New season, new thread, new kits.
Really looked like Boards wouldn't even make it to a 2026 thread for a while there.
WT
Jamie Meehan 5th at Doubs in France, in decent climbing company
If VdP means Adri to you then you are definitely old 🤣
As for Sagan he was entertaining in every way. Him and Oss seemed to be the last of the charismatic Europop personalities in cycling.
Although Wout is trying his best with that haircut.
Adam Rafferty and David Gaffney in the U23 Liege Bastogne Liege today, Caoimhe O'Brien is in the Amstel Gold (WE) tomorrow.
Ben Healy has been withdrawn from Amstel, Fleche Wallonne and LBL due to injury
Real shame for Healy (and us as viewers/fans). Hopefully he’s OK for the summer
Anyone know whats up with Archie Ryan? Hasn't raced at all this year, nothing coming on his PCS program. Is his knee giving the same problems again?
Another top 10 for Meehan, same company as yesterday.
FrFractured sacrum for Healy. Now that Google has told me where that is it sounds painful and maybe a tough one for cyclists in particular to recover from.
Everyone else had to Google it to; anyone who says they didn't it a medic or a liar 😁.
Hope he can get back to full training soon such that he can have an impact.
Adam Rafferty made the final selection. Was involved in an attack late on too. He didn’t attempt a sprint and finished 23rd
I love Amstel Gold Race, one of my favourite races of the year. Remco to run away with it.
100% a factor @JMcL
My wife led a cardiac screening event in Manchester early in 2020 that caught Kiryienka before a major incident happened. He had to subsequently retire sadly, but best years behind him anyway. There is a body of knowledge around the phenomenon of athletes' hearts and the myriad of tiny complications caused by long durations of high and very high intensity training and effort.
Day out in the Alps for Darren Rafferty.
Getting attacked by his own team 😅
Not a complicated descent and then a few flat km to the finish - they'll do well to hold on
crazy stuff
Caught with 4km to go. Pidcock wins the sprint of climbers
EDIT - Rafferty might be in the KOM jersey
Squidcock
Rafferty second in the KOM by a single point
the last mountain was for time, not points. Weird
Seixas wins Flèche Wallonne to set up a very, very intriguing LBL with Pogi and Remco.
I wonder if this is the point where the extra 2-3 kg of weight Pog gained in prepping for the flatter classics starts being an issue? And maybe its just the change in team kit this year but I thought Remco had gained a couple of kg also.
Assuming he's at the pointy end with Pog, will Seixas try and force him into an error on the descents?
Seixas is really good. I can't wait to see him and Pog go at it.
Could be wrong but I think it's still Pogi's to lose without too much fuss. Bookies have Seixas way shorter than Remco though.
was this on TNT, Sky ? or are there highlights ?
Lanterne Rouge have highlights
Dunno if it was live.
It was live on TNT
It will be interesting to see if Seixas stays with a French team. IIRC, at the time he retired Thibaud Pinot commented that he thought he might have been more succesful with a non-French squad. As they currently stand, I don't think Decathlon are strong enough to battle with UAE or VLAB in GTs.
It would have to be Visma unless some new team emerges.
Both Decathlon and Total have had major budget increases and talk of more but won't get near the big two.
Decathlon are in far better shape than AG2R, Groupama, Cofidis or Totalenergies have been in the last 20 years, they have a heap of money behind them and are starting to scout & sign properly
