“(Don’t pretend you could see his potential 😂 )”
God No..! I’d not heard of him until his decision to race as a GB rider.
Yes, Hugh Carthy is a great talent; he had a good Giro & was looking good at TdS but I’m not sure what someone as young will have left at the tour (is he riding the tour?). I really hope he’s not another Dan Martin who’s good for the odd stage but never really looks able to maintain form over a Grand Tour. I think his current team & their management style/decisions will be key in how he develops & what type of rider he becomes.
Can Cavendish find any form then after Illness ? Is it possible to think he can make the pointy end of a stage ? Or am i living in blind hope?
My heart hopes Cav will come back to some kind of form but my heads saying "no chance". Love to be wrong though.
I'd just like to see him in the melting pot, even if he doesn't quite make it.
Just see him coming into the last 300m pinned on it...
Interesting to see that many of the really good bike handlers have been mtbers in the past. Sagan, Froome .
You forgot Rasmussen 😉
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=q3OQAX90sFA
Can Cavendish find any form then after Illness ?
I've always defended Cav. He's had a lot of bad luck in recent years with crashes and illness, much of it out of his control, but some of it down to his dogged determination to get into positions impossible to squeeze into.
It would be great to see him back up there. But coming into it with no results, low on confidence, amongst a heavy field of new sprinters... It could well be his last Tour. I hope it's not, and I hope he goes in guns blazing, but it's hard to see this time. Illness may well have the better of him.
Carthy's just finished his block of training and racing and is apparently going on his holidays.
I fear that Cav just hasn't got the power to compete again this year.
I'd love to see Sam Bennett given a chance by Bora but he was overlooked for Ackerman at the Giro and rumour has it, Bora will just be concentrating on Sagan at the Tour so he's left with the Vuelta. It'll be interesting where he ends up next year - he deserves better.
Cross I can see but I’m not convinced being an ex mtber makes you any better on the road.
I think it makes you generally more comfortable when things move around on loose surfaces - you don't panic or tense up which seems to be a roadie thing - or if you've gone into a bend too hot. But yeah, cross is arguably closer. Remember we're talking about riders who are very, very good here, not average recreational mountain bikers.
Et la, la centaine 🙂
I think having off-road skills is an advantage in road riding. Handling a bike moving under you when it goes pear shaped is a skill and you build it fast off road. Racing in the bunch, it’s not hard to spot the good bike handlers from the also Of course it does little for the pileups, but descending is a big part.
As for Cav, I think his winning days are behind him and that Illness not injury will be the reason. Having the same, the top end is just not going to be there, which for him is all that matters. Kittel is in the same boat for different reasons.
TDF favours TTers who can climb or climbers who can TT. But no dumoulin, no Froome. Still can’t see past Bernal.
*rmstr*ng was a mountain biker as well, I think. He also had excellent handling skills:
Notice that Armstrong shortens the course, which is against the rules. He was always a cheating bastard.
I kinda think even "bad bike handlers" in the pro peloton will be well be far better handlers of a road bike than most mountain bikers will ever be
rmstr*ng was a mountain biker as well, I think. He also had excellent handling skills:
He started as a triathlete, so by definition wasn’t able to ride around a bend without crashing. 😁 He did (possibly still does) race MTB. Despite his many bad points he does seem to enjoy riding a bike, unlike a lot of pro road racers.
I too would love to see Bora make a bid for the big step, OSS is an awesome rider with far better talent than most give credit for. However.... he’s never really let off the leash from the SCoI (Sagan Cloak of Invisibility) but hey Burghardt and Majka with Majka making most of the breaks, and he’s good at them with Burghardt towing everyone around..
Good solid squad 👍👍
Lance competes in non UCI sanctioned events on MTB.. mainly long distance Leadville 100 type stuff..
Just come back from South America where he competed, then most recently doing stuff up in Norway..
Him and Hincape compete together, as a duo..
He loves riding MTB more than road, is an awesome trail runner too.
I kinda think even “bad bike handlers” in the pro peloton will be well be far better handlers of a road bike than most mountain bikers will ever be
This is my thinking, obviously I'm a god amongst roadies as I started out a mtber but not sure it is necessary to be good off road to be a top roadie. Has Nibbles done much mtbing. I know Bardet dabbles as I follow him on straaaaava
While you are on mtbing roadies ...this is always worth watching 🙂
Nice vid 👍
It’s like he’s the new Chris Horner, kicking the arses of young upstarts left, right and centre- what’s not to like?
Here's inrng's route guide:
http://inrng.com/2019/06/tour-de-france-2019-guide/
Not going to indulge in any speculation, but I suspect that as usual the GC battle won't be the best bit of the tour. The real gold is always in the smaller stories.
Not overly sure what skills mountain biking brings to the Pro Peloton to be honest. Most roadies are skilled riders, most have been riding bikes for a long time, some come from CX backgrounds, some from mountain bikes, some track.
The thing is, when riding in a large frenetic group, accidents are going to happen. When pushing on a downhill section, accidents are going to happen. Travelling at 60mph on twisty bends, wet roads, 25mm tyres, you are absolutely in the red, but having to push on, an accident can happen regardless of who you are.
I'm a very average roadie and an even worse mounain biker - the vast majority of riders who I ride or race with are also already playing about off road and always have been. Yes some club riders or recreational cyclists now only have time to ride on the road, but certainly in my experience a lot of racers also ride different off road disciplines, whether thats competetive or just for fun.
We've all seen crashes happen in all levels of cycling. Froome crashed more when he was inexperienced. He crashes less now, but crashes are always going to be a part of cycling. Growing up in the UK our youth riders are trained in CX racing in the Winter and Spring and Road (including Crit) in the summer months. They don't just become autobots and learn how to ride for 4 hours at tempo from age 11.
A lot of mountain bikers would find being in a Crit difficult until they become experienced. Different skills needed that don't cross over. Riding mm's away from a stanger at 27mph, with a rider on your inside almost rubbing elbows and someone else on the other side. Its not something that a downhill rider is going to be familiar with. (and if its wet and your on carbon rims, thats another thing entirely)
I got taken out a few months ago, trying to close down a gap, sprinting up hill in the wet, around a bend in the road, rider in front went down - I had no where to go - doesn't matter who you are if there's no where to go, there's no where to go.
Probably sounds like a rant - not at all. I actually find it amusing how people think that pro roadies only ever ride on the road and have no bike handling skills.
Reminds me of one of the early Brit riders to head to the Continent to try their luck. They thought they had good bike handling. In his first race, a crit, he was going round a corner when someone said something to him and reached across and grabbed his bars and steered him round the corner! Obviously his skills weren't quite what he thought.
There's often scoffs on here when one of the Tour commentators says that the finish to a stage is "technical". Maybe it's not the Fort William DH course but heading round corners at 50-70kmh with fifty to a hundred riders in close proximity does need technical proficiency.
Yeah I'd rather ride Fort Bill than some of the stage finishes on the Giro in a bunch.
The "former MTBer so has good bike handling skills" thing is mainly a lazy commentator space-filler, with a grain of truth in some cases.
Bit chicken-and-egg though, as in some probably did MTB 'cos they were good bike handlers anyway, not that it gave them great skills.
Here’s inrng’s route guide:
I'm wondering about using the tour de france as an extended drinking game. One bottle of wine (beer maybe for the flemish stages) from along the route to be sampled every day. Would be financially and physically ruinous, but could be interesting!
This is my thinking, obviously I’m a god amongst roadies as I started out a mtber but not sure it is necessary to be good off road to be a top roadie.
I don't think anyone ever said that it was a pre-requisite, just that being an elite level mountain biker may help riders stay relaxed and in control - hello Peter Sagan - when things start getting loose and slidey.
I’m wondering about using the tour de france as an extended drinking game. One bottle of wine (beer maybe for the flemish stages) from along the route to be sampled every day. Would be financially and physically ruinous, but could be interesting!
I tried that with the Six Nations a few years ago. I can’t remember how it went.. 😁
(apologies if this has been metioned) Was looking at the tdf rosters on steephill and it seems Tom Dumoulin may well be racing after all 🙂
Right...
2018 Start list
that might explain a bit...
National TT Championships today, be interesting to see who's taking the stripy jumpers to the Tour this year.
Road Champs on Sunday - Cav is riding, I reckon it's his one last chance to get the Road National jersey and it's a flat course. Be nice to see him riding the Tour in Nat Champs colours.
LOL! it was early…. went here in the end seems to be “up to date”
It might be in terms of confirmed drop-outs, but only a very few teams have actually confirmed line-ups so far, so it's more educated guesswork than anything else. Sunweb only has six riders on that one, which seems a bit unfair.
Are we going to get the Movistar three-pronged trident strategy again, the one where they basically just seem to get in each others' ways and cause confusion. If only they could combine Landa, Valverde and Quintana into a single rider using advanced genetic engineering.
Looking forward to the Nationals. Cav won in 2013 in Glasgow. Given his struggles lately, it's not nailed on by any means - even on this flat course. It's got a bit of a uphill finish to the Market place.
It'd be nice to see Ben Swift back into things after his crash. It's his kind of finish I think.
Anyone going to watch the Nationals?
Living in Norfolk i can't say we get a lot of cycling action, hardly a climbers course, but will be riding up to Holkham Hall as they appear to do circuits of the grounds, so get to watch them a few times coming through in the grounds of the hall and the weather looks good and they sell ice-cream, win!
If only they could combine Landa, Valverde and Quintana into a single rider using advanced genetic engineering.
Sky have already patented that technique. It’s got a few problems. That’s why Froome is a bit jerky at times - needs a reset - and claims to have vague origins in the Kenyan highlands. They can’t very well say he was born in a Petri dish in Basingstoke, can they?
WvE just won the Belgian TT Champs...
Thats impressive.
WvE just won the Belgian TT Champs…
Thats impressive.
Did you see the interview a few weeks ago where he said that the team had trained him how to time trial for 'a few weeks'? 😀
WvA's teammate Steven Kruijswijk has also said that he's been very impressive at a high altitude training camp recently as well. He might be well suited to the Alps more than the steeper Pyrenees though.
If Movistar are going to take landa, Nairo and valvdodgy then they need to decide who their number one is (and it isn't alejandro because he's old and no good in the high altitude of which there is a lot this year) and get the other two to work properly for their leader
Van Aert looks scarily good, he'd be worth a tenner on each way and the win if you were a gambler. Big question is whether he goes there for experience and a stage or if he's prepared to play safe and hang in the wheels for three weeks and keep his powder dry ; that link to the Yates interview is a good one and interesting assessment of the mountains finale.
Van Aert looks scarily good, he’d be worth a tenner on each way and the win if you were a gambler
Nah, he's one for the future. Once he's worked out how to ride a three week race and lost enough weight to become competitive on the big climbs. He disappeared from the front immediately when the Dauphine hit the steep stuff. (I'd love to be proved wrong though!)
If Movistar are going to take landa, Nairo and valvdodgy then they need to decide who their number one is (and it isn’t alejandro because he’s old and no good in the high altitude of which there is a lot this year) and get the other two to work properly for their leader
I think the problem they have is that Quintana looks flat, past his sell-by date and seems to be riding without any real belief, while Landa always seems to have a bad day at some point. I'm also unconvinced that he could ride Bernal off his wheel in the high mountains, which is pretty much what he'd have to do.