Phinney moves to Cannondale http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/taylor-phinney-ill-start-a-new-chapter-at-cannondale-drapac/
I wish him a lot of luck. He's had such a bad time of it with that nasty accident. I'm happy to see Vaughters pick him up, and especially happy to see him target the Classics. It would be great to see him on the podium at Flanders or Roubaix.
http://www.velonews.com/2016/11/news/tour-de-france-major-races-pare-peloton-size_425292 Tour de France and Vuelta a España organizer ASO, along with Giro d’Italia organizer RCS Sport, said they will reduce the number of riders allowed per team at major races. For the three grand tours, teams will go from nine riders to eight. Other major races, such as Ronde van Vlaanderen, which is organized by Flanders Classics, will reduce team sizes by one, down to seven riders each.
Vaughters was not happy about that! If it cuts down on teams like the totally clean Team Sky bossing the race, I'm all for it.
JV was fine with the change but not the timing of it. He felt (probably correctly) that the changes should have been announced before the teams signed all their riders for next year. Now he's signed riders planning for 9/8 rider races and will only have 8/7 riders racing. That's going to lead to a change in rider strategy for the races and there's less racing spots to go around for a team signed with the expectation of more racing spots.
He's got a point there, imo. Apparently ASO/RCS/Flanders Classics didn't consult with anyone when they made these announcements. Lefevre tweeted that this wouldn't be the most effective way to address the issue. Changes like these always have unintended consequences. I'm curious what they'll be.
RIP Paul Sherwen. https://www.npr.org/2018/12/03/672806336/paul-sherwen-renowned-cycling-commentator-dies-at-62
I know a lot of hardcore cycling fans didn't like Paul and Phil that much, but they brought a lot to the sport and I was surprisingly sad to hear of Paul's death.
I think the dislike was snobbery more than anything. To be fair Phil has been slipping it recent years but it’s hard to find a commentating duo that has been better ambassadors for their sport for as long as the two of them have done it, in any sport. Paul will be missed. We “met” him once at the first year of the USA Pro Challenge, at the Steamboat Springs finish line. We were on the other side of the street early in the stage and saw him. We hurried around the barricades to try to get an autograph but by the time we got over there he was headed back into the trailer. We called his name to get a pic and he turned around and gave us a jaunty wave from a distance as he headed in (my wife got a pic of it). A couple of minutes later Phil came out and we got an autograph and I got a good pic of my wife and Phil. She told him we know it’s summer when we hear him and Paul calling races on TV. (The next morning we got Bob Roll's autograph at the start line. This was back before they added Christian and Jens to their Tour coverage so seeing all 3 of them at the same time covered the whole desk)
I always thought that they were good announcers. They did a good job of relating the sport to the general viewer and making it dramatic, and they had great deliveries. I think you're right about the snobby thing.
Gotta say, I hate COVID, but I'm kinda liking all this racing being crammed into a short time window. I get to watch the Giro, RVV, and Vuelta within a 72-hour period. It's also nice to see GC/Ardennes guys like Alaphillipe try a race like Flanders (which was quite a race).
Bump. The 2022 Tour de France has been pretty good so far, though I've missed some stages. I'm looking forward to Tuesday's stage in the Pyrenees.
Stage 11 has to have been one of the most exciting stages at a TDF in eons. Fantastic to watch. For the Yanks, Sepp Kuss’ ride on Alpe d’Huez was awesome. How many did he drop with his pacing, and then to come back when Pogacar accelerated and start pacing again? What the hell?! Awesome stuff! Wout van Aert is a monster!
Great ride for Kris’s, yes!!! Van Aert, One hell of a rider not much of a team player though. What was he doing yesterday wasting energy in a 3 man break that faded to nothing. When he was supposed to be helping his leader, similar to what Kruss was doing for his team.
Yeah, rep for 2018. Paul was missed but Bob Roll has filled in well for him and plays off Phill nicely, helping him out when he strays. Always liked Bob and I’m a Brit.
I really like Bobke. But, the amount of commercials on USA is hard to take. I always watch the recording so I can FF through them. When I just can stand it any more I watch it on GCN+/Eurosport, no commercials. I have to use my VPN, set usually to Manchester. That sometimes prevents me from accessing some domestic websites so it'll be back to USA network.
Jonas Vingegaard, what a sportsman. Classy move to let Pogacar catch back up after he crashed. Then he dropped Tadej on the final climb like a bad habit. This years TdF is sooooo good.
So glad someone bumped this thread. It's been a great Tour, and an amazing year of racing, thus far. I just wish I could actually watch the races instead of, you know, working all day. Does anyone else follow Chris Horner's YouTube channel? https://www.youtube.com/c/ChrisHornerCycling I love the guy. Especially the deep dives into tactics on his "Beyond the Coverage" segments.