About 250 professional wins now for Marianne The Mighty, winning for the first time at Omloop’ a few weeks ago and now celebrating her first win at DDV. Both her and Tadej are colouring in all the blocks on the racing calendar.
Geez, if I see tough athletes like Jasper Stuyven, WvA and Bini (his 2nd high speed crash in as many seasons) in so much pain, I know that the crash was very eina. I’m hoping all of them will get back to the office (throwing their leg over the saddle for a WT race) with full recovery.
On another note, the American is having a magnificent March. What mixed fortune for the team in yellow. 4 sleeps to the Tour of Flanders!
Pic: @jeredgruber
Stuyven had an unfortunate technical while being part of the winning break. Man mountain sprinter Jonathan Milan was simply superb as he pressured the rainbow jersey to chase, chase and chase again. Lidl-Trek will draw a lot of confidence and resolve from their team performance. This bodes well for RvV and The Hell of the North.
Another highlight of the weekend was the elegant Egan Bernal on a WT stage race podium. Take a bow, champion.
3 superlatives for the 30 year old Matt Beers:
Professional. Stoic. Gritty.
He comes across as a 'caring hammer' when his teammate is the nail. I have lost count with the number of teammates that he has won this special yellow jersey - a total reflection on him as an athlete. Respect.
And the Specialized brand continue to dominate the Cape Epic.
Last chance for many teams to taste stage win glory - it's gonna be hard racing on very weary bodies and minds.
For the amateur, a lifetime achievement is a handful of hours away.
"This is Africa. Rain is a blessing" - Stefan Sahm.
That is a lot of VAM required for today. And it will be slippery. Tyre choice and pressure very key.
There'll be weary bodies and minds today, which can lead to delayed reflexes and errors in judgements. Hope all the amateurs makes it through safely to move oh so close to their personal and team ambitions.
Core, manufacturer of the Core body temperature sensor has announced an official sponsorship of 10 UCI WorldTour teams for 2024, as well as issuing an additional 150 new sensors this season to other WorldTour riders. The Core sensor is a small wearable unit that uses Bluetooth or ANT+ signals to provide accurate core temperature, skin temperature, heat strain index and heat strain scores. The unit itself is built with a Swiss-made Calera thermal energy transfer sensor. -
Sauce: CyclingNews
I wonder whether there are any athletes using this technology and tool during the Cape Epic. On a related note, glucose monitoring devices have been banned by the UCI recently.
***
Will there be more twists and turns in both categories? You betcha.
Hard to believe it's Beers and Grotto's first stage win.
Pic: @CapeEpic
Meanwhile:
SHORTENING OF STAGE 4
Due to extreme heat tomorrow, Stage 4 will be shortened
- 88 km reduced to 73 km
- Climbing 3,000m reduced to 2,550m
- First start time remains at 07.00.
- Spectator points remain as they were
- Note change in location of WPs and addition of a Hydro point
- Note updated cut off times and locations
Lots of tears of gratitude and relief today, Peoples. Prognosis excellent and recovery going well after seeing the orthopaedic surgeon this morning. I have a screw thingie in my ankle now.
Spoon cast, bandaging and stitches removed from my ankle and it is looking good after two weeks of post-op recovery. Stitches on my soft tissue wound around the right calf removed as well; about 40 - 50 of them, excluding about a dozen of internal stitches that will remain and eventually dissolve.
Now for the rehabilitation phase with physiotherapy starting on Friday. It is also time to ask my wife to lift me to the gym with my moon boot and crutches for next 3 weeks so I can go pomp my mossels. Light exercise will boost me mentally and emotionally.
I can feel my life force is slowly returning, like a tide coming back in, and I begin to look forward to the horizon. Grateful in ways that typed words cannot express.
The more seriaas side of the ‘gees’ of the Argus encapsulated in a very wholesome interview - reflections on the ‘Covid CTCT’ ☕
MEN’S ELITE
Scintillating racing today. The technical goggas also bit and the Buff’ team somehow escaped being bitten. Can the diminutive Howard G ‘ride himself into form’ and put a smile on the big guy’s dial?
WOMEN’S ELITE
Those cool carbon wheels of the Ghost team are running ominously smoove. On closer analysis, Candice and Mona did well to recover after a minor technical gogga when Candice bombed her front tyre after loss of tyre pressure. I was concerned that it was going to be a repeat issue.
After last year’s storms and flooded trails on the tail end of the 2023 version, the sun gods rule this week.
Hello, Online Community
I am interested in customer reviews of the Canyon distributor and shop in Stellenbosch as I want to trade with them. Please send me some details about the quality of your customer experience, and with follow-up service?
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Brand power
Mathieu van der Poel signs an unprecedented 10 year deal with Canyon
32 minutes ago, BaGearA said:okay so why a bike check now ????
I imagine there’s pre-recorded footage that the producer brings in for entertainment value or continuity whenever there are technical issues or loss of satellite signal to the live race.
The Tulbagh sun will test the radiators of the amateur field today, especially with the final 3 climbs at the tail end of Stage 1. This'll warm me up, hey.
Awesome ride by Bettiol, who’s having a good spring thus far
Matt looking good in his white kicks.
He’s an example of an athlete typology that defies gravity, He climbs so efficiently.
Reminiscent of Usain Bolt who was classified as too tall and big to sprint so fast, defying aerodynamics.
Go, Matt and Grotts!
Go, Candice & Mona!
Today reportedly a 46.133kph average speed, which would beat the 1990 edition – 45.806kph – for the quickest Milan-San Remo ever.
***
“Chasing Tadej after… I had to react one more time and it was really painful, and Jasper came over to me on the descent and said that he still had really good legs… and we are honest with each other, so I knew what to do… we can be really proud that we win San Remo twice with the team.
~ The Rainbow Jersey
Pic: @CA_Ita
MSR:
The final hour will be dramatic, as always. I have a soft spot for Mads Peterson and want him to podium at least.
Nibali was the last Italian a few seasons ago who broke away and stayed away. Ganna gonna do it, although he’s more of a turbo diesel than an explosive dragster?
Weather, according to The Inner Ring, a cool 8°C and the start and reaching 17°C by the finish and sunny most of the way. Almost no wind, just a slight 7-8km/h onshore breeze along the coast which means a slight tailwind for the Cipressa and Poggio.
The SA jersey looking beautifully minimalistic - Gibbons is an important servant for Mads as he stated during interviews around SA Champs.
29 mins of art - stunning
Flying with bike versus bike rental
in Ask Anything
Posted
I rent a bike when I’m rolling for 7 days or less; I travel with my own bike when I roll for more than 7 days - thereabouts.
Enjoy beautiful Lake Como. Just remember 14 degrees at the southern tip of Mama Africa is not the same as 14 degrees in northern Italia.