heywoodu

Ogando That was too obvious of a 'I am supposed to do this 400m but really just want to do the 200m tomorrow, so I will just get out from the 400m by doing a false start' Come on man, at least try to make it look like you did it by accident!

Benjamin opens the main program with the 4th fastest 400m hurdles ever

It remains a bit of a mediocre thing that the Diamond League winners are decided by a single event at the end, but nonetheless I'm looking forward to today and tomorrow...here we go

Thing is, there's hardly a significant 'bouncing back' to a loss against any of the 'lesser' teams (no offense to Canada at all, with 'lesser' teams I mean every team that's not Serbia or China ), and when losing against one of them, you'd basically have to beat not one, but both of the two top teams. Had the Netherlands won this, the exact same could have said about Canada of course, the Netherlands too is definitely one of those 'lesser' teams you really can't afford to lose to.

I'm shocked, shocked I tell you.

200+km stages still exist, 208km today With 10 climbs, all 3rd category. Even better, finally a stage will be shown in it's entirety, already before midday we're live. We better enjoy it, a few more years and all the GT's will consist of mostly junior stages considering the recent trends

At least for Kalucka it shouldn't be too much trouble to qualify anyway I assume, just like for Miroslaw it wouldn't have been if she had not made it again here

@hckošice Did they mention anything about technical issues or something in terms of making the broadcasts? The official YouTube channel has a sort of stream, but it's mostly consisting of showing a few seconds of cyclists, then one or two guys in a studio talking for a while, and then a few seconds of some cyclists again (but no graphic at all, so no idea how far to go, differences, etc, basically no information at all and we can't get it from watching because most of the time no cyclists are being shown at all ). I presume there must be some sort of technical issue (Wednesday and yesterday at least, I didn't get to today's stream yet), but my Slovak is....well....yeah Mostly I'm happy with your reports here, so....gonna give it a try......hvala?

Well, you're being asked now, so: who else would be on that short list?

With only two qualifiers at the world championships, and apparently even just one here, I assume the rest of the spots for a full knock-out tournament (other than the other continental qualifiers) will be filled up next year or something?

I am slightly surprised there is a world outside of (ancient) Rome, to be honest.

Yeah, Froome humiliating Wiggins on that one super steep climb (not Angliru, but the one which has the insanely steep last 100 meters or so) was quite a level worse indeed And in Vingegaard's favour: today he was (from what we could see, at least) thinking about Saturday's stage and creating some room for himself to go for the stage win there, without issues with the GC.

Tao Geoghegan Hart and Chris Horner say hello, indeed

Thing is, when you're riding around with three guys who are all a level above the rest (and not hiding it), there is no way to do it right. Now we see especially Vingegaard handing a Grand Tour win to Kuss, which isn't necessarily good, because giving away a Grand Tour win is, well....not done. On the other side, if he had attacked today and taken the leader's jersey, which he clearly would have been able to do, that would not have been good neither, because attacking your teammate (who has been the best uphill domestique in the entire peloton for a while now) like that is, well...not done. There is indeed no 'moral win' (or whatever one wants to call it) in the current situation. Resultswise it's a massive win-win of course, but in terms of silencing a discussion....that's basically impossible right now, since every single option they choose for has a valid reason for not being a good thing (and a valid reason for being a good thing). Like I said before: at least it goes to a super nice guy who has more often than not been the key to the success of both Vingegaard and Roglic. And since Jumbo turned Roglic and especially Vingegaard from kind of anonymous to multiple GT winner, it's probably good they grant Jumbo a different GT winner as well

Stage win for Evenepoel, nearly 5 minutes ahead of the first 'chaser'. Ayuso and Mas jumped away from the group of GC riders in the last part, but Kuss jumped in their wheel and Roglic followed as well. Vingegaard probably thought of Saturday and decided to lose some seconds, which is smart, because it avoids a problem when sprinting for the stage win while not wanting to pass Kuss in the GC. Also looked super strong and easy though.

Vingegaard is making extra clear that he's giving the win to Kuss right here by checking 10 times whether Kuss is still behind him Oh well, nice reward for helping both Roglic and Vingegaard with their main successes. And nice that the win can go to probably one of the nicest guys of the peloton

Get the popcorn ready for today

Kuss comes across as a fantastic guy indeed and if he is actually the strongest (which is doubtful after the past two stages, sadly), he would by far be my favourite winner out of the three options. My point is that I do hope he wins it because of being the strongest, and not because Jumbo/Vingegaard/Roglic decide that now it's his turn to win and 'gift' it to him.

That drama and the fact that the only sort of fight for the GC comes from not two, but three teammates is already enough of a punch in the face of us, cycling fans

Hopefully they're going to keep doing this and not actually gift it to Kuss, it was already awful enough that Van Aert gifted Gent - Wevelgem - a monument of all things and at least as prestigious as the Vuelta - to Laporte

We know that since at least the 90's

According to Belgian media, doctors have said there is no brain damage, so that's a first somewhat positive sign. They are keeping him in an artificial coma for now.

Belgian Jumbo rider Nathan van Hooydonck was involved in a car accident in Belgium this morning, reportedly after becoming unwell. He was in the car with his pregnant wife, who got off without injuries, but Van Hooydonck was - according to a police spokesman - treated with CPR and taken to hospital in critical condition...not the first time they face hardship, one and a half year ago the couple lost their baby. Three others were injured, although lightly.

Awesome And if you think FDJ is here with a strong team, wait till you see Soudal with Merlier, Bagioli (probably leadout for Merlier but strong by himself too), Asgreen, Cavagna...poor local riders Also Maciej Paterski and Jan Barta, damn, long ago since I saw those names Hopefully Eurosport/Discovery will show the race!

Final Grand Tour week of the year starts with a junior race and the aforementioned once typical (for the Vuelta) ___/ profile This could have been somewhat less bad by the way, there is a 4km gravel road with non-stop 10-12 percent gradient....immediately after the finish