CYCLING

Giro - Official site

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Edited May 6, 2016 by Macca

Macca · May 12, 2016

Stage 6 in the Giro (tonight) ...

Quote

"The first mountain stage and summit finish of the race. There are two early climbs: the 8km Torrecuso, then a haul to the summit of the Bocca di Selva, about a third of the way through. The last climb is a double whammy – first an 8km climb to Roccaraso, then a 3km false flat down to the foot of the Aremogna climb, 8km long, with a very hard start and finish, and flatter sections in between. The GC candidates must show here."

Giro d'Italia - Official site

Edited May 14, 2016 by Macca

Macca · May 21, 2016

Stage 14 in the Giro (tonight) ...

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"A historic, barbaric expedition through the Monti Pallidi, the Pale Mountains, that most have dubbed the “Queen Stage” or “Tappa Regina”. Putting riders in early breaks could be key for the overall contenders, as will the Giau – a worthy rival to the Fedaia for the honour of hardest climb in the Dolomites."

Giro d'Italia - Official site

Macca · May 27, 2016

3 stages to go in the Giro ... tonight's stage and tomorrow night's stage will decide things ...

Here are the classifications going into tonight's stage ...

1. KRUIJSWIJK Steven TLJ 73h 50’ 37”
2. CHAVES Esteban OGE 3’ 00”
3. VALVERDE Alejandro MOV 3’ 23”
4. NIBALI Vincenzo AST 4’ 43”
5. ZAKARIN Ilnur KAT 4’ 50”
6. MAJKA Rafal TNK 5’ 34”
7. JUNGELS Bob EQS 7’ 57”
8. AMADOR Andrey MOV 8’ 53”
9. POZZOVIVO Domenico ALM 10’ 05”
10. SIUTSOU Kanstantsin DDD 11’ 15”

Stage 19 ...

Quote

Climbed only thrice by past Giri, the 2,744m Agnello is a towering behemoth of a mountain road and the highest in this year’s race, its Cima Coppi. The long descent into France might deter would-be attackers on the Agnello’s airless upper reaches but the 2014 Tour stage to Risoul, won by Rafal Majka with Vincenzo Nibali in the yellow jersey, proved that there is enough bite to the stage to leave a nasty mark.

Stage 20 ...

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Ambitious in its scale, stunning in its vistas and probably very cold. Any stage featuring three such climbs as the Vars, Bonette and Lombarda might normally terrify the leaders into stalemate but Mauro Vegni hopes to have reduced that risk by restricting the length to 134km. The 2.3km ramp to Sant’Anna di Vinadio could decide the Giro.

Giro d'Italia - Official site

Edited May 27, 2016 by Macca

Macca · July 2, 2016

The Tour de France starts tonight (8.30pm SBS) ... the big news is the tour hits the Pyrenees quite early this time around . Four of the early stages (stages 5, 7, 8 & 9) involves various climbs of varying degrees. So the GC riders will start to be sorted out quite early.

Froome is favourite again but there are any number of cyclists who will feature ... Quintana, Contador, Richie Porte, Pinot, Fabio Aru, Nibali, Tejay van Garderen, Bardet, Thomas, Dumoulin, Valverde, Landa & Rodriguez all have claims. Richie Porte heads up the BMC team (along with Tejay van Garderen) so he's no longer playing 2nd fiddle to Froome. BMC announces Tour team for super motivated Porte

Macca · July 6, 2016

First day in the mountains tonight (stage 5) ... here's tonight's profile and Friday's profile (stage 7) Tomorrow night's stage (stage 6) is a flat stage but the riders will have to contend with the Pyrenees on Saturday & Sunday as well.

Any of the GC riders might make a move in the next few days especially those who have already lost vital time (Porte & Contador)

Cards13 · July 6, 2016

First Tour I've missed in who knows how long, devastated. In Manila until the 15th damn it.

Macca · July 9, 2016

The big guns are all nearly 6 minutes behind Van Avermaet but the next 2 stages will start sorting the GC contenders out (and Van Avermaet as well) Tonight's stage looks brutal but tomorrow night's stage looks just as difficult. Porte is 1:49 from the main contenders so he's not out of it ... Contador is 1:25 behind those same main contenders.

Stage 8 profile ...

Stage 9 profile ...

Macca · July 14, 2016

Decent climb to Chalet-Reynard tonight ... originally the riders were required to climb all the way to Mont Ventoux but gusts of wind have been predicted to exceed 100km/h for today's stage ... all the same, with those sort of conditions the stage could get very interesting - the climb beginning at Bedoin should begin a little before midnight (or thereabouts) Here's the preview from the official site ...

Edited July 16, 2016 by Macca

Macca · July 17, 2016

On their way to the Alps the riders encounter the 'Grand Colombier' tonight ... there are 8 climbs all up tonight and the stage promises to be a good one.

Froome is looking very strong though and his Sky team have backed him to an immense degree but ... he still needs to get it done. Porte is working his way up the standings and could still get a podium finish as long as he doesn't have a bad day.

*SBS are covering tonight's stage from 8.30pm.

General classification after stage 14

1 Christopher Froome (GBr) Team Sky

2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Trek-Segafredo 01:47

3 Adam Yates (GBr) Orica-BikeExchange 02:45

4 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar Team 02:59

5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar Team 03:17

6 Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing Team 03:19

7 Romain Bardet (Fra) AG2R La Mondiale 04:04

8 Richie Porte (Aus) BMC Racing Team 04:27

9 Daniel Martin (Irl) Etixx - Quick-Step 05:03

10 Fabio Aru (Ita) Astana Pro Team 05:16

Edited July 17, 2016 by Macca

Macca · July 22, 2016

General classification after stage 18

1 Christopher Froome (GBr)

2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) 03:52

3 Adam Yates (GBr) 04:16

4 Nairo Quintana (Col) 04:37

5 Romain Bardet (Fra) 04:57

6 Richie Porte (Aus) 05:00

7 Fabio Aru (Ita) 06:08

8 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) 06:37

9 Louis Meintjes (RSA) 07:15

10 Daniel Martin (Irl) 07:18

Froome has almost certainly got the tour wrapped up but Richie Porte can still get a podium finish. 2 tough stages to come so there may still be a few surprises.

Tonight's stage ...

Saturday's stage ...

Quintana takes the lead in the Giro d'Italia after a gruelling climb to the finish in stage 9

Edited July 22, 2016 by Macca

Macca · May 15, 2017

Unfortunately the Giro isn't being shown on SBS due to rights restrictions but the event can be seen on Eurosports if you've got cable.

Here's a stage by stage preview ... stages to look out for with regards to difficult clubs are stages 11, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19 & 20 (mainly the last week)

Edit: And now Dumoulin takes over the lead after a superb time-trial in stage 10. Dumoulin holds a 2:23 minute lead over Quintana after Nairo had a poor time trial. There's plenty more to play out though.

Edited May 20, 2017 by Macca

Macca · July 3, 2017

Here are the stages that involve various category 1 climbs in the 'Tour de France' ... click on the highlighted areas for details.

Cadel Evans gives a summary of each stage as well (provided by the links)

Wed 5th ....... Stage 5

Sat 8th ......... Stage 8

Sun 9th ........ Stage 9

Thurs 13th ... Stage 12

Fri 14th ........ Stage 13

Sun 16th ...... Stage 15

Wed 19th ..... Stage 17

Thurs 20th ... Stage 18

Macca · August 18, 2017

SBS are covering the Vuelta a España (starts tomorrow night) and this version of the Grand Tour looks to be as tough as it gets.

There are no fewer than 43 climbs over 14 of the stages (including 12 x Cat 1 climbs) That includes 8 mountain top finishes.

It promises to be a grueling affair and Froome has been installed as the short-priced favourite. He'll get strong competition from Nibali, Contador, Fabio Aru, Bardet and a number of others though.

The Vuelta might prove to be the pick of the Grand tours (this year) Blisteringly hot conditions have been forecast as well.

BBC Podcast - Can Froome do the Tour/Vuelta double?

Cyclingnews.com - stage by stage preview

Edited August 18, 2017 by Macca

Kumamoto_Ken · January 27, 2018

This might be of interest to any cycling fans on here, or just fans of endurance stuff generally.

In a couple of days my cousin is about to start a world record attempt at cycling the Pan-American Highway. It's 22,000km from Ushuaia in Argentina to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. The current record is 117 days and five hours. Dean's aiming for 110 days.

He's doing it for charity, trying to raise GBP1million for Heads Together, a mental health awareness charity which seems to be similar to Beyond Blue. Sounds like they're about 1/3 of the way there.

Tracking will be available through the main website here, and plenty of background info is also on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pah2018/

Kumamoto_Ken · March 24, 2018

On 28/01/2018 at 10:56 AM, Kumamoto_Ken said:

This might be of interest to any cycling fans on here, or just fans of endurance stuff generally.

In a couple of days my cousin is about to start a world record attempt at cycling the Pan-American Highway. It's 22,000km from Ushuaia in Argentina to Prudhoe Bay in Alaska. The current record is 117 days and five hours. Dean's aiming for 110 days.

He's doing it for charity, trying to raise GBP1million for Heads Together, a mental health awareness charity which seems to be similar to Beyond Blue. Sounds like they're about 1/3 of the way there.

Tracking will be available through the main website here, and plenty of background info is also on their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pah2018/

This is worth a bump...after 48 days ol Deano made it to Cartagena in Columbia and smashed the South American World Record by 10 days!

Now in Panama and cycling on.

He's had food poisoning twice, ran into a highway sign at 40km/h (not food poisoning related), and has gone from 88kg to 81kg so far. Bloody Legend!

Macca · May 8, 2018

Aussie Rohan Dennis is leading the Giro and he might keep the pink jersey for a few more days yet. Eurosports are covering the event but unfortunately, SBS aren't covering the event as they have done in previous years. You might be able to find the race online with a decent search.

Although tonight's stage isn't easy by any means and whilst Wednesday's stage is quite tough, Thursday's stage (stage 6) sees the riders take on Mt Etna and that climb might start sorting out the GC riders from the rest.

Other stages to look out for with regards to difficult climbs are stages 8 (Sat) 9 (Sun) 14 (Sat) 15 (Sun) 18 (Thurs) 19 (Fri) & 20 (Sat) ... so the grueling climbs are set for the next 3 weekends. See more at CyclingNews.com

Here's the profile of stage 6 (Thursday) with tonight's profile underneath.

Edited May 8, 2018 by Macca

Macca · May 25, 2018

The Giro hots up tonight and tomorrow night ... the riders are just about to tackle Colle delle Finestre with Yates having a 28 second lead over Dumoulin with Pozzovivo trailing by 2:43 and Froome trailing by 3:22.

Coverage on Eurosports.

Tonight's profile ...

And tomorrow's penultimate stage ...

Edited May 25, 2018 by Macca

rolling fog · May 27, 2018

Ah yes! Welcome back to this thread.

I've been looking for ward to this time of year to roll around for a while now, although after Froome's result last night I'm not sure what to think anymore...

Now with all the one day classics done, it's time for the big GC's and we're in for a good couple of month's I think!

Macca · July 8, 2018

The Tour de France started last night and for the first week all the stages are flat and mostly suitable for the sprinters ... but the 2nd week sees the riders venture into the Alps whilst in the 3rd week we're in the Pyrenees.

In fact, from stage 10 (Tuesday July 17), 8 of the 10 stages involves 19 Category 1 climbs & 6 Category 2 climbs .. it's relentless. I'll post up some stage profiles when we get closer to the mountain stages.

There is only 1 individual time-trial and that isn't flat either - and that time-trial isn't being held until the penultimate stage (Stage 20) The team time-trial will be held tomorrow night (Stage 3)

CyclingNews.com

Tour Tracker

And here's a profile of stage 12 ... Robbie McEwan has put this stage in amongst his top 5 for relevant importance ...

Edited July 8, 2018 by Macca

Macca · July 17, 2018

We're in the Alps for the next 3 days and also in the Alps on the weekend for another couple of mountain stages ... what a shame that Richie Porte won't be there to put the pressure on Froome and the Sky team. Rotten luck breaking his collarbone again.