Professional Cycling 2023 - No Country for Old Men
Spring is upon us which means that this year's road cycling season is well underway, a season which holds many different stories and questions that we are waiting to get answered – and for new ones to be asked.
As has increasingly been the case over the past couple of years, the riders set to answer these questions are likely to be be quite young. While previously, cyclists often peaked at about the age of 30, over the past couple of years the youngins have taken over the world of cycling. This year is the 10-year anniversary for when Chris Horner on the Vuelta at the ripe age of 41, and last year, the only rider in the top 5 at the Tour born before '96 was Geraint Thomas - and he was leagues behind the two otherworldly riders, Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.
While young men occupy the pinnacle of the world of cycling, old men are retiring – even the one I was beginning to suspect would ride until he died of old age. Alejandro Valverde deserves a mention in the opening post, a rider who’s been part of the peloton for as long as I can remember. One of the most successful and iconic riders of his generation (which spans multiple generations) has retired. Fitting the narrative of the new generation taking over, the final Grand Tour that Valverde participated in was won by Remco Evenepoel, who was presumably waddling (or pedaling) around at the age of two when Valverde turned professional in 2002.
One of the central questions in the world of cycling leading into last year’s season (and the topic of the title of last year’s thread) was who would could stop the all-devouring monster, Tadej Pogacar.
Whilst (spoiler alert) he did not win the GC at the Tour de France, he won an obscene number of races, and he does not look like he’s going to be any less dominant this season
But, as it turned out, he could be stopped by the most down to earth riders in the peloton from one of the flattest countries in the world, who somehow yet climbed like a mountain GOAT, Jonas Vingegod erghh Vingegaard. With the aid of an insanely strong team, Vingegaard did what nobody thought possible and dethroned Pogacar at the Tour de France, beating him with several minutes (ignoring the time lost on the final stage when Vingegaard and his team cruised the past km and lost some time). The undisputed captain for the Tour on the strongest team in the world, Vingegaard is setting out to defend his title against Pogacar, in what seems poised to become the GC rivalry in cycling in these years.
The big story line of this season will undoubtedly be the rematch between these two riders in July – but we’ll get an appetizer in the coming week, as both riders (after utterly dominating their season-opening races) face off in Paris-Nice.
Cycling is a young man's game and it seems like the main challenger to break the dominance of Pogagaard could be even younger Remco Evenepoel. He’s set to ride the Giro, however, and surely hoping to do better than in 2021 when he had a disappointing Grand Tour debut. Last year, though, he won the Vuelta in convincing fashion, although, beating guys like Mas (who, in fairness, has been on the rise recently) and Ayuso is a different gravy than facing the two behemoths. He also won Liege-Bastogne-Liege and, not least, the World Championship, meaning he will have the honor of the rainbow jersey this season. The future looks very bright for this young man, who had another honor, even greater than the rainbow jersey bestowed upon him in 2021, when he was the topic of that year’s thread title.
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Another Belgian must be mentioned when we discuss the main characters of the world of cycling. There seems to be no breaks on Wout van Aert, who just keeps on winning in dominant fashion, as well as being an invaluable assistant to Jumbo’s GC aspirations with his apparent ability to outpull the rest of the peloton if need be to close gaps.
Today’s race:
Last week the classics season began with Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, which was won by recent addition to the already stacked Jumbo team, Dylan van Baarle. He won in convincing fashion by riding solo, with teammate Laporte taking 3rd. The following day, Kuurne-Bruxelles-Kurne was raced, and, not unexpectedly, Jumbo once again dominated, winning the race with Tiesj Benoot and van Hooydonck finishing 2nd.
Today, one of the most beautiful and dramatic races of the season will happen - Strade Bianche. It is an early highlight of the cycling season and definitely worth bailing your friends and family to follow. “Strade Bianche” means “white roads”, referring to the unpaved back roads of Tuscany landscape that is simply breathtakingly beautiful (copy pasted from last year's thread as I’m lazy). With Wout van Aert being absent, the race favorite is Mathieu van der Poel, who won the race two years ago, and fellow superstars Tom Pidcock and Julian Alaphilippe (who won in 2019).
We end this opening post with a GIF showing Javier Bardem blissfully watching a flat stage of cycling:
What happened to the 2024 cycling thread?
If not for GC Kuss, this would be the biggest thing in American cycling in ages.
Besting Remco, roglic and a bunch of second tier GC guys. Amazing.
I was impressed to see how easily he could stick to Remco's wheel attacks on day 6 & 7
lol movistar again and forever
What are the odds for Vingegaard, Roglic and Remco all breaking their collarbone in the same crash?
Good for Pogacar to skip the Tour de Basque..
What are the odds for Vingegaard, Roglic and Remco all breaking their collarbone in the same crash?
Good for Pogacar to skip the Tour de Basque..
They never tend to all ride the same lead up races anyway to the grand tours - so this was the one that Pogacar did not do. Roglic looks like he escaped but I don't think it will have that much of an effect on Vingegaard's performance in the Tour.
They never tend to all ride the same lead up races anyway to the grand tours - so this was the one that Pogacar did not do. Roglic looks like he escaped but I don't think it will have that much of an effect on Vingegaard's performance in the Tour.
If he can start in the Tour. Apparently the collapsed lung and whatever else he suffered in that area puts that in danger?
Impressive day for Pog yesterday, particularly after that fall at the base of the last climb had him down on the Peloton by 30 secs ish
I only read today that Jonas spent 12 days in hospital. Hopefully his team managed to set him up with an EPO drip so he can still win the tour
I only read today that Jonas spent 12 days in hospital. Hopefully his team managed to set him up with an EPO drip so he can still win the tour
A collapsed lung might be the point where even cyclists start to take it easy.
Always impressed how they get back on the bike the day after a hard crash. Getting back on the bike right after isn't an issue unless you fractured something relevant to riding a bike but I could never get back on the bike the next day.
Potentially NSFW road rash from a couple weeks ago, was back on the bike less than a minute later and finished the ride. No way I could have cycled 100+ miles the next day though.
Spoiler
Pog looks a class apart in this Giro.
Remarkable from Pog last night. Extraordinary stuff
Pogacar did the 18.1km 8.2% up Monte Grappa in 51:42min for an estimated 6.2w/kg.
Averaged close to 7w/kg @450W for over 15 minutes.
Pog has been utterly dominant the past 3 weeks
I absolutely adore Pog - my favourite bike rider ever. But even for me, this article is a little OTT. That was a remarkable victory by him, but he needs to beat Jonas at the Tour at least once and probably twice if he is regain 'best'
I absolutely adore Pog - my favourite bike rider ever. But even for me, this article is a little OTT. That was a remarkable victory by him, but he needs to beat Jonas at the Tour at least once and probably twice if he is regain 'best'
I agree he's the best. If he gets beaten by Jonas at the tour, I don't think anyone will argue Jonas had a better season.
Winning classics matters, winning stages of grand tour matters
I agree he's the best. If he gets beaten by Jonas at the tour, I don't think anyone will argue Jonas had a better season.
Winning classics matters, winning stages of grand tour matters
Jonas had a collapsed lung. If he wins the tour against Pogacar in that form a lot of people will ask even more questions than they already do.
The power numbers are insane. The younger in-shape version of me held 5.8w/kg for 20mins, they're doing it forever during 6 hour stages day after day.
the Tour starts on the weekend. Interesting route this year
https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route
Final day time trial (not in Paris....guessing for Olympic reasons) and 3 mountain stages in 4 stages prior to final day means that the result really should be up in the air til the end, assuming Jonas has recovered enough to be competitive. And it might also allow Jonas to ride himself back into full fitness by the end of the tour.
Pog currently $1.55, Jonas $3, Roglic $9, Remco $15
also...and IDK this seems crazy impressive to me....Tom Pidcock has been winning World Cup mountain biking events for fun but is now off to race the TDF with Ineos before heading to the Olympics to compete in both road cycling and mountain biking, where he is defending his gold from 3 years ago
No Kuss. The Visma curse continues. All the other teams are stacked though!
I don't think they have a realistic GC contender unless Rodriguez really comes on, but Ineos having Carlos Rodriguez, Egan Bernal, Geraint Thomas, Tom Pidcock and Michael Kwiatowski is pretty powerful
idk, maybe some of them are stronger in name than in legs these days and it'll be particularly interesting whether Thomas can back up after the Giro, but we'll see
the Tour starts on the weekend. Interesting route this year
https://www.letour.fr/en/overall-route
Final day time trial (not in Paris....guessing for Olympic reasons) and 3 mountain stages in 4 stages prior to final day means that the result really should be up in the air til the end, assuming Jonas has recovered enough to be competitive. And it might also allow Jonas to ride himself back into full fitness by the end of the tour.
Pog currently $1.55, Jonas $3, Roglic $9, Remco $15
but then....maybe not. This guy thinks the race might be all over in the first week. Seems punchy - perhaps stage 1 but really stage 4 and then the tt on day 7 are the only real week 1 opportunities
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/the-tou...
(sorry for spamming, but I'm excited for the race)
Longtime casual tdf watcher here. Today’s stage was really fun to watch what with that dsm kid being a hero for the retiring french guy and all. I guess the heat meant a lot of cruising in survival mode—only saw the last hour though, maybe Pog tried to bury Jonas early?
Betting odds question:
Overall:
Remco +1800 Rodriguez +3300 (yesterday +2000, +5000)
Young Rider:
Remco +250 Rodriguez +125
Assuming this isn’t a glaring mistake on a sport popular in europe, is it logical that Remco is higher variance, or do you think the books are protecting themselves against offering high odds on an unknown? I thought young rider was just Overall for 26 and under, so correct me if I’m wrong.
FWIW, it's under 26 before the end of the year. That's why Pog isn't eligible anymore even though he doesn't turn 26 until September.
I'd think those odds point to a significant chance that Remco isn't going to finish the race unless he's in a position to win overall?
Ah, ok. So basically 25.5. Somewhat weird when I say it out loud, but ok.
Hadn’t thought about Remco dropping out. Guess that may make sense for the Olympics.
