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Old 05-04-2018, 07:45 AM   #1
KTrain
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Default 2018 Cycling Thread

Today's the start of the Giro D'Italia. We probably could have had a thread for the Monuments too but better late than never.

The 101st Giro starts in Jerusalem this year. Not controversial at all. I'm trying to ignore that and just enjoy the cycling.

Chris Froome crashed on his recon ride of the time trial. I'm watching live and he just left the block so we'll see how the crash effected him.

Anyone have a favourite to win it? Repeat by Dumoulin? Froome? Pinot? A dark horse?
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Old 05-04-2018, 09:05 AM   #2
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Dumoulin takes the first TT stage. Looks like he's in good form to repeat. Hopefully he doesn't pull too far ahead and the 3 weeks are interesting throughout.
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Old 05-04-2018, 09:50 AM   #3
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I like the grand tours but really only follow them closely when a Canadian is in the GC field. I find the predictability of Froome and team sky winning all the time really dull lately, usually at least the Giro is interesting but with him going to Italy I thought it'll be the Vuelta this year I guess. Until he messed himself up this am! Now that he's got the drug cloud hanging over his head it makes it even tougher to watch him hammering everybody on the mountains. Wish cycling could get its act together on doping.

Looks like Woods didn't have a great start today which is too bad but hopefully he can hit the top 10 as the race goes on and hits some of the more interesting mountain stages.
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:06 AM   #4
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Other than the Giro, I actually lean towards the one day races. Roubaix and Flanders. When they don't need to last 3 weeks, the racers just hammer out one big race.

Reducing the maximum team size to 8 will be interesting for team Sky this year and should open it up for the other teams to compete more.
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Old 05-04-2018, 10:15 AM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by KTrain View Post
Other than the Giro, I actually lean towards the one day races. Roubaix and Flanders. When they don't need to last 3 weeks, the racers just hammer out one big race.

Reducing the maximum team size to 8 will be interesting for team Sky this year and should open it up for the other teams to compete more.
Yeah the monuments are interesting for sure, sad about the death on Roubaix this year - though Woods result at Liege was a positive as a Canadian cycling fan. It would be cool to see more 1 dayers (outside the monuments) involve big climbs.

Too bad to see the Tour of Alberta fade out this year... that was a real once in a lifetime thing to see a tour at that level in AB. Makes sense though as the economic timing wasn't the best for them, if it had been 15 years ago they might have had more time to find their feet. Always hoped it would have ended up being a 10 dayer and coming through BC.
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Old 05-12-2018, 09:08 AM   #6
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Tour of California starts tomorrow. Set the PVR because Sportsnet is airing the race at midnight...
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Old 05-22-2018, 09:20 AM   #7
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Looks like Yates will hold on to the maglia rosa after today's time trial.
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Old 05-26-2018, 07:08 PM   #8
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i havent followed the sport for some time, is there still the perception that the bulk of the riders arent racing clean or has the sport been cleaned up to an extent. i thought i read somewhere that there is a dominant team out there and it is getting looked at like the old US postal team, lots of doubts. used to follow it all the time but just dont find it interesting anymore, maybe because i dont know the riders?
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Old 05-26-2018, 11:13 PM   #9
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You're referring to Sky and, yes, there is doubt about them. Sky started their team as huge anti-doping proponents. Froome is their star and he's about the win the Giro D'Italia. If he does, he'll have the title for all three grand tours at the same time and be the first Briton to win the Giro. He'll also still be under investigation for taking performance enhancing drugs during the Vuelta. In his case, too much asthma inhaler. I hope he's cleared because it'll set the sport back again to the point that I can't see it recovering.

I've only got into in the last five years or so as I've started cycling more myself. It's a unique sport in that they compete in places you're able to test yourself on too. You can go to the mountains professional cyclists race on to see how you do. The biggest challenge for these athletes face is the course and you can challenge yourself too. Not many sports can say the same.
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