@mugwump How is it a loss for racing fans? He either has decent support at Quickstep, or decent support at Ineos, I'm gonna watch regardless. 

Good interview with him: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LS7PSE0-3nw

GrantSeltzer said:

@mugwump How is it a loss for racing fans? He either has decent support at Quickstep, or decent support at Ineos, I'm gonna watch regardless. 

Quickstep has been a classics juggernaut for more than a decade.  They got that way by having lots of strong, if undervalued, riders who could make it through the first four hours of one-day race chaos so that they had options for the final two hours.  The success of guys like Boonen, Terpstra, Gilbert, etc was due to putting several riders in the final selection when everyone else had one.  That no one knew who was the Quickstep rider likely to make the winning move made racing more exciting to watch, and I'd think even for the racers it was more interesting, especially if you were on Quickstep.

Quckstep has forsaken this approach to support Evenepoel.  Which, as the recent Giro demonstrated, has many perils.  It's also boring.  That's the loss.  Yes, it appears that Jumbo-Visma can both dominate in Grand Tours and Classics.  But it takes a huge budget (and Jumbo-Visma might lose their backing).  And we've already got Grand Tour teams--Jumbo-Visma, Ineos, UAE.  Being the force in the classics with sprint success and the occasional leaders jersey in Grand Tours was far more watchable from my perspective.

Alaphilippe as a 'super domestique' is funny to see, as he'd probably benefit from switching to a French team that could be built around him.  AG2R already has Cosnefroy and Jungels who can ride hilly one-day races and potentially be competitive in one-week Tours, and Gall and O'Connor who could also ride the hilly races AND be the leader who could stand having a stage-hunter alongside them at Grand Tours.  TotalEnergies probably freeed up a bunch of cash with Sagan's retirement, and has some aggressive riders who can be in the mix in one-day races as well as one-week races.  

Mark Taylor said:

The mass exodus from Ineos is curious and could well be linked to the Remco saga,

Secondly , I'm not sure how you define dominate the classics ,Jumbo has failed to win a monument this year

Good point on the first.  I was wondering if Ineos was tightening purse strings, and going into a rebuilding phase with younger riders.  The riders who have left are support riders for Grand Tours, like Dani Martinez and Pavel Sivakov and Tao Geoghan Hart.  If Remco is picked for hte Tour, there would still be the Giro and Vuelta for the other guys.  

With Jumbo-Visma classics squad, I wrote they "can" not that they did this year. They have at least four riders who have proven they can consistently be at the front after four hours of classics insanity--Van Aert, Benoot, LaPorte, and Van Baarle.  

Look at Quickstep today.  They've got Alaphilippe for everything but Paris-Roubaix.  And then Kasper Asgreen for everything but the hilliest one-day races.  After those two, Yves Lampaert is sometimes near the front after the hours of insanity. Then they have a bunch of guys who can occasionally get there--Ballerini, Cavagna, Senechal.  

Yea if Remco actually is able to leave Quickstep and does so I don't know where Quickstep goes from there. They'd need a couple years to rebuild using the money they get from selling Remco (although I have no clue if that's how it'd actually work). As someone who started following pro cycling only a few years ago, I feel no affinity for seeing Quickstep on top, I could care less.

One thing i'll say I'm definitely not a huge fan of seeing Jumbo-Visma absolutely dominate all season (even if they keep coming up short in monuments). 

I don’t JP actually cares if quickstep are on top , he just wants another strong team mixing it up in the classics , I also miss seeing that 

We had some years where the main question was which QS rider would win. Now we have Jumbo, UAE, Alpecin, Ineos, QS and some other teams competing and making races super exciting. Isn’t that better?

LennartZandbergen said:

We had some years where the main question was which QS rider would win. Now we have Jumbo, UAE, Alpecin, Ineos, QS and some other teams competing and making races super exciting. Isn’t that better?

I don't think it's quite as dynamic as you're suggesting.

If it's UAE, it's Pogacar, if it's Alpecin, it's mostly van der Poel, with Phillipsen figuring in the bunch sprint.  Ineos is Pidcock. If it's Trek, it's Pedersen.  Jumbo is the exception, with three possible threats (Matteo Jorgensen could be a fourth possible threat).

I think QS's days of prominence on the flatter one-day races is over.  Though they now have the riders to be competitive at the hilly one-day races, even though it will likely be all for Remco. 

Everything was better in the good old days🤣

Mark Taylor said:

Everything was better in the good old days🤣

I kind of feel like racing is reverting to the old days, where there are singular leaders on dominant teams who were winning on virtually all terrains and a second tier of teams/riders hovering on the edges and waiting to get lucky.  

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-to-strengthen-its-aerospace-sector-with-t1000-carbon-fiber

Not directly about cycling, but I suspect this will eventually spill over in bikes. I'd expect the next wave of development to bring aero AND lightweight to the masses; possible a lowering if the UCI limit.

GregHoge said:

https://interestingengineering.com/innovation/china-to-strengthen-its-aerospace-sector-with-t1000-carbon-fiber

Not directly about cycling, but I suspect this will eventually spill over in bikes. I'd expect the next wave of development to bring aero AND lightweight to the masses; possible a lowering if the UCI limit.

China bought Cirrus; those planes are mostly carbon. Interestingly they are largely handmade still. My quick search didn't come back with any specifics on what kind of carbon fiber they use. 

The following article details the negotiations that went into neutralizing the 2nd stage of the Vuelta. Somewhat interesting how complicated the negations end up being

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/features/protest-threats-group-chats-and-endless-rain-inside-the-vuelta-a-espana-controversies

The unity was cool to see , i thought it strange DSM collaborated, essentially sacrificing the Red jersey 

The UCI stipulates that no WorldTour racer should race more than 85 days in a calendar year.

By the end of the Vuelta, Sepp Kuss will be at 77--UAE Tour (5th), Catalunya (19th), Giro (14th), Tour (12th),Vuelta.  

https://assets.ctfassets.net/761l7gh5x5an/2KDvSUytt1EclJZWF7G0xr/4fc2ee2821208294dbddca7961bd3c4e/uci-worldtour---specifications-for-teams.pdf

https://www.procyclingstats.com/rider/sepp-kuss

Oh I saw the GCN highlights, that seemed basically ok, but I presume they edited any coverage craziness. The race seemed pretty awesome tho.

I only watched the highlights, but I like the on-screen graphics with groups, gaps, and course profile.

I'm also cringing as I watch them ride through downtown Baltimore knowing full well the pavement on some of those roads is absolutely shit.

eloy said:

Oh I saw the GCN highlights, that seemed basically ok, but I presume they edited any coverage craziness. The race seemed pretty awesome tho.

Kind of weird how skelmose attached his own rider 

Mark Taylor said:

This is essentially the blue ribbon event of American road racing,why couldn't they pull this off

It's the only UCI road race in the US.

I don't know why they had the problems you're mentioning.  Medalist Sports, which is basically the UCI road racing monopoly in the US, ran the show.  It seems that many of the moto drivers are experienced bike race moto drivers.  the helicopter was lacking from last year's race, so this was supposed to be a remedy.  

Cool story about Durango royalty , the original one 
https://www.theproscloset.com/blogs/news/from-the-vault-the-life-times-of-john-tomacs-yeti-c-26

How about that Vuelta?

I Here ya , for optics , they at least didn't win every stage of the other race they are in :'(

At least they didn't ride across the line together.

My disappointment was I wanted to see the tactical game of J-V sending out JV, then PZ, then SK and watch Remco and UAE reel each one in and then repeating until everyone was blown.  

mugwump said:

At least they didn't ride across the line together.

My disappointment was I wanted to see the tactical game of J-V sending out JV, then PZ, then SK and watch Remco and UAE reel each one in and then repeating until everyone was blown.  

They definitely didn't see your script notes. Felt more like an 80's action movie from where I was sitting.

Obvious, it is interesting and exciting to see Sepp with a chance to win the race.

For the first time the dynamics of the team felt off, as without Remco the biggest climbing threats for Kuss are his teammates.

There are other mountain top finishes, and if they play similarly, then Sepp wont win GC. 

I want to believe, and do kinda suspend my disbelief at times, -- but I am sorry, Almeida, Mas, like nothing nothing? It all looks like what we are watching is full blast unadulterated cheating.

This is a long version of what @Eloy said above 
https://escapecollective.com/the-trouble-with-dominance/

Mark Taylor said:

This is a long version of what @Eloy said above 
https://escapecollective.com/the-trouble-with-dominance/

this is well written 

Movies are entertaining, and we know it's not real. Sport has some kind of honesty embedded in it, and the anger around doping is attached to that.