Pro-cycling thread

YES

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Sivakov leading him out very much like I once did at Herne Hill lol

Pffft, Tao's strength was obviously forged in the brutal hills of Essex.

Haven't watched Tao win yet, looking forward to that one.

But Amstel wtf. I didn't watch it live, caught up with it yesterday morning. I had seen people say how exciting a race it was and getting into the last 10k I was wondering what people were talking about, it looked nailed on for Alaphillipe or Fuglsang. Kwia and Trentin didn't look like they were going to bridge, and the pack looked too far back.

Then the last few K happened. A lot of questions marks over the accuracy of the time gaps but even so people have eyes, the riders or the DS should be able to gauge it surely? Anyway extraordinary race, MVDP is a phenom.

I've spent the last few weeks disliking mvdp for no reason other than how much everyone liked him (ridiculous, I know), but that race has completely flipped it for me. His celebration, the disbelief and shake of the head was so disarming. It helped that it was an absolute spectacle too, fucking hell.
I've been wondering similar things as howard, ever since someone said 'expect merckx levels of domination' - how will he cope with the intense marking? Today it seemed like he could have been marked and out-ridden everyone anyway.
Pat on the back from Clarke was nice to see too.

He's a very modest and likeable guy imo. Check his wiki page and procyclingstats to see how used he is to winning road races as well since he was very young, it's not like he came out of nowhere so I think he is very used to being marked.

Coverage/love of Tao G H seems disproportionate to his achievements / or am I missing something?

One time forum member

He’s from the ends though innit.

If you mean off here, I think he is widely respected in the peloton for his hard work for others and selflessness. So him getting his first individual win is seen as his just rewards.

We have a thread just for him too.

It's the classic story; talented junior rides track then gets Saturday job in Condor Cycles and finds his love for racing when he takes part in the LFGSS Hackney Drag Sprints some 10 years ago

https://vimeo.com/6330776

Plus a lot of his achievements have been team super-domestique roles that you wouldn’t attribute to someone his age. He shows a lot of maturity and leadership if not silverware.

In short, you are missing something. :)

Tao loses the lead to his teammate Sivakov:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/tour-of-the-alps-2019/stage-2/results/

In 7th place on GC now.

Yep :)

Tao loses the lead

I personally blame @Big_Ted and his negative vibes.

Nibali trying to give TGH the eyes at 1:15.
Not having it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6JjITQUgQv0

MVDP averaged 58.1 km/h for the final kilometre of Amstel Gold.

https://www.strava.com/activities/2307958367/analysis/23109/23176

Motor

Valgren rode the last 9km last year at exact same average speed 42.3km

MVDP
https://www.strava.com/activities/2307958367/analysis/22400/23172

Valgren
https://www.strava.com/activities/1510647927/analysis/23215/23961

In 1 pic, with wattttssss

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Boringest race of the year is on today, all wait for the last ascent of Mur de Huy and Alaphilippe ftw ...or will someone try to 'do a Mathieu'?

cant see anyone else but Alaphillipe winning.

Maybe Yates could use Albasinis experience and pull something off? Dont think so but who knows

Looks like Landa might to go to Bahrain Merida with Ellingworth.

I’m still not sure why Landa thought moving to Movistar was a good idea. He’s a rider who’ll do well when a race is more open, so switching from one defensive team to another made little sense. Being the undisputed GT leader at a strong team would benefit him more.