Here is another question thread! There are just two guidelines:
Fire away!
Posted Mar 4, 2019, 6:00 AM UTC
'OOOOOOOOhhh, the opening weekend is finally here!' - everyone.
Me today, checking this week's racing: 'We got Le Samyn Tuesday, and... and... uhh, hey, let's go rewatch Omloop.'
Like wtf? Just 2 weekends ago there were eleven stages/races in two days. Now we got one race in 5 days.
And we have Strade Bianche to look forward to, though...
If it doesn't take you a week to recover and get into speculation you're doing it wrong!
But I am actually waiting for Paris-Nice to start too
The Preidler thing has me thinking
There are only two riders I keep conflating in my mind - and no it's not a pair of brothers. Preidler and Brandle.
They're just the two most generic white guys on the planet, and both are tall austrian domestique stage racers whose personality doesn't stand out in any way. They're even the same age. So I can never remember which is which. They're the only riders I've ever had that problem with. In my subconscious they're kind of....one single guy.
I guess this thing might finally make me separate them a little bit.
Does anyone else have trouble remembering that two riders are separate people? Or keep mistaking one for the other? I guess the Yates might be a popular answer.
Connor Dunne and Samuel Dumoulin
I often forget there are two Herrada brothers, they sort of blur into one for me. Doesn't help neither is especially memorable in the first place
edit: also Davide Villella and Davide Formolo, just for both being around the same age, same nationality, same name and being at Cannondale at the same time
Christian Meier and Cameron Meyer. The names are confusing enough, but they were both at greenedge at the same time as well.
Didn't realise they were two people until I'd been to the coffee shop Meier opened after retiring and then seeing Meyer still riding on tv.
Possibly because C.Meyer also retired. But then came back.
And to further confuse things, they also had Cameron's brother Travis Meyer at the same time. So they had Meyer, Meyer and Meier
Tony Martin and Dan Martin
Tim Wellens and George Bennett
Jasper Stuyven and Zdenek Stybar
Don't pro cyclists get cold?
I know I'm a soft australian who doesn't know what real cold is, but looking up the weather for the Omloop showed the day topped out at 11°C.
At that temperature I need full finger gloves, arm covering, and ear covering. I think GVA had arm warmers (or a long sleeve jersey) but most of that winning group just looked to be wearing normal short sleeves and fingerless gloves.
You're definitely too acclimatised to the heat if 11°C is to be considered very cold. If you think most successful classic riders are from northern Europe where it generally is a bit colder plus the factor of them being pro athletes working at a high intensity in the races it becomes a bit more reasonable for them to have that level of kit
I wouldn't say "very" cold, but it's a bit chilly.
I live in the NL and I ride recreationally. You get used to it. 11 degrees is honestly pretty mild for this time of year. Also, if you're riding hard, you're warming yourself up anyway.
They did mostly have jackets on to start with but when the proper racing starts they chuck them off. There was a feed section where tonnes of jackets got thrown at helpers.
First time on Haaghoek - front 2 Quicksteppers have jackets on
That makes a lot of sense, thank you.
I guess moving at that speed keeps things fairly warm? We already know the pros are a hardier breed than us mere mortals (which is why we're not paid to ride 21-day stage races). That said, you are absolutely a soft Australian – it's 9°c right now where I am which feels positively summer-like compared to the minus temperatures we had a month or so back.
Moving faster would make it worse if anything, the wind chill from moving would be stronger. Probably.
ear covering at 11? What??
gotta keep my bruvs warm bro
You got a pair of these? https://keyassets.timeincuk.net/inspirewp/live/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2016/02/PANTANI-Marco008-630x421.jpg
not quite but a little that way
11 celcius (51.8 Fahrenheit) would be pretty ideal. Similarly the ideal Marathon temperature is about three degrees cooler. Sure, at the start things might be a bit chilly, but I'm guessing their bodies soon get up to temp with the wattage they're pulling. Plus with no real climbing, riders will not run into temperature drops.
How is Annemiek doing? She got injured pretty bad at Worlds and it sounded like she was borderline on whether she was ready to race this weekend, but then she made it to the final group of 8 or so riders on Saturday with a bunch of other big names. Is she 100% back and ready to rock?
Omloop isn't necessarily her best suited race so to get the result she did shows she's pretty much back to normal in my eyes.
Yeah, I certainly wasn't expecting her to win, but just being in that very select group is a promising sign that her recovery is going well
She did a longer interview in Dutch a few weeks ago.
She explains how she was taken by surprise by how severe her injury was when she first saw the x-rays. After her crash in the Rio Olympics, she was back on a bike in a week. This time, her trainer hoped she'd be back in time for the Ardennes races, but van Vleuten was sceptical she'd make those.
She put in a lot of work - physio 6 days a week and managed to get the all clear from her medical team about a month ago, just in time for her to join the Mitchelton-Scott guys on their training camp. She said her knee was alright, but she hadn't been able to put in her usual training load up to that point. She stayed on for another two weeks by herself though, and beat the odds by being able to return a month earlier than initially predicted, just in time to ride as a domestique in the Omloop. As just two weeks ago, that's all she could see herself doing.
Being there in the final group should be a sign she's definitely 100% back.
She's getting there. On Strava she would have been able to follow the men's ascent of the Muur van Geraardsbergen for example...
She did a training camp with the MTS guys where they rode like 200km a day across Spain or something like that, last month. Hopefully she's back but I know she's more of a climber / TT than a classics specialist so it might be a bit before she really lights things up
Imagine the winds of today on yesterday's race.
Ok, i will imagine them.
How was your imagination?
It still is...
That's an excellent question.. I'm not quite sure how to answer though.
Jungels would still have won
Is the German national team's base camp really in the same town as the latest blood doping doctor? If so, this spells really bad things with the prosecutor saying there will be more names coming out this week
the track national team is based in Cottbus
I don't think we got something like that :D German cycling talent gets developed by small local clubs or at one of the two schools with a special program for cycling talent. One is in Cottbus(Arndt,Greipel) and one in Erfurt(Kittel). Those programs aren't comparable with the development centers the French are running f.e. There are just 4 Olympic medals to be won with road racing after all. Most professional cyclists live either near Cologne (that is the training group around Greipel,Politt,Sieberg etc) or outside of Germany for reasons of training and taxation. Something like the center in Aigle isn't known to me.
In KBK yesterday, in the final kms a group of 4 rode away from the peloton, trying to chase Jungels. Lampaert his team mate joined them, presumably to disrupt the chase. How does this work? Doesn't he just help the chase by being there as there is extra drafting? I guess he tries to make them go slower but he wasn't doing any service in the front (logically) so couldn't the guy in front just gradually increase the tempo, forcing him to follow?
He sits on the wheels not pulling through and refusing to do work. This means that if Jungels is caught, Lampaert can counterattack and theoretically should be fresher due to having just ridden wheels instead of working.
And on top of that, the rider on the front is usually so tired as he's finishing his pull that he will often pull over without looking to see who's behind, leaving the quickstep guy on the front.
At this point he'll freewheel, gaining Jungels a couple more seconds before someone else goes around him to pull
And they had like 4 guys behind the single Bora rider, no one would be able to push to the front at that point.
In theory the others should be less willing to pull when towing a fresh rider to the line, as they should lose the sprint. It wouldn't help the chase whatsoever, and if they caught Jungels Lampaert could counter.
I guess he tries to make them go slower but he wasn't doing any service in the front (logically) so couldn't the guy in front just gradually increase the tempo, forcing him to follow
If they're strong enough yeah. Having a rider not riding so close to the front of the peloton does breakup the rotation of the chase, and you can actually slow down further for corners etc.
Ok so here is maybe a stupid question: what do the numbers and letters in parenthesis in the title of the race threads (e.g. 2.UWT, 1.HC, 1.WWT, ect) actually translate to??
I assume it UWT is World Tour and WWT is Women's World Tour, but what do the numbers specifically mean? Is there a chart or something haha?
There's an entry in the faq for that!
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You're looking for r/pelotoncycle. Though this sub is all about giving shoutouts to people working their asses off on bicycles, just the non-stationary kind, so maybe stick around here?
Do most people get shoutouts on milestone rides? I did my hundredth yesterday with Jess. I was probably unreasonably excited to get a little shoutout. Worked my ass off. HR got over 100% at one point (I don't recommend it). Made a PR. But no shoutout. Kinda sad.
Sorry about that! Will delete/ repost.
Shout-out to u/ChitownMD !
How many names are adequate to remember if you want to follow cycling?
I kinda new to this sport, but I remember the popular ones. But it seems like a lot of fans remember 100+ names, when they won their last race and which season was their peak etc.
You are going to be confused. Just take it slowly and ask a lot of questions here (There are no stupid questions, unless u/ausrufepunkt asks them).
What you have to keep in mind is that you'll see 'different' pelotons riding for different races. Stage races like Paris-Nice and Tirreno-Adriatico have a whole different set of contenders than the cobbled classics that follow them.
You'll quickly get the grasp of it. First the big names, then the second row favourites, then their teammates, then the smaller teams.
Before you know it, you'll see some guy attacking in the Amstel Gold Race and think 'oh yeah, he was in that break in the Brabantse Pijl too'.
Have patience, this sport will reward you.
Just three: Peter Sagan, Chris Froome, and Pierre Rolland.
Uhm excuse me? Do you not even know that Primoz Roglic used to be a ski jumper?
I'll tell you even more: Remco Evenepoel, not even that long ago used to be a football player!
KV Mechelen legend :')
You don't have to know anyone's name to follow procycling or get enjoyment out of watching a hectic bunch sprint, a solo break or a mountain showdown. For me at least, I've been watching the sport closely for a good few years and struggle to recall many rider's best result, last win, worst crash. There is a huge amount of knowledge that people here have on the sport, but don't let that apparent knowledge gap get in the way of your interest. If your like me and don't have an insane memory, you will get a deeper awareness of riders and their attributes, it just takes time.
Something that I do is make a log of races I'm interested in watching and their dates, and then note down who won. It's really helpful around Classics time to understand who is a major contender for the next week's races, and helps to bolster your rider knowledge.
Names are one thing - being able to recognise faces on the live coverage is the next level. You end up learning all the National champions forst (and the former ones) because their special kits are always a giveaway.
However many you like.
Some fans remember hundreds of names because they watch every race year after year. It's not a conscious effort.
It's a hobby. Get into it as much or as little as you'd like. Just have fun.
There is no magic number. Like many hobbies and passions it depends how much you're willing to commit to following the riders and how long you've been "studying". But starting with just a few is more than enough to enjoy the season!
play the fantasy games if you want to catch up in record tempo, it's the best way to do so
otherwise, who cares if you don't know who Jan Bakelants is, you'll figure it out over time