Is this the Greatest Sight in Cycling? Crosswind Chaos at UAE Tour 2023 Stage 1

[@LanterneRougeCycling]

Get yourself 15% off an annual GCN+ subscription by heading to gcn.eu/LR23 (selected territories apply).

[@stevenaaus]

nooo...

[@RookYZRM1]

I’ll grab a subscription if you’re commentating.

[@djnorman3543]

Thanks for the GCN+ offer - my subscription expired yesterday, so perfect timing!

[@Leebobs1983]

Subscribed today with this offer. Thanks for this. Used to watch Ad-Free with Eurosport but now they have become Discovery+ they will have adverts too so GCN it is.

[@LanterneRougeCycling]

@@Leebobs1983 Awesome to hear! thanks for letting me know

[@douglasmeis7482]

What a HUGE missed opportunity! How often will they have a genuine "dead heat" finish between two top riders where they can stage the 1000m drag race re-run?! It would have been epic.

[@princessaka3189]

apperently more often than expected if they also would choose to do so. van aert and pitcock should also have been one at amstel

[@felixwagner3152]

I would have loved a dead heat. That would have been so much fun to see Ewan and Merlier go against each other with 1k to go!

[@princessaka3189]

should be considered more often. wout and pitcock at amstel was the same

[@tommyrq180]

Lanterne is evolving into the go-to World Tour source. Always enjoy the commentary, the funny inside jokes, etc. Thanks for the coverage!😊🇺🇸

[@savagepro9060]

"Lanterne is 𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘪𝘯𝘨 into the go-to World Tour source" ?

[@JDBees37]

Always has been 👨‍🚀🔫👨‍🚀

[@graehamhenderson3270]

"Mate it's UAE Tour."

[@dlbutler]

That reference to Benicio del Toro in Sicario 2 certainly came out of the blue. Priceless.

[@jonashjorth3801]

What a race. This cycling season is gonna be nuts. Especially with great coverage from LT

[@pavlos..]

LT?

[@alexspencer7170]

That dead heat 1,000 km fight to the death stand-off would've been amazing to see!!!! Perfect opportunity for the UCI to get coverage from cycling publications etc around the world too.... Yeah, maybe not 1,000km.....1,000m :-)

[@jimiscott]

Let me know when they're in the last 10ks.

[@tomcads1604]

1000m is enough, no need to go 1000km 😉

[@aaronbuys]

Unbound UAE

[@ProWeAreSo]

@@jimiscott 💀

[@douglasmeis7482]

Huge missed opportunity. Would have attracted a lot of additional coverage.

[@xx765]

Nice to see Cavs is still sharp. Stayed exactly where he needed to be the whole time through the crosswind madness

[@casperbakker742]

Well he got back, he didn’t make the first echelon tho

[@m9morgan428]

Would’ve made it a three way sprint if he was in a better position closed in very quickly

[@jjlumagbas]

Cavs looking good!

[@Frir10]

I can remember lots of people laughing and ridiculing Evenepoel when he said 2-3 years ago, that he wanted to train doing echelons, because it was a skill he hadn't learned (having come from another sport). "That's the kind of thing you learn growing up as a junior" people said. Now he's one of the best in the world at it. He was clearly right, and people are stupid. Same goes for when he watned to be better at descending. Now he's better than most.

[@de4ds1ghtcsgo94]

I have a feeling that TDF has 4 potential winners in 2024🤣

[@fryuppe]

Absolutely brilliant from LR - spectacular cycling coverage with space even for a cinematic diversion to Sicario 2. Looking forward to the L R style Magritte references throughout the Belgian classics.

[@BreakawayB]

😂OMG a 1km race would be so funny. I imagine 900-meters of track standing and then 100-meters of mad watts.

[@timeluster]

would've been great, like a track sprint from the velodrome

[@SashaTromsa]

I follow only 2 channels on YT with the notifications turned on, and this is one of them. Top work as usual, cheers.

[@thelifeofraymond]

whats the other?

[@SashaTromsa]

@@thelifeofraymond @PerunAU. Weirdly, also Australian...)

[@Noah-tp9xl]

It’s gonna be interesting to see Remco in the mountains vs Yates.

[@notkaty]

Mountains plural? Isn't there only really Jebel Hafeet?

[@123sjonny]

@@notkaty also Jebel Jais on stage 3

[@de4ds1ghtcsgo94]

From what i saw yates will be 2nd in GC

[@TheChessRunner]

Waw Plapp for sure with the effort of the day. That is really elite level effort

[@santiagobenites]

Either UCI officials just handed the win to Merlier arbitrarily because he's on a World Tour team, or he and Ewan did a rock, paper, scissors to decide it when the cameras were off. It clearly was a dead heat, and I'm all in favor of a 1,000m 'sprint off'! 😄😁

[@dariusmix2957]

Nice work, as always :) Just a short hint: Plapp didn't bring Gloag along, it was Kooij

[@Andi-dy1gm]

Give the win to Pidcock

[@filippocevenini6266]

Great Video : Top in Cycling. Day by day. Thank you

[@miketurner58]

In stage 7 of the 2017 TdF Marcel Kittel beat Edvald Boassen Hagen by .0003 seconds or about 5mm. The images of the photo finish looked like a dead heat. There were articles online showing how they are able to zoom in down to the pixel level in order to determine the winner.

[@dekliniek]

the only man that doesnt sleep in cycling coverage, thanks

[@darrellhoekstra8514]

Pretty sure it was Cav at the line... jokes but I'm so glad he's going to the tour this summer. Awesome coverage Patrick thanks for putting in work!!

[@MacMasore]

Ewan or Merlier? We might never know for sure but what we do know: the real winners of today are Remco, Plapp and Bilbao 🤔

[@OwenStickley]

Incredible stage and excellent recap. Chapeau LR! 👏

[@MrMattie725]

Surely there must be a way to analyse each strip/frame and check which pixels are changing colour first! Probably some colour sampling needed to avoid problems with shadow etc but it can't be that hard.

[@robnolte2547]

Hey patrick, do you have a listing of all the races you expect to be covering this season? Thanks in advance! Love the content as always

[@cup_and_cone]

In real time it looked like Merlier won because he was ahead pretty much right til the line, then the photo finish shows them tied...probably because Ewan's bike throw was that much better he tied up. A dead heat and 1km shootout would have been epic, though.

[@eberger02]

You could assume the wheel is perfectly oval and then draw an oval over the front wheel using more data points than just the front one to say more exactly even from 1 line scan where the front wheel is sitting. Bit too complicated for the average commissar though. Maybe the delay was because they had to get the clever one to do it on his computer.

[@ChrisCapoccia]

If this doesn't count as dead heat, does anything?

[@christophemichel8018]

Closest photo finish I've ever seen..

[@CxCPromech]

Windy days and echelons are the only thing that help translate three-dimensional cycling to a two-dimensional TV image. Crosswinds give cycling coverage a sense of scale urgency and timing individual noncyclist can understand.

[@robertcatuara5118]

On my cell phone with my bad eyesight it looks like Tim won. I'd love to see a 1k run off! UCI let's do this!! I can think of a few races this would have been applicable.

[@felixwagner3152]

I would have been nice to see a comparison photo with a transparent or translucent line.

[@wazzup105]

Damn a re-run of the last KM would have been awesome.. mano a mano ! What a missed opportunity

[@savagepro9060]

UAE Tour: the ultimate wind tunnel!

[@willross5108]

Fantastic! Oh but the 1 k race would’ve been really fun.

[@uPenguin]

I think that the Dead Heat rule only applies for 1-day races but may be wrong

[@Biking-ip1dq]

Plapp and Remco are so aero and efficient against the wind. Not surprising to find big guys in the first group or even Cav who's always performed in crosswinds. To me the trophy of the day goes to Bilbao : small light climber and spanish => not exactly the crosswind specialist pedigree 👏👍

[@mallardc6049]

thanks for the coverage and GCN+ link

[@sarahkottke676]

What a crazy start!?

[@sanjaysukesan]

Goes through western region of AUH..Bu Hasa- Habshan ADNOC intetnal road also.👍

[@philipparrock8147]

"If you can see who's won from that photo, let me know the name of your optometrist" Amazing insight, thanks Patrick!

[@FlyingPastilla]

Looks like Merlier's wheel overlaps the line more than Ewan's but that may be the angle of the photofinish lying to me. Tough to call !

[@carnsoaks1]

Merlier by half that tire. It surely is in that white line while Cadel Evans' tire is only touching it. Good jobs Aussie's

[@JbRRR]

There’s always that one sentence that makes me laugh 😅 Keep it up man

[@harryhenry3053]

That GCN+ advert hit me like a curveball out of nowhere. Big papi in Andorra gettin that lean $$$$$ and i'm all here for it.

[@MilesDavisKDAB]

Good to see Cav close at this stage in the season. Will he make the TdF? I hope he does.

[@AURELLL1000]

EEEEEvenepoel backat it again. Wondering what pogacar vs EEEEvenepoel is going to give. Does anyone also know when they are going to compete against one another this season?

[@dilligaf2818]

top analysis

[@solma1]

18 year old Josh Tarling. You'll be talking about him tomorrow, trust me.

[@andrasszabo1570]

Hopefully he's brought the dragon flag with him. That was an awesome sight at the World Championships!

[@starkparker16]

Has Remco already won? Yes.

[@Mgoblagulkablong]

if it's that close it should be a tie, always annoys me how they pick a winner if there is no visible difference and not even the the timing device shows a difference

[@RubenTheCartographer]

I think Merlier has it. You can see a little bit less of his tire in the photo

[@trickystitch]

If you frame by frame it on YT, the actual video, not the photo, then based on shadows against the white finishing line, it does look like Melier did it by 1cm, but hey, what do I know. I thought Piddock won Amstel Gold!

[@savievankint]

He won that sprint but WvA won the race because the camera was ever so slightly before the official finish line. so yeah, Pidock won the sprint and WvA won the race.

[@bunderwood2000]

Would of loved to seen the 1k Sprint showdown.

[@epincion]

That must have been like a 4 hr punishment ride -searing heat and crosswinds blowing you across the road and sand onto the road.

[@javiervilchis2386]

Debe de haber otras dos líneas en el final (una antes y otra después de la meta digamos, separadas un metro)... cuando esté así de apretado el final, entonces, sería más fácil determinar quién llegó con más momento o velocidad (con tres fotos en vez de una)... he dicho! ;P

[@javiervilchis2386]

there should be two more lines at the end (before & after the oficial FinishLine separeted, lets say 1m)... then, when you had a finish like this (thight), it would be easier to determine who had more velocity or momentum at the end (three photos intead of one),,, rest my case! :D

[@theletsgo]

Good look on the GCN partnership, does anyone know how it compares to Tiz Prime?

[@microwaved_corn]

Rrrremco Eeeeevenpoel looks good at this stage

[@hamishmaxa6509]

Crosswind stages are the best. Good climbers can still be in there if they know what they are doing. It's a lot more level playing field than the high mountains IMO.

[@joekingsword2150]

Eeeeeeveenapoel

[@kylepabalan6447]

Damn plapp bridging that gap! The engine of the kid!

[@LennieNelson55]

This stage is a good example of why I don't believe in GC Vine yet. It takes so much nous and savvy to survive as a GT contender across so many terrains. It's not just elite TT position + high w/kg to altitude = GT win. Also why it's never worked out for Kuss, some guys have "it", some don't.

[@captainsushi24]

The Sicario reference was chef’s kiss 😅

[@genuinogenuine7232]

vento a grande força do nosso planeta, desafiante ainda mais ir contra o vento..

[@Joshua-dx7zn]

From what I can see, I think Merlier had it by a fraction. He had more of his wheel on the line than Caleb, but I agree Lanterne, they should have done a one-on-one from 1k out.

[@BioStuff415]

Cav in 3rd... excellent.

[@jimmywhelan]

Merliers shadow is ahead

[@qwerty123456789048]

A 1k battle between Ewan and Merlier would'va been epic!!! What a miss

[@jhayton]

great to see Kevin Nealon taking a role as a swanny in his post SNL career (8.03)

[@chris-n5v5u]

Yes

[@RudiDwiHartanto]

viewership for pro cycling is at all time high

[@cornishalps9870]

Funny how all the sprinters made the split

[@kthsmprs]

being able to push the big watts for 20 seconds is exactly what you need to get separation in that wind.

[@Chrisblottphoto]

I watched it live but you just see more than me 😂

[@alexanderpolta]

Merlier by 1mm, you can see it in the tire-wall.

[@jackstanley7052]

Helped Merlier to be closest to the camera

[@hwica2753]

If that wasn't was a dead heat then I don't know what is.

[@kaltonian]

the winds can be brutal here so i don't envy them

[@jfreck]

Epic

[@pitchforkmechanic7797]

UCI doesn’t read their own rules and screws it up again! PS, every time I hear Plapp’s name I think “poor guy, they’ve named him after the sound my poop makes in the toilet”

[@mvp_kryptonite]

Great vid LR!! Pity UCI bottled it

[@joelguerin-simard3415]

this was a deadheat ... how did they decide it lol

[@princessaka3189]

honestly if you need 15 minutes and still nobody is really sure who won the should either both winning or a head to head. same as pitcock and van aert at amstel.

[@graemehill]

Wait is that thing about redoing the last 1000m real or are you just fucking with us? That would be epic.

[@ufoisback5088]

advertising competition now 😁

[@alexp247365]

Dead heat should split the bonus seconds for first place...

[@Mububban23]

I'm genuinely curious to know whether Ewen is ok with this decision, or fn spewing he got robbed of the "dead heat" sprint chance

[@jarynpierson1692]

Yeeeehawwwwww look at CAV go!

[@trunghieuhuynh1763]

😮😮😮😮 ai là người chiến thắng,,? 😯😯😯😯

[@colinmackintosh1543]

Have they ever had a 1k drag race to decide the winner?

[@StefaanVanDamme]

Belgian Championship 1986 Nelissen - Baguet

[@wootenbasset8631]

A dead heat would have been fun to see. Maybe not for them in those temps.

[@DrewMtl]

WHATTTTTT they got to show us unquestionable proof some how! Yeah Eye need a better optomatrist as well. Patrick, get us that guys name!

[@RoadHardened]

An ad on a LR video?!?!

[@bevillenz]

Caleb Ewan, it's just one gaffe after another.

[@jackellison7658]

That was a dead heat don’t know how they gave it to merlier should’ve just done a final sprint

[@goldenretriever6261]

I'm cancelling my GCN subscription and just watch LR videos instead.

[@The_Normalised_Cyclist]

So did the UAE messed it up with the scheduling? No way Yates is going to win this. My take is they forfeit their second most important race of the year. Which basically they traded for Pog grabbing the February’s Vuelta 😂

[@graehamhenderson3270]

The UCI has one good rule on the books and they won't let us have it. 😢

[@Pshady]

We were robbed of a 1km 1v1!

[@_cpdchua]

Pretty sure Caleb would smoke Merlier on a dead heat

[@vinniamsterdam700]

Did anybody see Movistar?

[@Epitome63]

Armpit of the world. Poor guys.

[@NicolasGarcia-dt1ep]

Cav already regretting taking Bol over Richeze to his leadout… Big mistake