heywoodu

Trouble in the Dutch men's league Sunday, 5th and deciding match of the final between reigning champion Lycurgus of Groningen and challengers Orion of Doetinchem. Lycurgus won the first two sets and at 25-24 an ace gave them the title.....until the referee decided the ball was out Not sure if the video works outside the Netherlands: https://www.dvhn.nl/sport/Volleybalbond-erkent-foute-beslissing-arbitrage-in-kampioensduel-Lycurgus-tegen-Orion-24451346.html Orion got the point, 25-25, and went on to hold on against 4 more match points in the same set, before turning it around and taking the win and the title in 14-16 final set. The Dutch federation has now said the referee's decision on match point was indeed wrong, but there is 0 chance of any replay.

Pretty good idea. Much better than starting with World Cups out of the blue there...Pyeongchang's world championships still frighten me in terms of how few people were there. An Asia IBU Cup starting in Mount Hotham and then going to Japan/China/Korea/Kazakhstan, excellent Possibly even something in Mongolia, since they have a significant presence in the IBU Cup.

Not the name I had in mind, but cool and thanks

Who's the second girl behind Taynara? I have two names in mind but I thought they were significantly behind for now.

Aaaaaand it's official Trains to tiny Zandvoort station are gonna be packed Everyone aboard, choochoo!!

What about Brazil and cross-country? FIS is rather shitty on a phone and can't use my laptop now. Surely only a men's quota, or did Taynara Silva get enough points yet for a women's one as well?

Five years ago this seemed as unlikely as Williams winning the team world title this year or Mercedes not getting a single point anymore in 2019. Just...wow, no way I ever thought this would be possible throughout the years I've visited Zandvoort from a young age

Yeah this ain't going wrong anymore Live press conference in 40 minutes:

heywoodu 1. Jos van Emden (35) - 35 2. Elia Viviani (2) - 37 3. Pascal Ackermann (3) - 40 4. Enrico Battaglin

Nope I'm massively in favour of old classics coming back and very, very strongly opposed to DRS-tracks like Vietnam which is unique in absolutely no aspect at all.

Sky being as shady as possible doesn't help and apart from that I just very much dislike his entire aura. And that of Sky in general, I can't find the right words to describe how shady that clan comes across. I very much prefer Roglic, among others.

Long straights don't necessarily make a track interesting. Baku has a huge straight and all that happens there is super duper easy DRS overtakes

Ugh, didn't notice I've been watching yesterday's stage for half an hour Stayed up for that...right, I'll see today's stage at breakfast

Sunweb, Bahrain and INEOS forming the three leading teams before a sprint is so annoying, way too much red

It's pretty much 100% certain (fine, let's go with 99,99%) that tomorrow Heineken, Chase Carey and others will officially annouce next year's return of the Dutch Grand Prix at Zandvoort It's been off the calendar since 1985 and since Max Verstappen's insane popularity talks have been getting stronger and stronger about it getting back. In recent weeks it has been 'confirmed' over and over again, with the words used for example by Jan Lammers (boss of the Zandvoort part of the talks) getting stronger all the time. More or less everything is now reporting (of course copying each other) tomorrow will be the day it's officially announced

It's so....American, yes (with those never-ending standings scrolling through the picture....I like having an overview, but it sometimes is a bit distracting ) And the miles/kms switching every time

My main reason to be interested in California is that it's fun to watch some cycling at night for a change + often one sees some interesting riders from the North American ProContinental teams. For example even though McNulty is most likely their main guy (the main American guy anyway), it's just unavoidable to see Rob Britton half-dying in some attacks on the mountains

That's just really not true (as far as you can call the Giro a classic anyway) Strength in the Grand Tours really varies from year to year, mostly between Giro and Vuelta.

Too bad, the first ever athlete with who I took a picture, I believe

Difference being that Evenepoel didn't A) ride around like an amateur - holding on to a car to even get up a hill in a pro race - for the first part of his pro career or B) wasn't a very promising ski jumper

I call every one of Froome's years lowpoints of cycling

Reminds me of Froome in 2013: won Oman, second in the Tirreno, won the Criterium International, won Romandie, won the Dauphiné and then went on to absolutely shatter everyone in the TDF (two years after his first magic Vuelta appearance at the end of yet another totally useless year)

The Giro has yet to start in terms of GC, so a few seconds in hand after one serious stage is in no way enough, at all Which doesn't change that in my opinion (and in that of pretty much most cycling fans) he was the big favourite and he still is. I don't think much has changed in that (at least for me) with that one stage, it has happened a gazillion times riders who looked steady lost a lot of time in the 3rd week (or the opposite). On Thursday and (especially) Sunday we'll get a better picture and then on 24 May we'll get going to the real stuff. There's some stuff in between not every rider is gonna like, but probably not enough to make some serious gaps.

Everyone, considering it's California? No Viviani, no Ewan, no Ackermann, no Gaviria, no Demare....makes life easier

Here we go.