The finish of yesterday’s stage 5. Just WOW. This is unreal. You can catch a glimpse of the crash that took out Goss and Cav at 2:15.
Wow great shots. I hope we see some of that at the TDF.
Did you see Sagan descending today into the finish…wow.
That was awesome…
So much good stuff in there. Degenkolb is awesome, I love watching him fight to stay on his train.
I was blown away at the speed… at :45 when they go around the traffic median, you get a sense for how fast they blow by the course marshal standing on the median. I suspect those guys go through a lot of underwear.
God. Damn!
Is this the pace line from IM Brazil?
So much good stuff in there. Degenkolb is awesome, I love watching him fight to stay on his train.
I was blown away at the speed… at :45 when they go around the traffic median, you get a sense for how fast they blow by the course marshal standing on the median. I suspect those guys go through a lot of underwear.
pooped my pants
Holy. Crap.
The speed at which these guys are moving inches from each other is amazing.
Saw this earlier and was truly blown away. Of course it looks hectic from an overhead view but this is ridiculous. The amount of movement and pushing and shoving at that speed is crazy.
Wow. That makes me REALLY appreciate that AG triathlon is not draft legal.
By far one of the coolest cycling clips I’ve seen. Gives such a good look at how things are. And they are MANIC. Man, talk about no fear.
so how many people are going to say that XYZ triathlete could do good in the Pro Peloton…?
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Somewhat OT, but this is a great perspective into crit racing in the US at the pro level. Similar to the Tour de Suisse video, it reminds me of controlled chaos. I was in this race, but this footage was from someone elses bike. We averaged 29.5 mph. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aFCp27_SZ10
It’s interesting to me how aggressive riders get near the front at the end of the race. For example, at 2:23 in this video, you see a guy look over at the cameraman and swing very wide out to the barrier to block the rider from getting behind the UHC leadout. A lot of riders ask me why more riders don’t jump in and break up the UHC leadouts at these big NRC races. I guess the correct answer is because if you try, you may end up in a barrier.
Similar story from the official footage of the same race here: http://vimeo.com/channels/tulsatough/97780245 - Start watching at 59 minutes. on the final straightaway you see their sweeper cutting inside to block anyone from passing on the left. Seems like a busch league tactic to me, but these are the top guys in the US.
But one big difference being on the bike in the race is that it doesn’t feel t h a t bad… It’s like driving on the motorway in the car in 60 miles/hour. After a few minutes it feels normal. Even driving 200 km/h can feel normal (on the autobahn). What you actually feel and sense is the difference in speed between vehicles. On the autobahn, someone coming behind you at 210 km/h is much different than someone coming at +250 (if you are driving at 200. At lower speeds it can feel terrifying).
So in the bike race it is generally quite ok… the camera makes things look worse because you feel the actual speed towards the surroundings (and I would suspect that it is around 60 km/h as it usually is in the last 10 km of a flat ending of a pro race). But for the bike racer he would generally only feel differences in speed between himself and other riders…
The pushing and shoving isn’t easy - everybody wants to win! But hell, I find Triathlon swimming much more difficult than bike sprint finishes 
The pushing and shoving and kicking and swimming over people is truly terrifying…
So in the bike race it is generally quite ok… the camera makes things look worse because you feel the actual speed towards the surroundings (and I would suspect that it is around 60 km/h as it usually is in the last 10 km of a flat ending of a pro race). But for the bike racer he would generally only feel differences in speed between himself and other riders…
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From experience, it’s not the speed and other riders that make things so scary, it’s the corners, barriers, and road furniture. Going full blast trying to hang on a wheel and having that wheel disappear as it veers to the right or left of traffic furniture can be very unnerving.