Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

Rás Cnoic said:
Leaves 6 riders in a battle: Mas, Roglic, Gall, Kuss, Onley, and Carapaz at 2,22 back. Loads of mountains ahead and the one TT at I tnink 36km and pretty flat. And of those 6 only Roglic has a decent TT. Mas is a minute ahead but that's not a lot if he's going to stay clear after the time trial. It might even put Skjelmose back in contention with his time T skills, though he's being dropped a lot on the mountains already. Lot of discussion going on and you can bet Roglic is suddenly laser focussed.
Click to expand...

Per AI, no one has won the Vuelta 5 times, and Roglic's only one of 2 with 4 wins. Powerful motivation for both him and his team. I'd love to see him pull it off.

Skjelmose is my favorite underdog. Seldom wins stages but gets some podiums. And he's often in the top 10 in the GC stage after stage. Would like to see him get a chance to shine now.
 
Upway Certified Pre-Owned E-Bikes Upway E-Bikes Mobile
for roglic to win he can't risk losing more time to Gall or Mas on mountains. Or conversely Mas and Gall know they need to claw time as a buffer for the TT. Decthlon look to have better climbing then Boro or Movistar but for all of them this is a major incentive. Nobody wants to win because Pog crashed out, but on the other hand a Grand Tour win is a win, a major incentive for all these teams as well as riders like Mas (Spanish, home race & so close so many times), Gall (yesterday's man with Seixas the big star) Roglic (as you said and plus he's leaving Boro, perfect timing to show the world he's still got it) and Onley (This sudden development will really spur INEOS after a terrible season and doubting esaily distracted owner).

It really is an electric shock to the race.
 
I was busy working on the house and watched the replay. I've had a number of bad crashes in my career with concussions but I've never high sided on my face. What a horrible crash. He was clearly punch drunk when he got up, stumbling all over. Concussion, compound clavicle fracture, fractured C7, fortunately stable, and C&A. Tadej is most likely done for the season. I know that he has been able to dodge the bullet so far in his career, until today. His injuries pale to Jonas at the Basque Country, but they are equally serious. My best to Tadej, his team, and his family. This is never a good thing.

Class by Mas to hold the jersey at the podium. Class by the peloton to neutralize by themselves until Tadej was in the ambulance.

When you've been there, all this does is bring back bad memories that you've tried to forget.

Heal up quick, Tadej.
 
Urtopia E-Bikes Urtopia E-Bikes Mobile
What a stage, what a last 22km climb! So much to disscect! Surely Jeremy you can see the difference when there are 5 on the mountain each of which could win overall? How much more exciting it is with all to play for when they are watching each other half way up this enormous mountain with 7km to go and who is brave enough to attack? The crippling fear of blowing up and losing minutes if you attack and get caught... Delighted Mas broke rank with the red on his shoulders, he's pretty meek normally, never has the killer instinct and I was dismayed that he wasn't attacking - when following Pog for last 2 days he dropped everyone but Felix Gall which shows in this race he is now the top 1 or 2 climber, bet the DS was screaming in his ear to be confident- this is YOUR race! The only way he'll win this Tour is by putting serious minutes into Roglic so i was relieved when he kicked on and judged it perfectly then waiting for Roglic as he clawed his way back before kicking on again- up to then Roglic played it perfectly, he had no need to attack, just conserve energy, let them watch each other and he still had enough in tank to almost stay with Mas to the very top.

Need to check how many more mountain stages left - and Mas favours the long steady high alpine climbs, because he'll need more then this time gap to stay clear of Roglic.

Onley - very impressive now 4th, less than a minute behind F Gall. Kuss out the back, drops 3 places. Carapaz - he's got the guts and attacks all the time, great to watch The Condor in action, just not enough today, 5th GC. Felix Gall not good enough if hoping to win, he's in a tricky position, like Mas he can't TT so needs a decent time buffer but Mas has the legs on him right now. Mas now has a buffer of 1min 18 over Roglic, not sure how much he'll need for the TT but more then that.

Great stage. Best performance in Mas's career. This race is interesting now.
 
Rás Cnoic said:
What a stage, what a last 22km climb!
Click to expand...

Absolutely! Announcers changed their minds about who might take the stage every 300 m in that final climb.

Rás Cnoic said:
Surely Jeremy you can see the difference when there are 5 on the mountain each of which could win overall? How much more exciting it is with all to play for when they are watching each other half way up this enormous mountain with 7km to go and who is brave enough to attack? The crippling fear of blowing up and losing minutes if you attack and get caught...
Click to expand...

Yes, I see it now. Puts the whole race in a very different color. Mas is on fire.

Rás Cnoic said:
The only way he'll win this Tour is by putting serious minutes into Roglic so i was relieved when he kicked on and judged it perfectly then waiting for Roglic as he clawed his way back before kicking on again- up to then Roglic played it perfectly, he had no need to attack, just conserve energy, let them watch each other and he still had enough in tank to almost stay with Mas to the very top.

Need to check how many more mountain stages left - and Mas favours the long steady high alpine climbs, because he'll need more then this time gap to stay clear of Roglic.
Click to expand...

Rooting for Roglic. Would love to see him make history with a 5th Vuelta win. Fingers crossed that he'll take the red jersey in the TT.
 
Jeremy McCreary said:
Absolutely! Announcers changed their minds about who might take the stage every 300 m in that final climb.



Yes, I see it now. Puts the whole race in a very different color. Mas is on fire.



Rooting for Roglic. Would love to see him make history with a 5th Vuelta win. Fingers crossed that he'll take the red jersey in the TT.
Click to expand...
Ha then we're deadly rivals you and me-I'm going for Mas, 31 always there or there abouts on the big climbs, always the bridesmaid never the bride, riding for the longest established team,(1980) Movistar, struggling like a lot of mid tier teams these days and in the only race that means anything to them, in their Spanish homeland. Roglic is with with one of the powerhouse teams (though not a hell of a lot support for him here I'd say, looks like him abruptly leaving end of season is not popular) he's won tours aplenty already, though I do feel sorry for him losing the Tour to a young Pog on the brink of winning it that year when his fellow Slovenian and friend, Pog completely destroyed him on the final mountain TT so that Roglic, who could taste it, was in sight of it, was denied his only TdF win. Right now he is still favourite in my book though momentum today has now shifted to Mas. Either way it makes for some exciting racing and if either trip up Onley Gall and the others are not far behind.
 
Pidcock wins Worlds XCO, Britain wins 1+2 with Charlie Aldridge coming second, third went to a delighted Cole Punchard from Canada. The 4th place rider Kossmann, from Chile was very unlucky puncturing on the second last lap when he had bronze in the bag - commentaters said it would have been first ever Chilian medal in XC.

Pidcock and MVDP started on the 5th row, 34th and 36th. By end of lap 3 Pidcock had passed 29 riders to almost reach the the front 5, which he did by end of lap 4 (of 8) MVDP got stuck behind traffic and got no further then 17th in the same time. It looked like Pidcock was able to duck around riders with his small size easier then Van Der Poel, he looked to be struggling in the heat.

Some bloody achievement for Pidcock starting so far back and not racing MTB since start of year & round 2. He looked so composed making his way through the traffic- traffic I should add made up of the best mountainbikers from every country!

Bikes: Pinarello 1st, then 2 Cannondales on the podium, followed by 2 Spesh (Chile and France) Pidcock's Pinarello looked Fast as F, the two black cannondales both with lefties looked very cool.

Amazingly watched the entire race on the BBC iPlayer. Who knew!

www.bbc.co.uk

UCI Mountain Bike World Championships - 2026: Men’s Elite Cross-Country

Coverage of the Men’s Elite Cross-Country featuring GB's Tom Pidcock & Charlie Aldridge in the 2026 Mountain Bike World Championships.
www.bbc.co.uk www.bbc.co.uk
 
After the stage win Enric Mas profoundly thanked his DSs for all the advice on team radio. I wndered about that... Then under the YT clip of that post race interview, someone had written the perfect response:


Screenshot 2026-08-31 at 00.53.41.png

If you followed the 3 seasons of that Movistar fly on the wall doc on Netflix (amazing viewing btw) the movistar organisation seemed hilariously hapless every big race.
 
Rás Cnoic said:
After the stage win Enric Mas profoundly thanked his DSs for all the advice on team radio. I wndered about that... Then under the YT clip of that post race interview, someone had written the perfect response:


View attachment 214817
If you followed the 3 seasons of that Movistar fly on the wall doc on Netflix (amazing viewing btw) the movistar organisation seemed hilariously hapless every big race.
Click to expand...

Is that the 3 season show entitled "The least expected day inside the Movistar team 2019"?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back