Pro Cycling Thread 2024

When did this happen?

Today in Liege…fairly early in the race.

do you know how far in, I thought it was but missed the first 2hr30?

84k in…don’t think there is video of it, or at least I have not seen it.

Pog is just going to come back stronger and pissed off.

As @Power13 alluded to - the crash was before coverage started and I haven’t seen any footage or even pictures

Bummed to not see Pog and Remco go head to head - seems highly likely it would’ve come down to the two of them

The injury and prognosis for Pog seems as good as can be expected :crossed_fingers: - likely back on the trainer by the end of this week. I’d wager he had some time off scheduled for the next week or two anyway. Hopefully this doesn’t impact his build for the tour because if he isn’t in top shape there the GC battle will lose a lot of its luster

Yeah I went back and looked.

In the first five minutes of the GCN live coverage (the catch up before live), GCN which stated it happened at 84km

I wonder if there will be social media promotion of him riding on Whoosh.

I was bummed to see that Pog crashed out. I was even more bummed when I saw how on strong Remco was. I fully believe Remco could have given Pog a run for his money.

I was also baffled how Ciccone and Skejlmose could not get to Remco, but Pidcock could. After listening to Lanterne Rouge podcast I was totally drinking the Skejlmose kool-aid.

I never thought it would be the case, but it appears Pidcock is just too small :man_shrugging:.

Maybe he does need to be a GC specialist, but his physiology seems to favour shorter efforts.

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Pidcock doesn’t have the recovery/consistency to compete against the top GC specialists…at least he hasn’t displayed it yet.

Don’t think it’s necessarily his size, just isn’t quite on the same level as MVDP, Remco, Pog, WVA. Neither is anybody else though! Guess there is some hope in that last year he was disrupted by illness, and this year doesn’t seem to have quite regained his Strade form since the Tirreno crash (though also possible his Strade win was as much due to the absence of the Big 4 as to his form) so maybe there’s still more to come from him. Though it is crazy that he’s still only 23 and yet was the oldest of the top 4 at LBL!

I don’t think he will prioritise GC until at least 2025 as I assume he’ll want to defend his MTB Olympic title in Paris next year. Agree with @stonerider that he hasn’t yet displayed the consistency needed, but then I guess it also hasn’t been his focus yet so remains to be seen. I do think the modern GC routes with generally shorter stages and lots of bonus seconds could suit him as a punchier rider.

It’s not like he is failing at being a classics rider. He’s podiuming at monuments and won a high profile non-monument classic. He should stick with it.

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Pidcock is always going to struggle against Wout and MVDP in cobble classics.

The selections are made on short cobbled climbs.

Generally, they are not pure w/kg tests like a regular tarmac climb.

They are a very unique bit of math. Think of them as a rw/w/kg/rr metric. Raw watts vs watts per kilo vs rolling resistance. The rolling resistance being vastly higher than normal.

Try some math.

MVDP FTP 440 weight 75kg - w/kg 5.7
Wout FTP 465 weight 78kg - w/kg 5.9
Pidcock FTP 370 weight 58kg - w/kg 6.3

So Pidcock should win then right?

Rolling resistance on extreme cobbles, high speed max effort climb… massive. 180 to 250w watts, depending on weight. The important bit. It’s not squared like aero. It’s massive for everyone. Smaller riders don’t get a significant enough saving.

MVDP - 200w : 440 - 200 = 240 / 75kg 3.2w/kg vs gravity and air.
Wout - 205w : 465 - 205 = 260 / 78kg 3.3w/kg vs gravity and air.
Pidcock - 190w : 370 - 190 = 180 / 58kg 3.1w/kg vs gravity and air.

More raw watts wins on cobbles, just.

Pogacar is so incredibly strong he breaks this equation. His 430w FTP at 66kgs gives him 3.5w/kg vs air and gravity, after the extreme rolling resistance.

Finally, there’s one final metric. W’ or anaerobic capacity. All four athletes have great anaerobic capacity. MVDP almost certainly has the highest, likely near 30kj. This very high capacity allows him to overcome Wout’s minor w/kg advantage, but only on short climbs.

It’s not enough to overcome Pog’s advantage of pure w/kg, if the effort extends beyond, say 3mins.

Hence, Flanders result.

Long story short. Pidcock can win cobbled classics, but the big 3 need to make significant tactical errors.

Math over :grin:

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QED Pidcock needs to get into the weight room.

I did the flanders sportive this year and anecdotally would say you’re exactly correct - as a 100kg+ rider with quite a lot of power, the cobbled climbs were comparatively easier for me than for some of my clubmates who weigh perhaps 30kg less. All that power having to come seated too is another wrinkle - some riders climbing style is affected much more than others by not being able to stand (when wet anyway).

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Or target the many races without cobbles! Would think Lombardia would be his best chance in the Monuments, then maybe Milan San Remo if he can get a gap on the Poggio then descend like a banshee to stay away.

Pog mentioned bulking up for Paris Roubaix at some point but imagine that would only be if or when he’s won all the other monuments (and maybe a full set of grand tours as well) and is looking to complete the set.

Told you guys in Feb

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I have a series of tiny wagers that can pay off big time if Egan shows some kind of form.

Preliminary signs:

  • Not far from Ayuso in ~7m effort.
  • Not dropped in todays stage.

The TT stage and the next day with a massive climb at the end is where the action is :pray:t3::pray:t3::pray:t3:

Regarding Pog and his injuries, I’ve heard on some podcasts of injured pros going to altitude camps with the team but they ride on trainers instead.

They get the same physical adaptations and still get to participate in other team activities where possible.

The latter may be a benefit personally (or not) or for the team, so they’re spending more time together before a stage race.

Am I crazy to think that with Pogacar’s setback, this might not be the worst year for Remco to have a go at the tour?