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Tour de France 2013 |OT| Celebrating 100 Years
- Thread starter Chris R
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Nothing aside from empty boasts? He was 4th in the Tour last year and 2010, that's pretty impressive. At least with VDB Belgium has someone to compete for the podium... That hasn't been the case for ages. I think it's too bad he's gone.
Contador was DQ in 2010, the older Schleck had to retire, a lot of podium candidates lost time in that same crash and VDB didn't show anything. He just tried to stay as long as possible without any attacks. 2012 had similar problems; no Contador, no Schleck, a bad Evans and a very controlled tour that didn't get any big attacks by the favorites. The fact Voeckler managed to win two mountain stages already shows there was no real fire. I'd rather see them invest in someone like Thomas De Gendt that got a podium place in the Giro thanks to his fire to attack, and he has actually managed more than one thing in his career. I want someone that brings somethings to the race. And it not like VDB could have a podium spot: Froome, Contador, Schleck, Evans, Valverde, Rodriguez and Van Garderen are already there to take those.
Yeah, beautiful to watch on TV though. Amazing effort by all the riders.
Evans and Schleck have cracked
And now Contador.
i_am_ben
running_here_and_there
Argh I had higher hopes for Contador.
Froome will have the tour all tied up today.
edit: Evans falling further and further behind.
bobnowhere
Member
Froome is in another race. It's a race for 2nd in Paris now.
i_am_ben
running_here_and_there
Imagine what they could have done last year if they didn't have to carry Wiggins.
That said, I've never particularly liked Porte or Froome. They've massively massively improved in the last few years. It does make you wonder.
Excellent job indeed. I'm proud of them! 4th and 5th in the overall standings is nothing to be ashamed of!
edgardavids
Member
Sky are like the barcelona of cycling. Dominant but boring as fuck to watch.
Mt Heart Attack
Member
I don't believe for a second that Froome is clean. Guy went from being a mediocre rider to being the best climber AND time trialist in the world in the space of two years. I have no idea how anyone who follows cycling can believe this is legit. At least Armstrong was a decent/good rider before his "metamorphosis".
Mediocre? He would of won it last year if it wasnt for the agenda that wiggo had to win, Yes he came behind the Spaniards in last years Vuelta but that was against a fresh Contador et al compared to Froome who gave everything to the cause a month earlier in Le Tour.
He did say in two years so he is thinking 2008 tot 2011, not 2012.
Like it or not Team Sky have raised the bar in professional cycling substantially. Their whole raison d'etre was to win the TdF and they put their money where their mouth was.
They train at the head of British cycling and under Dave Brailsford GB won twice as many cycling medals as any other country and 8 times as many golds.
That means either British cycling has found a way around all doping tests in professional cycling and the Olympics, or their approach and working methods are just better and everyone else needs to take a long hard look at themselves and change things, otherwise prepare for a snoozefest for the next few years.Take your pick.
They train at the head of British cycling and under Dave Brailsford GB won twice as many cycling medals as any other country and 8 times as many golds.
That means either British cycling has found a way around all doping tests in professional cycling and the Olympics, or their approach and working methods are just better and everyone else needs to take a long hard look at themselves and change things, otherwise prepare for a snoozefest for the next few years.Take your pick.
Fair enough but he came second in the 2011 Vuelta also, Lets be honest you dont achieve these fetes by being Mediocre and I dont believe for a second Sky are doping, It would tarnish the whole company and Sir Dave Brailsford AFIK is far too stand up to let that go on.
Mt Heart Attack
Member
That's exactly the turning point, the 2011 Vuelta. Just a year before he was disqualified from the Giro for holding on to a motorbike during a climb. A year after he was a top climber and time trialist. Whatever. I've seen this film too many times (it was never as blatant as this instance though).
He is just 28, 5 years ago he was very young. It takes time to be a good all round rider. He also started quite late, meaning he should have a steeper carreer trajectory
i want to believe
i_am_ben
running_here_and_there
Team Sky might be efficient and effective but they can't be this much better than every other team. Like Sky, the other teams are training all year round and looking for every possible marginal gain in riders and the bikes. Just how many marginal gains could the other teams be overlooking?
After all Sky has somehow managed to turn average riders into the best in the world. Wiggins, Froome and Porte were mid-tier riders a few years ago. They were getting smashed by other riders. Now they're beating those same riders by minutes in both mountain stages and time trials.
The climbs today looked intense. I wish I had hills that were even 1/4 as awesome in my area Best I could possibly do is a ~800ft climb because there are no roads over mountains, we just go around them!
Froome and Sky just destroyed, can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.
edit: Is there some new drug that they could be using that wouldn't show up on tests? Because I'm betting everything else comes up clean whenever tests are done.
Best I could possibly do is a ~800ft climb because there are no roads over mountains, we just go around them!Froome and Sky just destroyed, can't wait to see what happens tomorrow.
edit: Is there some new drug that they could be using that wouldn't show up on tests? Because I'm betting everything else comes up clean whenever tests are done.
Elfforkusu
Member
Only a casual TdF follower, but doesn't Froome have some weird illness (googled: bilharzia) that could in theory help with his performance (train with the illness, take medication when it's touring time)? I'm not sure if that would count as cheating or not, or for that matter if it'd account for his change in fortune, but...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schistosomiasis
i_am_ben
running_here_and_there
they've clearly got their orders after yesterday
i_am_ben
running_here_and_there
Nothing's changed in that respect.
Watch out the Sky bogeymen are still coming.
It is well known Sky dope. Most still dope. Blood doping is nigh on impossible to stop at the moment.
One thing that has almost certainly changed is that blood bags probably aren't as big anymore. You can tell right now that most riders who put in a big effort one day suffer the next, and lose time. There used to be far more consistency in performance. Recovery just seems to take more time now for most. Unquestionably though, blood doping is still prevalent, as there will be in any major sport.
Definitely, no where near the EPO era, the times for the stages themselves are testament to that.
Still watching this, it is far more believable than what is currently going on at Wimbledon right now with Djokovic the serial doper and Murray who is quite suspect too.
If you look at the news, a week or two ago Spanish police raided this huge operation that was selling doping to amateur athletes. I've heard from amateur athletes themselves too how pervasive doping is. My feeling is that if it's common in places where there's little to no money to be made, that it's going to be near universal in sports where there's a lot of money going around and doping testing is weak (like in football or tennis).
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