Am currently watching a replay of stage 2 of the UAE Women’s Tour over breakfast.[/quote]

Thanks. Looked at Max and nice to see some racing there.[/quote]



does anybody know how to sign up on Discovery+ UK from the USA? I mean, you need to have a VPN and a credit card with an UK address, so the paying part from USA is the one I need to know. Has anybody been able to get to pay at the DiscoUK website? I have MAX now and they will have most of the racing but Peacock will have the tour, vuelta, Paris-nice, Roubaix, etc and unfortunately Liguet, and Bob Roll doing commentary. If I'm able to sign up on Discovery+ UK, I'd pay 9.99 GBP a month and I could cancel MAX and I'd get the same Eurosport commentary team that GCN+ had last year.


Ben

Crime Dog and Wout making a break for it in Portugal. Good stuff.

those last ramps were STEEEEEP LOL

good race - remco with the big ring all the way up... ouch

dani looking great!

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

Amazing that Scruffy hung with the GC group after being caught.

Too bad that Ineos was clearly supporting Pidcock on the day and didn't help Sheffield back from a flat - outside of a little help from Thomas.

Is Scruffy Healy the aforementioned Crimedog? I'm having a hard time keeping up with the nicknames.

And in the Alpes Maritimes,

The youngster Ewen "Jacques" Costiou with a gutsy ride with Parlay Bardet and "The American" Kevin Vermaeake making some noise before Benoit "The Coz" Cosnefroy steals it.

Jacques’ double clutch was some early season grinta. And yeah, good to see The Coz truck that finale. Hopefully 2024 looks a little more like 2022 for him.

Never realized what a nasty kick Martinez has. He might he next up to bestowed a nickname.

Nice sprint from Merlier out in the desert today. That has to be one boring race to do, not a lot to look at unless you love sand.

There should be a fat bike stage through the dunes.

The yard sale at the end wasn't great. Looked like caused by guys totally out of contention.

Yes, Bora has some cards to play in the hills this year with Higgie and Hindlay. Dani has some pop.

It seems like Remco is practicing a GT mindset now, big picturing it and not having to chase and win each day.

Good point. It takes a certain amount of chill to let WvA and Scruffy disappear up the road.

I also feel he was testing his team. And his team passed that one test, at least. Landa looks like he's going to have zero issues switching his mentality to domestique mode.

Holy s***, the start of bike racing season proper is less than a week away!

Posting this early in case I forget.

WvA LaPorte Stuyven
De Lie and Pidcock

If you're in the weeds on nicknames, i'm in the forest. Het Volk! (see what i mean)

Of course the reining Rainbow Stripes of Streaming is laying down first marker.

Alright bike nerds and nerdettes, Spring Classic season has arrived. And, in an effort to up the intensity, I want to make everyone aware that there is now a formal award. echappy was the proud and well deserved first recipient of the "Spring Classics Spoiler" Cup. It may not have the history of Lord Stanley's, but it most certainly has the prestige!



Winner gets their initials or forum moniker engraved, and shipped to your trophy case.

Mads looks primed for a huge campaign. Will Quick Lost a Step podium anywhere? Does Wout slay demons on the road and in his mind? Will an American win a Monument? Healy is building toward the Ardennes, and an extra lap around Mur de Huy in this year's Fleche Wallone suits him. Who will be this year's Ben Healy?

Make sure to pick with your Head first, and your Heart second. See below for rules, carried forward from prior years. I debated modifications, but decided against. MvdP will be an overwhelming favorite in many races, but doesn't deserve to be penalized. Pick away.

Before the start of the race, pick five riders: three podium positions, two wild cards. Each of the five entries have to be unique. You can make as many changes to your picks as you want, but this has to be before the start of the race. The points scored will be as such: base point, podium bonus, and winner bonus.

For base point, if any of your podiums and wild cards finish anywhere in the top five, you get one point. For podium bonus, if any of your three podium picks finish on the podium (exact position is not relevant), you get an additional point. For winner bonus, 2 additional points on top of the base point and podium bonus. The most one can score per round will be 5 base points + 3 podium bonuses + 2 winner bonus.

The races for the prediction game are as follows: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, KBK, Strade Bianche, Milano San Remo, Dwars Door Vlaanderen, E3, Gent Wevelgem, De Ronde, Paris Roubaix, Brabantse Pijl, Amstel Gold, Fleche Wallonne, and Liege Bastogne Liege. Points from all races will contribute this year; so make sure to submit 13 picks in total.

Should there be a tie, tie breakers goes as follows:
-Number of points picked from the four Monument races (Milano San Remo, De Ronde, Paris Roubaix, and Liege Bastogne Liege),
-Number of winners picked from all events,
-Number of winners picked from the four Monuments,
-Number of podiums picked from all events,
-Number of podiums picked from the four Monuments.

Points from all races are otherwise weighed equally.

Only 5 Omsleeps left my friends.

How pros “taper” for opening weekend (and Toms is a smaller guy) https://strava.app.link/quFXg7ExkHb

This is like, pro. Thanks in advance for the thought and management!

Much appreciation and props to @WannaB for administering another year of pick'em!

Absolutely thanks for running this @WannaB.

I'm not as brave as you @Echappist to pick anything now. I think we are 50/50 on what the weather is going to be up to and if its bad it's going to be some good chaos. Jumbo has amassed on paper one of the more crazy spring squads I've seen.

agreed - appreciation. an opportunity to flex some deep cuts with one day riders/races brings joy to mid atlantic trainer season!
the contrarian in me has some trouble with 'pick from the head, not the heart' but I'm kind of an expert at missing out on good advice.

I'll start with the Jasper/Kasper combo: Philipsen/Asgreen/De Lie (bc post Sagan -I vowed to go w/ADL until he achieves Sagan like flame out)
wild cards: eyes on the prize TT man - Kung and Lazkano (wait a sec, no Jumbo Lease? sorry head, all heart on this one).
taking Sheehan over Matty J for best murican.

my start list go to:
https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/omloop-het-nieuwsblad/2024/startlist


McNulty asked about some new bike advice then went and won the UAE TT. Can he climb well enough to win the whole shabang?
fwiw: my 56 year old 136 lb frame is looking to trade out my do it all enve 5/6 (21 internal with conti gp5 25 mm) for the older man plusher enve 3/4 with 28 or 30 tubeless. unlike remco the only place I'll look for more teeth is on the rear cassette / not the 1 by front chainring.

An even better observation. He has probably been instructed that he needs to learn how to use his team strength.

Absolutely cracking ride by McNulty (and Vine & Bjerg weren’t bad either). Those ENVE wheels…

Speaking of, if you want an equally fast but much more user-friendly 5.6 replacement, look at the SES 4.5. It’s a bit of a Goldilocks wheel and pairs perfectly with a 30. As does the 3.4, it’s just a little slighter and slower.

Wurf ftw.

Bam!