Desert Nomad Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 A fine, thought-provoking article by Kimmage as usual. If Wiggins is to be held up as the poster-boy of a new, cleaner peloton, then he really ought to let Kimmage interview him & give us his opinions, after the Olympics say? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_S_A_R Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 A fine, thought-provoking article by Kimmage as usual. If Wiggins is to be held up as the poster-boy of a new, cleaner peloton, then he really ought to let Kimmage interview him & give us his opinions, after the Olympics say? there were a load of articles in the sunday times yesterday about wiggins but not one of them was by david walsh who is the chief sports writer which i found telling. the headline of the editorial of the times today was it's not about the bike . whether that's a dog whistle, an irony bypass or just lazy journalism i couldn't say but it's proving old karl marx right about history repeating itself as farce. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_S_A_R Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 There's no doubt about it that there are dopers who have never been caught, but to pick and choose who you think is clean and who isn't without failed tests is just daft. It's almost as if you have something against Wiggins/Sky. i don't like sky. i thought that british cycling were dicks in 2008 at the olympics headed up by rebecca romero who is easily the most repulsive athlete i've ever come across. when team sky started they were extremely disrespectful to the sport and the other teams and they still come across as a fairly unlikeable bunch. cavendish and wiggins are a pair of wankers - which they have both admitted in the past - who are being lauded as modern day saints. sky came in with a lot of rhetoric about being anti doping and have abandoned it all. they have at least one doping rider in rogers, they have a doping DS in yates (i didn't read much in the press today about his positive or his role at disco and astana) and a doping doctor in leinders. it's not the cheating that bothers me so much as the hypocrisy. how long until they are brining out wristbands? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SJ1210 Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 sky came in with a lot of rhetoric about being anti doping and have abandoned it all. they have at least one doping rider in rogers, they have a doping DS in yates (i didn't read much in the press today about his positive or his role at disco and astana) and a doping doctor in leinders. Yates failed a drugs test in 1989 when he rode with 7-Eleven 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myshkin Posted July 23, 2012 Author Share Posted July 23, 2012 Sky also have Servais Knaven (TVM at the time of the Festina affair), Michael Barry (USP - Floyd has had plenty to say about him) and Dario Cioni (of the abnormal hematocrit level). 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Nomad Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 Amateurs getting caught as well now http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/two-amateurs-test-positive-for-epo-at-gran-fondo-new-york-34711/ 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Nomad Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 (edited) Loved this picture: ETA: I`m not actually sure which mountain pass this is, said the Pyrenees somewhere... Edited July 23, 2012 by Desert Nomad 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Musketeer Gripweed Posted July 23, 2012 Share Posted July 23, 2012 That was my favourite view from the helicopter this year. Don't actually recall that view down to that lake from the top of the Colmbier before this year foe some reason. And that bit of road they were on at the time was particularly nasty. The good weather always helps. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Drooper Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 -1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T_S_A_R Posted July 24, 2012 Share Posted July 24, 2012 just read a good article from le monde from a former festina coach about this supposedly "cleaner" tour. note the fact that the french press aren't afraid to ask questions of the national hero - voeckler - compared to how all the anglo press minus kimmage have presented the miracle of a clean tour. le monde article It's Schleck who is right, the poison still works Fränk Schleck, the excluded doper, is right : le Tour is "poisoned". It has been for a long time, but the poison still works. To get convinced, comparing the power outputs of riders, in Watts, is enough. We noticed four of them that are particularly shocking this year. The first one kills more than it wounds. It's about the crowds' pet, Thomas Voeckler, who, as his clone, the Virenque of the greatest Festina years, holds the king of mountains polka dots jersey up, and the French hearts. Saint Thomas, in his own admittance, neglecting the will of his almost fleshless calves that seem so thin that they look like they're reduced to (the size of) his shin bones, is capable, like Richard once was, to perform mountain raids, maintaining over four mountains an engine power of "375-390" Watts, without weakening, accelerating whenever he wishes. He was first to cross the line atop Aubisque, Tourmalet, Aspin, Peyresourde, in 5 h 32 min 2 s, victorious concluding, fresh as a daisy, the 197 km at an average of 35,59 km/h. This Pau - Bagnères-de-Luchon is a classical Tour de France stage (1980, 1983, 1998). In 1998 - always the Festina affair -, Marco Pantani let Massi win in 5 h 49 minutes 40 s on 196,5 km at 33,72 km/h : almost 2 km/h slower. Another reference got broken the next day by Thomas Voeckler : Menté, 9,3 km at 9,1 %. In 28'20", with an alien power of 442 Watts, he's carving his name on the tables, on the biggest chain ring in the last 300 m, on an 8 % slope. There, he is rather looking like the Rasmussen-Contador duo of the Great Years. It's the second important comparison : it knocks down more than it scares. With an average of 430 W, the favourites swallowed, like during the great days, Peyresourde in 26 min 45 sec. From Saint-Aventin, they only conceded 34 seconds to the unreal time of Contador and Rasmussen in 2007 (23 minutes and 26 seconds), who were trying to drop each other with many sprints, just like as many injections. From there on, Froome and Wiggins then accelerated in the last climb, Peyragudes. They produced 470 Watts during 7'03" (2,95 km at 7,93 %). Froome waited for Wiggins, but was capable of getting near 500 Watts. If he doesn't restrict his engine any more to wait for his leader, he could enter the caste of world record owners, the best "performers" of all times : Pantani, Armstrong, Contador. The third comparison, which makes smile more than it surprises, is to be credited to a suspended rider "Stronger Than Before", title of a book by Virenque. Alejandro Valverde won in Peyragudes, achieving a performance equal to Vinokourov's in 2007. The two riders, with a 5 years interval, climbed the Port de Balès and Peyresourde at the same level of power output, managing 285 then 405 Watts on both these ascents. Vinokourov, who had left the peloton with the morning break, won it solo in Loudenvielle. The Kazakhi was then excluded because of a blood transfusion. The last comparison is more thrilling than bluffing. In 2011, after 16 years of scrambling for heavy doping products, we were at last cheering, in these columns, for the absence of riders performing above an average of 410 Watts on the last ascents of mountain stages : the detection threshold of poison. Alas ! There is again four of them, this year who crossed that bar : Wiggins, Froome, Nibali and Van den Broecke, with 415 Watts for the first three of the classification, and 410 Watts for the fourth one. We are now longing for 2013 and the return of Contador and his tainted meat ! Until then, it's doubtful a cure will have been found. Former coach of Team Festina, Antoine Vayer is a performance specialist. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Nomad Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Ah but it's all down to hard work, improved training techniques and specialist diets don't you know... 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gnash Posted July 25, 2012 Share Posted July 25, 2012 Yeah, let's ban riders for producing too many watts. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiddy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Yeah, let's ban riders for producing too many watts. But Wiggo wishes he could be like David though. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Nomad Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Quite enjoyed this picture David Millar just posted on Twitter. Less than a week after winning the Tour de France & Wiggins is sitting outside a pub during a training run. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Desert Nomad Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 In other news, not really surprising to see Liggett the useless c**t having a go at BMX & Mountain Biking. Both are infinitely better to watch than another dreary event on the track. Mountain Biking not an Olympic Sport? Be just as well getting rid of skiing then eh? c**t. http://www.bikebiz.com/index.php/news/read/liggett-mountain-biking-and-bmx-has-no-place-in-the-olympics/013403 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiddy Posted July 26, 2012 Share Posted July 26, 2012 Quite enjoyed this picture David Millar just posted on Twitter. Less than a week after winning the Tour de France & Wiggins is sitting outside a pub during a training run. Probably taken by Dave Zabriskie, who'd stopped for a pish, whilst Millar caught up. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuggie_Murray7 Posted July 27, 2012 Share Posted July 27, 2012 Times the race tomorrow and is it live on telly? 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kiddy Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Times the race tomorrow and is it live on telly? Yes, sure it starts about 10.00 am. On a BBC digital channel between 1-24. You'll have to put up with Hugh Porter this time. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shuggie_Murray7 Posted July 28, 2012 Share Posted July 28, 2012 Will be watching this one then. Cav a shoe in? He's 5/6, no real value. I've gone £2 on Boasson Hagen at 16's just for a laugh. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myshkin Posted July 28, 2012 Author Share Posted July 28, 2012 It will be hard to try and control the race throughout and I think the non sprinter teams will try and make it as messy as possible. Would not be a surprise at all to see a super break containing Nibali, Cancellara and Luis Leon Sanchez at one point. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.