Vuelta a España Vuelta a España 2024, stage 21: Madrid - Madrid, 24.6k (ITT)

[Sciatic]

Glad it's a bit of a dead-rubber, always thought the GC should be decided on a final mountain face to face really, seems more romantic to me.

Bora need to have a look and sort things out if they're feeding their riders dodgy sausages the night before a deciding mountain stage too.

Aren’t all sausages dodgy?

 

[Scarponi]

Cricket?

Cricket is not soft, nor dull and not boring

 

[RedheadDane]

Affini NBT.

 

[RedheadDane]

What would the world be without buildings?

They don't need to focus on them for minutes during a bike race.
Maybe a sprint stage, with nothing happening...

 

[Samu Cuenca]

What would the world be without buildings?

A bit like American football, but without all the padding.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

The Visma helmet proves to be trash once more.

 

[Tim Cahill]

Disparaging cricket is a bootable offence in Australia

 

[tobydawq]

Cricket is not soft, nor dull and not boring

I think this discussion is a bit silly as we come from different cultures and there's no way to reach a consensus other than just trash talk the sports we don't like.

But how one can rate cricket above football and point to it being less dull, boring (synonyms make lists long) and soft is fairly mind-blowing.

Not that I've ever watched a second of it.

 

[Samamba]

Is wind still supposed to change to (almost) tailwind later?

 

[Scarponi]

I think this discussion is a bit silly as we come from different cultures and there's no way to reach a consensus other than just trash talk the sports we don't like.

But how one can rate cricket above football and point to it being less dull, boring (synonyms make lists long) and soft is fairly mind-blowing.

Not that I've ever watched a second of it.

The cricket was a joke. But I truly cannot even watch 30 seconds of soccer, it ruins my brain with how pathetic it is a sport.

 

[Coffeeplanter]

As the CyclingNews member that is the unequivocal #1 determiner of what is or what is not a sport I say: football nor cricket is a sport.

 

[Scarponi]

Disparaging cricket is a bootable offence in Australia

No one here has sat down to watch ball 1 of the ashes test in the SCG Members room at 10am on New Years and it shows imo. Or waking up early eating your left over Christmas hams waiting for that Boxing Day test to start. Missing out on life

 

[tobydawq]

The cricket was a joke. But I truly cannot even watch 30 seconds of soccer, it ruins my brain with how pathetic it is a sport.

Fair joke but I don't understand the hatred against football.

 

[RedheadDane]

As the unequivocal #1 CyclingNews determiner of what is or what is not a sport I say: football nor cricket is a sport.

I thought you were the #1 CyclingNews determiner of who's a thief!

 

[Unchained]

I beg to differ. Fans of Bora, at least, may well be NFL watchers. But, indeed, some backward places may still be stuck on just Soccer.

"The U.K. and Germany each have 3.3 million “avid fans” of the NFL in a category that's been growing quickly for both, but Germany has slightly more “casual” fans — 17 million."

And these numbers are from 2022.

Germany edges past UK as Europe's leading market for NFL

MUNICH (AP) — Seattle Seahawks fan Lukas Spiess was shocked at what he noticed while at a Stuttgart soccer game a few weeks ago.

apnews.com

Something profoundly funny about discussing pro sports..cycling has tons of potential for growth of all kinds and the revenue that goes along with other major sports,
cycling is absolutely blowing it!!
I am certainly biased being an enthusiast for many years, Vuelta great, great, example, plenty of backstory, personal perspective, doesn't matter who..Roglic, Mas, O'Connor, Dunbar!! Too many interesting ( marketable!!) Stories but pro cycling instead has teams like Visma, Movistar, ect making their own media and monetizing it on YouTube and other minor media.
NFL taking their products and selling them successfully in Europe, where there are no NFL teams!! Selling NFL in Mexico and Central, South America.. No teams, few if any games ever played on their soil..but still they successfully ($$$$$) market their products.
NBA, and others all looking at China as the future. Viewer ship for Premier League grows in China every year, year after year. Pro bike racing and it's fans need not pretend that pro bike racing is big or lucrative it's not, and that is completely by choice, no play offs, no defined championship, almost no interest from TV to produce and promote television content and timely coverage..
You can find the NFL boring, that's fine, completely valid, but who cares, asked as a serious question.. When answered.. Tens of millions world wide care about NFL and all products associated with it..
Pro bike racing should beg NFL for some advice about how to get more people watching in person, on TV, pay per view, buying merchandise, how to pay players, how to increase franchise values, how to sell hundreds of millions in merchandise world wide.. How do they sell hats and jerseys in countries that don't have any NFL anything? Cycling should figure it out!!! Bike racing is a great sport, the people running it are absolutely brain dead!!!UCI call NFL for help!!!

Have people really seen what is on TV? Dancing shows, literally shows about people cooking or doing construction.. Shows on people eating, drinking, losing weight, arguing!! All w greater viewers than cycling!! If more people know HoneyBooBoo or Duck Dynasty characters than Wout or Pogacar you don't know how to market your product!!!!

 

[Coffeeplanter]

I thought you were the #1 CyclingNews determiner of who's a thief!

Jack of all trades.

 

[Samamba]

20s in front of Guarnelec doesn't look like a super time to me, but maybe Guarnelec just rode a good TT

Should be a few going under this tho, definitely if wind is turning.

 

[tobydawq]

As the CyclingNews member that is the unequivocal #1 determiner of what is or what is not a sport I say: football nor cricket is a sport.

At least the opinion that football is trash carries more weight when it doesn't come from someone who calls it soccer.

But I don't know what definition of sport you have been taught.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

What would the world be without buildings?

The sort of scenery we have been swooning over in recent days?

 

[RedheadDane]

NBT for the best moustache present in this race.

 

[Tricycle Rider]

Campenaerts is in the hot seat for now, I'll treasure the moment.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

NBT for diarrhea man (not a great name for a superhero)

 

[Netserk]

So the camera moto stopped following Campenaerts when he caught Arcas?

 

[Coffeeplanter]

At least the opinion that football is trash carries more weight when it doesn't come from someone who calls it soccer.

But I don't know what definition of sport you have been taught.

Usually it just comes down to the question of whether I like it or not. Therefore, cycling: sport, football: not a sport. Basketball? Absolutely a sport. Speed skating? Not in a million years.

 

[Tim Cahill]

No one here has sat down to watch ball 1 of the ashes test in the SCG Members room at 10am on New Years and it shows imo. Or waking up early eating your left over Christmas hams waiting for that Boxing Day test to start. Missing out on life

Or from my perspective, going to bed at 12.30am on boxing day after a promising start then waking up at 6.30am with a headache to find yourself 182-9.