2020 road cycling season

[Sagan97]

Professional road cycling continues in 2020. We covered off season affairs or transfers in this post. Lets open new page. I have marked the main pro cycling events this year, which is the olympic year. Almost included Tour of California :/ I hand picked them cause you can not have them all on the list!

Lets not forget that there are three competition levels now with UCI WorldTour, UCI ProSeries & UCI Continental Circuits: https://www.uci.org/inside-uci/press-releases/men's-professional-road-cycling-changes-for-2020

21-26.01 | Tour down Under
07.03 | Strade Bianche
08-15.03 | Paris-Nice
11-17.03 | Tirreno-Adriatico
21.03 | Milan-Sanremo
23-29.03 | Volta a Catalunya
29.03 | Gent-Wevelgem
05.04 | Ronde van Vlaanderen
12.04 | Paris-Roubaix
19.04 | Amstel Gold Race
26.04 | Liege-Bastogne-Liege
28.04 - 03.05 | Tour de Romandie
09-31.05 | Giro d Italia
31.05 - 07.06 | Criterium du Dauphine
06-14.06 | Tour de Suisse
05-11.07 | Tour de Pologne
27.06 - 19.07 | Tour de France
25.07 | San Sebastian Classic
25.07 | Tokyo Summer Olympics (mens road race)
03-09.08 | Tour of Utah
14.08 - 06.09 | La Vuelta a Espana
06.09 | Maryland Cycling Classic
13.09 | GP Montreal
20-27.09 | UCI Road World Championship (Switzerland)
10.10 | Giro Lombardia

[JoJoJo]

what are you looking forward to the most?

[Nikko]

(01-09-2020, 10:41 AM)JoJoJo Wrote:  what are you looking forward to the most?

2019 was MVDP's year and I wonder if he can keep up with it in 2020 ... the mark is high, very high. So far looking strong strong in cyclocross races.

[Sagan97]

Hehe, as Sagan's supporter I'll be looking forward to seeing him in Giro debut and completing the triple series w Giro, Tour de france and Tokyo olympics. Most excited about Giro yes

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(01-09-2020, 09:10 PM)Nikko Wrote:  

(01-09-2020, 10:41 AM)JoJoJo Wrote:  what are you looking forward to the most?

2019 was MVDP's year and I wonder if he can keep up with it in 2020 ... the mark is high, very high. So far looking strong strong in cyclocross races.

Worlds cooled him down in my opinion and showed that he's too only a human. He might have a shot at Flanders perhaps? The OG one, also Gent-Vewelgem. He was just outside the podium in both of those in 2019.

[Zviedrs]

(01-10-2020, 08:27 AM)Sagan97 Wrote:  Hehe, as Sagan's supporter I'll be looking forward to seeing him in Giro debut and completing the triple series w Giro, Tour de france and Tokyo olympics. Most excited about Giro yes

Nice & short reading on Velonews
https://www.velonews.com/2020/01/from-the-mag/velonews-stories-of-the-decade-peter-sagan_503668

[Zviedrs]

In 2020 I'll be eagerly waiting for another spring classic festival with Roubaix as the cherry on the cake. Olympics is once-in-four-years event so Tokyo road race will be a highlight. Not an easy track. Lets see, I might be able to visit Switzerland for the World Championship in September.

[JoJoJo]

Tour down under starts on Tuesday. Is it worth watching? -> I read that the route has become more difficult.

[Zviedrs]

(01-18-2020, 03:11 PM)JoJoJo Wrote:  Tour down under starts on Tuesday. Is it worth watching? -> I read that the route has become more difficult.

Yes, it's tougher this year and sprinters don't stand a chance of winning GC. Personally I've never watched the race like I watch others. However, this year I'll be checking in on procyclingstats and rooting for Greipel.

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Meanwhile INEOS announced their plans. Bernal & Thomas leading Tour, Carapaz leading Giro in title defence. Nothing about Froome.

https://www.velonews.com/2020/01/news/brailsford-confirms-bernal-thomas-as-tour-de-france-leaders_503794

[JoJoJo]

pre race favorite irishman Sam Bennett took the first stage with force

[Sagan97]

and Caleb Ewan nowhere to be found, he lacked team support. I was happy to see Joey pushing up the climbs and snatching those KOM points

[Zviedrs]

Was expecting Bennett vs Viviani duel though.

[Zviedrs]

Froome will return with UAE Tour on February 23rd. Good race to test his legs and condition, with seven days of diverse stages and hills yet no ITT this year.

[JoJoJo]

Would be insane if Ineos puts three Tour winners on the starting line -> Thomas, Froomey & Bernal

[Sagan97]

(01-23-2020, 07:14 AM)JoJoJo Wrote:  Would be insane if Ineos puts three Tour winners on the starting line -> Thomas, Froomey & Bernal

Would they take the whole podium?

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Fun fact: after last night's victory Richie Porte has had a stage win in Tour Down Under for seven years in a row! Consistency on home soil.

[Zviedrs]

(01-23-2020, 07:29 AM)Sagan97 Wrote:  Would they take the whole podium?

Well, if someone can pull this off - it has to be INEOS. However I'm still not sure about Froomey and his condition :/

[JoJoJo]

very tricky last corner in Down Under today but Ewan came victorious once again

[Sagan97]

I would have liked to see Greipel grabing stage TOP3, he was very close though.

[JoJoJo]

there was some spark in Greipel meanwhile only time will tell if Porte can carry the strength back to European races

[ManBearPig]

Damn it.
I wanted to try out how fantasy cycling game works with Velogames and completely missed out. They do not update facebook page or any other social media making it hard to follow updates.

I did not see Tour fown under game few days before its actual start. Do you guys play fantasy cycling? Are there other decent sites?

[Sagan97]

I no one has seen it already, there was a big crash in Stage 1 of Vuelta a San Juan in Argentina: https://www.cyclingweekly.com/news/racing/spectator-causes-huge-crash-on-stage-one-of-vuelta-a-san-juan-2020-447705

It was apparently caused by spectators being too close to the road
Sagan was sixth, Gaviria merely ninth