General Race Thread 2023 **spoilers**

CrowdedHouse

First Irish winner in the Tour of Luxemburg since Kelly in 81 😁

Dodge

First professional leaders jersey for Healy too. Pretty long TT tomorrow so we’ll see how that goes

odyssey06

In the time trial in Luxembourg, Ben Healy came in 15th

49 seconds down on stage winner Victor Campenaerts.

Archie Ryan was 61st, 2 mins down.

In the GC, Marc Hirschi for UAE is the new leader.

UAE also have second place with Brandon McNulty.

Ben drops back to third, 3 seconds back.

retalivity

I see Campenaerts rode the whole TT without a visor, rare enough to see that in a flat TT, let alone by the winner.

3s between the top 3, plenty to ride for in the last stage tomorrow, including 2 bonification sprints in the last 25k

CramCycle

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121147879#Comment_121147879

It's meant to be faster though right? Sponsors just don't like it

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121148377#Comment_121148377

I thought there might be more drag without a visor, as the helme/face is 'catching' air rather than more cleanly going around it with a visor, but google says no. Also having the wind in your eyes at 50+kph i thought would be uncomfortable

dahat

Hirchi loaded his inner biceps with gels to close the gap between arms when fully tucked in, marginal gains and all that.

Ceepo

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121149333#Comment_121149333

It's to do with the increase in surface area. I remember listening to a podcast on all thing aerodynamic but Mark Cote from Specialized where he went into the details of all things from shaved leg's to out front bottle cage, etc. Very interesting stuff there

retalivity

WEll...bit of a mess from EF there

mewso

Ben not up to nabbing the overall today unfortunately but a solid third place. Great finish to the Euros. Much better course than it looks on paper.

retalivity

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121151180#Comment_121151180

Had to laugh at the dutch, with their lack of mountains, decided to make one from a landfill and put a road on it.

Another 2nd place for WVA.

mewso

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121151199#Comment_121151199

Yeah poor old WvA has had a very 'nearly' type of season.

retalivity

Rumours that Jumbo Visma to merge with Soudal Quickstep next year.

Rog, Remco & Jonas on the same team??

https://www.wielerflits.nl/nieuws/jumbo-visma-werkt-aan-fusie-met-soudal-quick-step/

dahat

It looks like this will be for 2025 given the employment logistics involved on both sides.

Dodge

Everyone waiting to see what happens Lefevre, yeah?

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121154051#Comment_121154051

All the reports so far are that he’ll just take a seat on the board as a minority shareholder, Plugge will stay as CEO and Zeeman as sporting director.

Dodge

Sure but considering it only broke yesterday, I’d imagine there’s a few twists and turns to come

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121154174#Comment_121154174

Can’t see any successful merger with Pat at the helm to be honest, especially if you’re a rider.

You get the impression that riders have to buy in to the whole Wolfpack idea and his personality and how he deals with people, or else it ends up being a disaster.

Can’t see anyone wanting to risk having the likes of Roglic, WvA and Jonas **** off because they don’t want to deal with his shenanigans

Mr. Cats

Is the rumoured merger with Ineos definitely dead? Was just thinking that this could be a negotiation tactic by Lefevre. Also, I don’t really see what’s in it for JV?

Squidgy Black

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121155621#Comment_121155621

Jumbo are stepping away as title sponsor, so they’ve been shopping the team around anyways, was rumoured the Saudis wanted to invest in it.

breezy1985

Terrible deal for cycling. Both are storied teams with regional identities and distinct features.

Win or lose the classics won't be the same without the Wolfpack and cyclings heartland won't have its own team anymore.

cunavalos

After what Jumbo did at the Vuelta, Lefevre was surely on the phone to his old mates at Mapei to get the band back together.

retalivity

Eddie Dunbar down for CRO race which starts today. He's probably one of the bigger GC guys there, but there's no real hill/mountain top finish in the race, more one for the puncheurs. Mohoric probably the outright favourite.

CrowdedHouse

Rumour Cavendish back for another year with Astana, Morkov also rumoured.

Squidgy Black

Roglic looking to leave Jumbo apparently

https://www.globalcyclingnetwork.com/racing/news/primoz-roglic-on-the-transfer-market-with-ineos-grenadiers-and-lidl-trek-leading-the-chase

retalivity

Think that's been telegraphed for a while, with the rise of Jonas, "this town ain't big enough for the both of us..." etc.

The Jumbo/Soudal merger seems to be progressing, which will accelerate it as well.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-informed-of-soudal-quickstep-and-jumbo-visma-merger-plans/

Dodge

27 finished in the leading group in Croatia today and Eddie Dunbar was one of them. On a steep climb he was in the top 6/7 but it regrouped. It looked like he was trying to lead out Stewart into the final hairpin but Stewart lost the wheel

eddie is in 19th on GC among 26 riders within 12s

retalivity

16k to go, Jayco doing a lot of work for Eddie in Croatia, but the climb not really hard enough and will probably end in a small group sprint

odyssey06

I think Dunbar was 10th there in Croatia, and there might be small time gaps between the different riders \ small groups.

retalivity

Yeah, once the likes of Aular and Hayter were not dropped, they never really had a hope