Cycling Pro Discussion 4: Transfers Everywhere, Vuelta & Beyond

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Yoricks Wisdom said:
ha I remember years ago when Vande Velde was training on Mt. Diablo, about a mile from my house and my perennial hangout. He must have been prepping for the Tour of California, when that was still around.

He flew by me so fast, I didn't even have time to recognize him. He stopped briefly at the 'saddle' (ranger station) before continuing his series of intervals. Actually, very affable fellow (tiny too), but there was no one there that day who could have
followed him, pestering or otherwise.

Although there are some serious cyclists in the area, including a visiting TRD who went to the summit in the Big Ring. da fuq?
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I had to go big ring on that climb for a bit!

Van de velde's dad was one of the Cinzano riders in the movie Breaking Away
 
Videer said:
JUMP ON SUPERMAN LOPEZ WHEEL AT YOUR OWN PERIL!!!!

yWcXrR.gif
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I will share a couple of stories about riding with well known pros.

Story 1: I rode for a team owned by someone influential in US cycling. That influential person had been a key person in developing a very, very, well known US pro (a historic figure in cycling history). As a result we did a training camp with the famous pro's team in NoCal. Part of the schtick was that wealthy friends of the influential mentor wanted to ride with the famous pro -- which I don't think the pro really wanted. So we're in the parking lot ready to start the ride and the randoms are all fawning over the pro and want to talk to him. He looks like he has had enough and says, 'Let's go". He hits the front right out of the parking lot and immediately puts it at 42km/h. It's chilly and kind of windy and this guy goes from 0 to 42 in 4 pedal strokes and then he just bashes it for 20mins until he finally pulls off the front. The randoms were obviously gone immediately but even his teammates were sucking wind. We were riding a double pace line and one of the pros (a name you might recognize) is next to me and sucking wind, and says to me, "Fucking XYZ, not even a couple of minutes of easy spinning. It's just straight to breaking legs and crushing souls" .

Story 2: My team in the Netherlands set me to ride (train) with a very good pro who lives in the same town where our team was based. This guy was considered one of the biggest talents early in his career. Unfortunately, he had a bunch of personal issues and was generally strange (a few years ago I read about his personal issues). So I'm set up to ride with this guy and he even comes to get me for rides sometimes. He rarely said a word to me and I was never convinced he actually wanted to ride with me LOL. If a random just sat on his wheel he would probably have tossed the guy off his bike.
 
The 7-11 team kit was incredible. so retro-chic. The original team was before my time and yet it somehow still made me feel nostalgic.

I am surprised that the UCI got out of the way long enough for it to happen

Not to worry though, the UCI managed to fine Ciccone for throwing his sunglasses in celebration during the Tour of the Alps. Always keeping their focus on the big things.
 
Biggest climbing test of the season so far in Thyon 2000 starting soon over at Romandie. WAR ALMEIDA!
 
Videer said:
Biggest climbing test of the season so far in Thyon 2000 starting soon over at Romandie. WAR ALMEIDA!
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this area is Valais. If you have a chance to visit Valais region of Switzerland, do it.
 
Videer said:
Giro next week, Dauphine in a month, Tour in two :eek:

how the time flies
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The amount of coverage and rapid results kind of astounds me.

As a kid we would wait weeks to find out who won the spring classics by buying winning magazine. When I was 15 I used to take the transit an hour to get downtown once a month to buy Mirroir du Cyclisme. or Clisme Internationle or Bicisport, at an international bookstore.

I'll add that even in the Netherlands and Italy, in the 80s and up to 1991, they only televised the last 2hrs of a race on week days.
 
Caleb Ewan announced that he is retiring right now.
Didnt see that one coming, I was hoping for a renascent Pocket Rocket for this season after a promising win.
 
Videer said:
Caleb Ewan announced that he is retiring right now.
Didnt see that one coming, I was hoping for a renascent Pocket Rocket for this season after a promising win.
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When he signed with Ineos, I thought that there was a good chance that he would not make it through the year. But when he got a couple of wins, he seemed back on track. I really thought that he would at least stick out the year.
 
Yoricks Wisdom said:
Unless I missed something, his results have fallen way off and he is never in contention at the line anymore.

He can rest on his laurels though IMO.

Well done.
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That’s how I was seeing him. And then in one of the spring races he actually had a great win with ineos at tour of Burgos. And for a second I was thinking he might throw together a little run this year.

I’m curious if ineos was hesitant to take him to a major tour so instead he just quit.
 
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