2016 season thread

[Lowlandbrit]

Here's your 2016 hub, pick out your own good, bad and ugly from the new crop of jerseys.

AG2R La Mondiale (FRA)	Astana Pro Team (KAZ)	BMC Racing Team (USA)
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team (USA)	Dimension Data (RSA)	Etixx - Quick-Step (BEL)
FDJ (FRA)	IAM Cycling (SUI)	Lampre Merida (ITA)
Lotto Soudal (BEL)	Movistar Team (ESP)	ORICA GreenEDGE (AUS)
Team Giant-Alpecin (GER)	Team KATUSHA (RUS)	Team LottoNL-Jumbo (NED)
Team Sky (GBR)	Tinkoff (RUS)	Trek-Segafredo (USA)

World Tour races:

[Lowlandbrit]

And now, an offseason message from your world champion:

[Azabache]

..and the Ugly-anyone connected to Astana?

[Azabache]

Bertie was only 4 seconds behind overall in the Paris-Nice.

Might be very ominous in what is reputedly his final year.

Tour's only 4 months away!

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Swift did well in Milan San-Remo again

[Lowlandbrit]

Sagan finally wins something, and the first 7 WT races have winners from 7 different countries.

[Azabache]

Quintana, Froome, Contador all doing well early in the season...

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Roubaix tomorrow - each way bets placed on Stybar, Boonen and Vandenbergh

[Lowlandbrit]

Good race so far. Sagan giving it everything, but isn't going to get back to the leaders.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Wow

[dummy_half]

And that's why Roubaix is one of my favourite races of the year - tactics will get you so far, but ultimately it tends to come down to who can be the strongest of a bunch of strong men in the last few minutes of the race. Five top quality riders away and no-one really knowing who would have the strength in the sprint, so all five having a go off the front. Hayman and Boonen the two with slightly more left in the last 2 or 3 km and so were ahead into the velodrome and had most left for the sprint.

Stannard with a super ride but just not enough in the final.

[Lowlandbrit]

World Tour rankings as we move to the stage race portion of the season:

Riders:
1- Peter Sagan (329)
2- Alberto Contador (280)
3- Richie Porte (222)
4- Sergio Henao (204)
5- Sep Vanmarcke (201)

Teams:
1- Tinkoff (771)
2- Sky (677)
3- BMC (572)

Nations:
1- Spain (613)
2- Australia (579)
3- Belgium (557)

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Sky finally won a classic!

[Guest]

British track cycling could be about to implode, "Shane Sutton: British Cycling chief suspended over discrimination claims":
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36147120

Reminds me of what happened in the swimming with Bill Sweetenham (he stood down as national coach at the end of 2007)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/swimming/4580822.stm

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

I think British cycling will survive one bloke leaving

[Guest]

He has just quit so we will see what happens.  Sir Chris Hoy was a great fan of his while (Dame?) Nicole Cooke and Victoria Pendleton were not
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36153485

[Hammersmith harrier]

This is just a witch hunt instigated by Varnish because she wasn't up to it, Sutton wasn't the type to give any of his time to those who won't make the cut. British cycling is all about gold medals.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Simon Yates tested positive for doping after a stage of Paris-Nice last month

[Guest]

Simon Yates tested positive for doping after a stage of Paris-Nice last month

Hope it is accidental e.g. contaminated something.  His brother Adam had a great win at Clásica de San Sebastián last year.

PS: Apparently Simon Yates has asthma & the team doctor failed to complete a Medical Exemption:
"Orica-GreenEdge said they took "full responsibility for the mistake" and there was "no wrongdoing" by Yates. He tested positive for banned substance terbutaline and a team doctor failed to apply for a therapeutic use exemption (TUE), the Australian team said. Orica will "fully support" the 23-year-old during the investigation. "This is solely based on a human error that the doctor in question has taken full responsibility for," Orica added.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36166128

[Guest]

This is just a witch hunt instigated by Varnish because she wasn't up to it, Sutton wasn't the type to give any of his time to those who won't make the cut. British cycling is all about gold medals.

I can't make head or tails over it. They say he was one of the key figures in helping to turn British cycling fortunes around - I think he was coach and mentor to Chris Hoy. Seems like he was a tough man to please and may have overstepped the mark in the use of factory floor language. But there are some big names in cycling that are not supporting him.

[dummy_half]

NS

The impression is that Sutton was a difficult character - some of the top riders worked very well with him (Hoy, Wiggins, Trott) and some found him too abrasive (Pendleton, Varnish). I think his role in the success of Team GB cycling has been somewhat over-stated - the major success was under Brailsford with Suttton as one of the 'hands-on' coaches, and since he stepped up our level has gone down a bit.

[Guest]

Bill Sweetenham, fellow Australian, who went through similar allegations but maybe of a lesser scale, comments on the Shane Sutton issue.  He has come up with a good suggestion:

"When you have an outstanding coach, like Shane, they need to have a mentor or guidance person with them to manage some of their comments," he said.

"If he [Sutton] is guilty of what he's been accused of he'll have to moderate his behaviours, because the world is changing and each generation is going to bring to the senior and older coach more challenges.

"They can't change the culture - the coach will have to change."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36181393

Basically he is saying the culture is changing so quickly there are large generation gaps opening up.  But the allegations against Shane Sutton made by "para - cyclists" are probably the most serious issue in the matter.  Whereas Jess Varnish claim of sexism could be regarded as Sutton being "ignorant" the claimed comments he made towards para-cyclists would if true have been just plain nasty.

[Hammersmith harrier]

I wouldn't believe a single word Jess Varnish says to be honest.

[Lowlandbrit]

Giro started today, first three stages are in the Netherlands, first Italian stage is on Tuesday.

[Lowlandbrit]

Really good ride in pink by Jungels today, GC is set up pretty nicely heading to the proper mountain stages at the weekend.

[djlovesyou]

I wouldn't believe a single word Jess Varnish says to be honest.

Old thread I know, but do you know her? Does she have a history of lying?

[Guest]

he doesn't

[Hammersmith harrier]

I wouldn't believe a single word Jess Varnish says to be honest.

Old thread I know, but do you know her? Does she have a history of lying?

She got dropped for not being good enough then makes up any old crap, she has a history of blaming everyone else but herself.

[djlovesyou]

I wouldn't believe a single word Jess Varnish says to be honest.

Old thread I know, but do you know her? Does she have a history of lying?

She got dropped for not being good enough then makes up any old crap, she has a history of blaming everyone else but herself.

Then a whole load of other cyclists just made up 'any old crap' too. He hasn't exactly denied saying any of it.

In reality, the reason why the women's team sprint didn't end up getting enough points to go to Rio was completely down to poor management.

[Hammersmith harrier]

They didn't get enough points because they weren't good enough, coming 5th at the world's isn't good enough. There was no realistic chance of a medal, easier to blame management than yourself.

[djlovesyou]

They didn't get enough points because they weren't good enough, coming 5th at the world's isn't good enough. There was no realistic chance of a medal, easier to blame management than yourself.

On what planet is one place off the medal races 'no realistic chance'?

They didn't get enough points because they didn't send teams to all of the World Cup events, and when they did, it was often purposely not their best team.

[Lowlandbrit]

Meanwhile, in Italy:
https://twitter.com/CyclingHubTV/status/736192128972390400

[Azabache]

Awesome Bertie yesterday.

But is he too thin too early for the Tour?

[dummy_half]

Well, Froome just about had the measure of everyone last week at the Dauphine.

Tour de Suisse this week. Yesterday saw Sagan in superb aggressive form to take the stage and overall lead on a lumpy day. Obviously he'll drop back in the high mountains, but his form looked ominous.

In other news, the Operacion Puerto blood bags are to be released for testing - obviously a few cyclists have already been sanctioned and several more are rumoured to be involved, along with some track and field athletes. Be interesting to see if any names come out and particularly whether any of these are from other sports. Also, whether there is the possibility of sanctions now, about 10 years after the event.

[Azabache]

The cyclists will get the worst press of course.

[Guest]

The cyclists will get the worst press of course.

I don't think so - they have been to the depths with Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong and all the revelations. They are leading the way with blood passports etc. It is a sport that is no longer in denial.

[dummy_half]

NS

I think Azabeche is right - look at what the media have filed the story under: cycling.

I don't think anything that comes out now will come as a big surprise within the cycling community, although there are one or two reputations that could be tarnished. However, to the wider public, it will just be another cycling = doping story.

As I said, will be interesting to see where else Fuentes was operating - he's known to have had contacts in Spanish football, but I suspect any blood doping they may have been doing was done and stored at the club rather than in a dodgy doctor's clinic (by all accounts, Fuentes housekeeping wasn't the best, resulting in at least one occasion where the wrong blood was transfused.

[Guest]

Hmmm just seen the cycling section of the BBC website - a pretty ghastly image cluttering the section up of rows and rows of blood bags.   Looking into that report at the end they show one sportspersons tweet on the story - Andy Murray posted back in 2013.  The BBC seem a little schizophrenic as the implication of only including the Murray tweet is clear and it is not linked to cycling.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/cycling/36527895

[Lowlandbrit]

As usual, last weekend before the TdF was the big national championship weekend:
Road/ITT
UK- men's: Adam Blythe/Alex Dowsett women's: Hannah Barnes/Hayley Simmonds
France- m: Arthur Vichot/Thibaut Pinot w: Edwige Pitel/Audrey Cordon
Italy- m: Giacomo Nizzolo/Manuel Quinziato w: Elena Cecchini/Elisa Longo Borghini
Spain- m: José Joaquín Rojas/Ion Izagirre w: Margarita Victoria Garcia/Anna Sanchis
Netherlands- m: Dylan Groenewegen/Tom Dumoulin w: Anouska Koster/Annemiek van Vleuten
Belgium- m: Philippe Gilbert/Victor Campenaerts w: Kaat Hannes/Ann-Sophie Duyck
Germany- m: André Greipel/Tony Martin w: Mieke Kröger/Trixi Worrack

[Guest]

looking forward to the TDF, any early indications on who's in great shape or an outsider etc?

[Azabache]

The buzz is that Quintana is in the form of his life.

Useless, though, if he/his team blunder like they did in the first week last year when the peleton
split into unretrievable time gaps....

[Guest]

PIERRE ROLLAND

[Azabache]

Would love to see a French winner.
3 or 4 have the talent-maybe what's needed is a touch of the "Badger".

[Lowlandbrit]

Orica got a new co-sponsor in Bike Exchange, and presumably a great deal on some Movistar overstock:

[Guest]

Paul Voss is our first jersey wearer, he'll be in the Polka dot tomorrow.

[Guest]

Cav's in yellow!!!

[Mad for Chelsea]

Great sprint from Cav, probably his best single sprint for about 2-3 years I reckon. Timed it to perfection.

[Good Golly I'm Olly]

Excellent from Cav - still in with a shout of the record too

[Guest]

Sagan wins. Contador in trouble

[Guest]

Cavendish snatches the third stage over Griepel

[Sponsored content]