Lesser known races 2024 edition

[yaco]

Yeah whats up with their Tour selection? You contract so many talented riders, guys who can climb a bit, have engines, can attack and then you put those 8 in the most important race of the year?

It was a conservative TDF selection. I would have left out Durbridge and Juul-Jensen because the only time Jayco would ride at the front is if Groenewegen won a stage. Schmid had an off-season injury and only started racing at the end of March. His form turned around at the Tour De Suisse. I would have taken Foldager as a neo-pro who again had injury at the start of the season and did not start racing until April and again was good at Suisse. Or I would have taken Scotson another one who did not start racing until April who could have helped in medium mountains and the sprint train. Anyway, they have a good team for Austria and should do well at the Vuelta.

 

[yaco]

Cameron Rogers of the Lidl Development Team wins the 3km prologue at the Tour of Austria beating Ganna. Rogers is the nephew of Michael Rogers.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Cameron Rogers of the Lidl Development Team wins the 3km prologue at the Tour of Austria beating Ganna. Rogers is the nephew of Michael Rogers.

Moran Vermeulen, the brother of the Austrian XC Skier Mika, finished 24th.

 

[Brullnux]

De Pretto wins his first ever pro race in Austria

 

[yaco]

That was a big performance by Da Pretto to get his first stage win in a reduced sprint finish at the Tour of Austria.. Attacked with just over 2kms to go, got caught with a km to go, sat in the bunch and still won the sprint. A well deserved voctory! What I found strange was that Jayco had Plapp riding at the front, yet, You would think he and Dunbar would be their GC riders.

 

[search]

The Sibiu Tour starts this Saturday, and with a strong IPT team (Riccitello, Froome, Bennett, Schultz, Pickrell, Sagiv), guys like van Eetvelt, Lipowitz, Higuita, most Q36.5 climbers, Leknessund, Scaroni etc, the lineup looks likely to be good. Maybe the Mexicans found a new del Toro as well. Who knows.

Startlist for Sibiu Cycling Tour 2024

Competing teams and riders for Sibiu Cycling Tour 2024. Top competitors are Chris Froome, Chris Froome and Chris Froome.

www.procyclingstats.com

Time schedule: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GRREd8hXYAA7zRC?format=jpg&name=large (one hour earlier in Central Europe)

All stages will be live on http://ciclism.sibiu.ro, and most shouldn't clash too much with the Tour de France .

6 July Stage 1: Sibiu - Păltiniș

7 July Stage 2a: Sibiu - Sibiu

7 July Stage 2b: Historical Centre of Sibiu ITT

8 July Stage 3: Sibiu - Bâlea Lac

9 July Stage 4: Sibiu - Sibiu

As usual, I will be around for the race (if this train I'm on speeds up again at some point), to do some of the press work and have a couple of beer with @jens_attacks. So join in, if you like.

 

[Faserr]

Big mass crash at Tour of Austria. Race neutralisation at the moment.

 

[SafeBet]

Big mass crash at Tour of Austria. Race neutralisation at the moment.

Any update?

 

[Faserr]

Leader Walscheid is out. Some other riders abadoned. Race will resume at 13:00.
Don't know if there are really serious injuries. The riders on the road looked to be really hurt but not critical. Some riders were in the grass. I think one looked really hurt.

 

[yaco]

Unusually the mass crash happened in the neutral section.

 

[Faserr]

From what I saw the race already started when the crash happened.

 

[RedheadDane]

Rivera takes the win.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Ulissi wins the uphill sprint in Austria.
Tomorrow the stage goes over the Glockner (from North) and finishes in Kals, frankly I'd prefer a finish in Lienz or an Uphill finish on the Iselsbergpass, while Sunday is the Kühtai MTF (with that 1km at 13% that starts with 11kms to go).
In the mountains should be Majka, Pellizzari, Dunbar and PCT climbing prospect Adrien Maire vs the CT Sputniks Ricci Zoidl and Stüssi. Curious to see what Martin Messner can do.

Honestly, Pellizzari deserves a break from racing after this one. TotA, Giro, Slovenia, NC and now Österreichrundfahrt is a long block of racing for a 20 year old. I know that he won't race L'avenir, but give him a break!

 

[Landeirovic]

Ulissi wins the uphill sprint in Austria.
Tomorrow the stage goes over the Glockner (from North) and finishes in Kals, frankly I'd prefer a finish in Lienz or an Uphill finish on the Iselsbergpass, while Sunday is the Kühtai MTF (with that 1km at 13% that starts with 11kms to go).
In the mountains should be Majka, Pellizzari, Dunbar and PCT climbing prospect Adrien Maire vs the CT Sputniks Ricci Zoidl and Stüssi. Curious to see what Martin Messner can do.

Honestly, Pellizzari deserves a break from racing after this one. TotA, Giro, Slovenia, NC and now Österreichrundfahrt is a long block of racing for a 20 year old. I know that he won't race L'avenir, but give him a break!

i expect Grosschartner and Majka

 

[Mayomaniac]

i expect Grosschartner and Majka

I like Großschartner since I've met his parents years ago at the Giro, but unless he is really peaking for this race (that might happen) Ulissi should be better on an unipuerto stage like Kühtai. Ulissi can have absurdly good climbing performances (mostly on easier mountain stages) when he's on.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

I like Großschartner since I've met his parents years ago at the Giro, but unless he is really peaking for this race (that might happen) Ulissi should be better on an unipuerto stage like Kühtai. Ulissi can have absurdly good climbing performances (mostly on easier mountain stages) when he's on.

I'll look out for Berhe and Pena on Jayco aswell, also curious to see if Rivera can hold on.

 

[Mayomaniac]

I'll look out for Berhe and Pena on Jayco aswell, also curious to see if Rivera can hold on.

Yeah, I've heared that Berhe is a good climber aswell, him and Pena seem to be in good shape atm.
Kühtai is an irregular, long climb. Used to be one of my training climbs when I still lived in Innsbruck.

 

[yaco]

Jayco have 4 riders within 25 seconds, so if they have form, they can play the numbers game.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Yeah, I've heared that Berhe is a good climber aswell, him and Pena seem to be in good shape atm.
Kühtai is an irregular, long climb. Used to be one of my training climbs when I still lived in Innsbruck.

Iirc correctly both of their career performances so far were in this race last year.

 

[yaco]

Jayco adopting strange tactics in the final of austria today. With their numbers theyshould have fired one or two riders off the front and get the peleton to chase, instead of burning riders by pacing the peleton.

 

[GenericBoonenFan]

Say it ain't so

 

[Mayomaniac]

Say it ain't so

Horrible news, and horrible for his family and loved ones. What else can one say?

 

[Potomac]

What happened?

 

[Eddy Evenepoel]

What happened?

ORF reporting Andre Drege (Team Coop) died in a crash. Absolutely horrible.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Awful, awful news. Don't know what to say really. It's not a descent where you'd expect it at all either, goes to show how relative a term safety sadly is and is destined to remain in this sport...

Also have to feel for the organisers, years of work to get the race back on the calendar and then this happens.