Watching the peloton - Professional Road Racing thread 2026

Dauphine (aka Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes) coming up June 7-14, all 8 stages streaming on Peacock in the US. No idea who's racing.

From ProCyclingUK.com...

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Looks exciting!
 
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Jeremy McCreary said:
After reading half a dozen accounts of this disqualification, still feels like there's a big missing piece to this puzzle.

Since it makes no sense that the bike would be intentionally underweight in a stage like this, I think there should be an independent investigation of the weighing equipment and process. The stakes are too high to do anything less.

Especially sad for Wiebes, who's caught in the middle of this mess but arguably pays the biggest price. She neither prepped nor weighed the bike herself. She has to rely on others to get these things right, and someone let her down royally.
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This is what I have found so far. The team weighed the bike, and it was teched by the UCI. Then the team decided to change from a double chainring to a single chainring. The bike was weighed by the UCI after the finish, and the penalty was assessed by the book.

If this is truly what went down, this is 100% on the DS of her team. Removing a chainring has to reduce the overall weight. If they taped on weighs to make up for it and they fell off, that's still on them.

This is why TT bikes are impounded after tech.
 
Nice win today by Jordi Meeus in Stage 1 of the Tour of Wallonie. Ben Oliver ends up 5th after leading out the sprint and had it until 50m to go. MVDP is supposed to be here but I haven't seen him.
 
stompandgo said:
This is what I have found so far. The team weighed the bike, and it was teched by the UCI. Then the team decided to change from a double chainring to a single chainring. The bike was weighed by the UCI after the finish, and the penalty was assessed by the book.

If this is truly what went down, this is 100% on the DS of her team. Removing a chainring has to reduce the overall weight. If they taped on weighs to make up for it and they fell off, that's still on them.

This is why TT bikes are impounded after tech.
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Correction weights falling off is the most plausible narrative I've heard so far — provided that's physically possible.

Was this chainring change some kind of last-minute rush-rush thing?
 
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Jeremy McCreary said:
Correction weights falling off is the most plausible narrative I've heard so far — provided that's physically possible.

Was this chainring change some kind of last-minute rush-rush thing?
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No idea. The rider HAD to know. She probably suggested it. If weights fell off, that's on them.

There's lots of discussion about this worldwide. Those suggesting that the penalty was too harsh do not understand the UCI. Regulations are changed and modified all the time. They are discussed by the Management Committee and published in Amendments. But on race day, the regulations in force at that time are the "law". This particular regulation has no options. It's crystal clear. Elimination or disqualification of the rider, and a $1,000 Swiss Francs fine to the team. There is zero room for the jury to interpret anything. I've been on a jury myself in a similar situation (fighting) where the regulation is equally clear. There is no debate. Ya break da rules, ya pays da price.
 
The Dauphine is always a great prelude to the Tour. It looks like this year, it will be a battle of the second tier.
 
Ben Oliver from Modern Adventure logs his first pro win, and the first stage win in a UCI 2.Pro race for the team. He beat Arnaud DeLie, Jordy Meeus, Danny Van Poppel, and Tom Crabbe clear by a length. He ends up with the leader's jersey at the end of the day. It was only a matter of time that these guys made themselves known at this level.
 
stompandgo said:
No idea. The rider HAD to know. She probably suggested it. If weights fell off, that's on them.

There's lots of discussion about this worldwide. Those suggesting that the penalty was too harsh do not understand the UCI. Regulations are changed and modified all the time. They are discussed by the Management Committee and published in Amendments. But on race day, the regulations in force at that time are the "law". This particular regulation has no options. It's crystal clear. Elimination or disqualification of the rider, and a $1,000 Swiss Francs fine to the team. There is zero room for the jury to interpret anything. I've been on a jury myself in a similar situation (fighting) where the regulation is equally clear. There is no debate. Ya break da rules, ya pays da price.
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Yes, rules are rules, but scales also have finite accuracies. According to Cyclingnews.com, the manufacturer of the scale the UCI uses claims an accuracy of ±20 g.

With a mandatory penalty so severe, that must also be taken into account. In which case, I think Wiebes should've been given the benefit of the doubt.
 
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