UCI WorldTour and other pro cycling nonsense 2011

pretty much alberto flying off a cliff was the only game changer, so i guess im done following this charade.

No Crostis, but the Zoncolan is a hell of a climb. Not that anything's going to happen beyond another Contador win.

Riding ATOC Stage 4 tomorrow - in reverse, though, so we'll have the big climb early on.

wouldnt you just go down sierra rd then? i like that kind of ride!

hahaha.

good luck out there lukas. Hamilton is very easy compared to Sierra.

the backside descent is really fast and technical, take it easy.

Back on topic:

DZ killed it. Insane time for the amount of wind out there today.

wow van garderen

Oh shit, Big George coming clean now:

CBS release re 60 Minutes: George Hincapie testified that he and Armstrong supplied each other with EPO, testosterone

boom

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CYC_ARMSTRONG_DOPING?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT&CTIME=2011-05-20-18-44-02

it's like a big coming out party

Work sent me up to a morning meeting in Santa Barbara, so I took the rest of the day off and cruised up to solvang to watch the TT stage. DZ looked so smooth and fast IRL. Wish I'd heard about Hincapie's spilling the beans before now, I'd have cheered him harder. There are still loads and loads of fans wearing LA gear. SMH

Well now George is claiming that he never spoke with 60 minutes, still a firm "No Comment".

He keeps stating that he wishes people would talk about the future of cycling instead of the past.

(stoked for you SLP, how's the c-bone?)

what the hell is that?
http://cdn0.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2011/05/21/1/gyi0064833974_600.jpg

It's DZ's son.

It is a danish delicacy called "petrified cow patty".

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/scott-mercier-former-postal-rider-says-hamiltons-charges-ring-true_174876

i couldn't and cant keep mercer and mercier apart.

kinda looks like 'i' is the only thing doing just that imo

ha but they were both domestic 90s pros. i think mercier is the guy from telluride. in my first year of racing there was a stage race there and he was sorta the hometown hero. i ended up talking with him for a bit and thought he was v. nice. then i cheered him on during the crit while i got shitty at a restaurant along the course that did mammoth paulaner beers.

also, i met a beautiful girl from boston there that weekend whom i left colorado in part to pursue...that was a _really_ dumb thing to do :(

could've been bad
http://img156.imageshack.us/img156/3784/denifl.jpg

whoa!

the basque country's finest is looking good for a stage win here

megalol @ the card who was dangling meat on a fishing line in front of contador!

fans taunting contador with beef on the zoncolan is pretty LOL

xpost

booing was funny too

just catching up on Giro now, Zoncolan is fucking brutal, doubt I could walk up it tbh.

Looking forward to ITV4 coverage of ToC for Boulting & Rendell in studio (long time Lance averse) vs Liggett and Sherwen (Armstrong street team) on location.....

My stupid fucking skybox inexplicably failed to record today's Giro stage, despite the fact I've got it on series link and it's recorded every single stage prior to today and has tomorrow's stage cued up to record. Grrrrrrrr! I couldn't watch it live as I was racing (except I wasn't even doing that for long because of a puncture).

Blimey, US coverage mixing in a teeny bit of road noise. Or maybe it is just the noise next to the commentary booth.

Watching the zonocolan without crown noise must be rubbish

http://www.cyclingtipsblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/giro-stage14-3.jpg

booing was funny too
― taylor, the creator (cozen), Saturday, May 21, 2011 3:31 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

haha claims they were mooing (!!)

nibali going for the death-dive off the mountain here, he's got a bit of a gap too!

is this race about to get interesting??

on a train, stuck with the text updates

anyone know if there's any radio coverage? eurosport radio incompatible w. ipad

is there not some eurosport app proper? might blow yr data limit i guess.

garzelli leading the stage, on amazing narrov road in the middle of a gorge, looks like rock faces going up wither side of him for 100 metres

can't get the stream to work cos train wifi is contended :/

arroyo has shot away now from the favourites' group on the gorge road.

i wonder if this is some alliance to try and work contador over a bit. doesn't look like he has any saxo allies with him.

oh here he goes, he's taken that young rabo guy and rujano with him

nibali hasn't followed

in fact he's struggling on the back of the faves' group!

is conty planning on riding the tdf? and who can challenge him? schleck looked busted in atoc

he looks SO strong here, i feel like he's putting it all out here in case he doesn't.

schleck probably riding cali for the training miles and the trek link. i'd say he'll be ready come july.

oh here comes the rain, right on cue!

garzelli throwing some sweet elbows at fans getting a bit too close, he might go alright in mixed martial arts once he retires.

nibali's lost nearly a minute over the summit of the second-last climb. he's gonna have to bomb this just to get back on.

he's pulled it back! some BIG risks through the cars and motos. awesome to watch.

magnificent scenery in this neck of the woods, i must say.

btw NBS if youre still after a recording of the zoncolan stage, cyclingtorrents.nl have it along with highlights

scarponi punches it. contador and gadret follow, contador pulls away. nibali at the head of the chase but i think this is aaaaaaaaall over. good god.

nieve with a good lead over garzelli at the front - looks like another great day for the carrots,

jeez that last km looked hard!

scarponi bringing back DUDES MASHING A BIG GEAR, excellent.

is conty planning on riding the tdf?

He will if he can, but he probably won't be able to. If you don't know the story, the short version is: he got caught with a miniscule dose of clenbuterol in his blood after the last rest day in last summer's TDF; the amount was negligible and wouldn't have had any effect, but *any* amount is considered a breach of the rules as there is no natural way the drug should be in your body; moreover the amount was so small it would have been virtually impossible to administer such a tiny dose (and there would have been no logical reason to) - which suggests he might have had a blood transfusion during the rest day and this blood contained traces of off-season doping (it's been reported that he has tested positive for plasticisers, a sign of blood stored in bags, but this test has not been ratified yet so cannot be officially used); the UCI hushed up the positive result for several weeks and seemed to be giving him time to come up with a convincing story; his story was that he had beef specially imported from Spain, which nobody else on the team ate, and which came from the only cow in Spain to have been given clenbuterol; the Spanish cycling authorities cleared him of the charges on this basis; the UCI and WADA have appealed to the CAS - the verdict is due about a week after the end of the Giro (and safely before the start of the Tour).

btw NBS if youre still after a recording of the zoncolan stage, cyclingtorrents.nl have it along with highlights

I managed to catch the last three kms yesterday watchig RAI in Italian via the Steephill website, but it's not really the same if you already know the result.

Just watched today's EPIC stage. God, that looked tough. Nibali's not really as strong as I thought he was. He reminds me a bit of Wiggins in the 2009 TDF - a steady climber, unable to put in savage attacks, good enough for a high placing but nowhere near to winning. His thing is descending, whereas with Wiggins it's time trials.