Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

Beautiful little film about the visit of the legendary Fausto Coppi to London at the height of his fame in the 1950s. Fascinating glimpse into cycling & racing back then. Very well put together.

 
Rás Cnoic said:
Beautiful little film about the visit of the legendary Fausto Coppi to London at the height of his fame in the 1950s. Fascinating glimpse into cycling & racing back then. Very well put together.

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Thanks! Really enjoyed that.

First heard the name Coppi in connection with Pogi's successful 2025 attempt on his standing record of 5 non-consecutive Giro di Lombardia wins. Also enjoyed the short bio below:

en.wikipedia.org

Fausto Coppi - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org en.wikipedia.org
 
Not exactly about the racing, but the bikes. David Arthur reviews road and gravel bikes on YT here in UK. Here he is last Friday at a big bike show in France, focusing on all the top end new road and gravel bikes for 2026. Some mad bikes (The first Decathlon/Van Rysal ebike is actually a prototype which he doesn't seem to realise. Yako of this parish did a YT video on it the other day.)

Anyway some of Pog's Colnagos, astonishing paint jobs from an Italian legendary brand I haven't heard for years De Roso! Beautiful bikes from many brands on the pro tour and some very weird!


Also Tour Down Under starts tomorrow I think! First race of the season and we're off...

 
Rás Cnoic said:
Not exactly about the racing, but the bikes. David Arthur reviews road and gravel bikes on YT here in UK. Here he is last Friday at a big bike show in France, focusing on all the top end new road and gravel bikes for 2026. Some mad bikes (The first Decathlon/Van Rysal ebike is actually a prototype which he doesn't seem to realise. Yako of this parish did a YT video on it the other day.)

Anyway some of Pog's Colnagos, astonishing paint jobs from an Italian legendary brand I haven't heard for years De Roso! Beautiful bikes from many brands on the pro tour and some very weird!


Also Tour Down Under starts tomorrow I think! First race of the season and we're off...

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Derosa? They're still around.
 
Watching the Tour Down Under prologue TT replay on Peacock right now. Sam Watson's been in the hot seat for a long time now. Ben O'Connor just started.

Glad to have World Tour cycling to watch again. Nothing inspires the fitness parts of my rides like watching pros making their superhuman feats look easy.
 
Just started watching the men's Stage 1 replay. Interesting Sam Watson interview. I like this kid! Yeah, I know he's 24, but he looks 12.

Sounds committed to helping his team's star sprinter — another Sam W. — in the first few stages. Hinted that he might be free to race for himself after that.
 
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Enjoying the sunshine, the Adelaide crowds on the climbs today and the game of trying to figure out the new jerseys and teams as I get used to them. Great to have racing back even if I'm only catching glimpses on YT highlights. Maybe I need to resurrect that old VPN I don't bother with anymore.
 
Not in UK. TNT Discovery and I'm not paying those bastards. But I've already ranted too much on here about them. New Year, deep breath, calmness...
 
Interesting. TNT/Discovery sports are sold in the USA as the live sports portion of HBO Max. To get every major cycling event, I would need Peacock (ASO events), HBO Max (most other big events), and Flo (smaller events). It's crazy.
 
Eurosport in Europe traditionally had all cycling rights, the monthly subs which were reasonable, got you all racing including CX year round. Taken over by Warners/Discovery in UK (not sure about Continent because they have a myriad of existing deals with National Broadcasters) they lumped cycling in with all other sports in TNT, football, rugby etc so now to see any cycling you have to pay the full (£30.99 a month) subs. Plus UCI/Cycling gets no extra funding back from them. If the UCI gave a s*it they might investigate. TNT are losing money hand over fist, and worryingly cycling numbers are way down. TNT are also part of the Warners assets Netflix are due to inherit when that deal goes through. Maybe they'll include it on Netflix, maybe they'll sell it on. So pirates and VPN it is for now.
 
Netflix isn't going to give away anything when they could make money on it. The thing is, all TNT has are the rights to Bleacher Report streaming cycling content. They don't produce any of it. B/R is going to offer it to the highest bidder. Expect these things to change every year. The best outcome for me would be to be able to buy B/R directly from them.
 
stompandgo said:
Maybe the gap is bridgeable and they want another teammate in the peloton to bridge.
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Today's TDU stage proved this point. Phil and Robbie were aghast that a rider with a teammate up the road would escape from the field and try to bridge. It is an unwritten rule that you don't chase down your teammate unless you have a really good reason to. The only reason that matters is: your DS (Directeur Sportif, i.e. Team Manager in the car) told you to. If that was a lone attempt without team support, that's a huge negative mark on that rider, and that rider's future. The UCI (Union Cycliste Internationale) is the worldwide governing body of cycling, but it is also very much a union, protecting riders, sponsors, and the spectacle of the sport. Teams can't just fire riders for doing stupid stuff. There are hundreds of pages of regulations that define how, when, and for what reason a rider can join, transfer, or leave their team. There are huge fines and penalties for screwing over a rider, and for disrespecting the sport.

As to what happened at the end and the preliminary results that were posted before the Commissaire's Panel (the officials that convene after a race to set results and deal with penalties) had reviewed them, that should not happen, but it sometimes does. All that's needed immediately after the race is the results for the podium ceremonies (winner, points leader, mountains leader, and any other intermediate jersey that the organizer wants to offer, such as Best Young Rider, Most Aggressive Rider, etc.). It should have never gone out when they knew there was a crash at 3km to go.

The 3km rule, which can be modified by the PCP (Chief Referee) and the organizer when they meet before the first day of racing, applies to stage race finishes only. No one day races like the Monuments, Paris-Roubaix, etc. Just stage races. It says that if any rider has a recognized mishap (crash, flat, mechanical failure that was not caused by the rider or mechanic, etc.) after they pass the 3km to go sign, their finish time is the same as the group that they are in. That does not mean what Liggett said, that they get the same time as the winner. The only reason they did was because the winner's group was all together. That is defined as there being no more than a one second gap between riders in the lead finishing group. If there was a larger gap or a split in the group, the GC leader would have lost time. This is why you see GC leaders fight so hard to not only get to the 3km marker up front, but to stay up there and cross with the front finishing group to avoid a split. The other part of the rule says that their placing on the stage is counted when they cross the line. This comes into play with certain specific tie break situations. Let's say the 4th and 5th on GC get caught in a crash at the finish, get up, and start racing again. Their finish time will be the time of the group that they were in at the time of the crash, which may be the group they were chasing as they got close to the line. Let's say both riders catch that group. They are tied on time, but their GC placing will be decided on who out of those two crosses first as the tie breaker. If you're mid pack GC, it doesn't matter. If you're top 10, it does, and you will see riders off the back sprinting for the line. That's why.
 
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