|
serious gaylord posted:If Froome has any sort of racing brain (lol) he'll let someone else grab yellow and just stay close enough to win at the TT stage. No way can Sky dominate the peloton like the last 2 years. Yup, Sky look like a bundle of poo poo compared to the last two years, especially. Losing Kreuziger is a huge blow to Bertie, though - who else has he got to support him in the high mountains now?
|
#
¿
Jun 30, 2014 22:14
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:13 |
|
|
serious gaylord posted:I dont think Contador is stupid enough to be anywhere near Froome with a decently long TT stage to finish the tour. The tour will be won by whoever gets more than 4 minutes on Froome in the mountains. Yes, this. It'll certainly make the final week interesting - Contador has to have some time in the bank before that TT. Also, the need to get time gaps on Froome will hopefully lead to some more exciting riding earlier on - stage 2 and the cobbled one (5 I think) both look ripe for an ambush. Stage 2 reminds me of that Tirreno stage last year where Nibali managed to steal a march on Froome in the wet.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 1, 2014 23:51
|
|
|
serious gaylord posted:Stage 2 is ripe for Sagan to put the yellow on imo. Yes, I think the onus will very much be on Cannondale a) to chase down the break and b) drop the sprinters on stage 2. Reports of the stage's difficulty seem to vary hugely, though, ranging from "as hard as L-B-L" to "a sprinter with good climbing legs could hang on". Oh well, I'm riding it on Saturday so will see first hand...!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 2, 2014 11:38
|
|
|
So I rode most of stage 2 today, from Cragg Vale to Sheffield. It's pretty tough, although it's hard to say how difficult the peloton will find it - much will depend on how aggressively it's raced, I think. It will definitely be selective, and it's important to note that there are a LOT of uncategorised climbs that aren't trivial, when put alongside everything else. There was a horrible crosswind at the top of Cragg Vale, which could also make things interesting. It was awesome to see so many people already out on the climbs, and the incredible amount of decoration and general local interest. Holme Moss will be rammed tomorrow!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 5, 2014 19:36
|
|
|
If any of you lot busy Froome-bashing think there was nothing suspicious about Nibali and his mountain domestiques dropping 2 of the best classics riders of their generation on the flat then you're out of your loving minds. Ridiculous scenes.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 9, 2014 21:02
|
|
|
Argh Yates! In other news, Kreuziger has now, unsurprisingly, been "provisionally suspended" by the UCI. Probably in reaction to the fact that Saxo had said he was going to ride the Vuelta.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 2, 2014 16:17
|
|
|
IndustrialApe posted:Cavendish not being a advertisement for specialized today, that was an awful crash in the Tirreno. Farrar not winning as expected. It was a clearly a mechanical - apparently his chain came off. Apparently Quickstep are using FSA stuff now, so hardly a great advertisement for them either!
|
|
#
¿
Mar 12, 2015 21:30
|
|
|
African AIDS cum posted:Martin and Cancellara will both smash the fraud Wiggins Have you ever considered not watching cycling if the majority of the main protagonists offend you to such a degree? Wouldn't mind if Martin beat it but Fabian "Luigi" Cancellara can do one. Also, I don't think either of them will do it without much more favourable air pressure.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2015 19:51
|
|
|
African AIDS cum posted:Link to me ever saying this? I just hate Team Sky and a few others. As all good cycling fans should. Hmm, and why is this? And what, in your definition, is a "good cycling fan"? EDIT: also assuming you didn't get my Cancellara Luigi reference. Google it.
|
|
#
¿
Jun 7, 2015 22:49
|
|
|
It's obviously much easier to do behind a shroud of anonymity, but it's always good to hear someone state publicity how ridiculous a race was. Astana's dominance at the Giro was pretty mind-blowing - it made me think back to last year's TDF where you probably had a load of domestiques doped to the gills (Iglinksy definitely was, of course) working for a team leader who, quite possibly, was riding clean(ish).
|
|
#
¿
Jun 9, 2015 16:27
|
|
|
African AIDS cum posted:Maybe she should have braked Good point. I'd forgotten that women aren't allowed to celebrate after winning a sprint!
|
|
#
¿
Jun 17, 2015 19:28
|
|
|
Pinot looks in great form, but even with the lack of time trialling I can't see him beating Froome, Nibali, Bert or Quintana. I think the first week will be interesting - bets on at least one of those four crashing out before we hit the mountains?
|
|
#
¿
Jun 22, 2015 08:20
|
|
|
For anyone who regularly rides/races with a HRM monitor (as I do, as well as a number of others in this thread), a delay or lag in heart rate is normal - if you put in a big attack (incidentally 2 seconds at 1000w isn't a big deal - I can do that), then you wouldn't see that reflected in the heart rate until roughly 10 seconds later. However, the heart rate barely changing in his attacks is really odd. I've no idea what that could indicate, doping or otherwise. I can only think that he must have been riding close to his max heart rate already, and therefore even a big attack would barely raise that. Being able to ride that close to max heart rate for so long is pretty strange, though, but does it indicate doping? I don't know. The problem is, we've not got anything to compare it with. As the Science of Sport post said, transparency cannot be a bad thing - we simply don't know, or have a representative sample of what an elite cyclist's data climbing Ventoux should look like. What I do know is that 388w for the duration of Ventoux is, on the surface, a legitimate figure. I would love to see power and heart rate data overlays during live broadcasts and, if teams have nothing to hide, I don't see why they wouldn't allow it (well there are reasons, but in the interests of transparency I think they should forsake them). At the very least this is yet another Sky PR disaster!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2015 11:13
|
|
|
serious gaylord posted:The Guardian is owned by the same person that owns Sky. No, it isn't: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Trust_Limited As someone above pointed out, they are redacting comments because of the UK's libel laws, and websites' accountability for comments, rather than some kind of hidden agenda. The Guardian is about as far removed from Sky, in British media terms, as you can get. While I wouldn't argue against there being a degree of both naivety and wilful ignorance in the British press towards Sky's performances, it's a bit much to suggest that there's a countrywide conspiracy to protect the integrity of British Cycling at work. Crystael fucked around with this message at 23:58 on Jul 14, 2015 |
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2015 23:37
|
|
|
Dirk Pitt posted:Gerraint Thomas, taking the piss 3 km from the finish. Where the gently caress did that come from? Yeah, good point - it's almost as if he didn't win the Volta ao Algarve, finish 5th in Paris-Nice or 2nd in the Tour de Suisse already this season! For me, Thomas is far more believable than, say, Froome - he's a massive engine who, having focussed on the road since London 2012, has shown a gradual upwards trajectory in both the classics and in stage races. I still think he'll crack in the Alps, which would at least make his performance a bit more believable. This thread has turned into a bizarre mixture of justified scepticism and utter ignorance from people who clearly think the TDF is the only bike race that happens every year, the latter of which completely undermines the former!
|
|
#
¿
Jul 17, 2015 08:33
|
|
|
Yeah lots of teams putting men on the front protecting top 10 GC positions at the moment, which is making Sky's life easier. Movistar and Tinkoff both have men in the break, though, so this could get interesting. They have to try something early.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 23, 2015 13:23
|
|
|
serious gaylord posted:Chalet reynard is where the climb actually starts imo. I'm hearing they could still race to the top if the wind's die down in the morning though. The bit up to Chalet Reynard is the hardest part of the climb in terms of gradient - it's about 10% for 8km. Should still be spectacular! If anything knowing there's a windy 6km after that would make everyone ride more conservatively, so it could end up being more exciting. Maybe.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 13, 2016 22:16
|
|
|
Quintana is lucky. He was shipping big time there - could've been over a minute without the moto incident. At least the commissaires' decision was consistent within the context of this tour - given what they did for Yates I think that this was the only decision they could make. The GC is still very close and if Quintana has his usual third week resurgence it could be very interesting.
|
|
#
¿
Jul 14, 2016 22:25
|
|
|
|
| # ¿ Apr 27, 2024 16:13 |
|
|
The Trott/Kenny household is currently 13th in the medal table, just behind Spain.
|
|
#
¿
Aug 16, 2016 23:48
|
|