Zoe B was on fire that opening lap. The men’s race was really a good watch as well.
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Men’s race was good. I hope Nys is OK.
That’s the only logical argument I can think of. Both Astana and Movistar seem to be a bit lost at the moment, they have a reasonable budget, but don’t really know what they want and if they do, they don’t know how to achieve it. I think it was Dowsett that said that at Movistar, there is no plan. Glad to see Lazkano moving to greener pastures.
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Yeah, I think @marcag has said he’s surprised at the lack of “organizational aptitude” of some teams compared to other industries he’s been in. Good to see some of the French teams apparently improve in that area, e.g. , Decathlon. The EC article “SkyFall,” is a decent look at the chaos going on at Ineos - which shows that budget alone doesn’t do it.
Nys looked battered and that fall was heavy. I haven’t seen any updates today, which isn’t promising. I’d expect if all was well we would have seen something about it.
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Nys posted that he’s a little banged up and his knee is stiff, but he doesn’t think there are any really significant injuries.
Let’s hope not.
Circling back to last week’s aging and fitness discussion, I got a call last night the my father was rushed to the hospital with a suspected stroke. Thankfully, that now looks like its not the case though a complication with a heart med he is on led to an 80/50 BP for some time (resolved now). Take care of yourselves and those around you bantering friends.
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Good to hear that your old man is doing okay.
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Yeah, hope both Nys and your father are back at it full blast soon!
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Scary stuff @likes_bikes, glad to hear it turned out okay.
With Van Gils breaking his Lotto contract apparently, where do we think he’ll end up? I really hope it’s not UAE. Personally I’d like to see Little Trek keep building their roster… similar to how Mads and Milan can work off each other on the cobbles it would be cool to see Van Gils and NYS in the Ardennes.
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Spoke to him last night and he was in good spirits. Apparently this was due to a post cath medication reaction. I’m medically dunce, but trust his doctors until my wife can explain the details. He is released from the hospital today and already talking shit to me about my nephew/God-son showing far more talent than me at an early age and how he will surpass me soon. I trust that though because he tends to be right. The universe is at peace it seems.
What’s the deal with Van Gils? I wouldn’t want to be at Lotto if I had that talent. I assume big money was thrown at him. UAE or Visma…
Everyone get healthy!
I should know this, but will we see Mathieu, Wout or Tom in any capacity during this year’s cross season?
I think the “3 Kings” participation in this CX season is still very much up in the air. From what I recall Wout indicated his intention to race cross after Lisa-Bike’s December training camp (so presumably the usual Christmastime races). I haven’t heard anything from the other two beyond “I don’t know, we’ll see” sort of answers that seemed to hint towards the strong possibility of not racing cross at all.
Also haven’t heard of a timeline for Puck’s return to 'cross.
I haven’t clocked in on CX yet, currently a cat 6 spectator. But hope those guys show up for sure.
The shit talking is always a good sign.
I haven’t seen many WT contracts but it was described to me that every rider is for sale and if another team wants to pay up, they can generally poach a rider.
A salary cap in some form would be great I think, and the parity would likely create even more interesting racing. Teams would need balance across GTs, stages, and one days. Nobody would dominate. Supporting doms wouldn’t be stacked like cord wood waiting to be burned.
Here’s a fun episode on taking out the Stelvio KOM. Not bad for 5.7+ w/kg over an hour with altitude. I’d love a Pog, Rog, Remco and Venga ITT up this fresh. Referencing the interview, who is the Canadian coach he is referencing, paging @marcag
I still have 380w for 20 minutes at 73 kg, fresh AF in the tank at 2000 ft elevation, but that is the extent of my recent data. I need to do an hour concentrated effort to see where I’m at these days. It’s been so long since I’ve done a hard effort at elevation I bet I couldn’t do 5 w/kg for 20 minutes anymore up there. I don’t really have a chance to train on 20 or 60 minutes hard uphill unless I do gravel riding and even then it’s irregular so my only good efforts for those durations are trainer efforts.
I “think” it’s Steve Neal, who seems to be out in BC
Puck will race mid December at Namur and toe the line twelve times before starting at Worlds.
Glad it worked out ok for you, we know old folks are back to normal when they are back to giving us shite.
Talking about not knowing what’s around the corner. Andrey Amador announced his retirement today after not being able to come back from getting hit by a car (bus?):
https://www.instagram.com/p/DCmOxtMpLXP/?hl=en
One of my favorite riders at some point. Not easy to make it to the top coming from a country with no top professional riders. Never the most talented rider, yet strong all around and always knew how to score a few wins here and there.