I think he finished about 20 minutes or so behind Cav.

Yes..........there are different levels, both of races and of teams

There are 18 teams in the top level.........they are obliged to send a team to every 'world tour' race, that's the top level of race. In addition the race organiser will usually invite 3 lower level teams to take part as well...........generally local 2nd division teams from that country

the top teams will have squads of around 25 riders so they can compete in 2 races at the same time with 8 or 9 man teams

the event that's on now in Wallonie is not a top level race so it's mainly 2nd division teams, however 10 of the 18 top level teams have sent a squad...........so it's a decent level

Within each 25 man squad the team managers will pick which ones go to the Tour de France and which ones are sent to Wallonie. This will depend on what they set as their objectives and what they can realistically win. They'll study the course and that will largely determine which riders go into which race

I remember seeing Rob Hayles beating him on a stage of the Tour of Britain, a bunch sprint into Edinburgh.

And at the 3rd level you have mainly national-level races in the bigger countries like the UK, France, Spain, Italy, Belgium etc. These will often include riders from other countries that aren't big enough for their 3rd-tier teams, so here in the UK we get lots of Kiwi and Polish riders. Teams can get promoted if they attract sponsors, and make certain financial commitments (there is a minimum wage for cyclists at each level) so there is now a 2nd division team called NetApp Endura which came about through a merger of a German and British 3rd division team.

I <3 Rob Hayles

I remember seeing George Hincapie in the Tour of Britain in Morecambe mist have been '99.

Ah ok, I saw he was 149th. I should have made myself a bit clearer though, I meant more what was his performance like as Evans' domestique - thinking about what role he'd play to help Froome in the Worlds, but I couldn't watch the Giro this year as ITV didn't show it, so I don't know anything about how most of the Brits performed.

Ah, sorry - bear with me the Giro seems so long ago now!

He did a good job. I seem to remember he was ill for a chunk of it. A trip to Hospital and anti-biotics ring a bell.

Profiles for the mens and womans road races at the world championships in Firenze.

http://cycling-passion.com/2012/10/3...ogram-courses/

Will we see many of the Tour De France guys in the Vuelta?

Mostly the Spanish guys I guess..

Yes, a lot of the same riders will be there..........

Don't think Froome will take part even though he's finished 2nd and 4th in the last 2 years

The chaps who finished 2nd and 3rd in the Tour will probably be there

The top 18 teams (the World Tour teams) will be there.............only the 3 wildcard teams will be different teams from the Tour.

I note that NetApp-Enduro have been invited to the race as a wildcard team. They're a 2nd division and the Enduro part was a domestic British team with merged with NatApp to form a Div 2 team

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0FchiH9NPs

random but you'll like...

cheers...........interesting

that was before I started watching............I think I recognise Hinault and Fignon

who was that poor rider who's face was smashed in on the road ?...............

who was the winner at the end ?.............

Greg LeMond was the overall winner and the guy who smashed his face in was Jos Lammertink (the Dutch champion's jersey gave that one away.

Hinault looks exactly the same now as he did then

cheers...........

Some lovely quotes from him here: http://uk.eurosport.yahoo.com/news/c...191647374.html

http://www.irishpeloton.com/2013/07/...new-conundrum/

Anyone know why the cyclingnews forum has been down for the last few days? Seems to be more than a software update that was the initial reason. I'm wondering if the libelous BS that gets allowed in the clinic has finally caught up with them.

I'm missing the lunatic fringe to be honest!

Very possibly, websites are waking up to their potential liability after the Sally Bercow decision.

That's an interesting article.
I've never particularly supported a team as such - it's the riders that I've tended to follow regardless of who they ride for - but that's possibly because as a Brit the UK based teams have been few and far between so I can see how that can affect support.

I hope it doesn't change too much. It's the multinational supporting that is one of the charms.

It's noteworthy that Endura Racing won the Tour Of Britain last year with Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (since departed for Team Sky).

I was thinking something like this may of happened.

Cycling news is a pretty good website for well.... Cycling news!

It's well respected, but the forum has become a home for a select group who are dragging the the good name of the website down.

Some of the theories that they come up with are beyond ridiculous. (i.e Froome medication for Bilharzia is just as effective as EPO!)

Maybe some of the teams have complained... Because posters on there are getting out of their depth... I'm no expert, and nor are any of them... Yet they post as if they know for a fact that certain cyclists are doping.

Something is up. Today is the 5th day it's been down.

No software update would take that long surely?

Interesting timing as well. That's maybe the most suspect thing, when it's happened.

Lunacy! Take a rest, boys!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/cri...t-2013/results

Haha I guess that's one way to celebrate!

Bit of a wake-up call to the riders who finished behind them - the entire podium had just finished competing in the Tour!

Back when I first starting watching the Tour in the 1980s the convention was the winner gave all his prize money to his team-mates and mechanics and then made up for it by spending two or three weeks riding these (very soft) invitational Crit races, getting paid for drinking beer and shaking lots of peoples' hands. Didn't know it was still going on.