Tour De France

Every single minute of it! 
 

over in non-Moto you’ll find a thread about it. 
although it’s not that busy. 
 

if you want lengthy discussions to read & interact with, search the bikeradar forum. 
 

a lot of contributors with lots to say about it on there.

https://www.vitalmx.com/forums/non-moto/2024-tdf-thread

I just watch the mountain stages, don’t find the TT or flat stages very interesting. I feel for the guys that have to do all the work and get none of the glory, talk about a thankless job!!

The domestiques get a tidy share of the prize pot if their rider wins, don’t worry. 
 

which is better than most other sports who have team members who do a lot of work for very little recognition & pay.

I watch the extended highlights every night. Wife is a big Wout fan.

Only the guy on the mountain bike jumping the peloton

Non-moto

Van Aert or Poels?

Needs to be merged with the TDF thread in non moto.

Started watching it for the first time after giving the Netflix series a chance. Makes me wonder what type of impact a similar series would have for our sport. Red Bull's mini-series were great, but likely didn't reach to the more casual audience.

How long until someone speculates how Moto guys would finish in the GC 

My guess is just a handful would even have the theoretical chance of reaching that level. The fitness required to do these 3 week grand tours is truly insane, especially if you want to be a GC rider and not a sprinter or a one day classic rider.

The one thing that skews MX riders fitness levels is the fact that pure riding talent and technique is so important and you can get away with "a lot" by just being a technically very good rider.

The respect i have towards pro road cyclists has increased exponentially ever since i started road cycling with proper metrics (power, cadence and heart rate). It is mindblowing what they are capable of.

Van Aert. Couldn’t remember how to spell his name! 

What does GC mean? They would just need to pivot and focus their training on the road....easy top ten......

Honestly I stopped watching Tour de France after Armstrong was done racing. 

General Classification, or in moto, the overall.

There is some cross over in the US amateur cycling scene.
Justin Barcia made it to Cat 4 in road. 
Ben Spies had a cycling team, Elbowz.  I think he made it to Cat 2. 
Charlie Mullins was a good Cat 1 on the MTB.

There are a lot of motorcyclists / cyclists that had decent results (in amateurs) switching sports, but they were good amateurs, not top level pros changing sport to become a top level pro.

That natural talent thing comes in to play so I don't think we'll ever see a top motorcyclists become a top cyclists or vice-versa. 

Source, I quit dirtbikes when I was 21 got into cycling, then racing, and eventually became a Cat 1, Mostly crits (I was a sprinter). Had some good results and rode for a "Pro" team. Was getting burned out on the training but wanted to nut up and do 1 more good year. I had solid sponsors and a flexible job so I could hit 1 more season hard. Slept in an altitude tent and trained all winter for Covid to cancel all the races that year. 

Bought a dirtbike, gained 40lbs and having much more fun.

 

Lol ok buddy. TDF riders are 6 W/kg with the top guys pushing 7. Do you have any clue of what that takes? You give the fittest pro moto dudes a year to train and they still gets dropped on stage 1

Charlie Mullins is a UCI world champion XC MTB rider. He would have had the best chance before his heart operation. 

The Grand tours are kinda brutal to watch........NOW.........Spring classics are full on moto one day smash fests......nobody left standing or worried about tomorrows stage. 

I made it to Cat 1 Masters but it's a time killer. Bike racing is a spare time contest - the fast guys are either divorced or about to be. It's addicting as hell but u pay a price as your ass is on the bike/road 6 day's week for hours a day. I miss it - my kid got into moto so no time anymore.

*e-mtb

Charlie won an acoustic title in 2019. 

Not to diminish his accomplishment but he won a UCI masters title, not the UCI world championship. Totally different class of riders.

I know right!  The TdF guys could just hop on a 450 and easily get top 10 as well.  See how dumb that sounds?

My mistake, I was under the impression the masters was just the “vet” classification. 

Either way, he’s still probably the closest “MX” guy that could have done it. 

My extremely brief foray into MTB racing (Clydesdale class, lol) convinced me that bicycle racing is mostly about pain management: how much can you take and how much can you inflict on your competitors. It stopped being fun almost immediately.

I have to disagree. 
Cycling is less about skill and more about discipline. And I think our Moto guys could do it. 

https://youtu.be/Gy7Rd7OQd-0?si=Ei7FMpk6h5edUR0o

You're right. Masters is Vet's. Age-group amateur titles for 35+. The Worlds for Master's is essentially an opt-in, go if you want to event (no qualification). So IMO, Charlie's achievements in e-MTB (representing USA at Elite World Champ's) is more impressive.

If you're looking for "best" representation by an MX rider in cycling.... I think Matthew Beers is the most accomplished https://www.facebook.com/MattBeersMTB/

Serious injury while living/training/racing out of MTF led to cycling as rehab.... and ultimately pro-tour level on road bike. Now fulltime Gravel & MTB