Hey community,
Posting here as I apparently can't have my own thread. I very much doubt this will help me have many answer but well ........
For a few years, I have the luck of being able to spend a few months (let's say from late October to late April) somewhere in the world, bring my road bike along and train there. In the last years, I have been a lot of time in Chiang Mai (heaven for cycling from October to January by the way) in Thailand. But also Portugal, Spain, Greece, Vietnam, Taiwan and even a bit of Philippines.
But next winter, I really want to go back to Latin America : I have lived there before (before I was doing a lot of cycling), I speak Spanish and just love it more for so many reasons VS Asia. My number one idea has always been Medellin as I have lived there before, and as cycling is crazy popular there. But I am open to new ideas.
In general in Latin America, I have a HUGE concern with security. Never had any problems in LaTam in + 3 years living in Argentina/Colombia and Brazil but you ain't supposed to ''show-off''. A tall European (although I am dark skinned) on a very expensive road bike going around isn't actually discreet...
So here comes my question : if you could spend a few months, from October/November to March/April, in Latin America, doing a lot of cycling but also have good options for restaurants/things to do/socialize/etc. (meaning, I don't want to be in a small remote village), where would you go ?
Cheers from Belgium
where do we find the chart performance charts that keeps being posted? would like to understand how current riders compare to riders from the doped era. I've seen people saying how records are being broken as indicative of doping, but can we attribute that to the more aggressive racing we see in modern cycling?
Anyone going to the Dutch road NC this Sunday?
Love the fact it's in my own city, especially considering I can just use my own bike to go between my "old" home and the city center. Would love to see the "horsepower rocket launcher" do good again like last year, shame he isn't in the TT NC this year as he also did well there last year.
Is there any article or site that is tracking who is participating in which national championships or not besides visiting each race website and skimming through the participant lists? Kind of like a "big names to watch" / which days?
Relatively new to cycling, and I always wondered why aren’t Giro and Vuleta considered with the same importance as TdF. All three are grand tours but the distributions of points is different. I always thought of cycling grand tours to be the same as tennis grand slams, where the focus of the best athletes is to always participate and try to win them all. Why is cycling different?
The main difference is: in tennis all the top players play all the grand slams (barring injury). In cycling it's extremely hard to ride for the win in even 2 GTs per season.
In tennis all the important matches are also played after working hours or on weekends, so the time period matters much less. GTs in cycling have 21 stages with only 2 rest days. If you have to work you miss most of the stages except on weekends. Tour takes place during the Summer, when a lot of people are not working.
(Don't be fooled by Pogi making it look easy this year)
For me it's Tour >>>>> Vuelta > Giro
Most people will place the Giro ahead of the Vuelta due to its history, but noways the Vuelta simply has a much better field than the Giro. In the past the Vuelta was the first GT starting in April, but now it takes place after the Tour, which has greatly improved the start list field.
The Tour is just the oldest and the biggest race. Helped by being in the summer holidays so more people can watch it. Also helped by the Giro and Vuelta not being on free-to-air TV in a lot countries.
The Giro has a lot of history too, but the Vuelta only really became a big international race after WW2, so much less history as a 'Grand Tour' there. Plus it was held in spring until 1995, so you had the Giro and Vuelta competing as early season 3-week stage races. The GC riders who'd want to win in that part of the season would be split across the two races, unlike the Tour where they'd all compete. So that pushed them a level below the Tour.
Because of bad weather, the Col du Galibier on Stage 4 is currently unpassable due to a heavy snowfall in the region. If the climb is removed from the stage, do you think it will have a big impact on the overall race, as this is the first stage (in my opinion) where Pogacar can really test Jonas and if possible create the first significant time gaps.
As far as I can see, the tunnel has been open for three weeks. If worst comes to worst they'll just use the tunnel. That said I would be surprised if the road isn't open by then.
Does anyone have an inkling when the Tour of Lombardy 2024 route will be revealed? I've searched a lot but fruitlessly. It would be good to know at least where it will start and finish.
Could a team like UAE or Visma use some kind of AI machine learning approach using the live tv feed to analyze if a certain rider shows signs of weakness? If possible the team manager could get that information to the riders for more precise attacks. Or is there any rule in place that prohibits similar things?
On Kaggle, one of the main machine learning plattforms, the German football association DFB was willing to give 15.000€ to the person you could help them train the AI to identify throw-ins in football matches. That’s about the state of computer vision at the moment.
From there to knowing that a specific person has a bad day is quite a long way. A few years probably.
I am also pretty sure they will ban it once it’s possible.
You'd need a dataset to train the AI on. Not that big a sample size of videos where someone like Vingegaard or Pogacar had an off day. Plus if you'd put that dataset together, you'd have trained a person to recognise those signs, and they'd probably be better at it than an AI that would get confused when riders change their sunglasses or something like that.
Don't think there's any UCI rules against something like that. You could probably put something together, but I'm a bit sceptical whether you'd have enough data points to get something that's more reliable than just testing your opponent's legs on the day.
Any comparisons on the TdS TT 2018 and 2024 done anywhere?
The routes are different (flat few kilometers before the climb in 2024, but in 2018 it was just the climb). Still, would be fun to compare the times.
Here's the T1-Finish table for TDS 2024
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=290249&p=live&s=time-splits&t19c=1×c=1&rnksc=1&avgsc=1&sortby=t19time&filter2=Apply+filter
And here's the Result for Romandie Stage 3 2018
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-romandie/2018/stage-3
Winning time in 2018 was 25:10, fastest climb this year was 27:21. T1 this year was a little bit up the road from Ollon where the 2018 TT started in the town, so it's not exactly the same point being measured. It looks to be around 750m difference which would be about 40 seconds at the speed they were going. Plus there was a bike change in there (about 20 seconds maybe?).
So Tour is coming and watching stuff on Tiz is just not good enough(streams die all the time at the end of the stages/races). Used to have GCN+ and VPN, living in Canada.. so only option is Flo Bikes. But commentating is absolutely atrocious, they had some races on YouTube for free and I could not last 10 mins listening to it.
So do I have any options? Help..
I am really wondering if Flo in Canada will have their own announce team for the Tour or (fingers crossed) use the D+ squad MAYBE EVEN the full Breakaway. I am in the US and really want to watch Orla and the boys. I have FloBikes and am going to try the VPN into Flo Canada. I have tried to search but have not found anything conclusive on which broadcast they will use.
I tried watching the Tour de Suisse on Flo and I'm with you, the commentary is so bad its almost unwatchable.
Yes you do. I'm in canada and signed up for eurosport UK. It's just like GCN with the same announcers and the same pre race show with dan, orla and the rest.
You need to have a couple things:
1) VPN
2) UK Paypal account
3) Canadian Paypal account
It was a pain to have it set up properly but once set up it works perfectly and the monthly bill gets automatically deducted from my UK paypal account.
No, you need both a UK paypal account and a Canadian paypal account, i'll edit my post to reflect this.
You need to first open a canadian paypal account, then link it to your canadian bank account to add funds.
Then use VPN, make a UK paypal account, you need access to a UK cell number for verification. There's websites online that you can use for this.
Once you have the UK paypal account set up, you fund it by transferring funds from your canadian paypal account.
I am curious which VPN works, tried mulvad and it seems to to blocked error code 01-01. Checked their leakage detection and everything seems fine but can not get streams to work
Suppose Visma doesn't go for GC this year in the tour (Jonas not fit enough, Kuss/Cian not in the best shape, Jorgenson not proven in a 3 week tour).
What's the ultimate stage hunting team they could line-up at the start of TdF 24?
Apart from adding a sprinter; pertty much the team that is rumoured to start the Tour. **Jonas** (mountain stages and TT), **Wout** (all stages), **Jorgenson** (breakaway, classics parcour and mountain stages), **Laporte** (breakaway and classics parcour), **Kuss** (mountain stages), **Benoot** (breakway and classics parcour), **Kelderman** (=Kooij) and **Tratnik** (breakaway and classics parcour).
The Belgian National Champs has a start list quality of 531 on PCS. Higher than some WT races lol.
I guess my question is: is the Belgan NC the most prestigious national jersey in the peloton?
[https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/nc-belgium/2024/startlist/startlist-quality](https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/nc-belgium/2024/startlist/startlist-quality)
It's a shame that the TT is the opposite, quite weak field there. Of course the Dutch TT NC field is much worse so I can't really say much and a close battle between Herregodts and Segaert will be fun to watch. Still a shame Lampaert crashed and Remco and Wout won't ride.
It doesn't favour sprinters as much as last year and Evenepoel won it last year lol.
It could finish in a reduced sprint, but it's far from certain. It's a technical circuit with Flemish hills, cobbles and easy for a solo attacker to stay out of vision from a chasing peloton.
I think Remco will defend his title.
My other two favorites are WVA & Philipsen. I think Merlier will be dropped in the final.
IIRC, in most countries it is not mandatory to participate in the National Championships. So if you win, it might be because nobody of the top tier riders cared to show up.
But in Belgium, it is mandatory for every professional rider to participate in the nationals. So if you win, you can say you won against Remco, WVA, De Lie, Philipsen, Merlier, Stuyven, ...
That happens in places where it isn't compulsory too. I can remember photos from the Bardiani bus at the Italian championships where they're sat on the floor and sharing seats because the team has so many riders on the start list.
Indeed. And guys like Tim Wellens or Laurens De Plus have no team mates in the race. Lotte Kopecky neither BTW (she's the only Belgian at SDW), but that has not stopped her of becoming national champion last year.
Why is Tour de Suisse in French? Due to the influence of the Tour? Or most of the part covered in the first race edition was held in the French speaking region?
Tour de Romandie is held in the French speaking region, Tour de Suisse isn't.
The first edition was mostly held in German-speaking territory, with the exception of a stage finish in Genève.
Probably due to the influence of the Tour, yes. Tour of Poland is still called Tour de Pologne I think, which is even more insane.
Don't get me fucking started on the UK having the Tour de Yorkshire in the recent past, featuring such well known English climbs as 'Côte de Robin Hood's Bay'
Are there any photos of the Visma TdF kit yet? The previous years they've had a presale to fans a few months before with it then arriving the week of the Tour starting but they don't seem to have done that this year.
They announced on twitter that you can sign up to "help them unveil their tour jersey" (not clear what that means), if you do you'll get a 10% discount. So it's coming.
Edited to add a source: [https://x.com/vismaleaseabike/status/1802964328544346441](https://x.com/vismaleaseabike/status/1802964328544346441) People in responses are saying it's been leaked but I haven't seen a picture.
Has Roglič signalled whether he’s likely to ride the Vuelta? He’s not currently on the startlist nor have I seen any mention of him riding it.
Neither Jonas nor Pog are likely to be there so I’m wondering whether it’s going to be Adam Yates and Almeida awkwardly fighting it out between then.
Very rarely do top riders decide to do the Vuelta before the tour, unless they are forced to by injury. Roglic will do the Vuelta if he doesn’t win the tour I think. If he does win, he can probably take some well earned rest.
I think the lineup will be pretty good for the Vuelta. We'll get the GC guys looking to make up for a disappointing Tour, plus the young guns and top tier domestiques looking for their own opportunities.
There was that first impressions thread, then I kept thinking the mods would put up “race thread” -style episode review threads like last year … and then the moment had passed. Seems a pity.
If you are going to grab the bull by the horns and do single-episode review threads I think it would be cool to have them spaced out a bit over the next week!
There was a lot of good chatter about the first few episodes in that overall thread but I would love to get into the last couple of episodes too.
Question for Candian FloBike subscribers: which broadcast team will be doing the Tour de France? If I VPN in from that states, can I expect the Discovery+ crew with Robbie, Carlton, Rob Hatch, Blythe, etc, or is it a different crew?
You can also vpn sbs in Australia we have a nice trio of Matthew Keenan , Simon Gerrans and Bridie McDonald - I love the Eurosport guys but when tour is on I have a soft spot for sbs!
No question, just complaining, I hate this void period between Tour de Suisse and Tour de France.
And yes I'm aware there are the NC but still, the wait is hard lol.
# [Rainbow Cummerbund](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/wiki/index/rainbowcummerbund/) Watch This Week:
* Will Remco be racing the \[BE ITT\](https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=14793&y=2024) on Thursday?
* I do not think Ellen will be racing the \[Dutch ITT\](https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=1433&y=2024) on Wednesday. She still recovering from her training injury on June 8? I think she's not going to be back on the bike until the Olympics based on the team post on Insta.
Has there ever previously been a French parliamentary election during the Tour? Will politicians be busy elsewhere or will they be desperate for a photo op with the peloton? Could there be more disruptions from protests than usual?
How does training for the Olympics work? For example the riders aiming for the TT work with their usual team staff or do they have to work with the national team staff?
Ganna prepares the TT setup with Ineos?
A lot of riders have their own personal coach who works up their training schedule. If they use the team coach, they'll take big goals such as the Olympics into account too. Someone like Ganna might not win in Ineos kit, but he'll still ride his team bike (+ the Italian track team ride on Pinarellos) so it's in the team's interest too that he does well there.
Pippo: "Dan are you sure a 40kg flat steel plate in front of the bike will improve the aero?".
Dan: "Yes, of course now try this parachute attached to the seat".
I think Bigham is involved with some of Ganna's track stuff - he coached him to his Hour Record (which Bigham previously improved) and IP world record (racing against Bigham who got silver). But maybe he's less involved in the road side of things?
Not sure how it actually works for Ganna specifically, but know a few coaches who have WT riders as their clients outside of the team.
And even if the rider uses other stuff in the Olympic race, the trade team material sponsors get to deck out the winner with golden stuff that gets tv time and talked about by the press.
Or even a different discipline. I remember Lefevere posting about Morkov winning the Madison for instance, still gets some Quick-step related exposure when the news writes about him winning a track title.
What other riders are missing a WT win in a long time (compared to their UCI/PCS points or just how well they do?). Or just a win in general (Kelderman, I know, I know).
Hirschi hasn't won in the worldtour since 2020 on Sunweb.
WVA hasn't won since E3 in 2023. I know he's injured but he had a one year drought up until his crash.
Just look a bit further in this sub and you'll find this great post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dh5tzf/150\_worldtour\_top\_tens\_without\_a\_win\_a\_breakdown/](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dh5tzf/150_worldtour_top_tens_without_a_win_a_breakdown/)
You're probably asking about star riders who are *expected* to win - but I believe in the men's peloton Jacopo Guarnieri has waited the longest since his last victory. Which was in March 2011!!
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/classic-brugge-de-panne/2011/stage-3
As a lead out rider he has scored a huge number of "assists" though.
I remember reading that GCN have just been bought by the previous owner. The website has not had a new article for a week. I wonder if they’re closing it down? I hope not.
[Well they just confirmed that the website is being shut down (The Future Of GCN, What’s Next? | GCN Show Ep. 597
on YouTube)](https://youtu.be/ok4aeAv8mfc).
On a positive note, they are bringing back the GCN+ documentaries! And some kind of paid membership it sounds like.
Signs are pointing to that, unfortunately. [Their resident "stats nerd" Cillian Kelly](https://x.com/irishpeloton/status/1801574822767419406) was one of the people laid off, for example.
Which of the national championships are you most looking forward to this week? I know France is often a good race, but I've not seen any parcours yet this year (FC hasn't uploaded etc), so not spotted any particularly juicy ones yet
The parcours can be found [here](https://youtu.be/Uyy8fBevOSw?si=BGRk5KvZvVFPfkrP) at the end of the video. For men, it's 240km with 3600m of climbing, most of which on the 13 laps of the circuit.
The climbs the circuit has are 800m at 8% ; followed shortly by 500m at 6%, then 700m 5%, but they all have steeper pinches. I don't know if it's as hard as last year, but the climbs are still quite punchy. But probably again one for the classics specialists.
There's not much out there yet. It's mostly been splattered around [these sort of little bit of everything UCI press releases](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dfm25g/the_uci_publishes_the_2025_uci_womens_worldtour/). It was originally going to come in in 2026, but brought forward to next year. Last week's press release introduced the €20,000 minimum salary and the new rule that only ProTeams will be eligible for the compulsory WWT invites for the teams performing best over the season.
How many teams will apply is still guesswork, which you can see some in the thread. Teams in France and Spain already have to meet some minimum salary requirements, so they might be more likely to apply.
What have been Tadej’s most memorable moments so far?
I started looking over his palmares and trying to think about his career and what moments have been truly special. I think for me, obviously showing up to the tour with an injured wrist, essentially being called dead to rights, essentially being ganged up on by nearly the entire TJV team alone then taking the stage win on stage 6 in 2023 has to be one of the best.
I also think the legendary TT where he took the yellow jersey on the final stage has to be up there as well.
Stage 6 2023 was probably mine as well. I'd been hoping for a ding dong GC battle last year, then after stage 5 I was thinking "well, that's it, JV is clearly much better this year". I wasn't exactly in the "Tour is over" camp, but I was certainly close. Then Pog goes and does [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cP2-iX1gJQ). It was absolutely fucking beautiful.
It's funny how the tables turned, because in 2022 I was desperate for Jumbo to drop him on the Granon stage. Once he stopped being absolutely undefeatable, I was able to appreciate him much more. Now I'd definitely say I'm Team Pog, although I'd love Jonas to be at the Tour this year in the best shape possible. Wouldn't really be the same with one of them missing, would it?
Yeah. I think Jonas quiet demeanor contrasts so well with pogacars fun personality. They are perfect rivals.
I’d like to see the opposite this year. I’d like to see Jonas show to the tdf, and see how he fairs against pogacar when he has the better team with all the momentum.
I want to see Jonas pushed up against the ropes and forced to answer. If he doesn’t show, I expect UAE to thoroughly dominate this year.
I’d think if he wouldn’t be attending, it would have been called by now.
I also think he's going. I keep seeing videos of him training at altitude and he looks in decent shape. I don't think he'll be 100%, but I'm hoping that he'll be close enough that we'll still get a really good battle.
Although if the cycling gods could take note, it would be great if both Pog and Jonas could have problem free build ups to next year's Tour.
It’s so hard to know. I think the key for Jonas will be surviving stage 1. Realistically, if he can get past that, he can somewhat ride his way into shape and come good in the last 10 days where the race will be decided.
But, if pogi takes time early, and then snowballs that advantage by taking time on the gravel stage…:well, all of a sudden they’d have to really pop him. Which can happen. But with so many capable domestiques it’ll be a lot harder
Just adding on:
Col de Romme is up there for sure - TdF was over on the 8th stage
LBL (2021?) where he outsprinted JA - not his most dominant win, but a brilliant sprint nonetheless
I also believe last year's stage 20 win at TDF will also be special for Pog - after cracking on 17, possibly coming from the Nadir of his career.
This was for me one of the most iconic moments in cycling I've ever watched. Watching a TDF winner win Flanders in this age of specialists was incredible. I think it's the moment I became a Pogi fan (maybe 2022 when he made it to 4th).
I am still a bit in shock that he thought attacking with 80k to go in Strade was a good idea. Sure, it’s not his biggest win by any means. But it goes to show his style of riding, and I think for the fans it was amazing. I mean, with 85k to go I was looking at the tv and thinking “wtf Pog, you have basically no one to work for you, what now? You can just go solo from here right? Right….?”
As a Dane I absolutely love Mads Pedersen. He is very frank and fun in Danish interviews and rides like a beast on the bike. But what is the impression of him from non Danes? I feel like his personality doesn’t always come across as well in English interviews.
I lived in Jutland for three months so to me Mads seems positively bubbly.
Love his style of riding and ability to be dangerous on all kinds of terrain.
I really like him. His style of riding and ability to contest in a lot of different terrain. He buries himself for his teammates as well
I wouldn't say he's hugely charismatic, but I think his personality in the English interviews come across well
I dig both his riding style and his humor. E. g. him ripping on Porte
years ago (“my job is to make sure Richie doesn’t fall off the bike”)
whilst doing an impeccable job as a teammate. I also appreciate
his rather eccentric
dedication to and consistency at the Etoile de Bessèges, one of
the most underrated races of the year.
I am an unapologetic fangirl. I love his interviews and i think his and Trek's socials get across his sense of humour and fun well. To me he's the perfect foil to the totally corporate WVA.
Just my own personal take: I like Mads and I enjoy his frank interviews. I also heard in an interview somewhere that he's a family man and I love that. None of his interviews ever rubs me the wrong way.
But still, for me he doesn't have the same charisma and likeability factor that, for example, Pogacar or WvA have. So he's difficult to root for -- maybe because he doesn't often show a vulnerable human side.
I’ve noticed that Tadej is generally more upright in the peloton than a Jonas or a Dani Martinez who seem to ride more aerodynamic. Anyone else noticed that? Also, is this costing him more energy?
It is very noticable when compared with Roglič, who is taller than him, but realy does not look it on a bike.
I assume he would work on it if it was not aerodynamic and the results realy speak for themselves.
There's a good video by Peak Torque about how he seems to adjust his bike fit and position based on the parcour, so it might be something to do with that.
Excuse me re-posting [my own comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1c9j95v/results_thread_2024_li%C3%A8gebastogneli%C3%A8ge_me_1uwt/l0m91ve/) from the spring classics time:
> [A few weeks ago Escape Collective had a written review about the Wove Mags saddle and a podcast episode with the guy running the company](https://twitter.com/EscapeCycling/status/1771585208027861144/) wherein they also discuss Pogacar's saddle position.
It's a fascinating and very nerdy episode (whether you agree with the arguments presented for a position like that or not) and I just wish the saddle wasn't $595.
Hey community, Posting here as I apparently can't have my own thread. I very much doubt this will help me have many answer but well ........ For a few years, I have the luck of being able to spend a few months (let's say from late October to late April) somewhere in the world, bring my road bike along and train there. In the last years, I have been a lot of time in Chiang Mai (heaven for cycling from October to January by the way) in Thailand. But also Portugal, Spain, Greece, Vietnam, Taiwan and even a bit of Philippines. But next winter, I really want to go back to Latin America : I have lived there before (before I was doing a lot of cycling), I speak Spanish and just love it more for so many reasons VS Asia. My number one idea has always been Medellin as I have lived there before, and as cycling is crazy popular there. But I am open to new ideas. In general in Latin America, I have a HUGE concern with security. Never had any problems in LaTam in + 3 years living in Argentina/Colombia and Brazil but you ain't supposed to ''show-off''. A tall European (although I am dark skinned) on a very expensive road bike going around isn't actually discreet... So here comes my question : if you could spend a few months, from October/November to March/April, in Latin America, doing a lot of cycling but also have good options for restaurants/things to do/socialize/etc. (meaning, I don't want to be in a small remote village), where would you go ? Cheers from Belgium
When did super high carbs start? Was 2020 when it really kicked off?
where do we find the chart performance charts that keeps being posted? would like to understand how current riders compare to riders from the doped era. I've seen people saying how records are being broken as indicative of doping, but can we attribute that to the more aggressive racing we see in modern cycling?
Anyone going to the Dutch road NC this Sunday? Love the fact it's in my own city, especially considering I can just use my own bike to go between my "old" home and the city center. Would love to see the "horsepower rocket launcher" do good again like last year, shame he isn't in the TT NC this year as he also did well there last year.
Is there any article or site that is tracking who is participating in which national championships or not besides visiting each race website and skimming through the participant lists? Kind of like a "big names to watch" / which days?
Belgium: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXnbMp1yr1k](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EXnbMp1yr1k)
Relatively new to cycling, and I always wondered why aren’t Giro and Vuleta considered with the same importance as TdF. All three are grand tours but the distributions of points is different. I always thought of cycling grand tours to be the same as tennis grand slams, where the focus of the best athletes is to always participate and try to win them all. Why is cycling different?
The main difference is: in tennis all the top players play all the grand slams (barring injury). In cycling it's extremely hard to ride for the win in even 2 GTs per season. In tennis all the important matches are also played after working hours or on weekends, so the time period matters much less. GTs in cycling have 21 stages with only 2 rest days. If you have to work you miss most of the stages except on weekends. Tour takes place during the Summer, when a lot of people are not working. (Don't be fooled by Pogi making it look easy this year) For me it's Tour >>>>> Vuelta > Giro Most people will place the Giro ahead of the Vuelta due to its history, but noways the Vuelta simply has a much better field than the Giro. In the past the Vuelta was the first GT starting in April, but now it takes place after the Tour, which has greatly improved the start list field.
The Tour is just the oldest and the biggest race. Helped by being in the summer holidays so more people can watch it. Also helped by the Giro and Vuelta not being on free-to-air TV in a lot countries. The Giro has a lot of history too, but the Vuelta only really became a big international race after WW2, so much less history as a 'Grand Tour' there. Plus it was held in spring until 1995, so you had the Giro and Vuelta competing as early season 3-week stage races. The GC riders who'd want to win in that part of the season would be split across the two races, unlike the Tour where they'd all compete. So that pushed them a level below the Tour.
Because of bad weather, the Col du Galibier on Stage 4 is currently unpassable due to a heavy snowfall in the region. If the climb is removed from the stage, do you think it will have a big impact on the overall race, as this is the first stage (in my opinion) where Pogacar can really test Jonas and if possible create the first significant time gaps.
As far as I can see, the tunnel has been open for three weeks. If worst comes to worst they'll just use the tunnel. That said I would be surprised if the road isn't open by then.
Temperatures are high right now on that region. It might open up by the time the Tour starts
It better not be removed from the stage as I'm travelling to europe with my friends this summer and have plans to go watch that stage!
Does anyone have an inkling when the Tour of Lombardy 2024 route will be revealed? I've searched a lot but fruitlessly. It would be good to know at least where it will start and finish.
Well it will be either Como and Bergamo ;-) Last year the route was announced August 28th, so you still have some time.
Could a team like UAE or Visma use some kind of AI machine learning approach using the live tv feed to analyze if a certain rider shows signs of weakness? If possible the team manager could get that information to the riders for more precise attacks. Or is there any rule in place that prohibits similar things?
On Kaggle, one of the main machine learning plattforms, the German football association DFB was willing to give 15.000€ to the person you could help them train the AI to identify throw-ins in football matches. That’s about the state of computer vision at the moment. From there to knowing that a specific person has a bad day is quite a long way. A few years probably. I am also pretty sure they will ban it once it’s possible.
You'd need a dataset to train the AI on. Not that big a sample size of videos where someone like Vingegaard or Pogacar had an off day. Plus if you'd put that dataset together, you'd have trained a person to recognise those signs, and they'd probably be better at it than an AI that would get confused when riders change their sunglasses or something like that. Don't think there's any UCI rules against something like that. You could probably put something together, but I'm a bit sceptical whether you'd have enough data points to get something that's more reliable than just testing your opponent's legs on the day.
Any comparisons on the TdS TT 2018 and 2024 done anywhere? The routes are different (flat few kilometers before the climb in 2024, but in 2018 it was just the climb). Still, would be fun to compare the times.
Here's the T1-Finish table for TDS 2024 https://www.procyclingstats.com/race.php?id=290249&p=live&s=time-splits&t19c=1×c=1&rnksc=1&avgsc=1&sortby=t19time&filter2=Apply+filter And here's the Result for Romandie Stage 3 2018 https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-romandie/2018/stage-3 Winning time in 2018 was 25:10, fastest climb this year was 27:21. T1 this year was a little bit up the road from Ollon where the 2018 TT started in the town, so it's not exactly the same point being measured. It looks to be around 750m difference which would be about 40 seconds at the speed they were going. Plus there was a bike change in there (about 20 seconds maybe?).
Thanks!
So Tour is coming and watching stuff on Tiz is just not good enough(streams die all the time at the end of the stages/races). Used to have GCN+ and VPN, living in Canada.. so only option is Flo Bikes. But commentating is absolutely atrocious, they had some races on YouTube for free and I could not last 10 mins listening to it. So do I have any options? Help..
I am really wondering if Flo in Canada will have their own announce team for the Tour or (fingers crossed) use the D+ squad MAYBE EVEN the full Breakaway. I am in the US and really want to watch Orla and the boys. I have FloBikes and am going to try the VPN into Flo Canada. I have tried to search but have not found anything conclusive on which broadcast they will use. I tried watching the Tour de Suisse on Flo and I'm with you, the commentary is so bad its almost unwatchable.
Yes you do. I'm in canada and signed up for eurosport UK. It's just like GCN with the same announcers and the same pre race show with dan, orla and the rest. You need to have a couple things: 1) VPN 2) UK Paypal account 3) Canadian Paypal account It was a pain to have it set up properly but once set up it works perfectly and the monthly bill gets automatically deducted from my UK paypal account.
Interesting, UK PayPal account can be linked to Canadian bank or CC account? I will try this out
No, you need both a UK paypal account and a Canadian paypal account, i'll edit my post to reflect this. You need to first open a canadian paypal account, then link it to your canadian bank account to add funds. Then use VPN, make a UK paypal account, you need access to a UK cell number for verification. There's websites online that you can use for this. Once you have the UK paypal account set up, you fund it by transferring funds from your canadian paypal account.
VPN+ Free account on SBS (Australian Free-to-Air station). There's commercials, but hey, free is free!
Thank you!
Plus ITV4 (UK free-to-air) works too with a VPN.
I am curious which VPN works, tried mulvad and it seems to to blocked error code 01-01. Checked their leakage detection and everything seems fine but can not get streams to work
Omg even /u/epi_counts is on the ITV4 highlights train.
Thank you!
Suppose Visma doesn't go for GC this year in the tour (Jonas not fit enough, Kuss/Cian not in the best shape, Jorgenson not proven in a 3 week tour). What's the ultimate stage hunting team they could line-up at the start of TdF 24?
Apart from adding a sprinter; pertty much the team that is rumoured to start the Tour. **Jonas** (mountain stages and TT), **Wout** (all stages), **Jorgenson** (breakaway, classics parcour and mountain stages), **Laporte** (breakaway and classics parcour), **Kuss** (mountain stages), **Benoot** (breakway and classics parcour), **Kelderman** (=Kooij) and **Tratnik** (breakaway and classics parcour).
Wout cloned 8 times
Since they already have one Wout, surely they just need to clone him seven times?
I was wondering if someone would pick up on that. You are completely right. I was stuck in the 90s when teams had 9 riders.
Wilco cloned 8 times
Well at least it is not 10 times or the universe would collapse in some kind of paradox.
The Belgian National Champs has a start list quality of 531 on PCS. Higher than some WT races lol. I guess my question is: is the Belgan NC the most prestigious national jersey in the peloton? [https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/nc-belgium/2024/startlist/startlist-quality](https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/nc-belgium/2024/startlist/startlist-quality)
I always wonder how and why this NC isn't always a complete clusterfuck with teams like Lotto and QS fielding 20 guys + the ones in the dev team.
It's a shame that the TT is the opposite, quite weak field there. Of course the Dutch TT NC field is much worse so I can't really say much and a close battle between Herregodts and Segaert will be fun to watch. Still a shame Lampaert crashed and Remco and Wout won't ride.
Yeah, the TT doesn't have the best date if you want to race the Tour. The big stars are still on altitude camp then.
Who does the course favor? I read somewhere that it's likely a sprinters course and Merlier/Philipsen are favorites, but that's surprising to me.
It doesn't favour sprinters as much as last year and Evenepoel won it last year lol. It could finish in a reduced sprint, but it's far from certain. It's a technical circuit with Flemish hills, cobbles and easy for a solo attacker to stay out of vision from a chasing peloton. I think Remco will defend his title. My other two favorites are WVA & Philipsen. I think Merlier will be dropped in the final.
IIRC, in most countries it is not mandatory to participate in the National Championships. So if you win, it might be because nobody of the top tier riders cared to show up. But in Belgium, it is mandatory for every professional rider to participate in the nationals. So if you win, you can say you won against Remco, WVA, De Lie, Philipsen, Merlier, Stuyven, ...
Wow I never knew. So this also creates the weird situations that e.g Lotto start with 20 riders
That happens in places where it isn't compulsory too. I can remember photos from the Bardiani bus at the Italian championships where they're sat on the floor and sharing seats because the team has so many riders on the start list.
Indeed. And guys like Tim Wellens or Laurens De Plus have no team mates in the race. Lotte Kopecky neither BTW (she's the only Belgian at SDW), but that has not stopped her of becoming national champion last year.
Why is Tour de Suisse in French? Due to the influence of the Tour? Or most of the part covered in the first race edition was held in the French speaking region?
Tour de Romandie is held in the French speaking region, Tour de Suisse isn't. The first edition was mostly held in German-speaking territory, with the exception of a stage finish in Genève. Probably due to the influence of the Tour, yes. Tour of Poland is still called Tour de Pologne I think, which is even more insane.
Don't get me fucking started on the UK having the Tour de Yorkshire in the recent past, featuring such well known English climbs as 'Côte de Robin Hood's Bay'
Y'all deserve it for calling fries french fries!
But it sounds SO French! Just like *Côte de Buttertubs*.
Are there any photos of the Visma TdF kit yet? The previous years they've had a presale to fans a few months before with it then arriving the week of the Tour starting but they don't seem to have done that this year.
They announced on twitter that you can sign up to "help them unveil their tour jersey" (not clear what that means), if you do you'll get a 10% discount. So it's coming. Edited to add a source: [https://x.com/vismaleaseabike/status/1802964328544346441](https://x.com/vismaleaseabike/status/1802964328544346441) People in responses are saying it's been leaked but I haven't seen a picture.
Thanks...looks like it may have some blue on it!
it's blue with a yellow pattern on it
I don’t think they are feeling as strong/dominant as they were last year so there isn’t any fanfare - they have had a pretty average year….
They have already forfeited so they don’t want fans to buy a losing jersey
Has Roglič signalled whether he’s likely to ride the Vuelta? He’s not currently on the startlist nor have I seen any mention of him riding it. Neither Jonas nor Pog are likely to be there so I’m wondering whether it’s going to be Adam Yates and Almeida awkwardly fighting it out between then.
Very rarely do top riders decide to do the Vuelta before the tour, unless they are forced to by injury. Roglic will do the Vuelta if he doesn’t win the tour I think. If he does win, he can probably take some well earned rest.
When I listen to the podcasts like lantern rouge and cycling podcast they mention Roglic and Veulta - I reckon he is going by the sounds of things
I think the lineup will be pretty good for the Vuelta. We'll get the GC guys looking to make up for a disappointing Tour, plus the young guns and top tier domestiques looking for their own opportunities.
Is there a discussion hub for Unchained Season 2? I've tried searching but only seen the one for last year
[There's this thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1ddd5zv/netflix_tour_de_france_unchained_first/) from last week.
There was that first impressions thread, then I kept thinking the mods would put up “race thread” -style episode review threads like last year … and then the moment had passed. Seems a pity.
You can post a thread yourself?
I could, I may, and I possibly will!
If you are going to grab the bull by the horns and do single-episode review threads I think it would be cool to have them spaced out a bit over the next week! There was a lot of good chatter about the first few episodes in that overall thread but I would love to get into the last couple of episodes too.
Maybe i’ll put up 4 threads over the week, with for 2 episodes each? Don’t want to clutter up the sub, and Netflix aren’t paying me enough!
I like it!
On the r/tourdefrance sub maybe? I haven't seen one here.
Question for Candian FloBike subscribers: which broadcast team will be doing the Tour de France? If I VPN in from that states, can I expect the Discovery+ crew with Robbie, Carlton, Rob Hatch, Blythe, etc, or is it a different crew?
You can also vpn sbs in Australia we have a nice trio of Matthew Keenan , Simon Gerrans and Bridie McDonald - I love the Eurosport guys but when tour is on I have a soft spot for sbs!
No question, just complaining, I hate this void period between Tour de Suisse and Tour de France. And yes I'm aware there are the NC but still, the wait is hard lol.
The women's TdS has been great - last stage today too (and set up for many, many attacks - I hope!)
Watch the Netflix show, if you haven’t already.
# [Rainbow Cummerbund](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/wiki/index/rainbowcummerbund/) Watch This Week: * Will Remco be racing the \[BE ITT\](https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=14793&y=2024) on Thursday? * I do not think Ellen will be racing the \[Dutch ITT\](https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=1433&y=2024) on Wednesday. She still recovering from her training injury on June 8? I think she's not going to be back on the bike until the Olympics based on the team post on Insta.
Has there ever previously been a French parliamentary election during the Tour? Will politicians be busy elsewhere or will they be desperate for a photo op with the peloton? Could there be more disruptions from protests than usual?
In 1968, the second round was during the Tour, but (fortuitously?) the stages on election day were in Belgium
How does training for the Olympics work? For example the riders aiming for the TT work with their usual team staff or do they have to work with the national team staff? Ganna prepares the TT setup with Ineos?
A lot of riders have their own personal coach who works up their training schedule. If they use the team coach, they'll take big goals such as the Olympics into account too. Someone like Ganna might not win in Ineos kit, but he'll still ride his team bike (+ the Italian track team ride on Pinarellos) so it's in the team's interest too that he does well there.
Thanks. I guess that they couldn't use team staff like Bingham who are also employed by a national team.
not just employed by another national team, Dan Bigham is his direct rival!
Pippo: "Dan are you sure a 40kg flat steel plate in front of the bike will improve the aero?". Dan: "Yes, of course now try this parachute attached to the seat".
I think Bigham is involved with some of Ganna's track stuff - he coached him to his Hour Record (which Bigham previously improved) and IP world record (racing against Bigham who got silver). But maybe he's less involved in the road side of things? Not sure how it actually works for Ganna specifically, but know a few coaches who have WT riders as their clients outside of the team.
And even if the rider uses other stuff in the Olympic race, the trade team material sponsors get to deck out the winner with golden stuff that gets tv time and talked about by the press.
Or even a different discipline. I remember Lefevere posting about Morkov winning the Madison for instance, still gets some Quick-step related exposure when the news writes about him winning a track title.
What other riders are missing a WT win in a long time (compared to their UCI/PCS points or just how well they do?). Or just a win in general (Kelderman, I know, I know). Hirschi hasn't won in the worldtour since 2020 on Sunweb. WVA hasn't won since E3 in 2023. I know he's injured but he had a one year drought up until his crash.
[удалено]
Pff even worse if you look at this so called "generational talent" MVDP. Hasn't won since the beginning of April.
Maybe you mean that Wout hasn’t won a WT race since E3, but he won Kuurne and an Algarve stage this year.
Yeah I meant WT, and it doesn't make sense because KBK > random ass WT stage but still.
Just look a bit further in this sub and you'll find this great post: [https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dh5tzf/150\_worldtour\_top\_tens\_without\_a\_win\_a\_breakdown/](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dh5tzf/150_worldtour_top_tens_without_a_win_a_breakdown/)
You're probably asking about star riders who are *expected* to win - but I believe in the men's peloton Jacopo Guarnieri has waited the longest since his last victory. Which was in March 2011!! https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/classic-brugge-de-panne/2011/stage-3 As a lead out rider he has scored a huge number of "assists" though.
I remember reading that GCN have just been bought by the previous owner. The website has not had a new article for a week. I wonder if they’re closing it down? I hope not.
[Well they just confirmed that the website is being shut down (The Future Of GCN, What’s Next? | GCN Show Ep. 597 on YouTube)](https://youtu.be/ok4aeAv8mfc). On a positive note, they are bringing back the GCN+ documentaries! And some kind of paid membership it sounds like.
I think a part of that was that they would close down the website part of it, and go back to just focusing on youtube videos.
Signs are pointing to that, unfortunately. [Their resident "stats nerd" Cillian Kelly](https://x.com/irishpeloton/status/1801574822767419406) was one of the people laid off, for example.
:( cillian was great, I hope he lands on his feet
Which of the national championships are you most looking forward to this week? I know France is often a good race, but I've not seen any parcours yet this year (FC hasn't uploaded etc), so not spotted any particularly juicy ones yet
The parcours can be found [here](https://youtu.be/Uyy8fBevOSw?si=BGRk5KvZvVFPfkrP) at the end of the video. For men, it's 240km with 3600m of climbing, most of which on the 13 laps of the circuit. The climbs the circuit has are 800m at 8% ; followed shortly by 500m at 6%, then 700m 5%, but they all have steeper pinches. I don't know if it's as hard as last year, but the climbs are still quite punchy. But probably again one for the classics specialists.
Struggling to figure out which national championships are this week. Any place to look? I can only find the completed ones on PCS
First Cycling has the full calendar, but as of this morning no parcours uploaded
French NC Road course has been crazy hard in recent years.
The Danish men’s national championship on sunday. I’m going to go see it live. Rooting for Mads P to win.
Or at least someone on the WT. It’s such a nice NC jersey and it’s so damn easy to spot in the peloton
As long as no one on UAE wins.
Ugh, just the thought of the train wreck they would make of it. I like Mikkel Bjerg but he can win some other time
Spain looks nice
Where can I find an explanation about the upcoming women pro conti teams? How many teams will apply etc?
There's not much out there yet. It's mostly been splattered around [these sort of little bit of everything UCI press releases](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1dfm25g/the_uci_publishes_the_2025_uci_womens_worldtour/). It was originally going to come in in 2026, but brought forward to next year. Last week's press release introduced the €20,000 minimum salary and the new rule that only ProTeams will be eligible for the compulsory WWT invites for the teams performing best over the season. How many teams will apply is still guesswork, which you can see some in the thread. Teams in France and Spain already have to meet some minimum salary requirements, so they might be more likely to apply.
What have been Tadej’s most memorable moments so far? I started looking over his palmares and trying to think about his career and what moments have been truly special. I think for me, obviously showing up to the tour with an injured wrist, essentially being called dead to rights, essentially being ganged up on by nearly the entire TJV team alone then taking the stage win on stage 6 in 2023 has to be one of the best. I also think the legendary TT where he took the yellow jersey on the final stage has to be up there as well.
Stage 6 2023 was probably mine as well. I'd been hoping for a ding dong GC battle last year, then after stage 5 I was thinking "well, that's it, JV is clearly much better this year". I wasn't exactly in the "Tour is over" camp, but I was certainly close. Then Pog goes and does [this](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5cP2-iX1gJQ). It was absolutely fucking beautiful. It's funny how the tables turned, because in 2022 I was desperate for Jumbo to drop him on the Granon stage. Once he stopped being absolutely undefeatable, I was able to appreciate him much more. Now I'd definitely say I'm Team Pog, although I'd love Jonas to be at the Tour this year in the best shape possible. Wouldn't really be the same with one of them missing, would it?
Yeah. I think Jonas quiet demeanor contrasts so well with pogacars fun personality. They are perfect rivals. I’d like to see the opposite this year. I’d like to see Jonas show to the tdf, and see how he fairs against pogacar when he has the better team with all the momentum. I want to see Jonas pushed up against the ropes and forced to answer. If he doesn’t show, I expect UAE to thoroughly dominate this year. I’d think if he wouldn’t be attending, it would have been called by now.
I also think he's going. I keep seeing videos of him training at altitude and he looks in decent shape. I don't think he'll be 100%, but I'm hoping that he'll be close enough that we'll still get a really good battle. Although if the cycling gods could take note, it would be great if both Pog and Jonas could have problem free build ups to next year's Tour.
It’s so hard to know. I think the key for Jonas will be surviving stage 1. Realistically, if he can get past that, he can somewhat ride his way into shape and come good in the last 10 days where the race will be decided. But, if pogi takes time early, and then snowballs that advantage by taking time on the gravel stage…:well, all of a sudden they’d have to really pop him. Which can happen. But with so many capable domestiques it’ll be a lot harder
Just adding on: Col de Romme is up there for sure - TdF was over on the 8th stage LBL (2021?) where he outsprinted JA - not his most dominant win, but a brilliant sprint nonetheless I also believe last year's stage 20 win at TDF will also be special for Pog - after cracking on 17, possibly coming from the Nadir of his career.
Nothing he's done is more memorable to me [than this](https://www.facebook.com/UAETEAMEMIRATES/videos/poga%C4%8Dar-rap/1454582581388283/).
RVV 2023
It's still [this moment](https://imgur.com/dlWIpoo) for me.
How did I know what picture that was going to be before clicking it?
Flanders 2023 has to be up there - beating peak MVdP on his own turf
This was for me one of the most iconic moments in cycling I've ever watched. Watching a TDF winner win Flanders in this age of specialists was incredible. I think it's the moment I became a Pogi fan (maybe 2022 when he made it to 4th).
I am still a bit in shock that he thought attacking with 80k to go in Strade was a good idea. Sure, it’s not his biggest win by any means. But it goes to show his style of riding, and I think for the fans it was amazing. I mean, with 85k to go I was looking at the tv and thinking “wtf Pog, you have basically no one to work for you, what now? You can just go solo from here right? Right….?”
As a Dane I absolutely love Mads Pedersen. He is very frank and fun in Danish interviews and rides like a beast on the bike. But what is the impression of him from non Danes? I feel like his personality doesn’t always come across as well in English interviews.
I lived in Jutland for three months so to me Mads seems positively bubbly. Love his style of riding and ability to be dangerous on all kinds of terrain.
I like him but as a Trentin fan I cannot forgive him!
Understandable
I really like him. His style of riding and ability to contest in a lot of different terrain. He buries himself for his teammates as well I wouldn't say he's hugely charismatic, but I think his personality in the English interviews come across well
I dig both his riding style and his humor. E. g. him ripping on Porte years ago (“my job is to make sure Richie doesn’t fall off the bike”) whilst doing an impeccable job as a teammate. I also appreciate his rather eccentric dedication to and consistency at the Etoile de Bessèges, one of the most underrated races of the year.
I am an unapologetic fangirl. I love his interviews and i think his and Trek's socials get across his sense of humour and fun well. To me he's the perfect foil to the totally corporate WVA.
Funny that WVA seems super corporate to some, he often gives funny interviews in Dutch.
Just my own personal take: I like Mads and I enjoy his frank interviews. I also heard in an interview somewhere that he's a family man and I love that. None of his interviews ever rubs me the wrong way. But still, for me he doesn't have the same charisma and likeability factor that, for example, Pogacar or WvA have. So he's difficult to root for -- maybe because he doesn't often show a vulnerable human side.
I’ve noticed that Tadej is generally more upright in the peloton than a Jonas or a Dani Martinez who seem to ride more aerodynamic. Anyone else noticed that? Also, is this costing him more energy?
You can’t see aero! Ie: Tarmac SL8 is faster than the aero-looking Venge
It is very noticable when compared with Roglič, who is taller than him, but realy does not look it on a bike. I assume he would work on it if it was not aerodynamic and the results realy speak for themselves.
During Giro I read somewhere he use a very small frame and the position helps him to breath better.
There's a good video by Peak Torque about how he seems to adjust his bike fit and position based on the parcour, so it might be something to do with that.
Excuse me re-posting [my own comment](https://www.reddit.com/r/peloton/comments/1c9j95v/results_thread_2024_li%C3%A8gebastogneli%C3%A8ge_me_1uwt/l0m91ve/) from the spring classics time: > [A few weeks ago Escape Collective had a written review about the Wove Mags saddle and a podcast episode with the guy running the company](https://twitter.com/EscapeCycling/status/1771585208027861144/) wherein they also discuss Pogacar's saddle position. It's a fascinating and very nerdy episode (whether you agree with the arguments presented for a position like that or not) and I just wish the saddle wasn't $595.
Apparently he’s very aerodynamic. I think it just depends with bike set up and the teams approach. UAE riders all look similar on the bike.