This weekends Canadian Races

[sublimit]

I cant find anything on british Eurosport on the sunday. Most be being showed on the monday afternoon (my schedule wont go that far forward).. French TV it is then

I find it amusing that the americans dont get the races till the 18th

At least they get some monster truck racing to watch or tractor pulling or something.. Yes, It must be a nightmare for cycling fans out there.

 

[aahmadhu]

just wondering why do they put these two canadian races coincide with the vuelta. isn't the vuelta organiser gonna be ****ed looking at the big number of big names will be riding the canadian races compared to those riding at the vuelta?

 

[auscyclefan94]

Shame cuddles isn't racing!

 

[theswordsman]

just wondering why do they put these two canadian races coincide with the vuelta. isn't the vuelta organiser gonna be ****ed looking at the big number of big names will be riding the canadian races compared to those riding at the vuelta?

I don't think riders who would normally be in the three week Vuelta would decide to ride two one day circuit races on a different continent instead. The Vuelta gets the grand tour guys plus guys preparing for Worlds. You've got guys like Basso who already did two grand tours this year. The new events offer UCI points, but they don't have the same prestige as a Vuelta stage in or jersey.

 

[theyoungest]

Shame cuddles isn't racing!

Interesting choice of schedule there for your God among men... Paris-Brussels rather than these races.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Montreal looks pretty good, tho i'm excited for both.

Hard to say whom will be in form.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Interesting choice of schedule there for your God among men... Paris-Brussels rather than these races.

Yes it is a shame. He didn't give a reason for it at all?

Here is a link about his schedule,http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/5237/World-champion-Evans-out-of-Canadian-ProTour-races-due-to-elbow-injury.aspx

EDIT: Evans said in his recent blog that he is doing european races instead because he would be closer to his physiotherapists and orthopedic surgeons in europe.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I cant find anything on british Eurosport on the sunday. Most be being showed on the monday afternoon (my schedule wont go that far forward).. French TV it is then

I find it amusing that the americans dont get the races till the 18th

Dim: If you double click on the "next week" link on the Eurosport tv guide, the whole of the following week is there..................unlike Montreal.

Quebec gets covered from start to finish?
A pity it's not the Bola de Mundo Vuelta stage.

 

[ansimi]

CN had a story about Evans missing these:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/evans-to-miss-out-on-canadian-protour-races

BMC is still sending a pretty good team though. Ballan might be able to do something?

There are several very strong one-day guys making the trip who haven't had great results this season and/or are tuning up for the Worlds so I think there will be a lot of motivation.

 

[Anonymous]

just a bump in case someone starts a fresh one

 

[tgsgirl]

just wondering why do they put these two canadian races coincide with the vuelta. isn't the vuelta organiser gonna be ****ed looking at the big number of big names will be riding the canadian races compared to those riding at the vuelta?

No one forgoes the Vuelta in favour of the Canadian races, except maybe, just maybe the Canadians. The big names who'll be in Canada were never planning on racing the Vuelta anyway. To be rude: Canada gets the Vuelta's leftovers.

 

[Neworld]

Thanks, I had heard of Samu and Evans going there so I assumed the fields would be good, but I wasn't aware they'd be *that* good. I thought more people would shy away from this kind of transoceanic flights, especially with the WC (and its own transoceanic flight) in sight.

They're going because the race will be hard and has a history there...what are you talking about " in Canada so doesn't really matter". That's pretty ignorant.

Not sure if you know but cycling has a hard time competing with Hockey in Canada...we're trying buddy.

NW

 

[pedaling squares]

No one forgoes the Vuelta in favour of the Canadian races, except maybe, just maybe the Canadians. The big names who'll be in Canada were never planning on racing the Vuelta anyway. To be rude: Canada gets the Vuelta's leftovers.

Nothing rude about that. Like someone else wrote (I think), people who want to ride a GT ride a GT, people who want to ride one day races look elsewhere. Apples vs oranges and in this case the apples are a prestigious and difficult stage race. The Cdn events obviously lack prestige and history, here's hoping they go off well and are attractive to more big name riders next year.

 

[auscyclefan94]

http://www.bmc-racing.com/int-en/team/news/team/canadian-protour-races-suit-bmc-racing-team-well.html
BMC are going in with high expectations. They expect to win one of the raes and podium in at least the other.

 

[hrotha]

They're going because the race will be hard and has a history there...what are you talking about " in Canada so doesn't really matter". That's pretty ignorant.

Not sure if you know but cycling has a hard time competing with Hockey in Canada...we're trying buddy.

NW

Don't get all defensive. Gods, you can't say anything about Canada (or Hesjedal for that matter) without someone jumping on your throat in here.

Races in countries with no cycling tradition get a malus to their prestige. Sorry, it's a fact.

 

[tgsgirl]

They're going because the race will be hard and has a history there...what are you talking about " in Canada so doesn't really matter". That's pretty ignorant.

They're going because they have to.

 

[theyoungest]

http://www.bmc-racing.com/int-en/team/news/team/canadian-protour-races-suit-bmc-racing-team-well.html
BMC are going in with high expectations. They expect to win one of the raes and podium in at least the other.

I wish them good luck. Karsten Kroon had better show some form in advance of the Worlds, because for f#$k's sake, he doesn't deserve to be there.

 

[Moondance]

Would be nice to see Hesj win one of the two.... And Gesink the other

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Would be nice to see Hesj win one of the two.... And Gesink the other

and lol @ bmc's expectations. Can't wait to see that epic fail.

 

[roundabout]

Gesink has already reached his 1 win a year quota.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

Gesink has already reached his 1 win a year quota.

AFAIK his last race was classica san seb. Hard to predict what kinda form he would bring, this applies to a lot of these guys though.

 

[theyoungest]

AFAIK his last race was classica san seb. Hard to predict what kinda form he would bring, this applies to a lot of these guys though.

He'll probably be ok, he needs very little racing (none, actually) to find some decent form. Montreal seems to be just the kind of race for him. Quebec isn't hard enough.

 

[Neworld]

Don't get all defensive. Gods, you can't say anything about Canada (or Hesjedal for that matter) without someone jumping on your throat in here.

Sorry Hrotha, I didn't think my response was congruent with 'jumping on your throat'. I'm really not trying to be adversarial but you can't slag a guy for being a little patriotic. I do support Canadian riders and the limited venues my country puts on. As I said we're trying, but its hard up here. Canada will never be like the European classics, you are right. But, saying "its Canada it doesn't matter", that's not very progressive is it. Shouldn't we try to encourage more cycling races in different environments to spawn new interest, courses and expansion?

I have read that the 2003 Worlds was one of the most difficult races in the last 20yrs. There was an article in CN recently (http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/killer-course-for-canadian-protour-event) that said that the Montreal race will be a lot harder than riders expect (sic C. Mottet). Now, Quebec may get the 2015 Worlds. Sounds like Canada is a place that matters.

And yes I hope that Ryder H, M. Barry and Dom Rollin do well in the next few days.

Races in countries with no cycling tradition get a malus to their prestige. Sorry, it's a fact.

Yes you are correct, I cannot disagree.

As an aside I wonder how Canada ranks amoungst other countries (per population)in the Protour, living with a lattitude of 60 degrees north. The most comparative countries would be Sweden, Norway...

NW

 

[theswordsman]

I don't know if Svein Tuft is racing, but he could win these with a trailer and dog behind his bike

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/08/sports/othersports/08cycling.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

I hope both races are well attended, hard fought and successful, but watching circuit races online just doesn't cut it. Nice for fans at the race, though.

 

[flicker]

Here's a video of the finish of the 1976 olympics. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwtL32iHxWs This was voted the number one olympic moment of the century in Sweden.

These should be some epic races. Can they be seen in the USA?