UCI WorldTour and other pro cycling nonsense 2011

It looks like he was just happy to be in the front and in the groove.

Daniel Benson reported that he fode a flatted (slow leak?) rear wheel for the final 5km.

Confirmed by @Vaughters:
http://www.grassyknolltv.com/2011/paris-roubaix/photos/page-02/450-72ejj.jpg
"Damn. Last 5 kms on a flat! Johan is a stud"

"Bad chainline!" remarked Steve Shasta

"It’s hard to win all by yourself in those conditions,” Cancellara said. “It was full-gas all day. There was no rest. My team did what they could, but Garmin was the strongest team today. We don’t have to search for excuses. They played it smart today. Now they get that victory they were searching for for a long, long time. I gave the maximum today, I cannot say more than that.”

signing for a gt team?
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/7/77/You_Played_Yourself.jpg
it shouldnt even be close. to be fair, im not clear that he really values classics results over gt tts and the rest.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/video-vaughters-on-van-summeren-and-garmin-tactics-in-paris-roubaix

ok, this euro-accent is hilarious. not everyone in littleton speaks like this, just so you know.

http://www.podiumcafe.com/2011/4/10/2102240/man-wins-race-gets-girl

all class!

this euro-accent is hilarious

?

ahh, vaughters' accent and inflection there is not standard 'merkin. it sounds really affected to me, but what do i know.

(i've spoken with him before, and he did not sound like that.)

I see what you mean, he doesn't sound very American there, but from your description I was expecting Inspector Clouseau.

PHIL PHIL PHIL

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/la-fleche-wallonne-his/road-race/photos/169764

daaaamn

Good day for francophones today. Vockeler won today as well.

andy why are you not going to set up frank

god what a weird finish. i wanted to see them try something, anything!

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/01879/Philippe_Gilbert_1879685a.jpg

The dual leopard 'o's are cracking me up there. Like an emoticon or something.

Such a good shot, great race too. Why the schlecks didn't attack at he end is beyond me.

can I just say: lol schlecks

bizarre ending yesterday, the schlecks just delivered him to the line

and where were andy's legs on the final climb

great classics season, all in. bring on the tours

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/04/news/alberto-contador-on-giro-climbs-%e2%80%98hard-to-believe-until-you-see-it%e2%80%99_170127

http://video.gazzetta.it/contador-crostis-zoncolan/8e30eb22-6f41-11e0-9110-8563364cfd27

thats what i really wanted to link

http://www.climbbybike.com/profile/Monte_Crostis_Comeglians_profile.gif

meanwhile at gila:

And third placed Dombroski admits that even he does not know his limits.

“I was a Cat. 4 last year, this is all new to me,” the Pennsylvanian climber said.

whoa

Uh... no:
http://www.usacycling.org/results/index.php?compid=259375

to light:

05/30/2010 - Tour of Tucker County | Road Race | Cat 1/2/3 | |
1 Joseph Dombrowski 259375 40326.1166509259 454 Haymarket Bicycles/HomeVisit

05/01/2010 - Wintergreen Ascent 2010 | Individual Time Trial | Pro/Cat 1/2 | |
1 Joseph Dombrowski 259375 32:16.7 255 Haymarket Bicycles

Yeah but he raced in a cat 3/4 race last March.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/uci-files-defamation-suit-against-floyd-landis_171011

these ppl are really as dumb as boxes of rocks wtf.

i does not make me feel good to have to root for flandis, but there it is.

christ

RIP weylandt

One year ago Wouter Weylandt won stage 3 of the Giro. This year, may he rest in peace.

Can't say anything more RIP Wouter

terrible news.

Not sure how accurate but a journalist friend said WW was OTB and looking back to see who else was there with him to rally back in contact with the peloton, while looking back he clipped his pedal on a low stone guard wall and fell 60 feet over a switchback onto the road below, probably broken neck. His wife is pregnant with their first child. 26 years old. Awful news.

oh god

just watched the footage on Eurosport, really disturbing. RIP Wouter :((((

jesus

xps

Not good at all - just saw it on Eurosport (which I'd recorded) and his neck might well have been broken (I fast forwarded away from it, tbh)

Can't saw I'll be watching the highlights of this.

Millar:
“I will wear the pink jersey tomorrow, but it will be in memory of Wouter, there is no celebration or glory, only sadness. I will discuss with Tyler [Farrar], Leopard and the family of Wouter what we as a peloton will do tomorrow.”

I can imagine it will be along the lines of:
http://bit.ly/iwVzvQ

given that ppl say upcoming descents are super scary, will they re-route any?

I was wondering that, especially for that one before the Zoncolan that somebody (maybe you?) linked to (in a youtube Gazzetto dello Sport clip)

velonews reporting confirmation of shastas take
http://velonews.competitor.com/2011/05/news/crash-witness-‘weylandt-was-catapulted-across-the-road’_172140

Clarification: there was not a 60 ft. over the railing fall, he clipped the short wall on the outside and then sharply careened across the narrow road headfirst into the rocky cliff face "very hard" according to all witnesses. Also, GF not wife.

What a loss. Tomorrow will be very heavy.

Official team statement:
http://www.leopardtrek.lu/

Garmin-Cervelo’s Tyler Farrar released a statement Monday afternoon about the death of his friend Wouter Weylandt:

I am unbearably saddened by the loss of Wouter today. As many know, he was my friend, training partner, and in many ways, another brother to me.

His death marks an irreparable change in my life but more importantly, in the lives of his family and most loved. Wouter was one of the kindest, funniest, and most admirable people I have ever had the opportunity to know and his death is a tragedy to his family, his friends, and to the sport as a whole.

I can only convey my deepest of sympathies to everyone who cared about him as deeply as I did, especially his family, his friends, his team and his fans – we celebrate his life and morn his death in equal measure.

Wouter was and is the soul of this sport we all love – an athlete who sacrificed himself for the better of many and a champion who celebrated each glory as a victory for his family, his team, and his friends and fans.

I will remember him always, and will always strive to do him proud, as he has always done for the sport and people he loves.

just terrible, i don't really know what else to say that hasn't been said already.

i can imagine there might be pressure to re-route that zoncolan stage so they don't go up and down the crotsis - apparently they were looking at ski nets for the descent anyway? but then, if it was caused by him looking backwards then it could happen anywhere.

http://twitpic.com/4vtf0p/full

Stage will be neutral.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HeYMzIk-aHM

That was heartbreaking. Tyler Farrar's face at the end says it all.

http://twitpic.com/4vzxa1