GB Cycling 2024

[Grassmarket 2,960]

46 minutes ago, mpjmcevoy said:

A fifth and probably final Grand Tour podium, three of them in the last two years after his 36th birthday. In his time he won the tour over Doumoulin and Froome, was runner up to Bernal and Roglic, and third behind Pogi twice, Vingegaard and Danny Martinez.....two olympic gold, and he won most of the big 1 week races - Suisse, Romandie, Dauphine and Paris-Nice (though never Adriatico), as well as Rundfahrts, the Alps and the Algarve. Not a bad palmares for a cranky deisel from South Wales...

 

As often happens in cycling, periods of dominance are intersperced with interregna as the new generation sorts its order out - and in the short chaotic period, a strong willing rider can really make his mark, albeit briefly - Think Roche and Delgado between the Lemond/Fignon/Hinault years and the reign of Indurain, or Sastre. cadel Evans and Wiggo between Contador and Froome (happens in tennis too - note some of the big winners between Sampras and Federer eras).

 

I think Thomas belongs in that category, doing his work in the interregnum between Froome and Pogi/Rog/Vingegaard. His time is now done, but he's put together a rather lovely palmares in those years. And he'll always have Paris.

And single-handedly responsible for getting Welsh-language TV to cover cycling!  I remember watching their first day, they were literally having to invent Welsh equivalents for cycling jargon live on TV.  

[Epic Failure 163]

Seeing G and Cav coming to the end of their careers just makes me remember how old I'm getting.

[mpjmcevoy 253]

Tentatively looking like GBR has got 2 riders in both men's and women's MTB thanks to Charlie Aldridge's heroics and some bad luck for the Danes - GBR needed to net just over 100 points in Nove Mesto, seem to have done that with room to spare. GBR also have the only full house on the road, one of the few full houses on the track, and look well set at this point to pick up 2 men's quotas in the BMX freestyle. They have one woman's quota in the Freestyle more or less in the bag thanks to the 2023 Worlds, but a second would take a minor miracle in Budapest. Big question this week becomes can the guys somehow haul back a second BMX racing quota. A second women's quota looks impossible at this stage in BMX racing.

 

All in all though, GBR will almost certainly have one of the biggest cycling squads in Paris, with real medal chances in all 5 disciplines (Tarling and Henderson in the Road TTs, umpteen on the track, Pidcock and possibly even Aldridge in the Men's MTB, Beth Schreiver if she can get fit and Kye Whyte in BMX racing, Kieren Reilly in the Freestyle)

[Rafa Maciel 1,496]

Looks like GB will only have 1 rider int he men's BMX racing event after disappointing results at Euros - they needed 215 points to overtake USA but it looks like they will only come away with 160 points.