2022 Pre Season Chat Thread

JimD666

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

daniel_b said:

Interesting and logical take from Pidcock - I wonder if Ineos are happy for him to talk so freely, delighted he does though.

Wasn't Froome's crash into the wall also when he was aboard a TT bike?

My memory is awful, but didn't Froome crash while trying to take a jacket off with both hands off the handlebars while descending at silly speeds on a blustery day, riding with someone else?

Took his hands off to blow his nose IIRC.

daniel_b

JimD666 said:

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

daniel_b said:

Interesting and logical take from Pidcock - I wonder if Ineos are happy for him to talk so freely, delighted he does though.

Wasn't Froome's crash into the wall also when he was aboard a TT bike?

My memory is awful, but didn't Froome crash while trying to take a jacket off with both hands off the handlebars while descending at silly speeds on a blustery day, riding with someone else?

Took his hands off to blow his nose IIRC.

Yep I thought it was a nose blow too. Taking both hands off is a bit unecessary, and to think that one split second decision, could have been the moment his career wouldn't ever recover back to previous levels :-(

RichN95.

N0bodyOfTheGoat said:

daniel_b said:

Interesting and logical take from Pidcock - I wonder if Ineos are happy for him to talk so freely, delighted he does though.

Wasn't Froome's crash into the wall also when he was aboard a TT bike?

My memory is awful, but didn't Froome crash while trying to take a jacket off with both hands off the handlebars while descending at silly speeds on a blustery day, riding with someone else?

What you're thinking of was there was some footage of him earlier in the warm up wobbling a little while taking off a jacket, and Poels telling him to be careful.

JimD666

Amy Pieters still in a coma following her training crash in December.

orraloon

JimD666 said:

Amy Pieters still in a coma following her training crash in December.

Ah bless her. I'd missed that she had been hospitalised before Christmas. Doesn't look good at all.

carbonclem

Brandon Rivera now in the same hospital as Egan. Not as bad, but …

daniel_b

Bl00dy hell, from bad to worse, and poor Pieters.

Very sobering.

N0bodyOfTheGoat

Quite ironic that an Ineos sponsered training plan started on Zwift this week, for most of us risks are far lower moving an avatar in a virtual world, unless we are riding on closed roads.

m.r.m.

Imogen Cotter (female Irish Champ) also hit by a car with broken patella & radius while training in Spain. 🙄😟

Lanterne_Rogue

I've been into the back of a parked car before. Bike a write off, car dented, miraculously I was just shaken. Owner started shouting out the window of their house at me so I jumped on the bike and attempted to ride off, only to find the wheel was jammed hard against the bottom tube and wouldn't rotate. Fell off sideways and sprained a finger - only injury I got. Ran off with the bike over my shoulder, cyclo-cross style...

As for Bernal, hopefully he makes a full recovery - racing can wait. The slightly flippant part of me wonders if they can reset whichever part was giving him the problems before (hip? Back? One leg longer? There were loads of rumours about what underlay it), given everything else is more or less shattered.

blazing_saddles

Live road cycling coverage begins tomorrow afternoon on GCN/Eurosport with the Grand Prix Cycliste de Marseille.
Next week, from February 2nd, we have both the Saudi Tour and the Volta a la Comunitat Valenciana.
Also via Tiz or a L'Equipe feed, there is live coverage of the Étoile de Bessèges.

mrb123

Who is the girl on commentary with Matt Stephens today?

blazing_saddles

mrb123 said:

Who is the girl on commentary with Matt Stephens today?

It's Jose Been.
You will hear a lot of her through the season.

mrb123

blazing_saddles said:

mrb123 said:

Who is the girl on commentary with Matt Stephens today?

It's Jose Been.
You will hear a lot of her through the season.

Ah, thanks. Had seen her mentioned on here last season but don't think I'd actually ever heard her before today.

dish_dash

I know that it's made by Rapha etc but the green shorts on EF-Easypost are pretty bad.

phreak

dish_dash said:

I know that it's made by Rapha etc but the green shorts on EF-Easypost are pretty bad.

The whole kit is pretty horrid.

gweeds

Yeah that kit would look 500% better with black shorts.

On the other side though, they’re going to be easy to identify which I suppose if what they’re after for sponsors.

blazing_saddles

A lot of riders kicking off their season today.
Ineos have two teams, with a mixture of old and new riders, taking part in France and Spain.

tailwindhome

https://twitter.com/mrendell/status/1490424670025404418?s=20&t=DlmFONB76Riy90VjNjItvw

MattFalle

tailwindhome said:

https://twitter.com/mrendell/status/1490424670025404418?s=20&t=DlmFONB76Riy90VjNjItvw

eh?

he's doing what after doing what?

shirley_basso

Having some physio after a surgery after a crash

orraloon

Where you been man? TT bike training ride, rammed into a stopped bus.

RichN95.

Bernal has been photographed standing up without any cast or similar after only 13 days, so the leg injuries seem a lot less severe than original thought (at least by me). Still a long way back though.

tailwindhome

He looks delighted to be standing up

kingstongraham

I'm going to suggest maybe he didn't break his femur or patella.

RichN95.

kingstongraham said:

I'm going to suggest maybe he didn't break his femur or patella.

I'm guessing there's a spectrum of broken legs ranging from Froome (two years later and it's still not right) to Contador (I'll shake it off and win the Vuelta next week)

kingstongraham

RichN95. said:

kingstongraham said:

I'm going to suggest maybe he didn't break his femur or patella.

I'm guessing there's a spectrum of broken legs ranging from Froome (two years later and it's still not right) to Contador (I'll shake it off and win the Vuelta next week)

I guess maybe Bernal did his femur right up in the hip and it's fixed and he needs to get weight on it to aid recovery.

But a broken patella and there's nothing to stabilise his leg?

rick_chasey

They are proper supermen, so nothing surprises me with their recovery.

They just heal and can tolerate bodily discomfort in a way us mere mortals don't.

Hell I broke my wrist in a way that most pros wouldn't even bother mentioning and it did me in solidly for 3 months and I still complain about it, even though full movement has returned.

Really do think cycling fans take for granted a) how nails these guys are and b) how quickly they recover.

rick_chasey

As per other thread, I am curious how Vingegaard backs up last year.

You have seen it so often; riders playing with house money on their first foray into a big race, where even just being at the sharp end is a win, and then when they have to back it up with expectations, it all crumbles.

Doubly tricky if he has to share leadership responsibilities with the most boring interviewee in cycling.

m.r.m.

The doctor is holding him a little bit. He is definitely tough as nails and maybe he is just standing free (without crutches for example) for the pic. Athletes especially don't like to appear vulnerable if they can avoid it.