The Pro Cycling Forum 2015 Season
I wanted to start a place to discuss professional cycling and all that make the sport great. Also for people not familiar with the sport, or who have lost interest since the doping brigade of the 2000s, it will be a place to learn and reinvest interest in the sport. I intend to post race previews for major races, results, discussions, and write up some history lessons as the season goes along. (And encourage others to do the same!)
Websites
CQ Ranking (Race results and historical results since 1998) CQ also uses its own point system for ranking, which is far better than anything official used in the sport.
www.cyclingnews.com (The go site for photos, race features, daily race recaps, gear, and everything else)
Cycling Fever (Great for race introductions, start-lists, and race histories)
Steephill.tv (Posts links for live stream racing, results, and photos) Awesome for practicing a new language too!
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/ (Awesome English forum for all things cycling, “The Clinic” section will give you all you can handle about doping in the sport)
cyclingtorrents.nl (Torrents for everything under the sun)
The Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist (Guidelines on how a Euro Cyclist conducts himself)
Books
There are bunch of books on cycling, so these are just a few that provide some history of the sport and details the lives of the historical icons.
Road to Valor: Gino Bartali
Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi
Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: Jacques Anquetil
Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling
We Were Young and Carefree: Laurent Fignon
The Rider
A Rough Ride: An Insight to Pro Cycling
Domestique: The Real Life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro
Slaying the Badger: Greg Lemond, Bernard Hinault, and the Greatest Tour de France
The Secret Race: Tyler Hamilton
Half Man, Half Bike: The Life of Eddy Merckx
Marco Pantani: The Legend of a Tragic Champion
Tomorrow We Ride
Plus Much Much More
The Cycling Calendar
This is a loose system of races on the calendar.
The Grand Tours- (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España)
The Monuments- (Milan-San Remo, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Liege Bastogne Liege, Giro di Lombardia)
The World Championships- (Road Race, Time Trial, Team Time Trial)
<these above races merit their own discussion, and I will go into more detail about them later>
World Tour Stages Races w/ Historical Significance (Paris Nice, Vuelta Pais al Vasco, Tour de Suisse, etc.)
World Tour Single Day w/ Historical Significance (Amstel Gold Race, Clasica San Sebastian, etc.)
World Tour Stage Races sans Historical Significance (Tour of Poland, Eneco Pro Tour, etc.)
World Tour Singe Day sans Historical Significance (GP du Montreal, GP Ouest Plouay, etc.)
Continental Tour Races (some which are great and merit recognition from teams, but some are dismissed because of lack of sponsorships) examples: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris Tours, Strade Bianche, Volta a Portugal, Vuelta a Colombia)
World Tour races award points to teams which goes toward their resume to being considered for the Pro Tour for the following year. Kinda similar to EPL, La Liga, etc. with relegation. I don't like this setup as it gives significance to bullshit races like the Eneco Tour which has never had a stake in the sport, putting it on similar footing to races like the Criterium du Dauphine. Though there is still a bunch of good cycling throughout the year, so it really is not that big a deal if you just want to watch good racing.
I wanted to start a place to discuss professional cycling and all that make the sport great. Also for people not familiar with the sport, or who have lost interest since the doping brigade of the 2000s, it will be a place to learn and reinvest interest in the sport. I intend to post race previews for major races, results, discussions, and write up some history lessons as the season goes along. (And encourage others to do the same!)
Websites
CQ Ranking (Race results and historical results since 1998) CQ also uses its own point system for ranking, which is far better than anything official used in the sport.
www.cyclingnews.com (The go site for photos, race features, daily race recaps, gear, and everything else)
Cycling Fever (Great for race introductions, start-lists, and race histories)
Steephill.tv (Posts links for live stream racing, results, and photos) Awesome for practicing a new language too!
http://forum.cyclingnews.com/ (Awesome English forum for all things cycling, “The Clinic” section will give you all you can handle about doping in the sport)
cyclingtorrents.nl (Torrents for everything under the sun)
The Official Rules of the Euro Cyclist (Guidelines on how a Euro Cyclist conducts himself)
Books
There are bunch of books on cycling, so these are just a few that provide some history of the sport and details the lives of the historical icons.
Road to Valor: Gino Bartali
Fallen Angel: The Passion of Fausto Coppi
Sex, Lies and Handlebar Tape: Jacques Anquetil
Breaking the Chain: Drugs and Cycling
We Were Young and Carefree: Laurent Fignon
The Rider
A Rough Ride: An Insight to Pro Cycling
Domestique: The Real Life Ups and Downs of a Tour Pro
Slaying the Badger: Greg Lemond, Bernard Hinault, and the Greatest Tour de France
The Secret Race: Tyler Hamilton
Half Man, Half Bike: The Life of Eddy Merckx
Marco Pantani: The Legend of a Tragic Champion
Tomorrow We Ride
Plus Much Much More
The Cycling Calendar
This is a loose system of races on the calendar.
The Grand Tours- (Giro d'Italia, Tour de France, Vuelta a España)
The Monuments- (Milan-San Remo, Ronde Van Vlaanderen, Paris-Roubaix, Liege Bastogne Liege, Giro di Lombardia)
The World Championships- (Road Race, Time Trial, Team Time Trial)
<these above races merit their own discussion, and I will go into more detail about them later>
World Tour Stages Races w/ Historical Significance (Paris Nice, Vuelta Pais al Vasco, Tour de Suisse, etc.)
World Tour Single Day w/ Historical Significance (Amstel Gold Race, Clasica San Sebastian, etc.)
World Tour Stage Races sans Historical Significance (Tour of Poland, Eneco Pro Tour, etc.)
World Tour Singe Day sans Historical Significance (GP du Montreal, GP Ouest Plouay, etc.)
Continental Tour Races (some which are great and merit recognition from teams, but some are dismissed because of lack of sponsorships) examples: Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, Paris Tours, Strade Bianche, Volta a Portugal, Vuelta a Colombia)
World Tour races award points to teams which goes toward their resume to being considered for the Pro Tour for the following year. Kinda similar to EPL, La Liga, etc. with relegation. I don't like this setup as it gives significance to bullshit races like the Eneco Tour which has never had a stake in the sport, putting it on similar footing to races like the Criterium du Dauphine. Though there is still a bunch of good cycling throughout the year, so it really is not that big a deal if you just want to watch good racing.