Newbie

KevinA
KevinA Posts: 492
edited July 2016 in Pro race
Hi Guys

If you are new to pro racing and only really ever watched the TDF what is a good website to get the current news or learn the trade so to speak.

Thanks

Comments

  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Hi Kevin

    Apart from this fine forum you mean :wink:

    Might I suggest
    http://inrng.com for insight and
    http://procyclingstats.com for info.

    I hope other folks will add their favs. All the best, Ron
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,154
    www.inrng.com is only essential reading (it's a blog).
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 8,744
    Welcome Kevin, what did you think of the Tour this year?
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • KevinA
    KevinA Posts: 492
    Thanks guys,

    Generally only watch the TDF but wanting to start following certain riders/teams so good to keep up to date with what they are doing and try and get the race on TV or stream sites.
  • RonB
    RonB Posts: 3,984
    Ok. In that case, another one to check out is

    http://steephill.tv

    which has links to the races, livestreams, trackers & so on
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    Cosmo Catalano has a series on YouTube called "how the race was won" which used to be under his name but is now under cycling tips.

    He has a couple of useful videos such as "why the break was made" which may be of use.
  • effillo
    effillo Posts: 257
    If you want to follow teams/riders then I'd suggest Twitter, always good for updates and a lot of riders post training pics etc.

    Get yourself onto YouTube and watch a bunch of Orica Bike Exchange/Greenedge backstage pass videos. They tend to do one after each stage of a GT and is a great insight into team spirit and what is going on at the race. Last years Vuelta ones are excellent.
  • Lanterne_Rogue
    Lanterne_Rogue Posts: 4,091
    Obviously hanging around here will also get you onto the one true path (it's cobbled, apparently).
    Twitter: @canocola @thedreadships
  • greasedscotsman
    greasedscotsman Posts: 6,962
    RonB wrote:
    Ok. In that case, another one to check out is

    http://steephill.tv

    which has links to the races, livestreams, trackers & so on

    And http://www.cyclingfans.com/
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Hi

    If you go to the UCI website you can see the full calendar of events for the year. These can be filtered eg world tour or Europe tour etc . If you look at the category (and country) you will get a feel for the different types of races - for example on the 20th - 27th August there is the Tour L Avenir ( France 2 N Cup) which is like a mini TDF for under 23's - some familiar winners over the past few years Sicard Barguill, Mollema Quintana Chaves Soler Bak Bakelants etc

    If you get a sense of the calendar you appreciate how it builds up to the tour and then after to the end of season.. There are some races that are not really Tour preperation and these are called The Classics' but these are hardly worth mentioning :lol:

    link here

    http://www.uci.ch/road/calendar/#date=20160728&view=list&categ=140&country=0&classc=0
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,620
    Play PTP. The rest follows.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    For live streams, although has been down recently.

    http://cyclinghub.tv/livestream.php

    For loads of news.

    http://www.cyclingquotes.com/news/
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,391
    TheBigBean wrote:
    Play PTP. The rest follows.

    Good Advice!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • shinyhelmut
    shinyhelmut Posts: 1,364
    Just remember, never admit you enjoyed the tour. It is always sh1t. No matter how much you enjoyed it.

    It is sometimes acceptable to admit to enjoying the giro. As long as a non-anglophone has won.

    The real racing finishes in April. Any race which Sky win is automatically sh1t.
  • KevinA
    KevinA Posts: 492
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    Welcome Kevin, what did you think of the Tour this year?

    Watching it just now, on stage 17.

    Exciting so far (was going to just watch the highlights but got the full ITV4 shows on record)

    Disappointed that there wasn't a bigger challenge for Froome but happy that Yates got the Young Riders Jersey.

    Pity Cav pulled out for Rio as it would have been good to see him on the final day sprint.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 13,326
    Basically, to understand and appreciate cycling, you need a good fundamental in background in cheese, Belgian beer, geology, meteorology and geography. Once these are in place you'll be well away.

    You also need one of these, to be sounded if there is a strong crosswind and echelons form in the peloton:

    15275-3033137.jpg


    That's about it, really.

    If you like, you can learn how to do a rain-dance for Paris-Roubaix and Flanders, but it never seems to help.
    Warning No formatter is installed for the format
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,391
    The other thing is subscribing to The Cycling Podcast - http://thecyclingpodcast.com/
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • bobmcstuff
    bobmcstuff Posts: 11,196
    ShinyHelmut wrote:
    Just remember, never admit you enjoyed the tour. It is always sh1t. No matter how much you enjoyed it.

    It is sometimes acceptable to admit to enjoying the giro. As long as a non-anglophone has won.

    The real racing finishes in April. Any race which Sky win is automatically sh1t.

    This

    With the Giro it is usually best to proclaim how rubbish it is at the time but as soon as the Tour starts to begin saying how much better the Giro was.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    bobmcstuff wrote:
    ShinyHelmut wrote:
    Just remember, never admit you enjoyed the tour. It is always sh1t. No matter how much you enjoyed it.

    It is sometimes acceptable to admit to enjoying the giro. As long as a non-anglophone has won.

    The real racing finishes in April. Any race which Sky win is automatically sh1t.

    This

    With the Giro it is usually best to proclaim how rubbish it is at the time but as soon as the Tour starts to begin saying how much better the Giro was.

    And whatever you do, don't get involved with any PE Teachers, other teachers, biased 'scientists', Muppets, Labradors or other associated 'patients' on Twitter or in The Clinic. It's a never-ending anti-Sky narrative backed up by absolutely nothing of any substance. Seriously, block them all now, they are all complete farkwits.
  • joelsim
    joelsim Posts: 7,552
    Velorooms is also a nice forum, more Euro than here which is largely British. Both of these are good places to gossip and find out what's going on from knowledgeable people.
  • BikeRadarAdmin
    BikeRadarAdmin Posts: 909
    - Know the difference between cobbles in Flanders and Roubaix.
    - Stay in Ghent the first weekend of April, exclusively drink Westmalle Tripel and then go ride your bike. Possible meet-up with forumites on Kwaremont.
    - Have a favourite Belgian cyclist (Iljo Keisse is mine).
    - Pick a 90s TdF and watch the full coverage on YouTube.
    - Secretly enjoy the fact Vinokourov won the Olympics in 2012 and how angry it makes people. (That might be a step too far.)
    BikeRadar Communities Manager
  • mr_poll
    mr_poll Posts: 1,547
    Whatever you do, do NOT read The Secret Pro - unless of course you are the kind of person who believes that to make sense of the world you should read the Daily Mail and bolster that opinion from the comments section of DM articles.

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