Skijumper Roglic Fan and Coffeeplanter who did it previously seem to have gone, so I'll start the thread.
I have received word from the top brass that Vuelta al Táchira is to go ahead despite recent events, therefore as of Friday cycling is officially back. Rujano Jr will be there to fly the flag.
Opening weekend starts on the 23rd with Classica Camp de Morvedre, Urko Berrade won it last year with a pretty impressive long range attack. The startlists for the Spanish races should be decent this year, with UAE, Movistar and Bahrain sending teams, as well as Quickstep and Jayco for an assortment of races. Mallorca after that. which is usually good but has been sullied by a dishonourable one day TTT for some reason, though as it's Evenepoel's first race in his new kit perhaps one of our fanatical Belge posters will want to make a separate thread. Valenciana in February for Landismo's debut of course, and we are all looking forward to seeing how poor Joao manages to stuff things up again this year.
The French Cup begins with Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise is on 01/02, we had the first glimpse of young Paul there last year in what was a brilliant race with some entertaining and foolish riding. Clément Venturini was the overall winner, but his moneygrabbing ways appear to have caught up with him and he's ended up on The Rockets, they will be there so maybe he can launch a spirited defence.
The Italian races are ages away so I won't bang on, Del Toro and Ayuso are doing more WT races this year but I hope they end up facing each other in some of these, the question on all our minds is surely; What can Christian Scaroni do against such savagery?
Rodrigo Nunes claims he's willing to pay big money for a rider who can win him the Volta, who will it be?
Will Niklas Larsen get cold feet again now he isn't racing against some Estonian wheat farmers?
Will Vino tone things down now he no longer needs the points, or was this just the start?
Where is Jan Christen in all of this?
All this and much more.
List of encouraged behaviours in this thread;
Good analysis.
Deciding on who you like the look of this season about 10 minutes into the first race you watch.
Wondering if Movistar have finally got it right this year based on one race.
'Wow 8th and 11th, GREAT UCI points!!!'.
Aggressively insisting someone is going good because they looked thin in an offseason Facebook photo.
Positive inferences, i.e. 'This guy won Etoile de Bessèges, he's ready to beat the big guns at The Tour'.
Enjoying the 43 year old former WT rider who is flying for some reason now he races for a Central European biscuit factory.
List of discouraged behaviours in this thread;
Poor analysis.
Whining because Wout Van Aert and Tadej Pogacar haven't shown up to muck about and do laps around a Slovakian car park.
Misconstruing top cycling tactics/*** housing as wheelsucking, (unless you're trolling, in that case go ahead).
Negative inferences, i.e. 'This guy won Etoile de Bessèges, it's a *** race and he won't be anywhere near the big guns at The Tour'.
'Look how fresh and exciting this guy is, hopefully an already stacked team sign him so he can sit on the front dragging around my favourite rider', or as I like to call it, Jhonatan Narvaez Derangement Syndrome.
Non-exhaustive
I have received word from the top brass that Vuelta al Táchira is to go ahead despite recent events, therefore as of Friday cycling is officially back. Rujano Jr will be there to fly the flag.
Opening weekend starts on the 23rd with Classica Camp de Morvedre, Urko Berrade won it last year with a pretty impressive long range attack. The startlists for the Spanish races should be decent this year, with UAE, Movistar and Bahrain sending teams, as well as Quickstep and Jayco for an assortment of races. Mallorca after that. which is usually good but has been sullied by a dishonourable one day TTT for some reason, though as it's Evenepoel's first race in his new kit perhaps one of our fanatical Belge posters will want to make a separate thread. Valenciana in February for Landismo's debut of course, and we are all looking forward to seeing how poor Joao manages to stuff things up again this year.
The French Cup begins with Grand Prix Cycliste la Marseillaise is on 01/02, we had the first glimpse of young Paul there last year in what was a brilliant race with some entertaining and foolish riding. Clément Venturini was the overall winner, but his moneygrabbing ways appear to have caught up with him and he's ended up on The Rockets, they will be there so maybe he can launch a spirited defence.
The Italian races are ages away so I won't bang on, Del Toro and Ayuso are doing more WT races this year but I hope they end up facing each other in some of these, the question on all our minds is surely; What can Christian Scaroni do against such savagery?
Rodrigo Nunes claims he's willing to pay big money for a rider who can win him the Volta, who will it be?
Will Niklas Larsen get cold feet again now he isn't racing against some Estonian wheat farmers?
Will Vino tone things down now he no longer needs the points, or was this just the start?
Where is Jan Christen in all of this?
All this and much more.
List of encouraged behaviours in this thread;
Good analysis.
Deciding on who you like the look of this season about 10 minutes into the first race you watch.
Wondering if Movistar have finally got it right this year based on one race.
'Wow 8th and 11th, GREAT UCI points!!!'.
Aggressively insisting someone is going good because they looked thin in an offseason Facebook photo.
Positive inferences, i.e. 'This guy won Etoile de Bessèges, he's ready to beat the big guns at The Tour'.
Enjoying the 43 year old former WT rider who is flying for some reason now he races for a Central European biscuit factory.
List of discouraged behaviours in this thread;
Poor analysis.
Whining because Wout Van Aert and Tadej Pogacar haven't shown up to muck about and do laps around a Slovakian car park.
Misconstruing top cycling tactics/*** housing as wheelsucking, (unless you're trolling, in that case go ahead).
Negative inferences, i.e. 'This guy won Etoile de Bessèges, it's a *** race and he won't be anywhere near the big guns at The Tour'.
'Look how fresh and exciting this guy is, hopefully an already stacked team sign him so he can sit on the front dragging around my favourite rider', or as I like to call it, Jhonatan Narvaez Derangement Syndrome.
Non-exhaustive
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