Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

Glad to see Narvaez back in winning form after breaking several thoracic vertebrae in a nasty solo crash in the Tour Down Under just 4 months ago!

Say what you want about UAE, they're certainly adapting well to having so many top riders out on injuries. A deep bench indeed!

I like Eulalio and hope he gets to stay in pink a little while longer. But ultimately pulling for Jonas. The better he does in the Giro, the more confidence and fire he'll have for his battle with Pogi in the TdF.
 
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I dont really have a horse in the race. For sake of competition in the coming Tour I like to see Jonas do well. But Pog is remarkable not just his TdF victories but his old skool attacking in every and all races. From Armstrong onwards to the Sky years they all just focused on the TdF, it seemed the only race in town, whereas previous riders rode all the big classics and often 2 grand tours if not all three. Guess they needed the money back then! But you can find 80s TV footage of Greg LeMond at Paris Roubaix, Flanders etc as well as his 3 TdF victories. Pog has brought us back to that and the sport is more exciting for it. Here at the Giro I just want a fight to the final day, for what ever reason Jonas is being cautious and that leaves the chance someone can compete, like Gall and Pellizzari did in the first week. Good to see how relaxed Eulalio was post finish today. He has a top ten spot to aim for now, which is doable, and along with several days in the pink would be a fantastic result.
 
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As of today's Giro Stage 12 of 21, very little seems to have gone according to the pundits. Lots of strong rides by previously unfamiliar names.
 
Rás Cnoic said:
Post race interview Q "when did you decide to attack at 3km?"

"Last night."
Click to expand...
I was on the road yesterday and had the race on in the truck, but missed the finish. Without that quote, I thought that he capitalized on chaos and beat the odds. It sounds like he had it planned all along. It's a very risky move, much like an "all in" at Texas hold-em. Chapeau. I love those kind of finishes.

Ganna is currently blowing up today's stage. Good times.
 
3rd stage for Astana XDS! Superb by local hero Bettiol Those X-Lab bikes ain't looking too shabby either! Only caught the last 3km highlights so no idea what unfolded. The weather here has changed dramatically from the cold north east we've had to bright hot sunshine. London hitting 32c early next week and Europe looks to be on the same pattern so could be interesting in the big mountains to come.
 
Today is a tough, short, climbing stage with the hardest climb at the finish. A group of mostly non-GC contenders are out front with a few minutes. Two of them could potentially move up a few notches. Narvaez is out there going for the points jersey and just took it. The UAE DS just continues to impress me with his skill at reading the race and by putting his very short crew into stage wins and now a jersey. Meanwhile the Visma DS continues to frustrate me with his lack of aggression. Visma at the front 60km out. Something has to happen today, not to secure a win, but to avoid a boring win.
 
Lost live feed at 28 km out with all GC guys still in the peloton. Not that I understand this stuff, but looks to me like Visma is setting up to leave the peloton — and all other GC contenders with it — in the dust on the last climb, with Jonas out of the wind most of the way.
 
Visma is going for the jersey today. 12km out, Campanaerts on the front, Kuss next, Jonas third. The gap is 1:35, so he has a shot at the stage as well.
 
Campanaerts done, Kuss on the front, followed by a third teammate in front of Jonas. Gap at 1:00. Kuss looks like is in peak form. The Maglia Rosa has been dropped. 8km to go. The third teammate is the young Italian Piganzoli. Kuss hammering, Jonas nose breathing.
 
Kuss done. Piganzoli on the front followed by Jonas. Gap at 30s. 6.3km to go. Break in sight. It's gonna go boom soon. I'm screaming at the screen to get the car and bikes out of the way. They heard me 😁
 
Break caught. Jonas jumped. Piganzoli and Gall behind. Now it's all about the clock. Piganzoli has a sprint, so he could race for second. Gall flat out and Piganzoli still hanging on. Hindley 35s back, alone. Gall drops Piganzoli.
 
Pellizari now pacing Hindley, 8s back of Gall, who is 44s back. And OF COURSE, the commentators are talking about TADEJ. For crying out loud.
 
I'm home again tomorrow, working near the tv, so I will try and repeat.

The one guy I should have not left out was Tim Rex, who turned himself inside out before Campanaerts took over. He totally smoked himself for the team. Kudos to Piganzoli for recognizing this, cooling him down, and giving him a pat on the back before he dropped off. That is how you race your friggin' bike, young man.


This team just has to find a sponsor going forward. It would be a shame if the young guys were denied the chance to race together for a few more years.
 
It's a flat 157km stage today, one of the last for the sprinters most likely. The finish is on a circuit ending in Milan, the home of Jonathan Milan. With 66km to go, 4 riders with 2:05, two Polti, one Bardiani, one PostNL.
 
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