2013 Cycling Thread (Tour de France is upon us!)

[bhlloy]

I have no doubt Froome is doping, I think to suggest he's the only one is ridiculous. Maybe he's doping better. Wiggins is more of a grey area to me, as he didn't look that dominant in the mountains and was a great TT rider (and decent climber) to begin with. But Froomes story is far too close to a certain American rider, no doubt about that

With the whole Cav incident today and how dominant Froome is I can see this getting quite ugly in terms of spectator incidents and newspaper coverage

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by bhlloy

I have no doubt Froome is doping, I think to suggest he's the only one is ridiculous. Maybe he's doping better. Wiggins is more of a grey area to me, as he didn't look that dominant in the mountains and was a great TT rider (and decent climber) to begin with. But Froomes story is far too close to a certain American rider, no doubt about that

With the whole Cav incident today and how dominant Froome is I can see this getting quite ugly in terms of spectator incidents and newspaper coverage

There was a Cav incident today? I haven't visited the news sites to avoid spoiling the results, which of course the thread on pcmdaily spoiled now, so what happened?

Aaah I see - some stupid spectator threw piss on him.

[Ryan S]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Race is on for 2nd place, or "First Clean Rider."

Given that a few of the main challengers have already served suspensions for doping, you might need to go much further down the order to find the first clean rider.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Ryan S

Given that a few of the main challengers have already served suspensions for doping, you might need to go much further down the order to find the first clean rider.

Very true. Then again, as mortal as some of them have looked in this tour maybe they're clean this year.

[MIJB#19]

I no way was I suggesting that Froome is on doping or whatever. Based on past results (like in the previous 12 months), the time-trial results weren't much of a surprise. T.Martin and Froome have far and beyond the best resume of the field, I would have Contador up there too, but over those past 12 months he hasn't been top-notch in ITTs. I was just pointing out that with a 3-minute gap, this has the set up to become pretty boring battle for 'Le Maillot Jaune'. At the same time, I realize there's still 5 mountain stages to come, one complete off-day for Froome and first place is back in contention.

[MIJB#19]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

I really think lifetime, sport-wide bans on first-offense for doping are the only solution with enough consequence to affect these guys and really force change.

Establishing consistency would be the first step. It's quite obvious that cyclists are getting sacrificed to cover-up for other more popular sports. If you look at all the names and organizations that have been linked with Operation Puerto, only the cyclist have been suspended. The evidence about other sports personalities is getting destroyed, case closed. Would the big public be able to cope with the effects of retroactively modifying tennis grand slam tournaments' results or suspending big-name soccer players and clubs? Although, I still cheer for our national soccer team, despite what we know now.

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by MIJB#19

I no way was I suggesting that Froome is on doping or whatever. Based on past results (like in the previous 12 months), the time-trial results weren't much of a surprise. T.Martin and Froome have far and beyond the best resume of the field, I would have Contador up there too, but over those past 12 months he hasn't been top-notch in ITTs. I was just pointing out that with a 3-minute gap, this has the set up to become pretty boring battle for 'Le Maillot Jaune'. At the same time, I realize there's still 5 mountain stages to come, one complete off-day for Froome and first place is back in contention.

Froome took a dramatic leap from amateur performance after he joined Sky. He's totally doping No doubt in my mind. His watts/kg are off-the-charts. Name the last person who wasn't doping who was able to ride away from climbers in the mountains as if they were nothing and then the next day turn around and finish 12 seconds behind the World TT Champion (who completely turned himself inside out)?

[DaddyTorgo]

2011 Chart - "CF" being Froome - the worst rider on Sky @ that point

http://ciclismo2005.com/wp-content/u...metablaSky.jpg

[whomario]

the problem i have in condemning a guy like Froome on the basis of "how could he get so good so fast legally ?" is that in theory, cycling is propably the one sport (next to propably long distance running) where pure physichal talent (and work ethic) trumps everything else. So in theory i don´t have any problem in believing that it´s easier than in any other sport to go from undiscovered to greatness once you get the proper training, which Froome simply didn´t have as a youth. If you´d go out and convince a world class 20 year old 5000 meter runner to pick up cycling, i´d wager the odds aren´t that bad he could turn out to be a world class cyclist (on mountain stages)

However, that doesn´t change that the exact same parameters also make doping more likely than in most other sports, simply because actual skill makes comparably little difference (and yes, i´m aware that the proper position on the bike and other stuff are important. But even that is a crap shoot at times, either you have the body build for a good position or you don´t)



As for todays stage, it´s been immensely entertaining and not your typical flat stage.

Spoiler

Terrible luck for Valverde, great agressiveness from multiple teams attacking sky and then just a brilliant move by Saxo. Also, was anybody surprised that Sagan and that slick SoB Cavendish were the 2 sprinters sniffing it out ?

[cartman]

Just saw that one of the Sky team members has been riding with a fractured pelvis. HTF can you ride a bike like that???

[whomario]

Originally Posted by cartman

Just saw that one of the Sky team members has been riding with a fractured pelvis. HTF can you ride a bike like that???

Have you seen the pictures of Martin´s backside basically looking like the raw meat you see in the store ?

You can (often rightfully) dismiss their success, but cyclists are not what you´d call soft.

[bhlloy]

Wow that was not the race we were expecting. Picked the right day to WFH and watch the whole thing

[cartman]

Originally Posted by whomario

Have you seen the pictures of Martin´s backside basically looking like the raw meat you see in the store ?

You can (often rightfully) dismiss their success, but cyclists are not what you´d call soft.

Oh I know. I was an amateur racer back in high school (some of the races against a certain discredited cyclist from Texas) and rode with bad road rash, but never a broken bone, much less one that supports most of your weight while riding.

[whomario]

the other thing why this whole doping thing makes me equally mad and "understanding" is that a) you don´t find a sport that implements the terrain and the cultural heritage of a region as well as cycling. You don´t watch a tennis match and marvel about the court or a soccer match and marvel about the stadium (ok, you do. But during the broadcast all you see is the pitch). And as far as the terrain goes, each mountain has it´s own characteristics and it´s own mystique about it. It´s just awfully fun to watch, for me the only sporting even that i can literally spend a day watching. You don´t have to look all the time (and can do other stuff, in my case learning for final exams now) but every time you do it´s pleasing to watch with the great views you get nowadays.

But that drive for spectacular mountain stages also is why i´m so relatively understanding; While it has gotten better on the part of the organisers (and partly due to that i think the doping problem got smaller, and it IS smaller now than 5 years ago), there is still the fact that theese guys go up some ridiculously demanding climbs on ridiculously demanding courses of 120+ miles a day and some 2000+ in 3 weeks.
And then you go ride your 135 miles and at the end of it you have part of the reason for this post: The fucking Mont Ventoux. 13 miles at a 7.5% climb topped by those last few miles in that surreal tree-less landscape which also fucks up you psyche.
And watching it, you really get that "rome and the gladiators" type feeling. Of course i know it´s kinda wrong, but damn it if i´m not entertained watching those guys going to the very edge of what their bodys and mind will tolerate.

And yeah, everybody ought to watch todays stage, could be epic. And o yeah, they poor bastards have been driving since before 8.30 am and will likely finish after 5 pm local time ...

[DaddyTorgo]

Got a few days to catch up on, but looking forward to rewarding myself later tonight with today's stage.

[DaddyTorgo]

Catching up

Stage 12: Whoa...Kittel just out-sprinted Cav. Impressive.

[Critch]

Originally Posted by DaddyTorgo

Got a few days to catch up on, but looking forward to rewarding myself later tonight with today's stage.

Be prepared with your finger over the fast forward button, the number of ad breaks they forced into the coverage before the race hit the final climb was amazing. Regularly back for literally 2 minutes before going back to ads.

I hope that doesnt count as a spoiler

[DaddyTorgo]

Originally Posted by Critch

Be prepared with your finger over the fast forward button, the number of ad breaks they forced into the coverage before the race hit the final climb was amazing. Regularly back for literally 2 minutes before going back to ads.

I hope that doesnt count as a spoiler

Nope - I'll be prepared. Haha!

[DaddyTorgo]

Yeah...bullshit on Froome. This is just silly.

[SirFozzie]

Froome penalized 20 seconds for an illegal energy bar. *laughs*