Tour of Britain today

2

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  • DeVlaeminck
    DeVlaeminck Posts: 9,104
    Just caught up with the highlights of this, took me 30 minutes to watch what appears to be the meaningful action from every stage so far.

    To think BC blocks an extended Tour de Yorkshire for this.
    [Castle Donington Ladies FC - going up in '22]
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    SpecialGuestStar wrote:
    Can Lotto ND balls this up with Boom and Campanaerts 1 and 2 and Roglic just 27 secs back ??
    If I was to put money on a team that could achieve this, it would be Lotto-Jumbo.
  • kleinstroker
    kleinstroker Posts: 2,133
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    Just caught up with the highlights of this, took me 30 minutes to watch what appears to be the meaningful action from every stage so far.

    To think BC blocks an extended Tour de Yorkshire for this.

    It's almost as if The TdY is designed with serious effort to entertain viewers & challenge riders, whereas TOB seems to have been put together by "Graham" in his tea breaks
  • okgo
    okgo Posts: 4,368
    It has been designed for dowsett to my mind, and its backfired.
    Blog on my first and now second season of proper riding/racing - www.firstseasonracing.com
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Slightly better today even if the end result was the same. The break was in with a shout but then Sky put the pressure on in an attempt to split the race on an exposed section that very nearly paid off but the crosswind wasn't quite strong enough and the section a bit too short so just ended up with them pulling the break back.
  • gweeds
    gweeds Posts: 2,613
    Caleb Ewan was almost licking his front tyre there.
    Napoleon, don't be jealous that I've been chatting online with babes all day. Besides, we both know that I'm training to be a cage fighter.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    okgo wrote:
    It has been designed for dowsett to my mind, and its backfired.

    I doubt it was, why would anyone design a race to suit a rider who has such a limited win history in their professional career? Far more likely they wanted to attract a world class sprint and TT field as warm up for the Worlds given the lack of opportunity for those riders at the Vuelta.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Lotto Jumbo must be a great shout for the TTT worlds.
    _
  • gsk82
    gsk82 Posts: 3,599
    kleinstroker wrote:
    DeVlaeminck wrote:
    Just caught up with the highlights of this, took me 30 minutes to watch what appears to be the meaningful action from every stage so far.

    To think BC blocks an extended Tour de Yorkshire for this.

    It's almost as if The TdY is designed with serious effort to entertain viewers & challenge riders, whereas TOB seems to have been put together by "Graham" in his tea breaks

    Yorkshire happens to be the countries largest and most scenic county. You could pick any 2 towns or cities and create a good race route between them. ToB is just going wherever the locals are willing to pay for it.
    "Unfortunately these days a lot of people don’t understand the real quality of a bike" Ernesto Colnago
  • okgo
    okgo Posts: 4,368
    Pross wrote:
    okgo wrote:
    It has been designed for dowsett to my mind, and its backfired.

    I doubt it was, why would anyone design a race to suit a rider who has such a limited win history in their professional career? Far more likely they wanted to attract a world class sprint and TT field as warm up for the Worlds given the lack of opportunity for those riders at the Vuelta.

    With a 10 mile TT (he does loads of local ten mile TT's) in his home county? Sounds more than a co-incidence...
    Blog on my first and now second season of proper riding/racing - www.firstseasonracing.com
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    okgo wrote:

    With a 10 mile TT (he does loads of local ten mile TT's) in his home county? Sounds more than a co-incidence...

    They'd have run it on an A road with a high volume of traffic if they were tailoring it for Dowsett.
  • No_Ta_Doctor
    No_Ta_Doctor Posts: 14,652
    Have to say it's a sad state of affairs when even the BR forum can't get it up for the ToB.
    Past years have have some excellent stages
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  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,661
    Tour of Yorkshire is a much better race.
    _
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    andyp wrote:
    okgo wrote:

    With a 10 mile TT (he does loads of local ten mile TT's) in his home county? Sounds more than a co-incidence...

    They'd have run it on an A road with a high volume of traffic if they were tailoring it for Dowsett.
    Preferably near an Eddy Stobbart depot
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • awavey
    awavey Posts: 2,368
    but at the risk of repeating, the race goes where the money pays for it, so Clacton got a TT stage, because Tendring District Council paid for it, and they no doubt had considered Dowsett as a fairly well known local Maldon/Essex boy pro cyclist when they chose/decided thats what they wanted for their stage.

    I think the only consideration Sweetspot really enforce on the route is they seem to stick to wider roads than the Womens Tour, because of the size of the peloton, which maybe in some areas limits the more interesting challenging routes.down twistier narrow roads

    and the problem with chucking too many climbs in is remember what happened few years back between Chesterfield/Nottingham, the race splintered and half the riders seemingly just gave up caring and treated it like a Sunday coffee ride,ended up finishing an hour down, which must have been a logistical headache to maintain the rolling road closures to cover the whole race.
  • specialgueststar
    specialgueststar Posts: 3,418
    Even riding onto a closed circuit with a climb?
  • FocusZing
    FocusZing Posts: 4,373
    Hoping Cleeve will be the training ride enigma.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,725
    Not sure if today was catagorised as the Queen stage.
    More your Lady in Waiting stage in any case, but I hear the result was the same as most of the other stages.
    Has to be the most pointless race of the decade.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Cleeve Hill from that side was just too easy, they were pretty much flat out in the big ring all the way up it and only got rid of the weakest third of the field. Kwia and a few others gave it a real go but it just wasn't hard enough to break things up. The riders are trying to race but there's just nothing to work with.

    That said I was surprised how much time some riders lost, the final finisher must have been 25 minutes back. Also surprised how few crashes there were given some of the torrential downpours, the rain at the the finish line 10 minutes before the riders came in was horrendous. Very good crowds considering.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    awavey wrote:
    but at the risk of repeating, the race goes where the money pays for it, so Clacton got a TT stage, because Tendring District Council paid for it, and they no doubt had considered Dowsett as a fairly well known local Maldon/Essex boy pro cyclist when they chose/decided thats what they wanted for their stage.

    Thing is, it's not down to where the race has gone. They've been through great cycling territory such as Northumbrian, the Borders, Cotswolds and South Wales but they are avoiding any major lumps. As I said previously, the problem of the peloton giving up is easily controlled but putting any hills towards the end of a stage. They only need one or two stages with a decent climb.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    The Final stage tomorrow.

    I'm going to give it full military honours.

    Forget the route and the profile. They are uninteresting.

    Food. Curry half and half. You have been eating your curry with rice. This is wrong. Half rice, half chips is the way to go
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    A lovely horse. There are wild horses on the flats they pass through in the last 5km
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    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Vino'sGhost
    Vino'sGhost Posts: 4,129
    the stage was good today I thought, the first good stage of the whole race pity it wasnt 2 hours longer to soften them all up before the lumpy last bit.

    Does anyone know how that Cannondale rider that had a massive through the air wipe out is?
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Vino'sGhost wrote:
    the stage was good today I thought, the first good stage of the whole race pity it wasnt 2 hours longer to soften them all up before the lumpy last bit.

    Does anyone know how that Cannondale rider that had a massive through the air wipe out is?

    Last man home was a Cannondale, I didn't see the crash but maybe that was him? Didn't get a close enough look to see if he looked like he'd been off.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    RichN95 wrote:
    There are wild horses on the flats they pass through in the last 5km

    I wonder if they'll get the now customary stone throwing and air gun pellet salute as they pass through that section?
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Pross wrote:
    RichN95 wrote:
    There are wild horses on the flats they pass through in the last 5km

    I wonder if they'll get the now customary stone throwing and air gun pellet salute as they pass through that section?
    I've never quite experienced that. I'm sure they save it for big groups. I did nearly hit a goat once though.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • salsiccia1
    salsiccia1 Posts: 3,725
    I'm astonished they're taking them down Rover Way. Not only is it probably the least attractive bit of Cardiff (amongst some pretty stiff competition) but I can see there being punctures galore.
    It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    Salsiccia1 wrote:
    I'm astonished they're taking them down Rover Way. Not only is it probably the least attractive bit of Cardiff (amongst some pretty stiff competition) but I can see there being punctures galore.

    The railway tracks will be fun too.
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Pross wrote:
    Salsiccia1 wrote:
    I'm astonished they're taking them down Rover Way. Not only is it probably the least attractive bit of Cardiff (amongst some pretty stiff competition) but I can see there being punctures galore.

    The railway tracks will be fun too.
    I'm struggling here. What railway tracks?
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Pross
    Pross Posts: 43,463
    I haven't been down there for a while and never cycled it but I thought were were old tracks across the road outside the steelworks. Thinking about it the tracks may have been removed and there's just some ruts. Whatever, it's a horrible road to use if they want to show off the city!
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    Pross wrote:
    I haven't been down there for a while and never cycled it but I thought were were old tracks across the road outside the steelworks. Thinking about it the tracks may have been removed and there's just some ruts. Whatever, it's a horrible road to use if they want to show off the city!
    Ah, I'll have to check the route (I haven't looked at it in detail). I guessed they were going a different way
    Twitter: @RichN95

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