh man, WTF just happened. Shitty route and crashes, what a debacle the race has become! I've never seen all top GC guys involved in a serious crash like that. And it actually wasn't that difficult place but that concrete cuivert was in the worst possible location.

 

[Unchained]

They were too fast on the descent, and they were too slow in the climb.

When your wheel washes out, you are at the mercy of gravity you are going down..

 

[jono]

That sounds like a reward for the front riders for not crashing and a punishment for the peloton for crashing!

Word trickling out that the peloton did not want to continue racing.

 

[Billie]

What the hell, why are they giving the breakaway the stage but neutralising it, that‘s totally random.

The peloton did not want to race.

 

[AnotherArmChair]

There is no commentary on the Discovery+ feed at the moment. Is it on somewhere else?

ther si

I had the same problem earlier on ..go to bottom right and select language .ie english

 

[Samamba]

We went from Vingegaard, vs. Roglic vs. Remco to Skjelmose vs. Ayuso vs. Vauquelin in one corner. That's just sad.

 

[KOM]

I see some journo's on Twitter already criticizing the UCI and Itzulia for the route, I think that's such one-sided nonsense. I've cycled myself in Basque Country when I lived in Spain, it is fairly impossible to design a route in this geograhpy that doesn't contain curvvy, steep descents. If you want to take rider safety seriously, you also include the responsiblity of teams, DS and riders themselves in how much risk they are taking on these kind of terrain. If you want to be critical, I get the point that you need to put clearer demarcation of a dangerous corner coming up, but claiming that these kinds of descents shouldn't be in a race is just plain out impossible.

Hoping that all riders involved will be OK.

Can always count on journalists to come up with the absolute nutlow take, whenever something happens. Cycling journos seem annoyingly good at it too.

 

[Netserk]

I see some journo's on Twitter already criticizing the UCI and Itzulia for the route, I think that's such one-sided nonsense. I've cycled myself in Basque Country when I lived in Spain, it is fairly impossible to design a route in this geograhpy that doesn't contain curvvy, steep descents. If you want to take rider safety seriously, you also include the responsiblity of teams, DS and riders themselves in how much risk they are taking on these kind of terrain. If you want to be critical, I get the point that you need to put clearer demarcation of a dangerous corner coming up, but claiming that these kinds of descents shouldn't be in a race is just plain out impossible.

Hoping that all riders involved will be OK.

It was really unfortunate that the peloton did the climb in slow-mo and was super big before going all out on the descent. They went down the descent far faster than the break while being ~3 riders side-by-side when turning.

 

[yaf]

2024 the worst season ever 🤕

 

[Unchained]

That sounds like a reward for the front riders for not crashing and a punishment for the peloton for crashing!

Certainly a point of view, but big picture all the conti riders in the front were well down on GC so none are going top 10,15 on GC and the group standings stay the same with everyone getting same time, good decision, causes zero arguments from teams in contention for the win

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Every time i see the footage, it seems like there is a bump in the road, you can see riders hopping. In the google maps link somebody posted, i can't see a bump, but you can see tracks in the asphalt, probably made by heavy trucks throughout the years. Maybe this is the cause?