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2013 Cycling Thread

T

Titleist

New member
Well as much fun as that last thread was, and it was, the new season is upon us!

So far, Andre Greipel has openned his account in Australia, winning the People's Choice Classic, essentially the opener for the TdU. The first real stage is tomorrow.

And today, Mark Cavendish won for his new team Omega-Pharma Quickstep in the Tour de San Luis. I'm a bit torn on this one, I like Quickstep, but not so much Cav... kinda like last year with Quickstep and Bottle.


Also Tirreno-Adriatico is hinting around its route and sounds good, TTT, ITT, Mountain stage, 2 sprint stages, and 2 classic-type stages.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

So if you had 0 in the how many times Phil and Paul would mention Lance during the TDU coverage you win. Greipel wins the stage going away but Gilbert looked strong. With more hills this year he may be a contender. Plus they had Robbie Mcewen doing commentary which made the usual duo better.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

What does anyone know about this Sacha Modolo guy? Is he the real deal or was him taking down Cav on a reportedly somewhat uphill finish just a one-off?

As for Phil and Paul....yeah, Phil needs to just hang it up. He's humiliated himself over the past six+ months. I prefer that other crew that works for NBC. Might not have as slick of voices but surely are more informative. If I hear "he's on the ride of his life" one more time I'm going to throw my television out the window.

I know I could google it, but anyone know where the TDU or San Luis are available to watch online?
 
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Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Modolo is a young and very skilled sprinter. I don't think he has the top end speed to consistently challenge Cav and Griepel but what he has is an ability to climb. He is good on uphill finishes and can get over the hills. He came 4th in San-Remo in 2010 so he certainly has the ability. As for TdU and San Luis, well, I'm not really sure. The TdU extended highlights (like 15-20 minutes packages) can be found here: http://www.dailymotion.com/cyclingvids#video=xqfspr You just need to scroll around a bit to find them. As for San Luis, I know coverage is VERY spotty, I think for the most part its just one stationary cam. I'm sure the link is in here somewhere: http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=19461&page=61
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Well the first WT race is basically decided with Tom-Jelte Slagter finishing second to Simon Gerrans on Old Wilunga Hill in Australia. That should guarantee him the GC win.

Also Alberto Contador is on the board for the year. Winning in San Luis and looking to come 4th on GC. He claims to be 4 kgs over weight so seems to be a good ride.

Oh and I should have mentioned, for watching live cycling, always check steephill.tv or cyclingfans.com.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Just watched Strade Bianche, WHAT A RACE! Moreno Moser made a perfect counter about 20K out and won it on the 16% final climb. Of course, he teammate, Sagan, nullified Cance and came second. I'm kind of looking forward to the new race tomorrow, Roma Maxima, then its almost northern classics time.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Milan-San Remo temporarily halted while the riders are bused and driven around an extended section of the route where it's snowing heavily. Some of the riders have tweeted pics on the team buses, and none of them look very happy about the conditions.

Taylor Phinney

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Robbie Hunter

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Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

So Cancellara takes Roubaix after winning the Tour of Flanders, beats out young Sep Vanmarcke in the sprint. Omega got hosed though as they had 2 guys of 4 in the leading group along with Canc and Vanmarke who got eliminated from encounters with fans Zdenek Stybar managed to stay upright but fell behind on the pave and Stijn Vandenbergh ended up on the ground after getting clipped by a fan.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Vandenbergh was already falling off the pace, and he clipped the fan because he was exhausted, and made a mistake. Stybar got screwed, because he was the only guy that could stay with Cance as he rode up to the two leaders, and might have taken him for the stage. Vanmarke's mistake was taking some pulls at the front. He should have wheelsucked Fabian for his life, and tried to save a little for the sprint.
 
And I slack on this thread bad despite watching the full gamut of the spring races...

Anyway, fantasy Giro is open at velogames. Anyone planning on creating a league? If not I can.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

I've been slacking on this thread too! It was a great classics season but now on to the GTs. I'm in for Velogames. XYZ if you want to make the league go for it.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Titleist said:
I've been slacking on this thread too! It was a great classics season but now on to the GTs. I'm in for Velogames. XYZ if you want to make the league go for it.
Click to expand...

League Name: USCHO
League Code: 30032921
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

As far as the Giro goes, I have to say I'm rather intrigued by what the Colombians might bring to the table. Those guys are all known yet unknown and have been very vocal about the fact they plan to light things up once the road goes up. Hopefully it makes for entertaining racing, since while the Vuelta was great last year I fear the Tour will again be a snoozefest as no one will be able to break the Sky Train and we'll have to watch in agonizing boredom as Froomedawg laughably soft-pedals his way to the win. No doubt Sky will try the same train in the Giro on behalf on Wiggins, and while Henao and Uran are no jokes, hopefully some hyper-aggressiveness from others can break things up.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

I agree about the Giro, I hate Sky and the train. I take some solace in the fact that Nibali has defeated them twice through audacious attacks this year, even if the latter may have had some help from Sir Wiggo's mechanical. And the fact that Astana seems incredibly powerful this year. As for the League, I'm in:

Vincenzo Nibali AST 22
Ryder Hesjedal GRS 20
Domenico Pozzovivo ALM 12
Samuel Sanchez EUS 18
Nacer Bouhanni FDJ 8
Davide Appollonio ALM 4
Darwin Atapuma COL 4
Mauro Santambrogio VIN 6
Mattia Gavazzi AND

I really like the team except I dislike what I did with the GC guys.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Titleist said:
I agree about the Giro, I hate Sky and the train. I take some solace in the fact that Nibali has defeated them twice through audacious attacks this year, even if the latter may have had some help from Sir Wiggo's mechanical. And the fact that Astana seems incredibly powerful this year. As for the League, I'm in:

Vincenzo Nibali AST 22
Ryder Hesjedal GRS 20
Domenico Pozzovivo ALM 12
Samuel Sanchez EUS 18
Nacer Bouhanni FDJ 8
Davide Appollonio ALM 4
Darwin Atapuma COL 4
Mauro Santambrogio VIN 6
Mattia Gavazzi AND

I really like the team except I dislike what I did with the GC guys.
Click to expand...

So much for thinking I was being sneaky with the Atapuma pick...

Bradley Wiggins SKY 26
Ryder Hesjedal GRS 20
Rafal Majka TST 8
Stefano Pirazzi BAR 6
Mark Cavendish OPQ 16
Wilco Kelderman BLA 8
Koen de Kort ARG 4
Darwin Atapuma COL 4
Juan Jose Cobo MOV 8

As usual I think I might be trying to be too creative. Kelderman is a a wild card here and will have to work for Gesink, but as usual I end up taking one guy more because I like him than anything else. Cobo...who knows...Movistar has looked good this year but which one of his bi-polar selves will show up? Overall I'm sensing a lot of boom/bust potential with this team, but I'll take my chances. Thought long and hard about Nibbles since he has looked strong in the early going this season, but Hesjedal's impressive work on behalf of Martin in Liège–Bastogne–Liège makes me think he's peaking for this and Garmin might go for broke. Could help them that it will likely be Sky and Astana that have to do most of the work at the front. Had to go with Wiggins as the other GC guy as I just don't think anyone is going to be able to deal with the Sky train. Also think this is the first time I haven't had a token FDJ rider...
 
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Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

I can't root for the Skyborgs so no Wiggo for me. (Interestingly I read this morning the if he wins the Giro he will claim leadership at the Tour, which Froome had denied, so that could be a little Lemond/Hinault.) I like Kelderman, but his TT let him down in Trentino. As for Apatuma, I like him but he might end up riding for Duarte, I hope they are given co-leadership or at least Apatuma gets some freedom. I'm a little suprised that Santabrogio was so cheap. He has be killing people this year and looked in Trentino like the 2nd best climber in the race. I thought about Cav, but OMPQ's train has been weak and there aren't many pure sprint stages, so I'm hoping the 2nd fastest guy in the race (Nacer) and the on form sprinter of the day (Gavazzi) can make up the difference. Oh and I have Appollonio too, likely 1 top 5 placing but...

I like Majka, he as come back faster and stronger than I expected think he might be a factor.
 
Re: 2013 Cycling Thread

Titleist said:
I can't root for the Skyborgs so no Wiggo for me...
Click to expand...

I'll add more later but I dropped him now as well, though it's not a direct result of my dislike for Sky. Hence, my team has shuffled a bit but not finalized. Did you join the group yet? I don't see your team listed...

And to give it a bump, the velogames Giro USCHO group info is:

League Name: USCHO
League Code: 30032921
 
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