2011 Cycling thread.

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Phillipe Gilbert wins his second race of the week, just powering away from the group on the Mur de Huy to win Fleche Wallone, to go along with his win of the Amstel Gold on Sunday.

And he's already stated that his main target for the spring classics is Liege Bastogne Liege this coming Sunday, so he's got to be considered the favorite for that one as well.

80 degrees in Belgium today. And here it's like mid-30's and pizzing rain.

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Gilbert has been a beast this week. He just made it look easy, if the Muur can ever be called easy. Gotta think he has Luik in the bag on Sunday. Normally I'd say maybe tactics can beat him, like Cance in the cobbled classics, but VdB2 and Vanendert have be huge right beside him. I think only Katusha have the numbers (Purito, DiLuca, Kolobnev, and Moreno) to challege.

In other news, Voeckler won a stage in Trentino ahead of Scarponi. They decisively dropped race leader Kloden and distanced the pack including Nibali and most of team Androni. Trentino is a fun race, like 3 MTFs and I hope is an indicator of Scarponi's form.

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Well Gilbert completes the Ardennes Texas Hattrick! Possibly the worst tactical riding I've ever seen from the Schlecks. PG and the two Schlecks got away on the Roaches aux Falcones (I think) then road a 3 man TT until Gilbert attacked on St. Nik. He kind of dropped Andy but he rejoined. Then the Schlecks led Gilbert all the way to Ans and never attacked him. 2 on 1 with a vastly more explosive rider and they never attacked. Awful!

On the bright side, Scarponi did get the win in Trentino! Tour of Turkey starts today and then Romandie. Them we're off to the Giro!

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

The Schlecks seem to have rocks for brains when it comes to cycling tactics. But hey, they both made the podium!!!

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I saw an awesome description of the finale: It was like watching two guys trying to drown a fish.

And that to me totally sums it up.

 

[Probert]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Been watching the Tour of Romandie on Versus which unfortunately has Steve Schlanger of Universal calling the action with Bob Roll. Daily coverage is nice to see, though due to hockey Saturday's final stage is on at like 1 in the morning. Looks like Universal will still have the Giro though I guess Versus has the Tour of California.

The Schlecks really screwed up Liege at the very least they should have punished Gilbert on the last climb but Andy didn't seem to have it there.

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

It hit me with a ton of bricks today when I got the Velogames email about the Giro, just 9 days away. Where has the time flown to, that it's Giro time already.

 

[Flashy Man]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

So, I've decided to go with the SRAM X.9 2X10 system on my mountain bike. I wanted to give a different option a try after, I had too many problems with my 3X9.

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Here's a shot of my Niner all built up. It's pretty much the final build, except I'm looking at going with the Sram X9 2X10 group as well. Although I hear for 2012, they're going with some smaller front crankset options, 22-34 and 24-36 on the XO group, so I may be waiting a bit for these to trickle down to the X9 group, as I like all the low gear options I can get, being a wuss and all.

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Just a reminder, and if I had more time today, I'd do it myself, but the Giro starts on Saturday. Velogames is back.

 

[Probert]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I did my team for velogames and created the USCHO mini league league code is 04234656

My team

Michele SCARPONI [18] LAM
Vincenzo NIBALI [22] LIQ
David ARROYO [10] MOV
Matthew WILSON [6] GRM
Mark CAVENDISH [20] THR
Oliver ZAUGG [4] LEO
Dario CIONI [4] SKY
Leonardo GIORDANI [2] FAR
Roman KREUZIGER [14]

 

[Dirty]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I assume this is the best place to ask this. I'm looking at getting a bike after 15 years of sitting around and being a lazy bum. From the little I've learned, I think I want a hybrid/fitness bike and am looking at the Trek 7.2 FX. Today my cycling superfan boss gave me some magazines to look over and there was an ad for Motobecane bicycles. They appear to be much cheaper than Trek, Giant, Specialized, etc. Does anyone know anything about them? Or does anyone have any opinions on the 7.2 or if there is another bike for around $500?

Thanks.

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I'm in...Thanks Probert for setting it up. I like my team, but need the little guys to take care of business.

Michele SCARPONI
Vincenzo NIBALI
Igor ANTON
Jose RUJANO
Alessandro PETACCHI
Wouter WEYLANDT
Fabio SABATINI
Adam BLYTHE
Domenico POZZOVIVO

 

[MattS]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I am in too!

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

I assume this is the best place to ask this. I'm looking at getting a bike after 15 years of sitting around and being a lazy bum. From the little I've learned, I think I want a hybrid/fitness bike and am looking at the Trek 7.2 FX. Today my cycling superfan boss gave me some magazines to look over and there was an ad for Motobecane bicycles. They appear to be much cheaper than Trek, Giant, Specialized, etc. Does anyone know anything about them? Or does anyone have any opinions on the 7.2 or if there is another bike for around $500?

Thanks.

A lot of them apparently are rebadged Fujis, as the same company owns the name for both, or something like that. Motobecane used to be a highly esteemed French company, but is now just a name put on Asian sourced bikes by Bikes Direct. From all I know, the frames are decent enough, and you can't argue with the cost. The only thing to beware is unless you start getting into the $1000+ area, they spec their frames with a lot of heavy, no-name, cheapie parts, stuff like bars, stems and seatposts. I mean really heavy, ugly stuff. And cheapie forks too. Wheels are usually pretty heavy too.

I bought a Motobecane to serve as a parts donor for my Niner frame, sold off what I didn't use on ebay. But after all was said and done, I should have just ordered the parts I wanted and be done with it. Or spent about $400 more and got a bike with the new Shimano 10 speed Dynasis, and better wheels and fork. Pretty much the only stuff from it I still haven't ugraded are cranks, shifters, derailleurs and seat. Both tires were out of true, one had the tread laid on crooked, and the other had a hop in the tire that felt like suspension bob when riding. I'm thinking they bought up all of WTB's tires that failed quality control.

The seatpost, bar and stem were too crappy to even put on ebay, no one in their right mind would spend five bucks for them.

In the end, with some things, you get what you pay for.

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Just added my team.

Vincenzo NIBALI [22] LIQ
Roman KREUZIGER [14] AST
Joaquin RODRIGUEZ [14] KAT
Domenico POZZOVIVO [10] COG
Mark CAVENDISH [20] THR
Wouter WEYLANDT [6] LEO
Lars BAK [4] THR
Daniel NAVARRO [4] SBS
Marco PINOTTI [6] THR

 

[Titleist]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Just a note, I've edited my team, I'm not convinced that Anton is riding for the GC so I made a straight swap of Anton for Purito. I expect he'll lose about 25 minutes on the final TT but hopefully he is competitive. I like my team, 5 climbers, 4 sprinters. If I can survive day 1 and day 21 I'm in decent shape. I also think I have two rider who combine weigh less then 200 pounds.

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Just started watching Universal Sports' coverage of today's stage. God I love Universal Sports. And they've added a fast forward/rewind toggle for their player, which is awesome, since their coverage has commercial breaks.

And God, I love Italy and the Giro.

 

[Probert]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

Just started watching Universal Sports' coverage of today's stage. God I love Universal Sports. And they've added a fast forward/rewind toggle for their player, which is awesome, since their coverage has commercial breaks.

And God, I love Italy and the Giro.

Are you being sarcastic or not I like the fact they have 2-3 hours of coverage a day but their announcers annoy the crap out of me.

 

[rufus]

Re: 2011 Cycling thread.

No sarcasm at all. Love the fact that I can see the best grand tour live, or archived if I can't view the live stream.

And I don't mind the announcers, as long as I don't have to see Gogo's deer in the headlights stare at the camera during their introductions. They're a nice change from Phil and Paul, who franklly, are growing stale and make a lot of errors these days.