Official Cycling Thread

thinking of trying to get on Alpe dHuez for TdF on Jul 14th, anyone done it before? might try to copy what this guy did(not his original plan!) https://twinbikerun.com/2019/02/07/watching-the-tour-de-france-at-alpe-dhuez-andrew/
There's a few ways of getting onto the Alpe -
1. You can go up straight up from Bourg D'Oisans on foot and stop wherever you want (crowds permitting)
2. Drive the the "high road" in from the dam over at Allemond. That road hits the Alpe at turn 6 - in the village of Huez
3. There's another high road from Lac Du Chambon, over by Deux Alpes - that one hits the Alpe lower down, at turn 16

I don't know how close you could drive to the race route on the day (options 2 or 3) - you might have to park a good bit back from your desired junction. Walking in from Bourg early in the day is the way to do it - you can get moving fairly quickly once you're back to the car too. Make sure to bring water for a hot day.

There's a trade-off in deciding your location for the race - the mountain is much tougher lower down (turns 20 to 16) and the climbing is epic. However, the riders may still be bunched at this point and you don't see the "death or glory" solo struggles that you get higher up. The lads on the Dutch corner have it just about right - any of the bends that far up have more gaps between the riders. Between 13 and 8 is ideal.

The other choice then is do you want to be down on the road and see nothing apart from the bikes coming at you as the crowd parts a few metres away or do you want to go up above the road on the spine of the bend where you can see the riders approach from 20-30 metres distant? Down on the road the atmosphere is incredible but it's absolutely jam-packed. Up on the spine it's still pretty loud but you really experience the climb. Don't expect to automatically get a handy spot on the road right on the apex of a bend - those slots are heavily crowded.

Anyway, enjoy it Don - hail, rain or shine, you will be very glad you did it. It's going to be mad action this year because it's the quatorze juillet.
 
in the mountains he will be supporting Roglic and he can win sprints and itt, not sure his climbing is good enough, in the last two years he was over an hour down on GC which could be misleading, 33/1 8th in betting atm with bet365
Yeah I was going to reply that he only has a chance if he's a TL, and even then he'd need a succession of big mountain performances. He's more of a Sagan-type operator
 
Ineos announced the start of the Eliud Kipchoge cycling academy in Kapagat Kenya

I don't know if its a development academy for Kenyans or a training base for Pros.

But between this, Biriam Girmay winning at the Giro and the Tour of Rwanda getting UCI pop and huge support it looks like change is coming
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Tom Ward
Cyprus Avenue, Caroline St.

1st Nov 2024 @ 7:00 pm
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Nat Mac

Crane Lane Theatre, Tomorrow @ 9pm

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