Eldron

In the age of road hydraulic and gravel ye olde monstercross build is a bit of a dinsaur but when my new gravel bike got delayed again I thought "you must have enough stuff lying around to build a monstercross/gravel bike that you can ride until your actual gravel bike arrives". This is the result. Mtb frame/wheels/stem/crank, gravel fork/bars/tyres and road group. The geometry is terrible but it is great for an hour or two blast.

The DS and a team of data engineers will be analyzing the data and guiding the athletes (much like they do now). The basic principle remains but luckily for us "let the racers race" old school guys the ban remains in place. Now get rid of radios!!

In principle I agree with you but practically it would start a tech war (that Ineos would probably win) and it would make racing even more formulaic and boring. It's a "careful what you wish for" scenario in my opinion.

The question is: Do we really want that? Do we really want ultra measured riders who are guided only by the numbers? Drones covered in sensors who ride Froome style with both eyes firmly on the 9" iPad on their bars... That would be boring as fark.

That was a fun decade. None of the riders in that list would have won. Probably not a clean rider in the top 10!

And the UCI investigation?

I don't know enough about it to have a firm opinion but Travis Tygart does. The UCI are also monitoring it and said they will make a decision "soon". https://www.velonews.com/news/tygart-calls-out-british-cyclings-ketone-trials/

Agreed but now we're talking ethics and morals not clean/dirty. Ketones is another moral dilemma - nobody is dirty for taking them but it is a questionable practice. I'm sure they will be banned soon enough.

Still not any evidence or indication that they are doping.

Well that's the thing - we just don't know. The last few years would suggest the sport is cleaner but still not squeaky clean. Kinda like all humans really - some of the guys in your racing group will be cheating, some of the people in your office will be stealing, some of the people in your social circle will drive drunk and speed - that doesn't mean that we should refer to your friends and colleagues as cheating, thieving, law breaking drunkards...

Pills doesn't necessarily mean dirty...

Here is one they'll go past ????

Most are wide boulevards but the twisty bits near the Little Mermaid center right is pretty narrow and technical. The road past the Castle (Kastellet) is a bike path I use everyday with strips of cobbles...not sure how that will work...unless they're going to send them on the pedestrian only promenade which is a little higher and smoother. Yeah they'll probably do that. Loads of statues and touristy stuff along that. Perfect for TV! Edit: Copenhagen is a beautiful city with loads of history - should be quite a picturesque proogue.

I was (very very) sadly mistaken. Initially it looked like the prologue went down the 02 - the yellow road next to the red dot (my shop) but sadly they routed it back through the inner city. The route is 200m from my shop. You're more than welcome to swing by anyway. Danish Shimano HQ is even closer (between my red dot and the route) and I'm pretty sure they'll have an event and I will definitely get invited.

Maaaan what a race. Loved that. It was 6 versus 1 and the 1 won it!

Racing is on... Damn frenchman and dutchie getting in the way of the EU Belgian national champs ???? That crash at the start was a bit hectic!

It's a decent cycling day today considering it is off season for road. Giro Criterium "race" in the morning then CX in the afternoon. I think the UCI track champions league starts in Mallorca today too.... Yeah Isi got lucky this year! A 4 way race has become "everyone chase Isi". Either way I will be drinking coffee and doing fittings while I watch. A fine day in the lab ????

EU Champs this weekend right? Gonna be epic! Iserbyt looks like he is in with a really good shout....

They qualified for their spot on the 2022 World Tour fair and square. Once again you don't let facts get in the way of a good misguided rant.

This thread (and Diesel's value for money comment) got me to thinking - how much does a UCI point cost? Here is my completely useless Friday contribution pm value for money: Team budget / UCI point ratio for the top 10 Pro Tour teams: Quickstep: €1,600 per point INEOS: €3,333/point Jumbo: €2090 UAE: €2832 Bahrain: €1725 Alpecin: €1211 BORA: €2189 AG2R: €3216 GROUPAMA: €2978 ISR: €2684 Qhubeka: €1831 Qhubeka is great value if you want to sponsor a Pro Tour team!

Qhubeka are on almost exactly the same ranking in UCI points and team budgets so the bang for buck is pretty spot on. Protouch may have got more points but I'd hazard a guess that their global exposure is miniscule compared to Qhubeka. Points (like sponsorship) is only one metric of performance analysis. If points were the only metric then Premier Tech would have bought Protouch's license and had themselves a more successful team than Qhubeka in 1 fell swoop. Spoiler alert - Qhubeka are a better team than Protouch - despite having less UCI points.

Nobody ever accused you of being nasty to Qhubeka. Qhubeka got their point against PRO Tour teams. Protouch got almost all of theirs from one man at one event without much competition. Hence the apples/oranges comment.

This has got to sting a little - especially because the majority of Protouch's point come from an ex Qhubeka rider... I would guess the majority of Protouch's points were earned in Africa. Apples and oranges comparison of course but daaaamn that must still sting.

Yeah...there isn't a lot left to salvage (or attract sponsors). There aren't too many nails left to put in the Qhubeka coffin (I'm still hoping for some awesome miracle though!)

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