2014 season thread

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 26 Mar 2014, 11:13 am

Swift finished 3rd in San Remo at the weekend as we're really getting into the classics season now!

by dummy_half Mon 31 Mar 2014, 10:33 am

Was a good performance by Swift at MSR, and he followed up with a stage win at the Coppi e Bartali, a race won overall by Peter Kennaugh (plus his first stage win).

Decent performance from Geraint Thomas at E3 Harelbeke (3rd from a 4 rider break, with Sagan taking the win), but then an unfortunate Gent Wevelghem, being in the leading group but caught in someone elses crash in the final 10km. Form looks good for Flanders and Roubaix, just needs the luck to go with him as well.

As for Cav, showed good form in holding on to the winning group in San Remo, but hadn't sufficient power to take the sprint. Suggested his form was good, but he's subsequently gone down with an illness

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 13 Apr 2014, 4:19 pm

Roubaix won by Terpestra today, a great great edition of it, Wiggins did brilliantly and came 9th

by JDizzle Sun 13 Apr 2014, 4:26 pm

Olly wrote:Roubaix won by Terpestra today, a great great edition of it, Wiggins did brilliantly and came 9th

Xenophobist (?)! Geraint Thomas came seventh and no mention! boxing

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 13 Apr 2014, 4:39 pm

JDizzle wrote:
Olly wrote:Roubaix won by Terpestra today, a great great edition of it, Wiggins did brilliantly and came 9th

Xenophobist (?)! Geraint Thomas came seventh and no mention!

Woah easy tiger missed him out!

Yes good day for the Brits even the Welshman as well!

by JDizzle Sun 13 Apr 2014, 4:44 pm

Haha, just don't like to see us oppressed anymore! Was a good ride by them both, just didn't have enough left after reeling in the leading group to go with Terpestra. Was a great move by him though, full credit.

by Azabache Mon 14 Apr 2014, 3:31 pm

Very impressed with Wiggins. Watch out Froome!

by Dave. Fri 25 Apr 2014, 4:14 pm

Two weeks to the Giro in Belfast, TTT on Friday evening, Coastal stage on Saturday - which will contain some beautiful scenery round the Antrim coast. Sunday is a cross border stage from Armagh to Dublin.

Looking forward to this, especially has the TTT goes past my flat!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 26 Apr 2014, 12:28 pm

Dave I expect to see you on the streets with a Dominic Dale banner

by Lowlandbrit Sun 27 Apr 2014, 4:28 pm

Good win for Gerrans, but you have to feel bad for Martin there.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 27 Apr 2014, 4:32 pm

Yeah horrible luck, also caused issues for guys beaind

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Wed 07 May 2014, 11:00 am

Kennaugh pulled out of the giro

by Dave. Fri 09 May 2014, 12:24 pm

Just in from the practice session. Tonight's TTT is on BBC Two NI at 630.

by Dave. Fri 09 May 2014, 8:36 pm

Some good racing

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 09 May 2014, 8:42 pm

David did you enjoy it?

Nothing like seeing it up close, you font realise just how quick they actually go!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 09 May 2014, 9:51 pm

Got to be gutted for Dan Martin though

by Dave. Fri 09 May 2014, 9:56 pm

Yes, I was standing at the corner of Botanic Gardens - for those of you not familar with Belfast, the corner before they went onto the straight at Queens. They were going full pelt, some inches from the barriers. Unreal.

Broken collarbone they say. Knew before they hit Stranmillis he was hurt. Some of the Garmin shirts were badly ripped.

Made sure to yell for Cadel, shouted for Uran, Quito, Deignan, Nico, and a few others!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 10 May 2014, 4:35 pm

Kittel takes stage two, ridiculous finish chosen with a sharp left only 300m from the end

by Dave. Sat 10 May 2014, 5:08 pm

It's Belfast, very particular about routes!

by Lowlandbrit Sat 10 May 2014, 7:01 pm

Kittel just too good, as expected.

by Lowlandbrit Sun 11 May 2014, 4:18 pm

Lowlandbrit wrote:Kittel just too good

by TopoftheChops Sun 18 May 2014, 9:04 pm

good win for wiggins in california

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 20 May 2014, 4:22 pm

Giro D'Crashtalia

by Lowlandbrit Tue 27 May 2014, 1:21 pm

It's snowing, but they're still riding the whole course. Some people don't seem happy about it.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 27 May 2014, 4:23 pm

That manhole cover in Belfast looks like its gonna be really costly for Hesjedal

Incredible ride today

by Lowlandbrit Tue 27 May 2014, 4:47 pm

Huge effort. Not quite sure what Uran was thinking though.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Tue 27 May 2014, 9:26 pm

Best stage I've seen in a long time, brilliant racing

Hard to see Quintana blowing it now, he's on a different level on the short sharp climbs

by Guest Tue 27 May 2014, 10:26 pm

Yeah, saw the highlights, those conditions were crazy but exciting. Guess Quintana's decision to focus here, instead of the TDF, will pay off.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 30 May 2014, 4:30 pm

Giro D'Colombia

by TopoftheChops Fri 30 May 2014, 5:00 pm

Aru clearly on drugs

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Fri 30 May 2014, 5:03 pm

TopoftheChops wrote:Aru clearly on drugs

Or a young rider translating promising performances in minor races (4th in the Giro Trentino last year) onto the biggest stage

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sat 31 May 2014, 1:18 pm

The Monte Zoncalon today

If you want to see a proper climb, this is it. Absolute pain, 20% gradients!

Doesn't get much better

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 15 Jun 2014, 4:02 pm

Adam Yates is awesome

by Lowlandbrit Sun 29 Jun 2014, 9:20 pm

Some winners from the national championships this weekend:

Italy
Road: Vincenzo Nibali
TT: Adriano Malori
France
Road: Arnaud Demare
TT: Sylvain Chavanel
Spain
Road: Ion Izagirre
TT: Alejandro Valverde
Netherlands
Road: Sebastian Langeveld
TT: Tom Dumoulin
Belgium
Road: Jens Debusschere
TT: Kristof Vandewalle
Great Britain
Road: Peter Kennaugh
TT: Bradley Wiggins
Germany
Road: Andre Greipel
TT: Tony Martin

Other champions (probably) riding the Tour:
Frank Schleck (Luxembourg Road)
Nelson Oliveira (Portugal Road+TT)
Alexander Porsev (Russia Road)
Peter Sagan (Slovakia Road) Peter Velits (Slovakia TT)
Jan Barta (Czech Republic TT)
Michal Kwiatkowski (Poland TT)
Martin Elmiger (Switzerland Road) Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland TT)
Gatis Smukulis (Latvia TT)
Simon Gerrans (Australia Road)
Daryl Impey (South Africa TT)

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 13 Jul 2014, 10:42 am

The one thing I hate about the TDF month is the fans who come out with silly things despite only watching cycling for one month a year

Arguing with someone who thinks 1. The tour of California is the strongest race outside the grand tours and 2. That people who don't beat Porte this season will have lost to Wiggins as well.

How anybody who thinks a race that has Rohan Dennis and Lawson Craddock finishing on the podium is the strongest outside a grand tour is truly beyond the words

by Lowlandbrit Thu 17 Jul 2014, 9:07 am

Deals that definitely haven't been agreed yet because it isn't August yet:
Sagan -> Astana
Boom -> Sky
Mollema -> Trek

by JDizzle Thu 17 Jul 2014, 4:08 pm

JTL gone for two years.

by Big Thu 17 Jul 2014, 10:46 pm

JDizzle wrote:JTL gone for two years.

What's really surprised me is that he joined a French team in 1993 aged 18, and is somehow not yet 30. He must have been on something amazing to manage that. Either that or the BBC are guilty of dodgy reporting again - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/28354686. Wink

by JDizzle Thu 17 Jul 2014, 11:10 pm

Big wrote:
JDizzle wrote:JTL gone for two years.

What's really surprised me is that he joined a French team in 1993 aged 18, and is somehow not yet 30. He must have been on something amazing to manage that. Either that or the BBC are guilty of dodgy reporting again - http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/28354686.

Haha, they shouldn't really have needed the biological passport to notice that one!

by Big Fri 18 Jul 2014, 7:29 am

In all seriousness I find the whole thing mighty odd. I.e. that Endura were asking for extra testing to prove he was clean when according to this he wasn't. While we have riders stupid enough to try home made blood doping, I'll believe we have riders that will think they can cheat without it showing on the bio passport. So maybe Endura really didn't know.

More disappointingly though is Sky. They have said in the past that they check riders biological passports, and won't have them in the team if they look dodgy. Brailsford has claimed to have turned riders away because he had suspicions based on this. So, did they not notice that his was dodgy, or did they just not care. Particularly in light of the suspicions voiced at the time you'd have thought they'd have been taking an extra careful look, and they certainly have enough money to get the right experts in doing the reviewing. Whatever they may say about it being before his time with them I think it casts a poor light on them.

by Lowlandbrit Fri 01 Aug 2014, 11:38 am

After all the speculation and conflicting stories, the transfer window is open, so it's time to start seeing what's true:
> Luis Leon Sanchez, Lars Boom, Diego Rosa and Davide Malacarne are all off to Astana.
> Cofidis have announced a bunch of signings, most notably Nacer Bouhanni.
> Tinkoff-Saxo say they have announcements planned for 3, 7, and 9 August. Their owner says:

@olegtinkov wrote:Dear @tinkoff_saxo fans, do you want me to close the deal with Peter Sagan? If i get 1000 retweets, i will do it!

> Rohan Dennis is riding the Vuelta. For BMC.
> BMC have also signed Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Caruso.
> Mollema to Trek has finally been confirmed.

by JDizzle Sun 03 Aug 2014, 4:32 pm

Get in G. Well deserved!

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 03 Aug 2014, 8:45 pm

11-1 before the race. Tidy little profit for me from Geraint

Valverde won San Sebastian and people said it makes up for him missing the podium. People confuse me

Also the tour of Poland started and as per usual it was batshit mental. The Belarus sprinter who's name I can't spell won after sprinting from one side of the road to the other.

by Lowlandbrit Tue 05 Aug 2014, 6:22 pm

Well now:

@olegtinkov wrote:i have to announce that we did not sign Peter Sagan. i believe he goes to Alonso team

@olegtinkov wrote:I assume @PeterSagan indeed prefers his podium girls. F1 has plenty of that stuff, when I stand for family values, and not tolerate mistress

Oleg can be a bit eccentric (joked about signing Wiggins a couple of days ago, probably drunk), but I can't really see an angle here. Everyone was expecting Tinkoff-Saxo to announce him on Thursday, so I guess we'll know for sure then.

Sagan seems stressed about the whole thing:
https://twitter.com/petosagan/status/496299033158492162

by Lowlandbrit Fri 08 Aug 2014, 8:22 am

Lowlandbrit wrote:After all the speculation and conflicting stories, the transfer window is open, so it's time to start seeing what's true:
> Luis Leon Sanchez, Lars Boom, Diego Rosa and Davide Malacarne are all off to Astana.
> Cofidis have announced a bunch of signings, most notably Nacer Bouhanni.
> Tinkoff-Saxo say they have announcements planned for 3, 7, and 9 August. Their owner says:
@olegtinkov wrote:Dear @tinkoff_saxo fans, do you want me to close the deal with Peter Sagan? If i get 1000 retweets, i will do it!
> Rohan Dennis is riding the Vuelta. For BMC.
> BMC have also signed Alessandro De Marchi and Damiano Caruso.
> Mollema to Trek has finally been confirmed.

Week 2, and the soap opera is finally over:
> Tinkoff-Saxo have signed Peter Sagan, as well as Pavel Brutt, Maciej Bodnar and Juraj Sagan.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 10 Aug 2014, 6:11 pm

Adam Blythe wins the ridelondon classic and in doing so wins me 40 quid

by Lowlandbrit Mon 18 Aug 2014, 2:49 pm

Startlist for the Vuelta: http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Vuelta_a_Espana_2014-Startlist
Some strong looking teams there.

by **Good Golly I'm Olly** Sun 05 Oct 2014, 4:04 pm

Dan Martin wins Lombardia

Becoming quite the classics rider

by Lowlandbrit Thu 09 Oct 2014, 4:01 pm

Andy Schleck has announced he isn't a professional cyclist anymore, as anyone that watched him for the last few years can testify. #abandy

by Mad for Chelsea Thu 09 Oct 2014, 4:45 pm

what an odd career Schleck had. Looked for all the world like a future superstar after the 08 TdF (the one Sastre won, but his teammate Schleck looked comfortably the strongest climber IMO), finished runner-up the next three years (being given the 2010 title since) without doing much elsewhere, and then basically vanished without a trace. Participated in a few GTs since without ever featuring anywhere, I know he's had a few injuries, but it's completely weird for a career to pan out that way...

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