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The Pro Cycling Thread (Part 2)
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divingbboy
15-07-2014
BBC News now reporting that Cancellara has withdrawn from the Tour because he wants, er, a rest.....................

"I will travel home now and take a little break. The season has been long for me. I have done 59 days of competition this season so far and I have another big goal at the end of this season: the World Championships. It's not a secret that I'd like to be in my best shape there, so it's important that I take some rest."

Alrighty then..........
deivu74
15-07-2014
That annoys me so much when they just go for a few days and call it quits without injury. Why did the team bother taking him!
divingbboy
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by deivu74:
“That annoys me so much when they just go for a few days and call it quits without injury. Why did the team bother taking him!”

Yep. To effectively use a Tour spot as a training ride seems more than a little disrespectful. To give him the benefit of the doubt, though, maybe that wasn't the original plan.
deivu74
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by divingbboy:
“Yep. To effectively use a Tour spot as a training ride seems more than a little disrespectful. To give him the benefit of the doubt, though, maybe that wasn't the original plan.”

I thought that after completing my post. Maybe Andy Schleck's withdrawal had something to do with it.
Party Animal
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by Marti S:
“Richie Porte needs to accept he isnt going to catch Nibali and not waste energy chasing him, like yesterday, he needs to concern himself more with not giving time away to the others behind him.

Porte should let them expend the energy chasing Nibali if they want and sit on their wheel, like they did to him yesterday.”

i wouldn't be too sure about that... every year Nibali seems to come up with a shocker of a day in the grand tours add to that I think Richie Porte is a slightly better Time Trialer

the way I see it is Porte has nothing at all to lose in the current situation - all the pressure is on Nibali
aggs
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by Party Animal:
“i wouldn't be too sure about that... every year Nibali seems to come up with a shocker of a day in the grand tours add to that I think Richie Porte is a slightly better Time Trialer

the way I see it is Porte has nothing at all to lose in the current situation - all the pressure is on Nibali”

Porte tends to have a complete shocker of a day as well, though.

I think stage 18 is going to be an interesting one, the Hautacam climb is more of a grinders climb - Indurain rode it like a time trial back in the day - which is more the sort of climber I see Porte as being.

The actual time trial itself is only 33miles so we're not talking huge time gains.
Marti S
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by Party Animal:
“i wouldn't be too sure about that... every year Nibali seems to come up with a shocker of a day in the grand tours add to that I think Richie Porte is a slightly better Time Trialer

the way I see it is Porte has nothing at all to lose in the current situation - all the pressure is on Nibali”

He has second place to lose, and lost a few seconds to those behind him yesterday.

Plus Richie often has a couple of bad days too, I would like to think he could press Nibali but I really dont think he is on good enough form this year, whereas Nibali is looking back on top form.
Party Animal
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by Marti S:
“He has second place to lose, and lost a few seconds to those behind him yesterday.

Plus Richie often has a couple of bad days too, I would like to think he could press Nibali but I really dont think he is on good enough form this year, whereas Nibali is looking back on top form.”

Nibali is in great form.. but only 2 minutes in it with a fortnight to go and they have not even visited the Alps yet is a bit premature to be saying its all over

I have been watching the TDF for 30yrs and there is no such thing as a certainty

any number of things could happen between now and Paris
aggs
15-07-2014
Two minutes over Contador - or even Froome - with stages to come would be more unpredictable. Just shy of 2 and a half minutes, over Porte and it's looking more like Nibali's to lose than anything else.
Wallasey Saint
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by Party Animal:
“Nibali is in great form.. but only 2 minutes in it with a fortnight to go and they have not even visited the Alps yet is a bit premature to be saying its all over

I have been watching the TDF for 30yrs and there is no such thing as a certainty

any number of things could happen between now and Paris”

Indeed this years Tour anything can still happen, who thought Froome & Contador would be out of the Tour by now, i think Nibali stays out of trouble he'll win, shame there's only 1 time trial stage this year though.
fluffed
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by tealady:
“Does anyone know why wheels have quite different rims?
I have seen some people with very deep rims but most with what I would describe as standard rims ie not much deeper than the brake blocks.”

Deeper rims are more aerodynamic at higher speeds (same power output, higher speed) though they are a bit heavier. So, you will get some people swapping them out for shallower, lighter rims in the mountain stages. Although the bikes overall will probably be the same weight (there's a minimum), weight on the wheels needs more energy to push than weight on the frame say. Practically though there's very little in it either way, the biggest effect is probably psychological.
deivu74
15-07-2014
Does anyone know who that rather camp gentleman with brown sunglasses was in between David Cameron and (I think) Mark Cavendish's mother on stage 1 who raised his hands to his face at the crash in Harrogate?
aggs
15-07-2014
I don't know - could have been his uncle maybe?
He was interviewed on local tele on the Friday and said he didn't care where Cav finished as long as he made it safely over the line.

Wider rimmed wheels are also a bit more rigid and less skittish so tend to be used more for time trials.
Most importantly, wider rimmed wheels also look cool
tealady
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by fluffed:
“Deeper rims are more aerodynamic at higher speeds (same power output, higher speed) though they are a bit heavier........ Practically though there's very little in it either way, the biggest effect is probably psychological.”

Thanks for that.
tealady
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by aggs:
“Wider rimmed wheels are also a bit more rigid and less skittish so tend to be used more for time trials.
Most importantly, wider rimmed wheels also look cool ”

I don't think you can beat http://www.monkeylectric.com/wheel_light_comparison/ pro for coolness (up to 40mph).
I thought most used a 'cover' for time trials, although not all.
gemma-the-husky
15-07-2014
Originally Posted by deivu74:
“That annoys me so much when they just go for a few days and call it quits without injury. Why did the team bother taking him!”

Probably because they hoped he would won one of the first few stages. He tried very hard, I recall.
swingaleg
15-07-2014
I'd have thought that the next two stages are Cancellara stages........undulating, a few lower category climbs and a flat run in

they look like 'breakaway' stages

You'd have thought he could have done a couple more days after a rest day

And the World Champs is 2 months away !.........how much rest does he need !
swingaleg
15-07-2014
I think I'm OK on the structure and tactics of the sport and how it all works and plays out but I'm useless on the technical things about the bikes.......when they start going on about bottom brackets my eyes glaze over

To be honest I'm not even sure how gears work.........I never rode a bike with gears

I certainly don't understand how the chain can jump from one ring to another one.........and become a bigger chain on a bigger ring.......
aggs
16-07-2014
Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“I'd have thought that the next two stages are Cancellara stages........undulating, a few lower category climbs and a flat run in

they look like 'breakaway' stages

You'd have thought he could have done a couple more days after a rest day

And the World Champs is 2 months away !.........how much rest does he need !”

I'd guess it was always the plan for him to leave at first rest day. I'd imagine he was only there for the win on stage 5, which eluded him.
tealady
16-07-2014
Originally Posted by swingaleg:
“To be honest I'm not even sure how gears work.........I never rode a bike with gears

I certainly don't understand how the chain can jump from one ring to another one.........and become a bigger chain on a bigger ring.......”

Front Chain wheel:
The chain runs inside a hollow box positioned very specifically by the chaninwheels. When you want to move to the bigger chainwheel, you move the box (by lever or wifi now I think!). The box moves outwards and upwards and pulls the chain up and across to the bigger one.

Rear sprockets:
The chain runs around the jockey rollers (the very small wheels beneath the rear mechanism - mech) which are attached to the main body of the mech by a hinge.
You move a lever to go up or down a gear and the mech hinges left or right. Since the chain moves within the jockey rollers, it is then pulled over.
The rollers have spring tension, so as the chain moves to a smaller or larger sprocket or smaller or larger chain wheel, the rollers move forward/back up/down to accommodate the slack of the chain.

You get different rear mechs for different bikes. So a tourer has a longer arm the jockeys sit on to cope with the big changes in sprockets (say 12-28/30) and front chain rings (say 28/38/50) whereas a road bike has smaller spread (say 11-20/22) and 40-50 or 40-52 at the front so the mech is shorter and changes better.
deivu74
16-07-2014
Tuned into ITV Player premium today and I all get is a recorded message from Phil Liggett saying "This is the international circuit for the Tour de France" followed by a long beep.
swingaleg
16-07-2014
Latest rumour reported on ES is that Sagan is off to Tinkoff-Saxo for next season

I suspect that Contador might be leaving TS to join the new team of that F1 racing driver if it finally gets off the ground.........but that seems to be a big 'if'

I can't see Contador being happy to share a team with Sagan, even though they'd be going for different objectives
swingaleg
16-07-2014
Originally Posted by tealady:
“Front Chain wheel:
The chain runs inside a hollow box positioned very specifically by the chaninwheels. When you want to move to the bigger chainwheel, you move the box (by lever or wifi now I think!). The box moves outwards and upwards and pulls the chain up and across to the bigger one.

Rear sprockets:
The chain runs around the jockey rollers (the very small wheels beneath the rear mechanism - mech) which are attached to the main body of the mech by a hinge.
You move a lever to go up or down a gear and the mech hinges left or right. Since the chain moves within the jockey rollers, it is then pulled over.
The rollers have spring tension, so as the chain moves to a smaller or larger sprocket or smaller or larger chain wheel, the rollers move forward/back up/down to accommodate the slack of the chain.

You get different rear mechs for different bikes. So a tourer has a longer arm the jockeys sit on to cope with the big changes in sprockets (say 12-28/30) and front chain rings (say 28/38/50) whereas a road bike has smaller spread (say 11-20/22) and 40-50 or 40-52 at the front so the mech is shorter and changes better.”

cheers........sounds complicated !

swingaleg
16-07-2014
Talanski has dropped a minute behind the peloton and he's on his own.......none of his team have gone back

Wouldn't be surprised if he calls it a day during this stage
divingbboy
16-07-2014
I feel terrible for Andrew Talansky. Poor guy. He's cycling along in tears now.
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