Road Cycling
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George was down to ride the Amstel Gold Race, but not surprisingly didn't start. Finn Fisher Black did, but was a DNF - as were a big chunk of the field (mostly the domestiques).
Fleche Wallonne (20 April) and then L-B-L are next on the schedule for George, unless they decide on something else for him.
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No love for Patrick Bevin?
That was a great ride to win the second last stage.
Cancelling the last was annoying, but he would almost certainly have defended his lead. The men who were within reach both were less strong than him yesterday.
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@Chester-Draws came here to post on it - though I only saw a little bit of Stage 1 and Patty had tried a couple of escapes.
Great result!!!
Six New Zealanders in the race was good to see as well.
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Here's some decent footage of Paddy's win.
No commentary, but the decisive move is at 2.55, when his pace-maker peels away and he attacks (he's in the Blue and White Israel Start-up colours). The Argentine who's leading the GC can't go with him and the group whittles down to three and then Pat sprints away.
There's footage with commentary of the final km readily available on the internet.
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Bevin does it again. And at the Tour of Romandie; a race not to be sniffed at. Good day for NZ, with 3 riders in the top 7.
TOUR DE ROMANDIE 2022, STAGE THREE: VALBROYE TO VALBROYE (165.1KM)
- Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, in 4-53-27
- Ethan Hayter (GBr) Ineos Grenadiers
- Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma
- Dion Smith (Nzl) BikeExchange-Jayco
- Quinten Hermans (Bel) Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux
- Damiano Caruso (Ita) Bahrain-Victorious
- Finn Fisher-Black (Nzl) UAE Team Emirates
- Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe
- Nikias Arndt (Ger) DSM
- Mikkel Honoré (Den) Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl, all at s.t.
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE THREE
- Rohan Dennis (Aus) Jumbo-Visma, in 12-28-06
- Patrick Bevin (NZl) Israel-Premier Tech, at 14s
- Felix Grosßchartner (Aut) Bora-Hansgrohe,
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Not sure if this is the right thread. Good story though!
https://cyclingtips.com/2022/04/exposed-by-a-strava-kom-the-many-lives-of-a-fake-pro-cyclist/
Australian cyclist Nick Clark built a loyal following at his Virginia bike shop, based in part on his national and international results and a lengthy professional career. There was just one problem: none of it was true.
This is the strange tale of the unravelling of a years-long deception – the ‘Catch Me If You Can’-like story of a man with a claimed past as a pro cyclist, a soldier, a CEO, a lawyer, an author, an academic, a hostage responder, and a weapons instructor.
These are the many lives of Nick Clark.
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Giro is underway.
I'm pretty sure there's no NZers riding, but Girmay, the Eritrean has been prominent! I was somewhat hoping that Patty Bevin would be riding and could carry his stage winning form in - but, apparently not.
Ven der Poel currently has the GC lead based on winning Stage 1 and 2nd in the Stage 2 time trial. Simon Yates won that - finished up a hill to make it difficult for the TT specialists. Dumoulin came third.
Cavendish won the sprint finish last night!!!
A technical question - is there any way on the official Giro site, to make all the rankings appear all at once? It seems you have to repeatedly click on "load more" to load the next half dozen places - again...and again...and again. Which is fucking stupid!
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@Crucial My memory is the TDF one gives you the top contenders, but then the whole rest of the field if you click once.
Giro one you'd have to click and scroll about 30 times to get the whole field - and you seem to regularly get ambushed by a pop-up.
It's unbelievably stupid - presume the designer gets paid per click numbers or something bizarre.
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In case there's any doubts about work experience kids, Girmay - the Eritrean - wins Stage 10 of the Giro - outsprinting Van Der Poel. He's not used to champagne corks though and hits himself in the eye during the celebration. Goes to hospital...
Stage 9 was a little bit of a GC sort out - shaking lots of pretenders out on a mountain stage. Suprisingly (to me), Jai Hindley won an uphill sprint of the big guns - with Bardet, Landa, Carapaz, Almeida and Pozzovivo finishing behind him. Juan Pedro Lopez still has the leader's jersey, but lost time on the Blockhaus climb and will surely hand it over in the next few days.
Carapaz remains the overall favourite for me, with Almeida and Bardet looking next most likely.
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Some interesting stage in the Giro have culminated in a direct shoot-out between Carapaz and Hindley over the final three stages. Carapaz has three seconds over the Aussie and neither has been able to crack the other to date.
Landa is a minute back, but it's hard to see him making the time up - he's been able to stick with the other two, but they've outpaced him in sprints to the line and I think he's the weakest time trialist. I guess he'll have to go all in on the fi8nal mountain stage and hope to crack the others.
Akmeida had been hanging in, just slightly off the pace in the mountains, but threatening to stay close enough to steal it in the final time trial - but, he shipped more than a minute in the stage a couple of nights ago and then tested positive for covid and is out.
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In the end it's Hindley who cracks Carapaz on the final mountain stage. He's got almost 90 seconds going into the final time trial, which should be enough as long as he stays upright.
A surprise to me, I guess. Like many others I thought Hindley had got lucky with his 2nd place in the 2020 Giro - but, he's shown he's an elite rider. Probably not quite in the Pogacar, Roglic, Bernal class, but in the next group on their heels.
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@Crucial Missed that post, but you must have been talking about the Dauphine.
Anyway, good news - George has made the UAE team for the TdF, but judging by the order that the names are listed, he might not be Pog's No. 1 right hand man in the mountains. All of Majka, McNulty, Soler and George are strong climbers, so I guess they may use them as alternating support - or maybe George will be expected to lead hard on the lower slopes and someone like Majka do the final stint before Pog attacks.
UAE Team Emirates announce squad for Tour de France - UAE team Emirates
The first UAE World Tour cycling team
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Cav not picked for the tour.. every english cycling fan in a huge meltdown..
completely ignoring the fact the team had been very clear all year he wasn't goin...No Sam Bennett for Bora either so two the worlds top sprinters missing
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one of my favourite sporting events of the year, brilliant TV.
Pissy at my tracking app not updating yet so i can look at the stages.
