Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026
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stompandgo
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MVDP gets to do that because he has the green light to do that. Nothing happens without the approval of the DS. If you ignore the DS, you are putting your career in peril.
Milan-Sanremo is a one-day race. MVDP is built for one-day races. He will be leading out Phillipsen at the Grand Tours. However, Phillipsen is scheduled for Milan-Sanremo. Will he have an unconditional green light for that race? Probably not. Conditional, based on the race situation? Most likely.
Milan-Sanremo is a one-day race. MVDP is built for one-day races. He will be leading out Phillipsen at the Grand Tours. However, Phillipsen is scheduled for Milan-Sanremo. Will he have an unconditional green light for that race? Probably not. Conditional, based on the race situation? Most likely.
Will it be Ganna v Pog v MVDP again do you think? Who else has a chance this year? And will Pog's strategy be an equally long distance attack? He couldn't shake the other 2 last time and that cost him in the end. He needs to get down the Poggio on his own I think.
stompandgo
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The rosters aren't complete yet, so we'll see. Those three are confirmed. So is Pidcock. I would not count out Milan. He's been climbing well for a sprinter. Wout and Jorgensen have a shot. The question I want answered is what will Del Toro do?
Jeremy McCreary
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Per GCN, record crowds at Strade Bianche this year — in part due to what they're calling the Pogacar Effect.
Given that several UK cyclists have been knighted, sainthood for Pogi seems perfectly reasonable. If the Pope's a cycling fan, not so far-fetched.
Given that several UK cyclists have been knighted, sainthood for Pogi seems perfectly reasonable. If the Pope's a cycling fan, not so far-fetched.
Except the current Pope is a yank so unlikely
Seems a good guy though. No fan of the orange fella.
Great win for Pidcock at the Milano Torino, which as the commentator repeatedly tells us, is 150 years old this year, the oldest Classic race. Incredible when you think about it.
So that's Pog, MVDP and Pidcock all with wins under their belts. Milan San Remo looking tasty.
So that's Pog, MVDP and Pidcock all with wins under their belts. Milan San Remo looking tasty.
stompandgo
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While you were watching Milano Torino, I was watching Danilith Nokere Koerse, a flat to rolling romp through the Belgian countryside on pavement, dirt, and a number of cobbled sections. The roads are narrow for most of the race, so there were lots of crashes. A group of four, including Sean Christian from MAP, got up the road and stuck it until 20km to go. 23 year old Alec Segaert countered solo and made it to 150m to go before getting swamped. Earlier in the day, Jasper Phillipsen had crashed, and broke a shoe. He did a rolling shoe change alongside the team car and got back on. In the final, it looked like Jordi Meeus was going to take it, but Phillipsen found (not made) a hole, and won by a length, getting his first win of the season.
With the Milan San Remo underway, also an interesting line up for the 7 stages of the Volta a Catalunya starting Monday; Remco + Lipowitz and Jai Hindley, Almeida & Jay Vine, Jonas V & Sepp Kuss, Oscar Onley, Carapaz, Ben O'Connor, Cian Uijdebroeks, Tom Pidcock. plus, as they say, many more.
Juicy.
Pleased to see Sam Bennett starting after a heart scare last year and in the Q36.5 jersey.
And Stomp- your Modern Adventure team are looking ready and eager to race!
Juicy.
Pleased to see Sam Bennett starting after a heart scare last year and in the Q36.5 jersey.
And Stomp- your Modern Adventure team are looking ready and eager to race!
Think I posted this clip before, but still one of my favourites so for the day that's in it, and with Sean Kelly today getting a paving stone with his name on it in the Milan San Remo walk of fame - Here's Sean Kelly winning the 1992 Milan San Remo.
By 1992 and at age 35 Kelly was a canny old fox, he'd won Milan San Remo already in 1986, but was an outsider for the win at this age. The quality of this clip is not good, probably somebody taped in off telly on VHS in 92, but you can just about see Kelly, who unusually for him is wearing a hard shell helmet. The reason for that becomes clear in the clip!
Kelly along with Greg LeMond, Stephen Roche and the professor Laurent Fignon would all retire by the end of 1994. And the dark clouds of blood doping were already tearing through the peloton and over the next decade EPO would nearly destroy cycling. So this for me is kind of a last hurrah of that incredible 80s generation.
By 1992 and at age 35 Kelly was a canny old fox, he'd won Milan San Remo already in 1986, but was an outsider for the win at this age. The quality of this clip is not good, probably somebody taped in off telly on VHS in 92, but you can just about see Kelly, who unusually for him is wearing a hard shell helmet. The reason for that becomes clear in the clip!
Kelly along with Greg LeMond, Stephen Roche and the professor Laurent Fignon would all retire by the end of 1994. And the dark clouds of blood doping were already tearing through the peloton and over the next decade EPO would nearly destroy cycling. So this for me is kind of a last hurrah of that incredible 80s generation.
stompandgo
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Their bad luck streak continued yesterday. Four out of 7 crashed out, including one who was all set for a top 10 but hit the deck on a hard left turn after the kite. They are getting media attention and slowly building UCI points. If Pinarello, Unibet, and Tudor move up next year, they should have a more prominent presence in the ProTeam ranks.
It's always more interesting watching smaller teams progress, fighting with small budgets etc, relying on wild cards for the big races. I was amazed when Uno X came on the scene. The idea of a team 90% Norwegian, population 5.5M, trying to beat the big boys seemed crazy, yet they made it to the big races and are still there fighting hard.
stompandgo
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I feel blessed to have been able to race at the top amateur level in the 80's. Today's young American riders have no idea how good and how hard the racing was back then. No computers. No power meters. No radios on the riders.
Racing as a junior 86/87 while watching Kelly & Roche win practically everything & from a tiny country with no deep cycling heritage was extraordinary for me as a teenager. But even watching that clip on the Poggio it still feels incredibly exciting (and dangerous) on the skinny tubulars, rim brakes, mostly no helmets and those crazy speeds. Such hard men! And I'd forgotten just how many media motorbikes there were swerving all over the road, such a free for all, like a mad max film!!
stompandgo
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I'm a bit older than you, then. I started racing as a senior in 1981. I never raced as a Junior, and I wish I had. Practice makes perfect in this sport. I raced mainly in North America against North Americans, but the big races paid start money for guest riders from Europe. The best were from the UK, Ireland and Denmark. Some of them came over for a part of their season, so you would see them in multiple races. Back then, I wore a leather helmet, and eventually went to a hardshell Giro.
stompandgo
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Horrific crash at the front at 65km to go. Pidcock loses Pijuan, Ganna loses three including Kwiatkowski. EDIT: Looks like Turner made it back for Ganna.
Yep, I had those leather 'hairnet' style, yanked down over cycling cap. Had a bad crash when turning senior, was in hospital for three months with spinal injuries, and when I came out had my finals in school then off to college - didn't race again but went back to mountain biking which I'd started at age 14 some years earlier, coming from bmx. Continued mountain biking all through college but once I moved to London in the mid 90s, I just commuted by bike, which was probably more dangerous then road or mtb!
Heading towards the Cipressa, here we go!
stompandgo
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Pogacar, WVA, Jorgenson, Grimay down in another crash at the front. All chasing.
That changes things...