Rigomaniac. Great to see him take a stage.

Diagnosis of Rigo Mortis was premature

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

Looking at the first chart on the daily lanternerouge chart (how are you not familiar with that site???), the top 18 team ranking is simple to decipher.

The trickier part is the wildcard standings. As I read it, the top two teams (outside of teams that make WT) will get wildcards to all WT races. However, that ranking is made only based on 2022. Thus, while Total Energies is crap in terms of the three-year points and has no chance, they are doing relatively well this year and are ahead of IPT in wild card race, even though they are behind IPT in three year standings.

Got it? Having said all that, not sure that I either got it, or got it right.

Even weirder is how the points are handed out. So, EF got 100 points today for La Vuelta win. They got 280 points Sunday for (2nd, 6th, and 7th) in Maryland. IPT got 200 points for their win in Maryland. Seventh in Maryland, good work Magnus Cort, 70pts, is worth more than a second in Vuelta (40pts), so you see why borderline teams left certain riders out of Vuelta to chase points. Also why riders will skip Worlds to chase points for team.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

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

After seeing some different phot perspectives today it appears Roglic’s bar was caught by Wright’s knee vs. a touch of wheels.

Vine out, Rodriguez and Mads caught up in crash. This Vuelta is the last man standing tour.

Fwiw, picks for GP de Canuck tomorrow:
Wout, Pogacar, Powless
Matthews, Simmons

Now typical seemingly weird last week tactics: Astana pushing pace in red jersey group.

I'm hating that UAE got greedy and wanted to try to move Almeida up. As a result Nibali had to drop out of break and come back to help preserve MAL's placing. Would love to see Nibali (and/or Valverde) get a stage in his swan song grand tour.

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It doesn't really matter what Phil is saying, the music of his voice is the appropriate soundtrack for a bicycle race. HTupolev

Rodriguez looks like a Walking Dead extra.

UAE and Astana putting in so much work for little results.

Mini Maximus looking suitably imperious, showing both strength and smart decisions while being isolated.

Gutted for Gesink

cruel sport - was hoping Gesink could hold on
not sure what workout it was/is , early Sufferfest years ago , that had Gesink riding to a mountaintop finish - can almost, but not quite, pull the music up in my head

Yeah, I remember that. I want to say it was Gesink on Mt Baldy at the Tour of California.

Very astute riding from Maximus. He already has the engine and now appears to possess depth and race craft.

Not sure les Quebecois consider themselves Canucks, but nonetheless...

Wout, Ghirmay, Pogacar
Laporte, Matthews

Also, it's looking like a distinct possibility that I take the fam to Montreal on Sunday to spectate the race. Any tips/advice for race spectating (and bearing in mind I've got kids aged 5, 7 and 11 with me)? We'd likely roll in after the race is underway, check out the fan zone, walk over to one of the climbs for a bit and see a few laps that way, and then make our way to the finish line in time for the finale.

Just watch Matthews wheel-suck his way to the front group, except WvA aint no GvA, and WvA would likely beat Matthews in a sprint even if WvA needs to lead out.

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My wife and I would really love to make this trip next year. It's 13 hours one way from MKE to Montreal, but perhaps we might be residing near the strait next year (which would shorten the trip to 9 hrs one way).

It would also serve as a redemption of sorts for me. Teenage me back 20 years ago was scared sans-merde to parler any française, so much so that we ended up ordering from Mickey D's. I really hope I can at least work up the courage to order a few items from a restaurant, despite the fact I must have forgotten a lot of French vocab since...

With you on Nibs anyway. Astana and Movistar chasing was a bummer but I guess they'd be trying to protect placings points or no points. Wish Mas Macho would just put his head down and ride sometimes. He pulls up too soon. Not that Mini Maximus was going anywhere.

Well Montreal is quite bilingual (unlike Quebec City) so you generally don't need to speak a word of french to get by there, though making the effort is often appreciated.

If leaving from Detroit, there's also the possibility of getting on the train just over the border in Windsor. Might not actually end up being any faster but is a pretty chill way to travel.

Speaking of cultural discussions, I'm somewhat surprised that the Tour of Britain was cancelled due to the Queen's death. I assume the Commonwealth countries won't have such a strict period of mourning...

Certainly not in Quebec anyway.

Flags at half-mast up here, but otherwise life goes on. I too was a little surprised that they cancelled the rest of the tour, but I guess this close to the weekend they might as well just shut down the country for the next few days.

Thanks for the tip re: the train. Didn't even think about that option.

Your kids are good sports for agreeing to join you. Having spectated 2015 World's in Richmond on Libbey Hill, I think five plus hours may test the patience of a child. If you are thinking of not moving much, I think the best experience would be akin to a big picnic of sorts. Have board games and lawn games for them, preferably with you setting up shop near a jumbotron. I watched the race with a friend and his then elementary school aged son; his son was quite well behaved and read Harry Potter for most of the race, and every 25 minutes or so, he'd go up to the barriers to watch the peloton fly past. But I got the sense that by the tenth lap, the novelty aspect wore off a bit.

But then again, the race doesn't really hot-up until the final two laps. In which case, showing up to a location with 4 laps to go (~1.25 hours before end of race) might just suffice.

Do let us know how your trip goes.

Canada - Quebec picks:
carl spackler has 4 of my favorites in there - so not adding much here -
i think Tadej may be pretty serious about Worlds and will be up for showing that this weekend
so Tadej with Wout and Matthews on podium
powless top 5 (maybe just top 10) hopefully proving to himself we want him on the US team BADLY
i'm picking an ineos for top 5 - Yates (though G is my sentimental pick).

looks like a pretty stacked field.
for giggles - my previous favorite rider sagan - 83rd.
hard to pick Powless over Cort but Powless was in raging form last week in Maryland.

Has the name "Remco" ever rung a bell with anyone else?

The Remco toy company made the neatest stuff back in the early 1960's. I asked Santa for the Mighty Matilda aircraft carrier a couple of times, but he never brought it.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Shoot, didn't realize race was Friday, and missed my picks. I was going to go with Girmay (backdoor pick).

Not the most exciting race so far. Hopefully it ignites at some point before the final power climb.

This race is so effing predictable that one should be able to make picks until 3 laps to go (mechanicals and crashes notwithstanding)

Also, i don't think there's an official tally for these series of races (Canadian World Tour + UCI Worlds + Lombardia).

Girmay is a good pick, but he didn't look as good in the last few outings

Oh la la, qu'est ce que c'est? Deuxieme group d'échapper avec monsieur Simmons et quatre autre coureurs?