My thoughts as well. Ganna has acquitted himself quite well as a bike handler. It looked like he just cruised the corners and laid down power in aero when there was no real danger.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JWJj29zzkg8


Bike handling @ 1:30 ish.

Who needs it when you've got other things? I think he still won the TT. #tothegills

Menchov sighting! My biggest takeaway is I'm glad we live in the age of hi-def now.

Ha ha, true. When you have that kind of motor you can get away with cutting corners.

Apparently we’ll have to wait until next year to see Top Ganna unleashed on spring classics. Giro and Olympics this year.

Did that come out today? It's disappointing but understandable.

Disappointing, but understandable given that he's on a predominantly Grand Tour team.

The UCI is such rubbish. The things they do in the guise of safety is complete and utter bullshit.

Let us know what you really think of this group of utter pisspots here

I wonder if Hirschi would have had as much success, if he didn't employ the Hirschi bar.

turdburgler wrote:

The UCI is such rubbish. The things they do in the guise of safety is complete and utter bullshit.

Reading over the actual changes, some of those seem substantive attempts to improve safety. Though a lot of it is vague.

For example on what's apparently the rule to tell organizers to not put bollards in the middle of a bunch sprint:


"safety manager shall pay special attention to the final section of the race route,
and the final hundredth meters before the finish in particular and shall ensure that the
safety conditions are observed. This is especially important for events likely to finish in
bunch sprints."

What's "special attention?" What's the penalty to the organizer if there are crap barriers or bollards, and a crash is caused?

The matrix of penalties at the bottom doesn't seem to apply to organizers.

Guessing it's more due to his Olympic ambitions, which means full gas for Giro with time to recover and reset and not be too taxed.

Nutty.
I guess I could see the aero tuck ban but arms on bars? C'mon. If there is real data showing the forearms on bars as causing wrecks, then yeah. But I've not seen it. The position is usually employed by the guy pulling, or a solo attack. Just doesn't make sense.
Time would be better spent scrutinizing proposed courses and not allowing dangerous sections that usually are contrived to showcase local scenery, businesses, etc.

Did anyone watch the Australian men's road race from the weekend by chance? That was absolutely wild and fun. Maybe one of the better one day races in the past year (seriously).

i will now, thanks

And a decent lineup for Provence starting in just two-day’s time.

You will have to report back. I watched it just because it was available and it ended up being captivating. It was commented on quite well and the racing was full on and unpredictable.

Where did you see it?

https://www.sbs.com.au/cyclingcentral/

Use a VPN

Will do. Thanks!

Durbo. Brilliant.

That final 50 km people were just throwing punches the entire time. I would never have guessed the winner on the day. Per his interview after the race, I'm going to guess the winner is still buying those free drinks for his boys and will be for awhile.

In other news, according to Ganna's Strava on his stage 4 breakaway win, he opened his lead over the breakaway companions with 5+ minutes in the mid-500 watt range and the totality of his solo was around 12 1/2 minutes at ~490 watts. He's pretty decent at this bike thing.

That's what 5.9-6.0w/kg if his 82.1kg weight is correct currently?? Decent seems like a fair assessment.

OK, normally I'm pretty jaded at "look at the amazing pro power!" articles.

But that is truly bananas.

In an interview after the race he mentioned his sensations were okay and that he was a long way off of form. Makes sense. He came across the line with his fingers in his nose. If this is any indication from him last year, he does have some headroom in his form.