It’s amazing what $14k will do these days.

agree on the no plan when remco imploded.
i think TJV were shocked when Venga went on the tourmalet and no one responded. it really looked like Rog and Kuss could have attacked the rest at any point in the last 3-4k and unlike remco - no other contender was ready to take up the chase. Rog is rarely an attack first guy (he is a devastating final 500 meters attack dude!), so while TJV waited for the other contenders to attack - Vinge seemed to benefit most from pouncing on the attack first. If Rog didnt attack on Angrilu would Vinge have attacked?
Angrilu was really the only time another contender (Landa) went all out to drop the other rivals such that TJV's true strength was exposed. Kuss passed that test very well. the short digs by Ayuso or Mas never put the stress on TJV that Remco did.
How does a team pick its best rider when there are multiple contenders (Uae - Vine/Ayuso/Almeida) - who can follow Remco/ the TT/who can follow Kuss's pacemaking for Vinge/Rog? Due to Remco's implosion and the timidity/inability of Movistar/Uae to detonate things - TJV had the super odd dilemma of not using Kuss's pacemaking to decide the Rog/Vinge battle.

Adam Yates was relieved of this dilemma in the tour first by Kuss pacemaking for Vinge (chasing Hindley) and later by pogi, vinge and Gall (last mtn stage). Adam did get to ride for himself/podium for the day when Pogi cracked. keeping big team leaders on a leash is ALWAYS complicated!

re Sagan richmond win - I was also there on serpentine cobbled climb with 6k or so to go (and huge jumbotron to watch the finale). it was very chaotic on the last lap as it was definitively sorted yet on the cobbled climb where i was, but when Sagan attacked on the last cobbled rise and supertucked out a gap on the descent - the roar from watching it on the jumbotron was the loudest thing I've ever witnessed at a bike race. we could even hear roars from other jumbotron viewing spots on the course. Sagan fan for life after that (though he was already a big fave).

Looks like Ellingworth is announcing he's stepping out at Ineos. I wonder if G's decision would have been the same if this was announced before; I suppose it was because why leave that setup now if they still give you a reasonable contract, but its curious. How will they do with a smaller budget? Just fine I suppose, but even with CRod I don't see anyone on that team troubling the TdF podium against the top guys right now.

I was generally a cycling fan before Richmond worlds, but really only to the extent of following the tour. For both myself and one of my best friends, that was the first world champs we'd ever watched, and we've both been hooked on all forms of cycling we could find ever since. Will probably forever remember sitting on the floor of our apartment watching on our tiny TV losing our minds when Sagan came out of nowhere for that attack.

SO glad this came up again as I get to gloat again. Best day of my cycling life when not on the bike. Somehow convinced the right people that I was somebody, rode the course in a sponsor's car during the race, then weaseled my way into the Libby Hill cool kids' house to hang with the big shots. Ben King goes off the front....crowd goes wild. Taylor Phinney goes....crowd goes wild. Tyler Farrar goes....crowd not as wild as he was brought back before Libby, but still. Cool move late in the race. The house exploded when Sagan went. All those jaded WT management guys going nuts for Sagan. Except Vaughters. Who never budged or cracked a smile. Always thought that was a bit odd. I was thinking, lIghten up, Francis. Geez.

Incredible day.

Excellent.

I'm actually doing an MTB build. My son has been really into cycling and I'm steering him towards the mtb world, so we've been hitting the trails (me on my 30 year old mountain bike). So I figured I would get with the times, can't have the kid on a cooler bike than his old man - between pinkbike classifieds and black friday sales I've been amassing parts. I really enjoyed (except when I didn't) building up my last roadie and buying a complete bike isn't really how I roll. The mtb build is shaping up to be less of a faff with all external cable routing.

Seems in keeping with his Asperger's diagnosis.

Great to hear :)

Pogi was also the ultimate defensive player on stage 1 when Yates took yellow. And he seemed genuinely stoked that he got it.

Anyhow, ask and ye shall receive: https://strava.app.link/rtXuciLsOEb Stock up on Ultragen!

Marginal losses?

Your late season form is still incredible 👏

roger on the 20% ultragen - thanks!
the grass is always greener part of me remembers the crazy 50% off black friday ultragens 5-6+ years ago.
my wife was ready to put me on permanent couch duty for ordering about 10 jugs.
my shams club quantity is quality streak though i could have (should have?) bought more.
the better half definitely disagrees. 20% will keep the quantity more to her liking!

CX update. Both Merksplas races quite watchable, though not spectacular. About to head out in my own grim Belgium winter-like conditions as I attempt a "zero Zwift" winter. Even got a balaclava ready.

Ultragen fan. Always bring a jug to team camps, and it goes fast even though never sponsor-correct.

I would try it if I could, but even when I lived in NoVA, this wasn't possible, and I've always had ~10-15 roller training sessions/year.

Even less possible now that I'm in Wisc.

Also, for the recovery drink, how much do you guys take in? Is it based on body mass or something else?

I never got that fancy and would normally drink something higher in protein, but it would seem like much of the protein would be wasted.

Sagan with the endo on a rocky downhill trail and nothing but giggles

https://www.instagram.com/reel/Czy-zKGNd9h/

---

"What's your claim?" - Ben Gravy
"Your best work is the work you're excited about" - Rick Rubin

dude is so coordinated that even his falls are artful. he laughed.

Troyes report. Puck Pieterse returns, FVE taking a second week off.

Solid duels in both the men's and women's races.

Apparently WvA, Piddles, MdVP are all going to race 10-14 times starting in late December, but only MdVP is going to go to CX Worlds. Seems kind of odd to me, but at least we get a good number of 2/3-way matchups with Los Tres.

Interesting battle there btwn Pieterse and del Carmen, with the latter showing some impressive leg speed when the former went barrier hopping.

Also, I thought those two were teammates, but somehow the announcer made a point of saying that they are on nominally different teams?

I'm pleased to see del Carmen so strong and consistent this year.

I didn't hear that portion of the commentating, but I'd be curious to know more about this if anyone knows. I was under the impression they were teammates as well.

They are on different CX teams, but the same road team. The CX teams are only slightly different, with the same owner and (obviously) some of the same sponsors. I think Ceylin is on a team of one. She's the only woman I see wearing the same kit the Alpecin-D'nck men wear.

Maybe they held her over on the Alpecin side because her top notch hair game makes her a natural for a shampoo sponsor. Though Puck's hair game isn't shabby either.

Interesting thanks for the clarification.

Other interesting news (or an advert I can't tell) https://www.cyclingnews.com/...ier-of-blood-doping/

JPow commented on it at ~10:30 in. His co-commentator was confused about it as well, thus prompting the explanation.

So thanks to @trail's knowledge, I dug around a bit more.

There are two team entities: Alpecin-Dudesinknicks (primarily a men's road team) and Fenix-(no)dudesinknicks (primarily a road team for female CX racers).

Del Carmen races on the CX squad of Alpecin, but on the road squad of Fenix.

Pieterse races on Fenix for both road and CX.

And then there a bunch of other CX riders who ride on other teams for CX but on Fenix for road (e.g. Cant).

All sorts of confusing.

The commentator I was listening to explained that in order for the male Alpecin riders to be able to ride in the CX WC the team had to have at least one female rider. Hence they put del Carmen in that team on her own. I didn't know that was a rule but that's what he said.

Ah, good catch. That's true. There is a UCI rule that CX teams must have at least one woman. So when the team owners decided to start Fenix-D'nck with a separate registration, they had to leave one holdover on the existing team.

I know we still gotta go over the river and through the woods to get there, but this got me stoked

More power to you. Nice outdoor ride today, but geez the wind is annoying, and the cold toes are annoying, and all the gear to stay warm is annoying. I refuse to wear lobster claws.

Looking forward to ambling down to my basement rest of the weekend.