Did you also get to observe the Guns n’ Roses riot in '92?
No but I remember it. It flew back from Barcelona the next day and it was the talk of the town
But I did walk in the 2012 student protests, only because I had to walk home and they were going in my direction
Back to bike racing, nice to see Bernal get the win, though too bad his GC bid didn’t pan out, would have loved to have seen him fighting for the podium. Speaking of podium, after Gall’s bad day it’s looking more like a two horse race between Hindley and Pidcock for that last spot. Looking forward to some punches being thrown on the final climb tomorrow to set up a dramatic TT battle on thursday.
Yes, feeling the Bern. Good to see him get it, the cluster notwithstanding.
Someone always has a bad day coming out of a rest day, bummer to see it happen to both Gall and Lecerf this time.
How about that bike swap in the GC group? Tulett’s probably getting a nice Christmas gift this year.
Everyone has a right to protest but certainly not in such a disruptive and dangerous manner. That’s ridiculous and those doing it should be taken to task.
At the same time, I think it’s self-centered of IPT to put their interests ahead of all the other teams and race(s). When Russia invaded Ukraine, F1 driver Nikita Mazepin was dumped by Haas, which also dropped a Russian sponsor. Maybe not apples-to-apples and it’s certainly unfair to IPT riders, but that’s the world we currently live in.
Hard to imagine that IPT is going to get many wild card entries any time in the near future. It’s also going to have a really difficult time holding onto/acquiring new riders.
“Everyone has a right to protest but certainly not in such a disruptive and dangerous manner. That’s ridiculous and those doing it should be taken to task.”
Personally, I’d like to see Policia position themselves at the most likely gathering spot and pepper spray them early, right in eyes, no questions asked. I know,I know, likely illegal 
But this has become beyond ridiculous.
Not having seen the stage, any thoughts on what may likely have happened if not for the shortened course?
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IPT was already dealing with fewer invites in the years leading up to this, but yeah, at this point if you’re a race organizer, regardless of your position on the conflict, you’d really just rather not have to deal with the protests if you don’t have to.
Fewer races, dangerous conditions for the riders, presumably increasing reluctance to sponsor them, IPT is looking like a sinking ship at this point.
I “think” that WT status removes the dependency on invites. They currently sit comfortably at 14th, well below the 18 cutoff and this is the last year of the 3 year cycle so it’s very likely they get WT status back.
Will you be at the race ?
Yeah my understanding was they’re not currently WT but the three year cycle ends this year, at which point they will be back WT status for the next three years, right?
And yes, the family and I will be down for the race. We’re staying at Les Apartments across from the team hotel again.
Yup! WT status makes for automatic invites, somehow managed to forget that the reset is happening end of this year.
IPT did manage to drop three spots in the last ranking update, but they’d have to slide a lot more to fall out of the WT slots, especially with the team mergers/end of sponsorship disasters happening on some of the other teams.
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Maybe this is the wrong list
They have been sitting at 14 for a LONG time now
Last year was scary because they had to be top 2 in the “2nd division” to get invites to the big races. They were sitting 2nd and Uno X was charging.
no, that’s the correct one. Should have written “from the last ranking…”.
What I meant was they were 11th at the start of the season, and they’re 14th now. Currently on pace for 14th-17th at the end of this season, which is when this matters.
Like others have already mentioned, in 2026 I-PT will be a WT team so they wont need invites to anything.
As far as the Vuelta goes, I am pretty much done with watching it, I’ll probably jump on a website to look at the results (or maybe not) but I don’t need to see this non sense every day, I can and DO read the news, so it’s not like I am putting my head in the sand but I dont tune into a sporting event to be bombarded with this stuff.
If Spain can’t be bothered to keep the race safe I don’t need to waste my time with watching Spain.
Baltimore on the other hand was a pleasure…
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In other news, Blevins was painfully close in XCC World Champs today, beaten in 2-up sprint.
Forgot it was on. And watching soccer on HBO Max. Should have put it on.
It was a good move going early like that, almost paid off but Kotezky is a monster. Men’s U23 was a good race too.
That would certainly discourage those who were protesting today, and they’re not gonna do that again, but tomorrow there are will be a new crowd, of new protestors, in a different location, who weren’t pepper sprayed, and have nothing to lose
It’s like people protesting at the Super Bowl, but the Super Bowl moves around, and it lasts three weeks
ETA: it’s not ridiculous to them
I’m in same camp as you. Done with following Vuelta. Two finishes so far were ruined and were a farce. I’ve got no interest in watching when there is a 10 to 20 percent chance there is no real winner.
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