Mountain Bru

As to the debate on what to buy, this is pretty close to it: My 2c.... Look at the where you realistically want to ride the bike, and then pick whatever will make that the lekkerdest for you. Don't get caught up on the GCN hype train where they seem to have these amazingly smooth single tracks through the forest all over the show, and these pristine countryside gravel roads that are practically pavement, and then think a gravel bike will be amazing for you. That's clearly not the case here, especially not where I stay. Most gravel roads are corrugated or have huge potholes in them or haven't been maintained well, so having some suspension really makes long rides more enjoyable for me, even though the gravel bike was technically 100% capable to tackle those same roads.

I guess it depends on how you want to ride it too, and how you set it up. Maybe my setup was a bit too aggressive, almost like a road bike setup, or maybe I just wanted to ride it a bit too hard when it's more of a cruiser, but it kind of never worked for me the way I hoped it would. On single track, the drop bars put my weight too far forward and it wasn't lekker for me. Like I always felt like my front wheel was too heavy. And my hands got super tired gripping the hoods on bumpy stuff. I think maybe flat bars are a win if you want to do anything remotely technical. And on bumpy or loose rocky stuff, the front wheel seemed to be pinging off rocks constantly. I also found I needed the tyres quite hard to not hit the rim on rocks (think I had WTB resolute 42s on) and that also made the ride super bumpy. But on a few gravel rides in KZN and in the Cape, it was absolute bliss to cruise along in the drops on the gravel bike.

That makes much more sense. I thought they chose Cosnefroy over Ala for a second ????

I knew the kid thing would be unpopular though. Wanting the podium to just be the three dudes that came 1st 2nd and 3rd doesn't mean you hate kids, or don't have family values, or care more about money than family or whatever. It just means that there's a podium, and you want only the 3 winners on it for the 10 minutes they're up there. I'm not advocating for guys never seeing their kids again. I'm advocating for 10 minutes on the podium without your kids..... Just like almost every other sport in the world. Like you won't see kids on the podium at the Olympics? (and that obviously doesn't mean the Olympics hate kids or family values or whatever) And as a sponsor, wanting your logo clearly displayed on the front page of every newspaper doesn't mean you don't value family. It just means you're sponsoring the team for marketing purposes, and therefore want your logo displayed as much as possible. For sure all of us cycling fans know that UAE sponsors Pog, but the millions of people who don't follow the tour and just see a pic in the paper maybe don't. This is my opinion though. It's okay to disagree..... ????

Why can't they take their wives with them on stage too in that case?

It might have been a bit of a hot take to look down on Vingegaard's performance. I just couldn't get over the fact that everyone is hyping him up so much when he finished 5:20 down on Pogacar. Thats a massive margin, and it probably could have been bigger if Pogacar hadn't defended as much in week 3, and had been trying to gain time, not just win stages. But having thought a bit more, and had a look where Vingegaard actually lost that time, his performance is waaaay more impressive to me. I stand corrected. But you can't deny that the way a race is ridden is heavily dependent on the time gaps and positions on GC. Comparing him to Pog isn't really a fair comparison in my opinion considering the time gaps between them when Roglic fell out. It'll be super interesting to see how he fairs when he doesn't start with a 5 minute handicap and when Pog or Bernal or whoever is actually racing to beat him everyday rather than just defending a huge lead.

Wish it was a mountain top finish. 4865m of climbing is no joke though Some thoughts after looking at the start list: Can't count out Valverde, and he has decent support from Izaguire x2 and Fraile. Porte, Thomas, Woods won't make it down the last descent in one piece if they're trying to hold a gap, so they're not real threats I don't think. Nibali is washed, so I doubt he's a threat either, but a few years ago would have been a major contender. Would love to see Remco and WVA working together for one of them to win. The world is not ready for this though, so it probably won't happen. Great Britain has a strong team for the parkour - Yates, Yates, Thomas & Hart. Solvenia too - Pog, Rog, Tratnik & Polanc. And Netherlands - Dumoulin, Mollema, Van Baarle, Kelderman. How is Allaphalpe not riding for France and Cosnefroy is? Cosnefroy did absolutely nothing at the tour. Gotta wonder how much the tour is gonna effect the race, and how much of an advantage the guys will have that didn't ride it. Thinking of that, I reckon Adam Yates is probably a good pick all things considered. https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/tokyo-olympics-road-race-and-time-trial-start-list/

I had one and sold it because gravel bikes are overrated in Gauteng imho. (Is still find myself wanting one though ????) On smooth gravel roads, it was absolutely amazing to ride. On anything else, not so much. My recommendation would be to really think about the roads you plan on riding it on, and rather buy a hardtail if a good chunck of those roads aren't smooth gravel (and I mean really smooth, no corrugations or rocks or bumps or ruts) . They're a touch on the heavy side too, but that's to be expected with a steel frame. And yes, the brakes are interesting. I short, do your homework and add the cost of the adapters to your sums before you buy. And if you find yourself wondering "can I fit a 2.1 tyre on it", you'd probably be better off with a "monster cross" bike (Hardtail with drop bars)

He's the Frans Steyn "utility back" of cycling. He won on Ventoux, in the TT, and in a bunch sprint in Paris. The man doesn't seem to understand that you're only supposed to be good at one thing.

Whats with all the kids on the podium? This might be an unpopular opinion, but I really don't think there should be kids up there. And as a sponsor, I'd be pissed if my guy, whose salary I pay so that he can be a billboard for my company, gets on the podium of the world's biggest bike race, and then covers up my brand with his kid. Even this?? Hard to say anything bad about WVA though

I unfortunately think Vingegaard is going to be a bit of a one hit wonder too in terms of GC podiums. You can't just look at the results, but also how and when those results were obtained. Tao G won the Giro in probably the weakest field possible after all the Covid stories and Thomas etc crashing out. I mean 2nd and 3rd where Jai Hinley and Kelderman that year ????‍♂️. Mitchelton and Jumbo pulled their whole teams from the race. So yes, he won, but he's not a serious GC contender when the big boys come out to play. Even the year Carapaz won the Giro, I think he got a bit lucky not being marked closely enough when he was 2 minutes down, and then making all that time up on 1 stage. But a guy thats loosing 1:30 to his rivals in a 30km time trial is always going to struggle against the "favourites" like Pog, Rog or Bernal. Ben O'Conner got lucky this year too. Yes he finished 4th, but he was 10 minutes down, and that's after he made up 6 minutes on the stage he won when UAE didn't bother chasing him down in the break. If he was a serious contender, they'd have chased, and he'd likely have ended 16 minutes down in the end. So in my opinion, Jonas' coming second this year in a really weak field proves he's maybe on the "Mas, Lopez, Carapaz, Kelderman, etc" level, but he'll get smoked as soon as there's an uninjured Pog, Rog, Bernal, maybe even Thomas in the field. In previous years, if he finished 5:20 back on the leader, he'd have been 6th or 7th which I think is about right for him.

My word in Fuglsang riding the tour?????? I think thats the first time I've seen his name on the screen

I think Gerrans was a great rider, and has a lot of insights, but hasn't learnt to be a good commentator... yet. It must be flippen hard to stay focused and not talk nonsense when you have to speak for 5 hours. Especially if you're kind of an introvert that doesn't naturally talk the whole time, which I think is his personality type based on the bits we saw of him on the old Greenedge backstage passes.

This is a better view of the incident, with audio so you can hear his little tantrum and hear him screaming in the bus. I think he's shown his true colors, and all the humble words were only half of the story. Maybe still genuine, but tarnished by the other side of his personality cos it's tough to imagine that this is an isolated outbreak.

Forgot to hit save on Superbru picks.... ????‍♂️????‍♂️????‍♂️????‍♂️????‍♂️????‍♂️ Any chance Higuita wins the stage?

Maybe... But last year there was the same kind of witch hunt after Nairoman, and they found nothing, and it all just fizzled away.

For sure, but I think that's an especially terrible question if you look at the race situation. Not sure if you watched the interview, but Pog's response was a confused "Should I be??". And then realizing that might come across as being arrogant and trying to back pedal and speaking about his form. But I kind of agree with Pog. He's almost 6 minutes ahead, smashed everyone in the first TT, has dominated everyone on the climbs, and is now being asked if he's worried about Jonas.

Yeah... "Are you worried about Jonas?". How are you supposed to answer that. I mean based on the 6 minute time gap, that would be like asking the GC leader on stage 18 of other tours if he's worried about the guy in 10th position.

First time I've seen Hart do anything this tour

While your own team pulls in the peloton??? (At some point while Bilbao was off the back trying to chase on). If they are on drugs, it's more likely that it's tik or crystal meth than performance enhancing drugs

But does the ad say "one bike to do it all"? It's like Scott had a look at this fred and made a bike for us. I'm such a sucker for a cable free cockpit. I reckon thats worth the extra 600g cos it no doubt ads 100w to your FTP in everyone's mind when your bike looks super fast.

I think we have a winner ????????????????????????

Gonna call it now... Pogacar wins Yellow, White and Polka dots this year, just like last year.... If he really tries tomorrow, he might be able to OTL half of the field and win Green too.

I see admin said this on page 2 (before BaGearA dropped the real truth bombs) My summary of that response is: 1. What constitutes an agreement? Yes it causes a lot of problems when people disagree on what constitutes an agreement. Bad communication causes this. I still have no idea what constitutes an agreement in the eyes of the admins, but at least I know that it's caused by bad communication, and that it causes a lot of problems when people disagree about it ????‍♂️.

Looks like he's riding with his 7 year old son, just enjoying a Sunday afternoon ride and letting his kid think he's making a big attack Also: check out Vingegaard's face in the background. The guy looks like he's constantly suffering to the max