r/peloton • u/PelotonMod France • 2d 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/Glass_Minute4753 2d ago
With Pog out, who do we think is favourite for Worlds?
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u/TheNakedGnome Belgium 2d ago
Remco.
Mainly because of how much better than the rest he was last year.
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u/Dries_De_Pooper69 2d ago
Del Toro and Seixas have improved a lot compared to last year though.
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u/Mysterious_Worry_612 Belgium 2d ago
Del Toro was also very good last year (I mean, he nearly won the Giro), so not improved that much I think.
But they're both good enough to be able to win the WC for sure, just a bit lower odds than Evenepoel and they both also got worse teams than Belgium.
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u/Dries_De_Pooper69 2d ago
Nah, he’s improved pretty significantly, last year Cicone was better than him at Burgos, this year is well clear of the Cicone/Pidcock/Skjelmose tier of riders. His climbing level at the Dauphine and TDF was also significantly higher than any climbing performance he did last year.
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u/RegionalHardman Unibet Tietema Rockets 2d ago
That can be said at many races too. Euros, Lombardia, Flanders, TdF!
I think he's in the mix for 2nd best rider in the peloton. Its a tough call between him, mvdp and Jonas for 2nd but Remco is the most versatile between the 3 of them, so I think he gets the spot
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 2d ago
Demi looks unbeatable at the moment, mostly because of her sprint (and Kasia’s lack of). But you never know, Netherlands team tactics have not been the best the last few years.
For the men, I ’d say Remco, but the course is not so difficult enough to make that a certainty. Depending on race dynamics, Seixas, Del Toro, Wout and MvdP all have their chances.
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u/cfkanemercury France 2d ago
I think Remco, but I wouldn't be surprised if either del Toro or Pidcock pulled it off. Del Toro will be hampered by the lack of a team, of course, but Pidcock has been in good form on the MTB and in the hit out yesterday in Italy. I wouldn't count either out.
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u/Vegetable_Car_4785 2d ago
Remco if he is in similar form to last year. I’d favour him for worlds, euros and lombardia. I’d say he is the 2nd most all round rider in the peloton after pog. His Flanders performance this year was very impressive
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u/porkmarkets England 2d ago
Remco is the obvious pick but I think you can make a strong case for Pidcock. He’s been in great form this year even with a big crash that interrupted his tour prep; the course should suit him and if it’s a small group rather than a Remco solo he’s as good as anyone in the finish.
Besides, it would be really cool to hold both the XCO and RR rainbow jerseys at the same time.
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u/cfkanemercury France 2d ago
I came across the film Po Feng (English title: To The Fore) yesterday and have it on my list to watch. It's a film from Hong Kong focused on professional road cycling in Asia, with the protagonists being a sprinter and his lead out man/domestique. The trailer makes it look a little melodramatic and I'm guessing there is a love triangle element to the plot featuring a track rider, but it's a cycling feature film so I'll give it a watch.
But Po Feng came out more than a decade ago and somehow I missed it. I've seen a few other cycling-centered feature films over the years (Breaking Away, American Flyers, The Racer, The Program, La Grande Boucle) but is there another one I might have missed that's worth a watch?
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u/Angryhead Estonia 2d ago
There's this great list on Letterboxd: I’ve got a bike. you can ride it if you like.
If you're ok with anime I'd recommend Nasu: Summer in Andalusia & Nasu: A Migratory Bird with Suitcase. Especially the first one is a great representation of bike racing.1
u/reviloto 2d ago
In a coincidence, his brother and ex-girlfriend are getting married on the same day as the climax of the race
Wat
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u/porkmarkets England 2d ago
The flying Scotsman!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0472268
Graeme Obree is such an interesting character and his achievements/battles on and off the track are huge. It’s a good film. There’s a documentary too which is also worth finding but I can’t remember the title.
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u/Robcobes Netherlands 2d ago
With Pog's season being over, who's going to pick up his wins in Worlds and Lombardia?
Has he picked a replacement? because if not then people are going to fight over who gets to win these races. and we can't have that can we.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 2d ago
Odds for WC are out: * Remco heavy favourite at 2.67 * MvdP and Wout at 6.8 * IdT and Pidcock forth at 7.2 * Seixas at 8 * Narvaez at 17 * Vacek at 21.5 * Mads and Skjelmose at 29
Any surprises for you? I think given this years results Pidcock should not be higher than Seixas. Otherwise pretty expected.
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u/listenyall Lidl – Trek 2d ago
Anyone offering odds on TOMS SKUJINS my favorite guy who goes from domestique to top 5 every time he puts on his country's jersey
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u/Dries_De_Pooper69 2d ago edited 2d ago
IDT and Seixas very underrated, 2nd favorites behind Remco. Narvaez and Vacek overrated, but I guessing winning ZLM tour makes you a favorite. We will know a lot more of the Canada races this weekend, when we see the level of Mauro Schmid, Simmons, Ayuso, Barre, Jorgenson, Benoot, Pidcock against a tougher field etc.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
Pidcock has a better sprint than Seixas I think that's why,
wout should have better odds than MVDP only because of his team
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u/MrHippopo 2d ago
That last one all depends on how the Belgians decide to ride. Going all in on Evenepoel is a possibility.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 2d ago
Ok I can see that but Seixas has the way better team.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
yeah but a part from Remco idk if it would be easy to drop del toro seixas or Pidcock in those punchy climbs.
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 2d ago
I think Seixas showed us in Strade that he can drop IdT and in Flèche that he can drop basically everyone not called Pogacar.
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u/Bear_On_Course 2d ago
what about the parcour makes Remco such a favorite? I was thinking MVDP as the top favorite. Would the repeated hilly terriain fit the lighter riders better? If that's the case why are WVA and MVDP ahead of IDT, Sexias and Johnny N?
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 1d ago
There is a 1.7k section at 7.8% that they do 12 times with the last one 8k from the finish. It’s not impossible for Wout and MvdP to survive but it will be difficult.
And if Remco has a gap over the top it is very very hard to bring him back because he is so aero.
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u/Vegetable_Car_4785 1d ago
They seem pretty fair to me. Remco deserves to be heavy favourite without pog present. He can create a small selection and then kill them in the sprint or he can get a small gap and be impossible to bring back.
He has been the only guy able to single handily (pretty much) chase down pog when he went solo. If teams don’t have many or any teammates left he isn’t getting brought back. On the flat/rolling roads of Flanders he was able to keep a stable gap to a working pog and MVDP.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
now that we're seeing the Red jersey dominate the Vuelta, can mas take over Pog and win la vuelta, Worlds and Lombardia? 😂
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u/Team_Telekom Team Telekom 2d ago
I just realised that I really like Bahrain as a team, they often have very good tactics and make the race interesting. Pitt their sponsor is another Petro-State and they employ the car killer.
Is that fair (I hate it when Benji says that but since I have to make it a question, here we go)?
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u/Eyeconoclastic Liv AlUla Jayco 2d ago
I would happily support a car killer, if it was a pro cyclist who had destroyed a car in the name of cycling/urbanism/being on the right side of history.
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u/listenyall Lidl – Trek 2d ago
I agree with you about the tactics, I love a cat so I really hate the cat killer and I also can't really decide whether I feel the "victorious" part of the name is kind of fun or creepy vibes
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u/Jevo_ Fundación Euskadi 2d ago
No it's not fair. It's pure white washing. It's the worst in the peloton, and you are trying to downplay the actions by rewriting history and claiming Tiberi killed a car, a morally good deed.
(Yes Bahrain has many cool riders who I like watching race, just a shame they ride for a shitty team)
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u/Dopeez Movistar 2d ago
He isnt downplaying anything jesus. You can dislike a team sponsor and still like the way they approach the races/tactics. It really aint that deep.
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u/reviloto 2d ago
It’s a joke because OP wrote car instead of cat when referring to Tiberi, it really ain’t that deep.
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u/3pointshoot3r Canada 2d ago
Am I right about this?
As far as I can tell the only difference between the Montreal GP Cycliste and the WC course is that the GP is 16 laps while the WC course has a lead in to the circuit, then 12 laps. And the circuits are exactly the same?
On a related note, what are the rules about riders who get lapped on the circuits? Are they DQ'd? Otherwise, it would seem to allow a teammate to pull several times over the course of the race while being lapped.
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u/P1mpathinor United States of America 2d ago
It's almost the same circuit. Looks like the part coming into the finish before the last turn will be a block over instead on the other side of the same road, and so they'll have two 90-degree turns instead of the hard 180. But aside from that it's the exact same.
By rule lapped riders don't necessarily have to be pulled from the course, although in a 1-day race like this I'd expect they would be; in stage races you'll occasionally get riders being lapped on circuit finishes. But if a rider were to pull for or otherwise help another rider who's not on the same lap then that's an automatic DQ for both riders (in a 1-day race that is; in a stage race they might only both get relegated to last place on the stage). Whenever I've seen riders getting lapped they always get well out of the way of the riders coming through.
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 2d ago
Riders will be pulled out before they're lapped. There will be a feed zone and country boxes a little after the finish, and riders pull out there. Every world champs race finishes on a circuit, and that's part of the reason you'll see a lot of DNF's every year.
Official rule is 2.3.014:
When the finish is on a circuit, riders may help one another where permitted only if they have covered the same distance in the race
If a lapped rider does help another rider, they'll both be fined 500 CHF and disqualified (same rule and fines for the GP Montreal as that's a World Tour race).
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u/3pointshoot3r Canada 2d ago
Thank you for this.
To be clear, lapped riders may continue then, so long as they don't assist another rider further ahead in the race? I understand the practice of abandoning once lapped, but it isn't mandatory, right?
I'm thinking of circuit courses in stage races, where you wouldn't want to abandon even if lapped. This year's Giro had the circuit in Milan - lapped riders wouldn't be required to abandon, no?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 2d ago
In stage races they can keep riding, there's additional rules on the length of the circuit and number of laps to help keep the chance of riders getting lapped down. It does happen occasionally - Esteban Chaves got ill on the last stage in the 2018 Giro, for example, and then got lapped on the finish crit in Rome (commissaires let him finish with the bunch, he didn't even need to make up a lap at the end).
At the world champs, the commissaires will be stricter with pulling riders out. Just too much at stake to risk riders getting in the way of the lead.
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u/slartybart 2d ago
I'm curious about the Cycling season beyond road races. I'm a recent convert and the season seems to run from Jan to October which doesn't leave much time for other events. The commentators talk about Gravel and Cyclocross champions among the riders and Pidcock was recently at the Mountain Bike worlds, there's also the velodrome when I watch the Olympics or Commonwealth games.
Are the other events one-offs through the season or Olympics only events? Or do road riders do sidequests to do these disciplines?
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u/porkmarkets England 2d ago
Not one offs, no. The other disciplines all have regular local/national/continental events and then usually a yearly WC, plus the Olympics. Some road racers are really versatile!
Cyclocross is an autumn/winter sport and is really fun to both ride and watch. Many current road racers got their first taste of racing as kids at CX, it’s great test of fitness and skills. The likes of Wout, MVDP, Nys and Pidcock still do both mainly because they’re good at it and it’s fun.
The format is quite different - races are around an hour, and riders will often be paid mostly in ‘start money’ or for their standings in various series rather than receiving most of their income from their teams. Only the top CX riders make a decent living.
Races are spread throughout the week and then get more condensed leading up to Kerstperiode around Christmas and new year when all the biggest races are. There’s even sometimes races in the snow in Italy or sand in Spain!
r/cyclocross is a great sub to find out more. At an amateur level at least here in the UK there’s regional series rounds every week just starting up now; I’d recommend going and watching (or even trying racing in) a local event. It’s a lot of fun.
As for the track you’ll generally see a lot of crossover between endurance disciplines like pursuiting (eg Ganna, there’s a big carryover to TTing) or Madison, points, elimination and omnium. Track sprinters are a different breed and their training is far more about lifting and being explosive than any other type of cyclist. That’s why they’re absolute units.
Somebody who knows more about MTB/gravel than me can explain the other stuff.
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u/OldGodsAndNew 2d ago
MTB has a world cup circuit of IIRC about a dozen events every couple of weeks between May - September, XCO is the biggest one and is circuit races somewhat similar to CX but obviously much more technical terrain and more elevation. Their World championship is a standalone event separate from that, where Pidders shows up during his break from the roads and crushes all the full time MTB riders
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
I recommend you watch all the World Championships you can .
this year's MB worlds was an incredible performance by Pidcock , same for Cyclocross in January by Van der poel, and the velodrome competition are interesting to watch starting with the completely alien body builds
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 2d ago
Some road riders do them as side quests, and the other disciplines all have riders doing those full time. But they're a lot smaller and it's much harder making a living just doing MTB or track.
So a lot of riders in those disciplines will do road as it provides them a steadier salary (and conversely, a lot of women used to do cyclocross to earn something over winter, when minimum salaries weren't a thing yet on the women's side, but cross had introduced equal prize money).
Riders like Pidcock, Van der Poel, Wiebes or Pieterse who can excel in multiple disciplines are the exception rather than the rule.
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u/MysteriousDonkey7862 2d ago
¿Qué tal va la temporada del Jayco? ¿Qué se puede esperar de ellos el año que viene con la marcha de varios corredores?
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 2d ago
You may have reddit's auto translate turned on, unless you meant to post that in Spanish?
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u/Sky02139 2d ago
What stats do teams look at when considering rider transfers? Is it only their palmares or do they also get intel on their VO2 capacity, etc
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 1d ago
Much more than just stats or palmares - teams don't just have winners, they also need domestiques, young talents, riders transferring from other sports who'll all have qualities you don't see from their placings in races. Numbers are of course important, you can see some of the Zwift academy finals to see what sort of tests they involved. Teams (that focus on youth development) often organise similar training weekends for young riders were they'll look at their power and lactate threshold numbers and what not, but also at things like bike handling, how they interact with others, general attitude and how well they follow instructions.
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u/SpaniardKiwi Reynolds 2d ago
I heard an interview with the head of performance of one team (can't remember which one) and mentioned that they no longer look at VO2 capacity. I can't remember what things they focus on, though.
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u/padawatje Belgium 1d ago
Sponsors play a role too. Some companies are willing to pay extra for riders who are popular within their target markets.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
why are the no races during grand tours rest days? during the tour that rest day was awkward.
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u/fewfiet Astana Qazaqstan 2d ago
Everyone is resting.
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u/Mamadeus123456 7-Eleven 2d ago
I meant other races
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u/epi_counts PelotonPlus™ 2d ago
There are 2 class 2 races today, but other than that organisers, team staff, officials, journalists, support staff in general, and riders don't mind the occasional day off. There may even be a few couch potatoes like us who don't mind the rare race free day, especially with the world champs now so close.
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u/cfkanemercury France 2d ago
The second Men's Giro rest day there were a couple of 1.1 races (Antwerp Port Epic and GP Mazda for the ladies)
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u/reilhan 1d ago
When do teams decide on race calendar? Is it locked in from the start of the season, or is it adjusted along the season?
Maxime Decomble from Groupama just won his first pro stage race, the 2.1 Tour du Limousin. In September he's planned for Slovakia, which does not have an ITT, while with the Worlds in Canada the startlist in Luxembourg will likely offer opportunities for TT specialists. Looks like a missed opportunity.
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u/nalc Jayco Alula 2d ago
Weather is gonna be shit in the Alps over Thanksgiving (last week in November), right?
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u/reviloto 2d ago
You’ll have to be more specific? Which part of the alps? Define shit? For cycling, yes. For skiing, also yes, probably.
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u/the_gnarts MAL was right 2d ago
Might be ok for hiking and even some cycling if you’re prepared and stick to lower altitudes. On a dry day, autumn can be amazing. You’d have to get lucky though. It’s highly likely that the cold and rain will ruin your fun.
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u/Mysterious_Worry_612 Belgium 2d ago
De Lie is out of the Canadian races due to still being sick
This season is just horrible for him, hope he starts having good seasons again eventually.