Has anyone got views about racing ? (as opposed to doping)



limerickman

Well-Known Member
Jan 5, 2004
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Road racing.

Last weekend saw the resumption of the ProTour/World Cup - with the San Sebastian Classic.

It was a very enjoyable race : great weather, the presence of a lot of the major road racers on the circuit, over what is a tough and tricky course.

A breakaway of two riders contested the final sprint - with Garate of Spain and Bartaggnoli of Italy duelling it out.
They were being pursued in the final three kilometres by riders of the quality of Valverde.
 
limerickman said:
Road racing.

Last weekend saw the resumption of the ProTour/World Cup - with the San Sebastian Classic.

It was a very enjoyable race : great weather, the presence of a lot of the major road racers on the circuit, over what is a tough and tricky course.

A breakaway of two riders contested the final sprint - with Garate of Spain and Bartaggnoli of Italy duelling it out.
They were being pursued in the final three kilometres by riders of the quality of Valverde.
I watched the hour's highlights on Eurosport but it made me feel sea sick. The Spanish moto cameramen never seem able to keep the camera steady at high speed quite like the guys that cover the Tour. Valverde would probably have won had he not been so closely marked. God knows he attacked enough. I was surprised DiLuca wasn't up there, perhaps he has ben too busy celerbrating the Giro and waiting to re-build his form nearer the Worlds? Also was pointed out by Harman that there were no Disco riders in the leading bunch.
 
Rolfrae said:
I watched the hour's highlights on Eurosport but it made me feel sea sick. The Spanish moto cameramen never seem able to keep the camera steady at high speed quite like the guys that cover the Tour. Valverde would probably have won had he not been so closely marked. God knows he attacked enough. I was surprised DiLuca wasn't up there, perhaps he has ben too busy celerbrating the Giro and waiting to re-build his form nearer the Worlds? Also was pointed out by Harman that there were no Disco riders in the leading bunch.

Yeah, I watched the race on ES and I agree the camera work on the motor bikes looked to be all over the place especially on the descent of Bel.

I agree Valverde looked to be marked right out of it : the chasing bunch started to talk and that's always a bad sign when they're supposed to be chasing down the breakaway.

Did DiLuca start the race???
 
limerickman said:
Yeah, I watched the race on ES and I agree the camera work on the motor bikes looked to be all over the place especially on the descent of Bel.

I agree Valverde looked to be marked right out of it : the chasing bunch started to talk and that's always a bad sign when they're supposed to be chasing down the breakaway.

Did DiLuca start the race???
Di Luca finished 80th, over 12 minutes back. Guess he just showed up 'cause he's wearing ProTour leader's jersey.
 
Rolfrae said:
Di Luca finished 80th, over 12 minutes back. Guess he just showed up 'cause he's wearing ProTour leader's jersey.

Thanks Rolf.

12mins back!
That is some lag between him and the front runners.
Can't recall DiLuca ever riding well at San Sebastian either.
 
limerickman said:
Thanks Rolf.

12mins back!
That is some lag between him and the front runners.
Can't recall DiLuca ever riding well at San Sebastian either.
Guess it was his end of holiday race. I reckon he will be in the medals at the World's this year - scandal permitting.
 
Rolfrae said:
Guess it was his end of holiday race. I reckon he will be in the medals at the World's this year - scandal permitting.

He's that sort of rider : he predicted that he would win the 07 Giro and that's what he did.

It'll be interesting to see how he goes at the worlds.

Schleck went well at San Sebastian, I thought.
 
limerickman said:
He's that sort of rider : he predicted that he would win the 07 Giro and that's what he did.

It'll be interesting to see how he goes at the worlds.

Schleck went well at San Sebastian, I thought.
I think that about DiLuca too. He knows he is onto a good thing this season. Confidence always produces big wins too. It's always hard to judge riders' form at this stage in the season, especially for guys who've missed the Tour. It's like the season has started all over. Schleck (both of them) must be serious contenders for the World's this year too, the course is quite hilly, isn't it?
 
Rolfrae said:
I think that about DiLuca too. He knows he is onto a good thing this season. Confidence always produces big wins too. It's always hard to judge riders' form at this stage in the season, especially for guys who've missed the Tour. It's like the season has started all over. Schleck (both of them) must be serious contenders for the World's this year too, the course is quite hilly, isn't it?
267.4lm on this course:

http://neu.radwm2007.de/filerepository/Td8gpeFt8vvCsmLJNVtr.jpg

now that's going to be tough

But I'm getting ahead of myself. There's Germany and Spain to go before we get there!
 
Rolfrae said:
I think that about DiLuca too. He knows he is onto a good thing this season. Confidence always produces big wins too. It's always hard to judge riders' form at this stage in the season, especially for guys who've missed the Tour. It's like the season has started all over. Schleck (both of them) must be serious contenders for the World's this year too, the course is quite hilly, isn't it?

Yeah, from what I've read the worlds course is "up and down" as they say.
I don't have any detail on it - Cycle Sport usually do an entire feature on it for August, so I'll make sure to buy that edition.

The season is back on after the Tour : I love the one days races.

DiLuca would be a good bet for the worlds : Bettini I don't think is going as well as he has done in recent seasons, this season.
Boonen is bound to be strong having come away from the Tour with the green jersey as well.
But never discount that man Freire : he's always a threat (3x road race champion too).
 
When was this on? Is there a usual time that the classics highlights are on eurosport?

I completely missed this :(
 
yeloooooo said:
When was this on? Is there a usual time that the classics highlights are on eurosport?

I completely missed this :(

They'd full coverage on International ES and they had an hours highlights on British ES last saturday :

Good race it was too.
The two breakaways go away and the chase group of six were more interested in marking Valverde than trying to catch Gurate and Bartaggnoli.
 
limerickman said:
Yeah, from what I've read the worlds course is "up and down" as they say.
I don't have any detail on it - Cycle Sport usually do an entire feature on it for August, so I'll make sure to buy that edition.

The season is back on after the Tour : I love the one days races.

DiLuca would be a good bet for the worlds : Bettini I don't think is going as well as he has done in recent seasons, this season.
Boonen is bound to be strong having come away from the Tour with the green jersey as well.
But never discount that man Freire : he's always a threat (3x road race champion too).
There's 13 percent sections on the World's course - can Boonen cope with that come the last couple of laps? You're right about Freire. Only that butt boil will keep him from gold! We've still got the soap opera that is Italy's team selection to get through before we can even think about picking favourites. :)
 
I was looking over the results of the British road championships won by Millar and it struck me that it was really a **** poor field. Great win by Millar but what the hell is going on over there? Australia with one third the population can field a better group of contenders.

It was hard for me not to think of doping when the winner of San Sabastien has a grand total of four or five days of racing this year.

I thought it was pretty cool the Vuelta Ciclista a Leon was won by a Japanese rider with the new Japanese national champion in second. They broke away in the first stage just like they did the previous year.
 
limerickman said:
Road racing.

Re: Has anyone got views about racing ? (as opposed to doping)

....
It was a very enjoyable race : great weather, the presence of a lot of the major road racers on the circuit, over what is a tough and tricky course.

A breakaway of two riders contested the final sprint - with Garate of Spain and Bartaggnoli of Italy duelling it out.
They were being pursued in the final three kilometres by riders of the quality of Valverde.
Good Thread Lim !

lw

SFEER-PELOTON-01.jpg
 
Americans, unfortunately, can't particpate in this thread because we get no tv coverage outside of the Tour and a handful of soundbites on the rest of the season.

I will tell this. The last time I went to a bicycle race a doping investigation broke out. Ba-da, boom.
 
Bro Deal said:
It was hard for me not to think of doping when the winner of San Sabastien has a grand total of four or five days of racing this year.
Bertagnoli (the Liquigas winner) has had a horrific season illness-wise: a major viral infection earlier this year and then heart arythmia issues. He is hoping to continue riding well and make the Italian national team for the WC.
 
Bro Deal said:
I was looking over the results of the British road championships won by Millar and it struck me that it was really a **** poor field. Great win by Millar but what the hell is going on over there? Australia with one third the population can field a better group of contenders.

It was hard for me not to think of doping when the winner of San Sabastien has a grand total of four or five days of racing this year.

I thought it was pretty cool the Vuelta Ciclista a Leon was won by a Japanese rider with the new Japanese national champion in second. They broke away in the first stage just like they did the previous year.
Well, you've just discovered what the state of British domestic cycling is really like.
 
Powerful Pete said:
Bertagnoli (the Liquigas winner) has had a horrific season illness-wise: a major viral infection earlier this year and then heart arythmia issues. .

PP : did Bertagnoli win a stage in one of the recent years GT's???
Perhaps I'm getting him confused with another Italian rider - but I could swear that Bertagnoli won a stage in one of the GT's in recent years.
 
limerickman said:
Road racing.

Last weekend saw the resumption of the ProTour/World Cup - with the San Sebastian Classic.

Yes, and after Bertagnolli's win I was marvelling at his ability to win after such as long break. It seems that's also happened to other riders this season (an't quite recall who now) that had a forced break due to injury. Seems there's some sense in giving the body a break, comes back fresher and stronger.