Mark Taylor said:

Jules said:

mugwump said:

eloy said:

Also, on Milan San Remo: CYCLOCROSS IS EVERYTHING YOU WANT CYCLING TO BE.

Dude on a rim brake bike chases down the guy who's supposed to be the best descender in the peloton and riding rotor discs, on a tricky descent.  

Pretty sweet.

This should really be getting more coverage.

That seems like a misrepresentation to me , alaphilpe made several errors on the descent , wout
kept at a distance until the later stages of the decent

I gather Alaphilipe punctured like 30k from the finish and had a bike change as well. That'll certainly take some juice out of the legs. 

I'm not sure weight is significant here because of the UCI weight limits. The tarmac can definitely get under that limit and I'd bet all of their bikes are about the same weight. 

there's way more to this than just the brakes, look at Alaphilippe descending, yes he is one of the best of the peloton, but he is like a bit all over the place, looking dramatic and kinda awesome, but clearly not as fast as Wout, who just went down the hill as fast as he could.

Similarly, the sprint to the line, check out Alaphilippe, his bike is moving all over the place, not too bad, and probably exactly how he gets the most power out of his legs... but compare to Wout's sprint -- Wout's bike is significally steadier. The difference is not huge, but enough to win by half a wheel.

RobertMullen said:

I gather Alaphilipe punctured like 30k from the finish and had a bike change as well. That'll certainly take some juice out of the legs. 

I'm not sure weight is significant here because of the UCI weight limits. The tarmac can definitely get under that limit and I'd bet all of their bikes are about the same weight. 

The weight issue is interesting.  On the one hand, the faster one goes, the less it should matter--and San Remo is a pretty fast race, with the Poggio a big-ring climb that's only significant because it comes after 300km.  On the other, if the UCI abandoned the 6.9kg minimum, it would have been much harder for pro riders to accept rotor discs.  

@Mark Taylor I learned that Shimano recently abandoned V-Brakes.  I guess that leaves it to Tektro/TRP and other small manufacturers (which I guess includes SRAM and Campy).  But Tektro seems to be cutting back on their canti' offerings, as is SRAM.  While it's not awful for 'crossers, I think I'd rather have canti's than discs on a touring bike.  It's easier to carry a spare cable than hydraulic fluid.  

I find the popularity of dedicated rotor discs interesting.  Where is the push?  Is it because consumers assume it's a step forward in technology, or that magazines have been pushing the concept or manufacturers?  When I've spoken with smaller bike companies, it seems they put out discs as an offering because that's what the big boys were doing, and then they were surprised by the popularity, so they cut back on rim brake offerings.    

@mugwump
I do feel like we are simply repeating the disc discussion that we all had on the cross thread 5 years ago .

Also agree for touring and i'd say any bike you travel with ,that disc's have their draw backs ,however cable operated disc's are available , Paul makes a well reviewed set.

Yep. Some of us are still bitter curmudgeons about it.

Jules said:

Yep. Some of us are still bitter curmudgeons about it.

Just seems that a more complicated, heavier, finicky, and more expensive system whose advantages are hard to pinpoint is not really a step forward.  But I'm cranky that way.

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/08/team-doctor-believes-fabio-jakobsen-will-be-a-bike-racer-again/

seriously good news to hear (not even the hope he'll be back to racing, but more so the injuries, which were bad, weren't as bad as initially reported/potentially could have been)

Matt Budofsky said:

https://cyclingtips.com/2020/08/team-doctor-believes-fabio-jakobsen-will-be-a-bike-racer-again/

seriously good news to hear (not even the hope he'll be back to racing, but more so the injuries, which were bad, weren't as bad as initially reported/potentially could have been)

You don’t need teeth or a face to race bikes... that crash was monstrous.

Surprised we don't have a Criterium du Daphine thread.

good racing.  Was hoping Pinot would finally come through with a big win here.

Alas.  Another second for Thibault.

Doesn't seem like his team was there for him.  I think their absence from the front doesn't look good for Pinot's Tour hopes, and surprised I haven't seen the press mention it at all.  But Pinot put the blame on himself.  

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thibaut-pinot-i-didnt-have-the-legs-to-win-the-criterium-du-dauphine/

BTW, what's up with Sepp Kuss?  The guy has zero expression all week, and then he finally shows teeth in the final kilometers today.

Martinez was the most underwhelming victor 

Mark Taylor said:

Martinez was the most underwhelming victor 

Not sure I agree, dude literally just rode away with the race. Pinot, and his team, also kinda let it slip away.

He road well agreed , the fact that most of the competition had dropped out , made me feel the victory seemed underwhelming

Mark Taylor said:

He road well agreed , the fact that most of the competition had dropped out , made me feel the victory seemed underwhelming

Yeah I feel that way too, which is kind of a bummer for Martinez. A big part of winning bike races is not crashing and actually finishing the race, but that kind of victory feels a little less exciting (even though it shouldn't lol). 

Caption contest 

Strange indeed. If it was just Froome you could point to the injuries, but G? That's a bit of a head scratcher.

"Not got much on next month to be honest mate" 

Jules said:

Strange indeed. If it was just Froome you could point to the injuries, but G? That's a bit of a head scratcher.

They were both so off the pace in the Dauphine, that said , could you see Movistar making such a bold decision 

Mark Taylor said:

Jules said:

Strange indeed. If it was just Froome you could point to the injuries, but G? That's a bit of a head scratcher.

They were both so off the pace in the Dauphine, that said , could you see Movistar making such a bold decision 

LOL. The decision isn't the strange thing it's the lack of form.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/aug/19/brailsford-solves-team-ineos-tour-de-france-problem-froome-thomas 

don't know if anyone else read this article:

https://www.velonews.com/news/road/how-sepp-kuss-paid-to-get-a-bike-fit-that-put-him-in-a-powerful-position/

Besides the dumb title (he paid from his wallet), the content is a head-scratcher.  

First, I have a hard time believing that he never had a bike fit before.  He raced for the UC-Boulder team in college, he raced for Rally Cycling, and this is is second season on Jumbo Visma.  He's in his fourth year of a pro career; it's mind-boggling that no team at their pre-season camp didn't eyeball him for fit.  

Second, it seems his saddle was raised.  By how much?  What did it do?  How much more power, or more comfort, or more aero did he get?  No one asked?

I'd like to believe he is clean.

In any case, Kuss is one of a handful of pros that post all their rides on Strava -- with power numbers and all.

This is the winning Dauphine stage. The numbers are crazy town. 20 Minutes at 6.5 w/kg. INSANITY.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3922386410/overview

eloy said:

I'd like to believe he is clean.

In any case, Kuss is one of a handful of pros that post all their rides on Strava -- with power numbers and all.

This is the winning Dauphine stage. The numbers are crazy town. 20 Minutes at 6.5 w/kg. INSANITY.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3922386410/overview

6.4 for 20 does seem to be the max before eyebrows go up, so 6.5 is close.... but.

Getting back to the disc brake conversation, I like what English said: 
https://cyclingtips.com/2020/08/bikes-of-the-bunch-rob-englishs-english-road-bike/

Jules said:

eloy said:

I'd like to believe he is clean.

In any case, Kuss is one of a handful of pros that post all their rides on Strava -- with power numbers and all.

This is the winning Dauphine stage. The numbers are crazy town. 20 Minutes at 6.5 w/kg. INSANITY.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3922386410/overview

6.4 for 20 does seem to be the max before eyebrows go up, so 6.5 is close.... but.

I'd like to believe he's riding clean as well.  

mugwump said:

Jules said:

eloy said:

I'd like to believe he is clean.

In any case, Kuss is one of a handful of pros that post all their rides on Strava -- with power numbers and all.

This is the winning Dauphine stage. The numbers are crazy town. 20 Minutes at 6.5 w/kg. INSANITY.

https://www.strava.com/activities/3922386410/overview

6.4 for 20 does seem to be the max before eyebrows go up, so 6.5 is close.... but.

I'd like to believe he's riding clean as well.  

But that article has all the hallmarks of a snow job--not that I'd expect Ben Delaney to fall for such a thing so easily, but...the article is really lame and reads like something an intern would write.  

I think sepp is clean. He posts all his rides on strava and his progression has been linear. Not a huge jump year to year. I have also listened to a few pods with him and he's just a freak. 8+hr MTN bike rides through Durango CO as a high schooler, intentionally bonking on rides to find limits, and just living at altitude his whole life. 

Posting rides to strava doesn’t make 6.5 w/kg possible on bread & water...

Jules said:

Posting rides to strava doesn’t make 6.5 w/kg possible on bread & water...

I get that logic but also that dudes weight looks way off. At 5'11 sub 60kg is gnarly. My guess he's closer to the 62-63 range so I mean it makes the w/kg numbers more realistic. If he was putting those numbers out he'd be a GC potential. 

Could be. The drugs work every angle; recovery, fatigue, strength and mass

It takes crazy numbers to win any of these races. Just curious what makes Sep's win more suspicious than say Wout's?