UCI WorldTour and other pro cycling nonsense 2011

wow! 58 national titles on road and track, still wining at 52.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/06/news/at-52-jeannie-longo-wins-french-national-time-trial-title_179850

yay gilbert

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/belgian-road-championships-2011/elite-men-road-race/results

Gilbert's having a hell of a season.

Wiggins has won the British champs, and he's also the reigning time trial champ, so he'll be in white for every stage of the Tour. And, er, every other race now I think about it. Unless he's in yellow, but that seems more than a bit unlikely. Still - he's looking much better than last season and I reckon he'll get a decent placing (i.e. top ten).

new bikes are cropping up pre-TDF, i see:-

• ridley have a new road frame with integrated brakeset for cirque du vacansoleil
• thor was at norway nat championships on some new cervelo monstrosity that looked like a P3 with drops
• rabo dudes on the new giant which is lookin decidedly non-aero - TREND, BUCKED

This is the giant, I think

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/giant-2012-road-launch

read haitch's post as saying ridley's new frame has integrated basket, that'd be practical and fancy imo. integrated brakes seem like they'd be fun to adjust hanging out of a follow vehicle.
its harder to be aero running a 2.5inch/1.75inch headset or whatever stupid shit.

Some national Champs

GB - Wiggins
Belgium - Gilbert
France - Chavanel
Spain - Not Contador (Jose Joaquin Rojas)
Germany - Robert Wagner
Netherlands - Pim Ligthart
Luxembourg - Frank Schleck
Switzerland - Cancellara
Italy - Giovanni Visconti

I want an integrated basket.

perfect for carrying yr baguettes to the top of alpe d'huez while wearing stripey t-shirt and beret

Germany - Robert Wagner
Netherlands - Pim Ligthart

I have never heard of these people

No shame in that, Nasty, most of the Netherlands hadn't heard of Pim Ligthart either. He's with Vacansoleil but isn't going to the TdF. Basically he got very lucky to find himself being the only sprinter in the group ahead. Finished it good 'n proper, but he's definitely not a household name even here.

earlier i considered trying to make a joke about "isn't pim ligthart like, a fascist politician or something"?

I had only heard of RObert Wagner because I remember asking "who the hell is he?" during the Leopard Trek presentation.

Earlier I considered trying to make a joke about Wagner being Hitler's favourite cyclist, but thought better of it

yours is more cleverer for sure tho

that Ridley integrated brake:
http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/uploads/images/Medium/13043.jpg
is nice.

Gilbert is doing a daily report thing for Eurosport apparently. Starts Saturday! all I need tio do is find out free wifi key in building at work and fork out for a month of eurosport on iphone = sorted.

seems like a complicated "solution" to the "problem" of non-aero calipers.

I like it, d'you thing the yellow bit is some sort of polymer hinge? There's a spring too.....

article here> http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/gear-news/ridley-unveil-noah-fb-with-integrated-brake/6880.html

I have to convince my friend who aspires to be an steel bike artisan that I've ordered this

"F-Surface is a textured plastic strip applied to strategic locations on the frame, letting air travel smoothly around the frame instead of detaching and creating drag."

AND I can get it with Di2

hahaha

integrated v-brake!

woah, talking of Ridley - you guys this is on my company (australian) intranet right now:

NEVER TO BE REPEATED SALE – EXCLUSIVE TO P****** B***** STAFF ONLY

UP TO 48% OFF RRP

Noah RS - CODE: RR1010 RRP $4,999... NOW $2,599

Features:

The new Noah RS inherits ground breaking R-Flow technology and geometry.

Full Carbon and Shimano Ultegra

About time too. Which colour are you going to get?

yeah, 2 weeks after the birth of your second child is the perfect time to spunk away 1800 quid (jesus what a bargain - seriously) that you don't have isn't it?

blue.

http://road.cc/content/news/38079-uci-may-scrap-68kg-weight-limit-race-bikes

Just on the off chance there's anyone browsing this thread who isn't bothering with the TDF thread over on ILE: I've set up an ILX league on this fantasy cycling website:
http://road.cc/fantasy-cycling-2011
The code to join is 6968

ah nice, ILTRMB is the last bit of ILX I go to for reasons of blood pressure and sanity.

We will be having a TdF thread here won't we?

right this way...

the biggest race for second place in history: The Tour de France 2011 thread

Just activated my mnonthly Eurosport subscription! Bring it on...

just got my tour guide/map/dvd/whateverelseisinthatbox. I'M READY.

Ohh what box? Been looking for something like that, a good guide.

this thing, some newsagents in UK carry it
http://www.myfavouritemagazines.co.uk/tour-de-france-guide-2011/
no b/w glossies of 20s cyclists with spares around their necks this year :(

Anybody know of any sites that will be streaming the Tour?

try steephill.tv for feeds

versus.com if you are in the states $29.99 for the tour
eurosport online is £3.99 per month for anywhere in europe

http://www.teamskyfans.com/live.html

this place of full of live feeds

RIP Carly Hibberd

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2011/jul/07/carly-hibberd-killed-road-accident

More bad news:
http://road.cc/content/news/38698-swiss-doctors-concern-soler-brain-injury

so a friend of mine just started this

http://bangabledudesinprocycling.tumblr.com/

Thxs gbx. Proven fact-I cougar out on bike racers :)

I am in a twitter storm of girls like that it seem.

an so it came to pass that that link came back to me through twitter.

Where's the thread where we talk about cycling books? I'm reading some more at the moment...

I've got the new David Millar autobiog on my reading pile...

Delayed again

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-cas-hearing-postponed-until-november

Bwahahahahahahahaha

http://translate.google.com/translate?js=n&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&layout=2&eotf=1&sl=fr&tl=en&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.20minutes.fr%2Fledirect%2F763188%2Fcyclisme-astana-positif-sortir-dune-soiree-chez-vinokourov

ATTN: HAITCH - there is talk of eight Vuelta stages live on SBS o_O

Ain't no party like a Vino party!

millarmind David Millar
In the car on way back from airport discussing Gilbert's unfathomable ability to control stupid amount of variables to win again and again.
3 hours ago

millarmind David Millar
And @ryder_hesjedal gives QUOTE OF THE DAY: 'I hope he gets his big contract and chills the fuck out, he's making us look stupid.' True dat.
3 hours ago

excellent training regime, will be copying post-haste:

“I haven’t been getting much sleep lately,” Gilbert joked following his dramatic effort. “After the Tour, I had a big party with the team and then I’ve been hitting criteriums in Belgium and another one in Norway, staying up until 1 to 2 a.m. most nights. I guess I am used to the Spanish timetable by now.”