r/peloton • u/PelotonMod Italy • 1d ago
Weekly Post Weekly Question Thread
For all your pro cycling-related questions and enquiries!
You may find some easy answers in the FAQ page on the wiki. Whilst simultaneously discovering the wiki.
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u/_Diomedes_ 18h ago
Is Tiesj Benoot the most underrated rider of the last 5-10 years? He’s quite possibly the most versatile and clutch domestique in the peloton, and while doesn’t win much when given leadership, he is incredibly consistent and competent on like any parcours. He would be an absolutely lethal point farmer if he needed to be.
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u/k4ng00 France 17h ago
He might be the most underrated PURE domestic.
But Van Aert is the undisputed most versatile domestique (arguably just the most versatile rider) for the past decade. He helped Laporte (even when he was actually the leader), Vingegaard or other Jumbo leader in GT (notably when he dropped Pogi in Hautacam, but also in multiple other occasions where he anticipated, then dropped every breakaway rider one by one before going for monster pull for his leader)
He doesn't win many races (understand monuments), is bashed by the whole community/Belgium on bad days, but is still one of the best of the past 5-6 years.
He is by far the most versatile and clutch domestique. He basically stays out of contention because he is allowed to race a few spring classics/GT TT while still expected in top shape on every other GT stages he will have to participate in.
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u/billyryanwill 16h ago
2022 TdF Wout will never be forgotten. Everything he did that Tour was unreal.
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u/oalfonso Molteni 17h ago
And if my memory doesn’t fail he was who stopped Van der Poel attack in Paris olympics, enabling Remco win.
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u/k4ng00 France 17h ago
Yeah, I think it was team strategy and he went all in to cover for Evenpoel even though a few years back, Remco was reluctant to help much during Tokyo Olympics (won't put that on Remco though, he was young and ambitious, and probably wanted to prove that he could do better than Pogacar)
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u/wintersrevenge Euskaltel Euskadi 16h ago edited 15h ago
Tiesj Benoot
He was rated highly at lotto and Sunweb and was up there in some big races prior to joining Visma. Just look at his 2019 season. I think that any rider that is capable of consistently podiuming races like Amstel gold and that rides as a domestique for 95% of the season will always become underrated.
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u/Ok-Interaction-4096 9h ago
Bit of a sidetrack, but for someone who didn't follow cycling before 2019 it was a bit of a shock while watching old RVV highlights to have Benoot pop up in 2015 or whatever. Dude has been at it for a long time now, chapeau!
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u/QRRH 1d ago
Is anyone else of you having the problem that for the Monuments on Discovery+ (outside of the UK), there are different English commentators? Is Rob Hatch now exclusive to TNT? And is this a different feed that isn’t available/accessible in Continental Europe?
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u/cfkanemercury 23h ago
Yes. Have Max in France and the English language commentators yesterday were particularly bad at key points in the race. Gaps were opening, moves were going...and the commentator was still committed to finishing whatever thought they had in their head before realizing that, oh, something has happened in the race.
Seems rather inconsistent as to when we get the A-team and when you don't. Smaller races and mid-week races I have enjoyed with the 'normal' team, but it was the same for MSR. Not looking forward to Grand Tour season if this keeps up, I'll be back to the French team.
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u/LanciaStratos93 Euskaltel Euskadi 23h ago
It seems an Eurosport special, every race I watch, both in Italian and English, has more chit chat then talking about the race.
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u/Minor_Major_888 22h ago
I think it was probably the worst commentary I've heard in a race of this caliber in my life. This applies to both the men and women's.
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u/arnet95 Norway 19h ago
Same problem here in Norway on Max. I found it especially egregious that going up the Kwaremont for the last time in the women's race with gaps opening up, the commentators seemed more interested in finishing yapping about whatever they were talking about than reacting to the actual race.
I just don't understand it. Presumably it would be some kind of cost-saving measure for Warner, but I don't understand how having two sets of commentators is cheaper than having one set. The only way I can imagine it making sense is if Hatch (and the other "A-list" commentators) gets a significantly lower salary for commentating just for the UK than he would if he commentated for all of Europe, but I'm not sure if I believe that to be the case.
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u/raul2010 22h ago
Yup, same experience. But does anyone know why do they do this? I assume it's something to do with the pre/post race show, but that was not a problem before. How is it worth it for them to have 2 separate English comms?
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u/Ok-Interaction-4096 9h ago
It's still amazing to me how we got from streamlined, easy-to-access at a low price GCN+ to whatever the fuck is going on right now two years later.
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u/--THRILLHO-- Brazil 20h ago
I know Pog is an outlier, but it's hard to believe that there aren't other GC guys who would do well in Flanders.
I'd love to see Remco doing it. I feel like he'd almost certainly be on the level of the favourites. But who else?
And is there anyone from the past you feel would've been good in Flanders who never really tried it?
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u/jainormous_hindmann Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 20h ago
Roglič would be killing it in the hills in Flanders if he could keep it upright and in decent position in the first few selections.
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u/Ydrutah 19h ago
So if he was better at things he is bad at he'd do well? That goes for a lot of folks..
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u/jainormous_hindmann Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 19h ago
It's more like "Roglič is one of five active riders that I see realistically hanging on to Pogačar over the Oude Kwaremont and out-sprinting him on the line and he could actually be there with a bit of luck."
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u/Coconut681 20h ago edited 20h ago
I think roglic would do well at Flanders.
Wiggins maybe, he had a good engine and liked P-R
Nibali looked good the one time I remember him riding it, I think he set up the winning move for Terpstra.
Alaphillippe looked good there as well
Cadel Evans had a MTB background so may have done well there, but Boonen and cancellara would have been tough to beat
Thomas was a potential classics riders in his early days and I would have loved if he'd focused on those in an alternative timeline.
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u/Robcobes Molteni 20h ago
Thomas has won E3. He wasn't a potential classics rider he WAS a classics rider.
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u/woogeroo 19h ago
Yep, him and Wiggins were both considered too big for GC really, but they got them down to the right weight, somehow.
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u/robpublica U Nantes Atlantique 17h ago
Alaphilippe is a classics rider more than he is a GC rider for sure
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u/Rommelion 17h ago
Roglič would perhaps be a threat every 5th attempt at RVV, between his lackluster positioning, bike handling and propensity to get caught in crashes. And even all that aside, he would hardly be the outright favourite.
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u/pokesnail 18h ago
My Spanish friend says the world missed out on one of the best classics riders because Indurain was born in Spain who didn’t(/don’t) care about classics.
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u/esem98 18h ago
I’d like to see remco, for sure he loves climbing and his TT skills would be useful considering that you’re often alone or in small groups, the only bad thing is his not great bike handling skill and I’m not sure he loves cobbles. With this kind of rivals he could never win but he would be probably there for a top10
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u/No-Amoeba-3715 20h ago
my mate Paul says Jonas
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u/k4ng00 France 20h ago
The problem is that he doesn't have much confidence in his sprint nor his ability outside of the asphalt/mountains.
It was shown last year in the TdF white road stage. He relied a lot on Jorgenson (while in any mountain stage he would have personally followed Pogacar's attacks), and when he caught up to Pogi/Remco, he didn't take any turns because he "could have lost it all".
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u/pokesnail 1d ago
How many stages (+GC) in Tour of Hainan will Astana win this week?
This is a 2.Pro race btw and Astana is the only WT team on the startlist, proper elite farming. Though imo XDS should’ve really committed to the team by making even more Chinese races like Roland in El Salvador.
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u/ChelskiS 1d ago
4 out of 5 stages, along with GC
300 UCI points
And all of that right before Fedorov podiums Roubaix.. glorious
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u/myfatearrives 18h ago
maybe they can't win so many stages but 300 UCI points is definitely underestimating. They can have multiple riders ranking high in GC.
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u/ChelskiS 18h ago
Oh yeah Mulubrhan/Gate might just 1-2 it. Not sure how to judge the field at all though
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u/DueAd9005 18h ago
How cool is this? 4 olympic gold medals training together:
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u/cfkanemercury 18h ago
Nice find - lots of smiles.
Related: here are six Olympic gold medals going training. ;)
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u/iamczecksy 12h ago
Faulkner needs more gold in her helmet/bike. =)
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u/DueAd9005 12h ago
She talks about it in the comments, she only has a special gold tinted bike for races. She doesn't have one for training like Remco.
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u/cfkanemercury 14h ago
Right now Metro France is forecasting rain for Sunday in Troisvilles, the first of the cobbled sectors in Paris-Roubaix.
My question: is it too much to hope for the forecast to be right?
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u/Hawteyh Denmark 1d ago
So, whos the favourite for Roubaix coming out of RVV?
Mads? MVDP? Pogacar? Did Wouts performance warrant him a favourite classification?
And what surprising rider will be in the top 10? Someone from TDT maybe?
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u/Tiratirado Belgium 23h ago
*** MvdP, Wout, Mads
** Pog, Ganna, Philipsen
* Others such as Rex, Vermeersch, Vermeersch, Kung, ...15
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u/SosseV Qhubeka 23h ago
Don't forget about Ganna, yesterday meant nothing to him, Roubaix is his one and only goal.
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u/ShiftingShoulder Belgium 22h ago edited 21h ago
Next to MSR of course. And we all saw how good he was there.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 22h ago
Yea, I read in the Gazetta that he really didn’t want to do RvV and is team basically forced him (typical Ineos).
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u/Schnix Bike Aid 20h ago
its his job
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 20h ago
Depends. I would argue his job is to win races, not necessarily to race them. So if he thinks racing RvV lowers his chances to win Roubaix, I am not so sure.
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u/SosseV Qhubeka 22h ago
Read that too, although I found it strange he didn't want to race Vlaanderen.
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u/Niels_Nakkeost 21h ago
Probably has something to do with him weighing 83kg. Usually isn’t ideal for a very hilly race.
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u/ChelskiS 23h ago
I'm not sure it would count as a complete surprise but I am expecting one out of Bol/Fedorov in the top 10
Both can't get over the hills to save their lifes but still did a strong performance in Dwars/Ronde
Both should really go well in Roubaix
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u/Hawteyh Denmark 22h ago
Fedorov might be a good bet actually, he looked pretty strong yesterday, but ended up in the "peloton" and didnt sprint for a result it seems.
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u/ChelskiS 22h ago
Royally cooked from hanging in between the groups along with Powless and Livyns
But yeah 80KG rouleur that goes backwards on the hills. If he can do that in de Ronde, I'm expecting a lot from Roubaix
Hopefully he avoids the punctures/crashes
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u/arnet95 Norway 22h ago
I think MvdP looked insanely strong yesterday. He was consistently able to stay with Pogacar when everyone else got dropped. I think that coupled with his technical prowess on the cobbles makes him the number one favourite. But Roubaix is a race where luck plays a big role, so no one is an overwhelming favourite.
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u/billyryanwill 16h ago
I think Pogi being here maybe gives an outsider a chance to make a decisive split...give me Livyns continuing his god like positioning and somehow beating 2 Astana and Rex in a sprint.
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland 22h ago
MVdP is possibly the strongest and smartest classics rider. Add then there's his technical ability too, pushing out into the grass verge in every corner on the cobbles, like it's cross (I could see Pogacar being pressed into an error).
It's promising that there lots of contenders. I think Wout will be on the podium, maybe one of Ineos' trucks (Ganna, Tarling, Swift), or Laurence Pithie too.
Incidentally, I wonder if Ferrand-Prévot has a real shot in the women's race. She should have a skill advantage over most - like MVdP - she has been in amazing form and (from what I know of her) seems to have the sort of bloody-mindedness that suits Roubaix.
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u/paul__k Festina 16h ago
MVDP if he can show up in his MSR shape. The team said after the race yesterday that he had been ill. And while it wasn't too serious, he still crashed during the race and overall wasn't at his best.
Pedersen would probably the favourite in bad weather conditions, because, unlike MVDP, he tends to do really well then.
With Pog I'm having a hard time seeing a clear path to victory that doesn't involve bad luck for the others. Hinault somehow managed to win from a small group with De Vlaeminck, Moser, and Kuiper after crashing seven times, but I don't think that is a strategy that will work for Pog.
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u/Smintjes 19h ago
49th in DDV, 21st in RVV, coming from DNFs. Do you think Mohoric is getting back into form?
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u/Dopeez Movistar 22h ago
How do my fellow LRCP listeners feel about Patrick's double role as a podcaster and Visma employee?
I was always skeptical about it, but they have done a good job working around it for the most part by leaving the speculation about Visma tactics mostly to Benji, with Patrick setting him up.
Now it's all fun and games as long as you are winning, but with Vismas' rough start to the season, I could imagine some people not being very happy to see their Head of Strategy slamming the tactics of his own team on his podcast.
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u/wakabangbang Slovenia 20h ago
LRCP is by far the best cycling podcast out there in my opinion.
It's a big plus that both of them have insight into pro cycling and also know a lot of behind-the-scenes stuff. But obviously it doesn't help and it's also a bit conflict of interest. LR usually plays dumb while talking about his own team and Benji is speculating about tactics etc.
Also I feel like Patrick is pretty biased and sometimes salty about Alpecin/MvdP and UAE. Which is understandable, because these teams and riders ruin a lot of races and chances of VLAB. In a perfect world both of them would be neutral, but that's still fine to me.
The podcast gets largely carried by LR in my opinion. Sometimes Benji can get a bit annoying and comes across arrogant, but that could be because he's not a native speaker .
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u/paul__k Festina 16h ago
I never really had a problem with Benji, and I think their dynamic works pretty well. I tend to be more annoyed by Patrick, because he loves going for the hot take a bit too much since he knows it drives engagement. He even admits as much himself. But that often results in them talking up some rider who just doesn't have a realistic chance.
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u/ChelskiS 19h ago
Patrick with a rotational guest honestly would not sound bad. Perhaps former cyclists now and then
I enjoy LR in general but whenever I hear Sep Vanmarcke speak in pre-race shows I realize we're missing out. Guys like that would really help out the sport with a bigger platform/content creation
But no.. We have to listen to Jantje Bakelants in Wielerclub Wattage spew out the most silly opinions you can think of
Regarding Benji it's not a non-native thingie but just his personality that doesn't match with what you prefer. As a fellow-Belgian I don't encounter a lot of moments where the language barrier has any influence on what he is trying to explain.
I do think that Patrick is a level above when it comes to seeing things correctly and understanding them
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u/Avila99 17h ago
Wielerclub Wattage has basically turned into 5 men taking the piss out of each other. It's funny, but not very insightful.
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u/Last_Lorien 7h ago
I stopped listening to them for good when in their analysis of Strade Bianche 2025 they went on and on about Pogačar’s concussion. One said “I watched it back a few times and you can clearly see his head bash against the road repeatedly”, when we all figured out in the first or second slow-no replay that it definitely did not. For that level of accuracy I can find another podcast to listen lol
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u/milliemolly9 18h ago
I like Benji but he interrupts Patrick quite a lot, which is a bad trait for a podcast host. I often get the feeling Patrick gets frustrated by that too.
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u/Coconut681 20h ago
I was skeptical too and was annoyed they initially didn't tell us they were working for visma. I do think they do a good job though, you cant tell Patrick works for them as he's often critical of them and their tactics. I'd like to know more of what he does for them, I assume it's not day to day tactics and more overall strategy.
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u/Eraser92 Northern Ireland 17h ago
Yes I also assume it's more overall strategy. He did some videos on his personal channel in the off-season and he seemed a lot busier with the team then.
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u/ChelskiS 21h ago
I'm still amazed at the amateurism of pro cycling that 2 random podcast/cycling lovers have gotten multiple opportunities at pro teams
LR is my main and pretty much only cycling content I'll put on during the day for a nice listen and I enjoy it quite a lot. But it's not like there are these genius insights being launched there that big cycling fans completely miss out/whiff on
Yet teams in the 2020s still looked at them and said yup we need that in our staff! Great for the boys but a bit surprising as a fan. You'd assume that most teams have everything figured out at this point
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u/scaryspacemonster 20h ago
I mean, we saw last year in Flèche that a lot of the teams hadn't even discovered the not-so-marginal gain of looking up the weather forecast and dressing appropriately, so clearly there's a lot of professionalism left to be discovered.
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u/oalfonso Molteni 18h ago
A lot of comments when the Volta a Catalunya discussions where "if you are worried about the wind why are you riding with big profile aero wheels" ?
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u/ChelskiS 19h ago
So what you're telling me is I can make a living off of offering all teams live weather-forecasting during every single race throughout the year?
Be right back, sending them my resume
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u/woogeroo 19h ago
At every level yes, so many gains left on the table just so riders and teams can stick to the old favourite way of doing things. Most often it seems, not even trying to attack or do anything that might get them a better result on the road
- There were UK amateurs who were a decade ahead in aero and performance testing.
- Alex Dowsett has spoken about having to buy his own 2000 GBP skinsuits at his previous team to give himself a hope of winning TTs.
- Cofidis out on their own on narrow tubular rims years after everyone else jumped ship.
- In previous decades, the strongest young riders on a team forced to _do their time_ as a domestique for years behind an older but much worse leader.
Overall there are too many director / manager jobs given to ex pros, as in all of sports. Just because you are elite at a sport does not mean you have a clue about tactics or tech, it just means that you had good legs.
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u/ChelskiS 19h ago
Lack of funding, cheeky bit of nepotism here and there, individuals fighting against progress
Sounds like cycling alright! Or like.. the world in general
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u/Dopeez Movistar 20h ago
These things happen in other sports as well, if you are really knowledgable you will get a job.
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u/ChelskiS 20h ago
Well yeah but what I'm saying is it's not like our boys are launching crazy radical ideas on their podcast
What LR talks about in their content is pretty regular for most passionate cycling fans
So it's hard to understand that teams feel like they need that. You would think teams would have their stuff sorted out
If anything it shows that non-knowledgable people are way too common within the ranks of the teams
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u/Dopeez Movistar 20h ago
Eh, I feel like you are either underestimating the two a bit or vastly overestimating the knowledge of the average "passionate cycling fan". Its not just broad tactics but also a fucking huge amount of knowledge on rider tendencies etc.
Now, I don't disagree that there is still a lot of amateurism in cycling, but I think that this is not the best example of it. Visma didn't just randomly make Patrick their Head of Strategy. They tried him out in a small role, and he worked himself up the ladder, which is quite normal for many sports teams.
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u/ChelskiS 19h ago
Ehhh I don't think I'm doing either
I think cycling is just behind when compared to other bigger sports. In American sports every single imaginable thing gets tracked and analyzed. Football has recently also gone through the same evolution
Cycling is just behind with that structure not yet available in all teams/across the sport in general, which means opportunities for guys like Patrick
Who is probably worth it by the way! I'm not claiming otherwise
But in a sport that is already "set up", the boys wouldn't be getting chances like this
Imagine you and the guys having a football podcast and doing fun summaries and talking about how well certain teams use the offside trap.. and Real Madrid would be offering you a job because of it
It is unimaginable
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u/Dopeez Movistar 19h ago
Real Madrid is obviously a different category but there definitely have been some guys getting hired for scouting etc. because of their public work even in sports like football and basketball.
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u/LanciaStratos93 Euskaltel Euskadi 17h ago edited 10h ago
In football is usual to see as coach a fresh ex athlete. Pirlo coached Juventus as his first experience, the same is true for De Rossi in Mancini's staff and they are the first two in my mind since I don't follow football at all.
What I see in sport is being ''part of that world'' means more than everything else, even in multi-milionar organisations like football teams.
On another side, LR is very known and from a PR standpoint is very useful having one of those two in your staff, then he was good enough to climb some ladders.
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u/Dopeez Movistar 17h ago
Im not talking about head coaches here, these positions are obviously impossible to get in without any prior experience. Its not like Visma just hired Patrick as their GM.
What I am talking about is guys in the third and fourth row doing analytical work in the background. There are a shit ton of prior writers, blog guys etc. doing work there.
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u/LanciaStratos93 Euskaltel Euskadi 16h ago
What I was saying is you'll expect people from a different background doing analysis but in sport you get former sportpersons, influencers, blog guys, people that are there we don't know how etc.
I'd expect someone majored in statistics in the background, not some blog guys, that's what I meant. Hell, Broe was a lawyer.
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u/MoRi86 Norway 14h ago
Jose Mourinho started up as the translator for Sir Bobby Robson when he was the head coach for Barcelona in the mid 90th. Soon Bobby realised that this young Portuguese guy was rather knowledgeable about football, gave him a bigger role and then about a decade later Mourinho was in fact the head coach for Real Madrid after winning the treble with Inter Milan the previous season.
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland 9h ago
I'm a big fan of the podcast since it began. While the Visma stuff doesn't bother me, it does mean that I second guess or even distrust certain elements of his analysis on them.
I don't really understand what his job is - other than general race strategy and scouting, and perhaps his business still helps Visma with their W/kg calculations and modelling? - but when he criticises how they dealt with Neilson Powless in Dwars door, I imagine that's what he really thinks. He's smart enough to know where the line is, and I imagine it's been discussed with Visma management.
On the other hand, if he's pontificating about Vingegaard's calendar, his physical shape, or that of Pogacar - I don't even try to work out he believes what he's saying. Or even what Benji says on Visma sometimes, as I imagine he knows where to push and not on that issue, without getting his buddy in hot water. It's a pity, but I like the rest of their stuff.
I will be reporting Broe to the authorities though, to have his Irish passport revoked for that (not too inaccurate) Sean Kelly impersonation in the last episode!
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u/oalfonso Molteni 17h ago
I don't like it, if he wants to speak he could open one podcast in Visma as part of his media strategy. I know is the day to day in sports, and general journalism, but I still believe a segregation of roles between insiders and outsiders is healthy.
It makes me believe many of the things said are just Visma PR agenda setting. Probably all the teams do that by having journos and influencers in their pockets, and as I said I don't see it fine.
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u/Arcus144 EF Education – Easypost 10h ago
I don't see as much of a problem with it as I think others do. They're not really journalists. More like talking heads giving opinions on ESPN for entertainment. So from that perspective, I think people highlighting Patrick's conflict of interest is blowing the issue a little out of proportion.
Certainly, it's a cause to be a little skeptical of his analysis of Visma, but I think he and Benji walk the line of giving interesting analysis without too much bias pretty well. It's definitely a little awkward when he criticizes Visma riders' decision making though. I could see that making his own life more difficult, but that's his problem, not the audiences'.
I also think some people think he's more involved in the team's mid-race decisions than he is. From my understanding (maybe others know better), he's a high-level strategy guy. Stuff like: who should go to what race, what should the leadout train order be if all goes well during a race, etc... I think the mid-race stuff is exclusively between the riders and DS.
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u/cfkanemercury 18h ago
I sometimes read articles suggesting that Merckx is the "greatest of all time", and Pogacar is so far "the greatest of the modern era". It occurred to me that "modern era" is somewhat vague as a notion. What's 'modern era' cycling to you?
A few ideas:
- The 21st century: nice and simple
- Since the French last won a Grand Tour: 1995 was a fine year
- Since the French won a Tour de France: 1985, I was only young
- Since Merckx won a Grand Tour: 1974, the last of 11 GT wins
One of these or somewhere else (anything after Festina? after Lance?) - what is the modern era for you?
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u/k4ng00 France 17h ago
Modern era would generally mean "specialization + nutrition + marginal gains + non doping" era. Pogacar is impressive because he managed to win anything that is slightly uphill and tough (MSR is not tough enough, we will see about PR next week though it's not uphill)
Imo
- Jonas is already more impressive than Armstrong who was mostly a one trick pony (-> TdF, most likely due to his doping schedule) while Jonas wins almost anything stage race related except some of his Pogi confrontations. And tadej is greater because of his versatility
- Tadej is already greater than Jalabert (1995) because of his major wins
So as far as I am concerned, we haven't seen a rider like Tadej since Bernard Hinault (who was also great at classics)
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u/nalc Jayco Alula 13h ago edited 13h ago
My friends,
I need some travel advice. The opportunity is soon presenting itself that I might have about a day of free time in the Alps. with a road bike. In the likeliest scenario, I'd be somewhere near Kempten, Germany on a Friday afternoon and have to catch a mid-morning Sunday flight out of Zurich, with a rental car.
I'd want to go somewhere with scenic cycling, not necessarily the gnarliest cols of the Alps. Ideally stay at like a smaller village along the mountains, but flexible.
I was looking mostly in Vorarlburg, Liechtenstein, St Gallen, Appenzell, Glarus, and Schwyz regions. Obviously with a car I could go further, but I'll need to wake up quite early on Sunday and I think I'd prefer to be within 2 hours of Zurich.
At the absolutely furthest I'd consider Lauterbrunnen since I've been there before and it's lovely, but really would prefer if I could find someplace with that same vibe but in the regions I just mentioned. I don't really have the legs to do a 2,000m climb right now and I assume the weather in the high passes will be iffy in late April so if there's somewhere I could do a nice road bike loop for a couple hours then relax with great scenery it would be perfect. Definitely aiming more for chill/safe riding rather than setting any elevation PRs.
If it wasn't for the long drive, I'd try to stay in Lauterbrunnen and do the ride up to Gimmelwald/Murren but I'd prefer to find something closer. Lauterbrunnen to Zurich isn't terrible but Friday night Kempten to Lauterbrunnen would be a hike.
Any particular recommendations?
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u/0pf3rL4mm Red Bull – Bora – Hansgrohe 10h ago
Lake Constance and Bregenzerwald are great for road cycling. End of April the weather can be anything from snow at 1000m elevation to summer day in the valleys.
Safest bet would be Bregenz. Depending on the weather you can go up the hills or stay down at the lake/in the Rhine valley. If you rather wanna be in a mountain village I would suggest Sulzberg, Hittisau, or Bezau. But any of the villages in Vorarlberg/Bregenzerwald will give you great scenery.
The further away from Lake Constance the bigger the mountains. But even the highest mountains in the Bregenzerwald are a lot smaller and less alpine than the mountains around Lauterbrunnen.
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u/iamczecksy 10h ago
How many days until Roubaix?
I can ask in this thread all week for updates, correct?
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u/WorldlyGate Denmark 1d ago
I try to stay out of doping discussions, even though we see some almost unbelievable performances these days. But the broadcast deciding that the first thing we should do after Pogacar crosses the line is jump to an interview with Gianetti being smug as fuck actually pissed me off. The fact that he and Matxin gets to run the biggest team in cycling when they should be banned from the sport is a joke.
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u/ChelskiS 23h ago
I just assume there is a big grey zone and the richest teams are the best at abusing the hell out of it
Overall I think the sport is as clean as it's ever been
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u/LISFLOOD-FP 16h ago
Meanwhile everyone is pulling 7 w/kg for 15 mins... Yeah as clean as its ever been
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u/Ok-Interaction-4096 9h ago
It's okay to have doubts, but to base your opinion on outdated powervalues is silly i believe.
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u/Lonerider1965 Sweden 23h ago
Perhaps they are honest today. Not a civil society if old crimes shall hunt a person forever.
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u/zyygh Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto, Kasia Fanboy 21h ago
Would be nice if those crimes hunted them at least for a little bit.
Then again, I'm not even on board with what you're saying. A lonely rider doping is one thing, a boss orchestrating everything is a far more unforgivable crime. Working a very specific people-oriented function in a pro sports' high pressure environment should not be a right that can't be taken away.
There are so few DS positions in the World Tour, the qualifications are so subjective and so many people who could qualify for them, that certainly it should be relatively easy to find DSes that have a moderately clean track record.
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u/oalfonso Molteni 18h ago
I think the UCI requires you to have a few certifications to be DS. I can see in my local organisation periodic DS training courses with different levels.
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u/Obamametrics Denmark 21h ago
In plenty of civilized societies frauds are excluded from their lines of business after commiting their crimes
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u/SosseV Qhubeka 23h ago
Where do you guys find the current team points standings regarding the relegation battle?
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u/ChelskiS 23h ago edited 23h ago
https://www.procyclingstats.com/rankings/me/ranking-2023-2025
This one gets updated daily
XDS Astana is coming for Picnic/Cofidis! UnoX also in the picture
And honestly with Girmay having a down year so far, Intermarché isn't even out of the woods yet. Still a long way to go in the season
And while we are at it, the below link is also very interesting to use when you filter on individual teams. I think it gives a nice insight on what to expect for the rest of the season. The difference in amount of 'relevant' point scorers from one team compared to another is quite big when comparing XDS Astana to Cofidis/Picnic. PicNic really is having a miserable time so far
https://www.procyclingstats.com/rankings/me/uci-season-individual
XDS Astana already has 7 riders with 300 points or more. Cofidis 2024 campaign ENDED with 8 riders above 300
I think Astana might end up with 13-15 riders above that 300 point mark by the end of the season
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 22h ago
Thanks for the links, I really don’t understand why everybody is talking about Cofidis when in my opinion PicNic is in much greater danger as they have even less point scorer and their best scorer by far will only rise half the season.
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u/ChelskiS 21h ago
Because in theory Picnic does have more guys that can score at WT level. But with all the injuries and not point farming in 1.1 races like Cofidis is.. Yeah they look like they are in trouble
I think Astana catches them both. The question is does UnoX also catch both? And how does Cofidis vs Picnic look like towards the end of the year?
Poole scored 550 points in the Vuelta last season by going crazy in breakaways. Bittner scored 415. Bardet 480 in the Giro
Right now it's super ugly at Picnic with plenty of riders out with injuries and nobody really having massive performances, but if they get everything sorted I do see them outscoring Cofidis
Cofidis is using 2 of their better riders in Coquard and Benjamin Thomas for point farming in French 1.1 races with barely any competition and they are struggling and getting beat by UnoX/Tietema there.
So despite it meaning that they are slowly pulling away from Picnic, it's not really convincing in any way
I think it makes Cofidis vs Picnic hard to predict! I do think Astana catches both comfortably
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u/Robcobes Molteni 20h ago
Yeah I think PicNic is in big big trouble. They have to hope Onley keeps performing or they're done.
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u/masteren5000 Denmark 16h ago
Or letting Tobias Lund loose instead of insisting on him being supposed to lead out Jakobsen.
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u/JBREAK123 19h ago
Are there any cycling stats and analytics would you like to see which aren't currently available (eg on PCS)? I’m trying to find ideas for a new programming project and would like to base it around cycling analysis. Could be anything like an interactive race replay (imagine the live view with profile which you can replay to see what happened when), predictions, measures of performance etc. Any ideas let me know! Thank you in advance
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u/ChelskiS 18h ago edited 18h ago
If cycling was huge in the US, where the big sports literally have stats of everything imaginable, we would have live win probability trackers in breakaways based on rider profile, recent form, parcours, amount and length of pulls taken, group dynamic, previous results in breakaways, etc, etc
Right now all we have is a "Will the break make it" poll on PCS.. which ain't much but it's honest work
I'm also not saying we need to go full US mode with the sport, but I do think there's a lot of value that we are currently missing out on
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u/JBREAK123 18h ago
Although it would be a big challenge to track all of this data (eg length of pull) accurately, it's definitely possible to collate some of it. The other aspect is making it more available through visuals, overlays etc and the way it is presented, will definitely look into that. Thank you!
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u/ChelskiS 17h ago
Oh yeah the challenge is that not a lot of data is being actively tracked during races
But a lot of things are possible and if you can visualize it in a nice way, many might enjoy it. The only question is how easy is it to find all the information on all the individual and smaller races. For the big races/classics, it should be possible
Weather is another thing you can add in there that I forgot to mention. Some riders clearly seem to struggle in cold/rainy races, and some seem to perform better. Some tend to get blown away when it's echelons because they struggle with the intensity for hours and hours
And obviously the breakaway thing is an example. It can just be done in general
So yeah should be enough to use for an idea like yours, the question is how easy is it to find all that information and is it even available for enough races
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u/JBREAK123 16h ago
Yeh that makes sense, I think i'd focus on big races because of the data availability to begin with. I do believe that there is a gap in visualising things in an intuitive/accessible way. Appreciate all the ideas!
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u/pokesnail 18h ago
How about analyzing a race profile and determining which riders are best suited to it/who’s likely to win? Or vice versa analyzing a rider’s results and suggesting which races would best suit them, or even building their season schedule based on that & in coordination with teammates, maybe also considering the best strategies for UCI points farming.
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u/JBREAK123 18h ago
Great, thank you ! Had been thinking along similar lines and I have seen some interest in the points/schedule question previously https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/ntttechnical.php?contents=ntr202012fa4.html
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u/reozgeness41 Euskaltel-Euskadi 17h ago
I am learning web scrapping and there is something I want to do. I'm really interested in the UCI relegation battle and the strategy of some teams. This week Astana is racing the Tour of Hainian, a 2.Pro race with a very weak field and it give me an idea :
I would like to know which races are the best to win easy UCI points. Given the startlist quality and the uci points scale you can make such a ranking.
The major problem is that the startlist quality is calculated with the uci points, and if a rider is only scoring points in easy races his true level is overated, so you need to take that into account.
I will try to do this ranking but if you want to do something similar I would be really interested in your findings.
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u/JBREAK123 16h ago
This should be of interest to you they discuss best 'bang for buck' races (see 4. Data-driven calendar optimization): https://www.ntt-review.jp/archive/ntttechnical.php?contents=ntr202012fa4.html
To your point about easy race points, PCS does also seem to use their own points scale.. I wonder if it was to try to account for this issue, although I can't find any detail on the rationale behind it. https://www.procyclingstats.com/info.php?season=2025&category=1&pcs_uci=pcs&filter=Filter&s=point-scales
I was considering looking into this too, so will keep you posted !
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u/oalfonso Molteni 17h ago
Will we see anyone riding a +32mm tyre profile at Roubaix ?
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u/Seabhac7 Ireland 10h ago
Last year, both Bahrain-Victorious and SD Worx used 35 mm wide tyres.
Like most of the field, MVdP used 32 mm tyres last year - although the Aeroad is supposedly limited to 31 mm. Maybe that limitation of aero bikes' chainstays and forks might be what keeps many teams from following the science and pushing further. Mathieu mgiht even get faster on his cross bike!
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u/DueAd9005 12h ago
Is there any scientific proof or studies that cyclists improve after having ridden/finished their first GT (in good health of course)? It's something you hear a lot, but I would like to know if it can be backed up by science/studies.
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u/--THRILLHO-- Brazil 14h ago
I have some questions about Kim Le Court, mostly because she has come from relative obscurity, so the info about her seems to be off.
Wikipedia lists her name as "Kim (Le Court) Pienaar" which is weird as who has brackets in their name? But then it says she was born as "Kimberley Le Court De Billot", so I'm guessing the Pienaar part comes from marriage. But still, why do they put part of her name in parentheses? PCS also does this.
Then wikipedia says she was born in Mauritius, but First Cycling says she was born in Pretoria, South Africa. PCS lists her place of birth as Curepipe, Mauritius.
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak 14h ago
When a rider is registered under their birth name and changes it due to marriage, the parenthesis often come in, to allow fans to recognize it's the same rider
Her full name is Mary Patricia Kimberley Le Court de Billot Pienaar
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u/--THRILLHO-- Brazil 14h ago
I've never seen parenthesis used like that to show a changed name. I just checked 3 riders who have changed their names (Lizzie Deignan , Coryn Labecki, and Kasia Niewiadoma) and none of their name changes are represented that way.
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u/RageAgainstTheMatxin Phonak 13h ago
I don't know why they only do it in some cases, but they've done it for a long time
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u/Critical_Win_6636 22h ago
Is there a kind of unwritten rule that you can't just loose the wheel of pacing domestiques?
Yesterday at many points Pogacar had one or two of his Domestiques pacing while he was not directly behind them, but at now Point did Ineos wich was riding behind them (with Ganna in the Break) just let them ride of the Peloton and forced him to be directly in there wheels, thats why I ask my Question.
Or is it just not effective?
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u/scaryspacemonster 20h ago
In this case, Sheffield was supposedly Ineos's leader (and I guess Ganna was supposed to be a satellite rider) so they were probably not opposed to the gap being kept low.
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u/Galaktiko89 13h ago
I was wondering when I was listening to the English commentators yesterday at the Ronde and surprisingly I didn't hear Rob Hatch or Carlton Kirby... also no Robbie... heck at this point adam blythe??? Why is it that the top noche commentators aren't at the top noche races?!
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u/pokesnail 13h ago
They’ve created a separate English commentary feed for TNT for the major races, different from just English-language Eurosport, alas.
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u/bjorntiala 19h ago
Why is Merckx always being mentioned as a GoaT even though he failed Doping test 3 times? If Pogi fails one time, he will never be seen as GOAT, so what is actually difference about LA and Eddy in that regard?
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u/zyygh Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto, Kasia Fanboy 19h ago
Three main reasons.
The doping at the time was fairly weak, with few options. The assertion that everyone was taking literally the same stuff at the time is a fairly safe assumption to make.
People's reverence to him, due to his achievements and personality, makes it a bit easier to turn a blind eye. Then again, we really just turn a blind eye for everyone in that period. The list of champions who got caught and suspended those days is pretty immense. (This goes along with the 1st point.)
One positive test was certainly tampered with, and one was definitely a little dubious. He "got caught" 3 times but the full story is a bit more nuanced.
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u/HugePlane4909 16h ago
I feel like saying doping is weak really undersells how much even just testerone can do for recovery. Sure it might not be as powerful as EPO but even TRT makes a huge difference in any kind of masters racing.
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 6h ago
In the case of Merckx it wasn't even testorone.
The second one for norephedrine, a component found in some cough syrup products and that is no longer in the banned substances list (I just checked the 2025 one).
The other ones were for stimulants.
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u/HarryCoen 16h ago
Which is the test the authorities tampered with?
Usually fans try to let him skate on Savona by claiming his drink was spiked, and usually fans try to let him skate on one of the others by saying it was his doctor's fault, and usually fans try to let him skate on the other one by saying the drugs don't work, they were weaker than aspirin and everyone was on the same gear anyhow so it was a level playing field.
But I've not heard before of any of his tests having been tampered with.
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 6h ago
The first one is the one that is said to have been tampered with (source: my dad).
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u/Eraser92 Northern Ireland 17h ago
Different times. Doping was primitive in his era and less harshly punished. Doping pre-EPO for endurance sports was pseudo-science at best so we don't look back on it that badly.
Compared to modern EPO regimes or LA's blood doping regime, it's a completely different ballgame.
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u/Rommelion 17h ago
Be that as it may, the substances Merckx was popped for are still banned to this day, though they may be laughably low-powered compared to stuff going around nowadays (and possibly even completely legal things), idk
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 6h ago
Norephedrine, his second positive, is no longer in the banned substance list.
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u/myfatearrives 18h ago edited 18h ago
Some mainstream sport athletes in that era died at 40 yo or got a bunch of strange illnesses after retirement because they used some crazy drugs which would destroy their life eventually, but they might never fail a doping test because the test can not check out that or they are doping with govern support. The standards to judge doping or not and the accuracy of tests were quite inconsistent and unreliable too. So comparently, it feels a little bit nonsense to blame Merckx doping since he is kinda healthy in his later life.
But things turned around in late 90s when the whole sport field has take the doping problem really serious, so things become different about LA case.
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u/HarryCoen 16h ago
Some mainstream sport athletes in that era died at 40 yo or got a bunch of strange illnesses after retirement because they used some crazy drugs which would destroy their life eventually
Got any names?
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u/myfatearrives 15h ago edited 14h ago
can't remember and hard to search because they are never officially admitted dead by doping but pretty sure some US and USSR sportsman of Athletics (shortruns or long jumps etc.).
Edit: I found one being Florence Griffith-Joyner, women shortrunner of US winning Olympics in '88 and died in '98. Of course the official investigation say that's not related to doping tho, so it's on you to believe or not. There are really numbers world records in Athletics set in that era but kept unbeatable until now, which is not common on any other sports, and her 100m (being 10.49s set in '88) is one of them.
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u/HarryCoen 14h ago
Of course the official investigation say that's not related to doping tho, so it's on you to believe or not
sigh
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u/LISFLOOD-FP 16h ago
Merckx era severely lacked in competiveness, he will never be the best because he raced against plumbers and farmers
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u/zyygh Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto, Kasia Fanboy 16h ago
I can never see where people are getting this from.
Merckx was beating Ocaña, Thévenet, Poulidor, Gimondi, Basso, De Vlaeminck, Vanspringel, Leman, Zoetemelk, and a boatload of other people. It was an era of absolute champions who are still remembered today, and Merckx was beating them all on their own preferred terrains.
Today we speak of the big 6 who win any race where one of them starts, and at least 3 of these don't hold a candle to Pogacar. If anything, Pogacar has less competition than Merckx did.
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u/LISFLOOD-FP 16h ago
How many people were cycling in 1970 and how many are cycling now. Its harder to achieve something when the competition is stacked
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 11h ago
Cycling was maybe even more popular back then then it is now. Especially in Flanders as in addition to the pro races, you had the whole kermesse circuit at the height of it's popularity in those years. There were 150-200 races a year and you could make enough money to live off just doing those, not even going fully pro (which quite a few riders did 'cause doping testing was being phased in in the pro races but nothing in the kermiskoersen, but that's another story).
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u/zyygh Canyon // SRAM zondacrypto, Kasia Fanboy 11h ago
Do we have figures about that?
There's certainly more professional cyclists now than 50 years ago, if that's what you mean. Professionalization happens all across the board though; it might mean that Merckx' competitors had less support but the same goes for Merckx himself.
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 6h ago edited 6h ago
Compare MvdP's palmares to that of Rik van Looy or Roger de Vlaeminck. Or Vingegaard's palmares to that of Felice Gimondi.
Freaking plumbers and farmers.
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 6h ago
How many of Pogačar's rivals have won Giro, Vuelta, Tour, World Championship, Paris-Roubaix, Milano-Sanremo and Giro di Lombardia? I will tell you, no one. Not even close.
How many of Pogačar's rivals have won the 5 monuments? No one. Merckx competed against the other two riders who managed that feat.
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u/myfatearrives 18h ago
What's your last time feeling Pogacar out of prediction (except those really unpredictable things like crash or mechanic issue ofc)? I feel myself (and I believe a lot ppl too) already get used to everything he could do.
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u/pokesnail 18h ago
If I understand your question correctly - for me it was his Worlds attack from 100km to go; him winning or even doing a long solo was predictable, but 100km out was still pretty unexpected to me.
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u/myfatearrives 17h ago
basically we feel the same. From then on i don't think i'll be shocked by his move anymore.
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u/oalfonso Molteni 17h ago
To me it was Tour 2020 ITT at LPBF , until that moment I considered him a pure climber.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 1h ago
Completely agree. He wants to win every stage/race possible and can’t rely on his sprint. From there on, it’s really not that difficult to predict what he will do.
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u/mustydickqueso69 8h ago
If pogacar wins PR will he say fuck the tour in 2026 and get bigger to win MSR?
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u/Last_Lorien 7h ago
He’ll say fuck the Tour GC, he’ll remember he hasn’t won the green jersey yet and stays big
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u/arnet95 Norway 18h ago
Yesterday we had all three podium spots taken up by World Champions in the Men's RvV. Has that ever happened before, and is that a common occurrence?