what a bummer. Quite a few almost caught out by that rut.
I think Pieterse actually won here a few years ago? The steep drop-off is iconic. Don’t think on present form, she would have been well served attacking early. Just seem to have blown her matches early.
if anything, she seems to have “regressed” (i know that’s overly harsh). Hoping her road season turns out better.
Otherwise, hoping everyone here has had a good start to the year.
Won’t have as much time to drop in otherwise, esp. with the borefest that is the MvdP/ Pog dominance.
The wife and I are still on-track for a trip to Worlds in Montréal. I think I first broached the issue in fall 2023, seemed like yesterday…
if things pan out well, would love to plan for a ride and meet-up afterwards. Will send out PMs as time gets closer.
I think you’re talking about Pieterse? Last season she won La Fleche Wallone and was on the podium at LBL and Amstel Gold, plus top ten at Flanders, MSR, and Strade Bianche. Her world ranking went from 30th to 10th (her next best teammate is 21st, and she’s 4 spots above PFP).
She improved dramatically in the area that she was actually focused on.
A friend of mine from the Philly club days, Nancy Barile, was married to songwriter/guitarist for Boston hardcore band SSD until he passed away suddenly last year
Whenever she uses his name, she capitalizes his first name, AL, so it doesn’t look like or get tagged as “AI”
Couple of early season TTs showing some impressive performances. Remco went 50 kph, on a road bike! Brandon Rivera had a solid out and back time trial win at Colombian Nationals at 56 kph, this was at altitude but almost 4 kph faster than Bernal, so a solid ride for a 130 lb dude, Strava file looks legit, would be really curious to see his wattage but it is hidden. Hayden Wylde had a great ride at NZ TTs placing 4th. I believe Wylde is triathlon’s strongest cycling and seems to be competent enough to likely place top 60-80 in a World Tour competitive TT (total guesstimate based on his gap to Finn-Fisher and extrapolating Finn-Fisher’s pro tour time trial results) pretty solid, but nowhere near the top riders.
pleasantly surprised today to see lots of good gravel today……of course cold is back this week end
February is trying.
Hopefully the snow is in further retreat… next week. Ready to be back on the dirt.
Just saw a brine truck drive around my neighborhood. Their forecast must be more pessimistic then the one on my phone. Unless it’s black ice prevention.
my mid atlantic outdoor rides post storm have been 1 - a Pretti/Good sat ride (on wife’s gravel bike) in Balt city. I was too wimpy to ride down there from the county with a local bike shop group. the few rural roads I traversed (driving) in the county and a few I’ve seen now in central VA are mostly like 1.5 lanes - i.e. very unfriendly for a bike trying to coexist with the occas. car. the gravel here in central VA is a mix of kind of plowed and unplowed - aka icy as $!*. Yeah the cycling is taking a hit - but so is the dog walking (sidewalks and road edges are a disaster!). Think I’ll be keeping the trainer warm a bit longer. the kind of winter that REALLY needs a good cycling spectating early season! that Colombia time trial champ ride by Rivera was a BIG gap on the competition - impressive. Mads and Wout - I need you back quickly!
AJ August gets one in Valencia. Buy that kid a Genny Light.
You’re just as likely to come across a horse and rider as a car on a lot of these gravel roads around here.
Little known fact (Cliff Claven voice) under a ye olde VA law, the horse and rider have the right of way, on top of the common sense which says chill out around the horses.
I guess by competitive TT you mean standalone. As unless a rider is a TT specialist or the GC contender teams usually just have the domestiques ride sweet spot or something. I thought I read in a couple books something like that.
valencia (decemberists song - ‘i’ll brun this whole city down) stage 4 remco - impressive. pellizari was awesome. by splitting almeida and mcnutty - the uae duo couldn’t chase nearly as effectively.
stage 3 - good win for august (perfectly timed sprint - 2 seconds earlier I think they would have come back on him) but that was a bit too much exuberance for my taste after sitting on for 20k downhill. he is only about 13 years old - so i’ll cut him a lil slack (and beating super team uae is always a plus).
i thought there were some strong rides by holy week types today - turner / romeo/ sheff / castrillo - too bad about Mads - trek (and bernard) could have used a great mads today. stupid cold this morning but i see bigger numbers Tues, Weds - knocking on wood.
From all the blogs, interviews, etc. I have read, I believe that is correct, with the caveat that sometimes even middle of the pack guys have to push it to make hard (i.e. 25% ) time of winner cutoff times.
Anyway, the standard that top triathlete cyclist can hold their own as front middle of the pack pro cyclists, seems to stand. But nowhere near Remco et al.
Agreed on August. He played it right and I don’t begrudge him the win, but I’d like to think I’d be a little more sheepish after that one.
Turner has been looking great, but I feel like he often looks great in these early races, and every year I’m like “man, Big Ben is gonna bag a cobbled classic this year” and he never does. I’d love to see it though.
i saw aj august take a pull (actually 2) in today’s valencia break. 35k downhill to today’s finish. he’ll either make some friends/allies or dig a bigger hole. turner likely has a solid chance if break doesn’t cooperate.
Agreed, it’s other worldly these days the TT speeds of pros. Even the full IM bike legs are getting silly fast also. And they have to hold back to run.
I am super sad our only local regional TT this year falls on Mother’s day right during church hours. Like who TF planned that. I may post up mid summer for just a local fun meetup with a beer to the fastest.
kudos for a back to back colombia nat rr champs for Bernal. Let’s hope he follows it with a NO crash Euro start (maybe even a win if he does that same tough off road race that Kwia won last year where Bernal looked so good - until he didn’t).
Remco is coming off the top rope to start season. Looking forward to seeing him go against IDT at UAE.
Too bad Venga is out, but it is looking like a very entertaining race. Remco will surely take the lead on stage 2 but El Torito will come firing the next day and will be curious to see who is the best climber of the two.
Lots of speculation that Remco has reached a higher level with Red Bull, I can totally see it given the scientific approach they have at Red Bull opposing Patrick’s old school mentality, but needs to be confirmed on the road.