Procycling thread

[Jim Leighton]

Great finish, Oscar Freire made a bit of a meal of trying to win though and ended up well back as Gasparotto, Jelle Vanendert and Peter Sagan went over the line almost neck and neck, Gasparotto winning.

Eurosport are covering the mountain mayhem of Giro del Trentino this week (Tues-Fri), though only 5 World Tour teams are involved. The opening team time trial was won relatively comfortably by BMC. The home fans will have been a bit gutted to see Liquigas and Lampre make meals of their attempts, both teams losing riders through inability to corner.

And the televised races keep coming - Fleche Wallonne on Wednesday, Liege-Bastogne-Liege on Sunday then the Tour of Turkey kicks off.

Edited April 17, 2012 by Jim Leighton

[Desert Nomad]

Cunego picking up a stage at Trentino. It`d be fantastic to see him right in the thick of things at the Giro.

J-Rod at last takes victory in Fleche after two second places, & also proving that Gilbert can be beaten in the Ardennes. On to Liege Sunday & it`ll be the same protagonists involved, with perhaps the addition of the Schlecks, although even they can`t be stupid enough to carry Gilbert to the line again?!?!?

[T_S_A_R]

Cunego picking up a stage at Trentino. It`d be fantastic to see him right in the thick of things at the Giro.

J-Rod at last takes victory in Fleche after two second places, & also proving that Gilbert can be beaten in the Ardennes. On to Liege Sunday & it`ll be the same protagonists involved, with perhaps the addition of the Schlecks, although even they can`t be stupid enough to carry Gilbert to the line again?!?!?

it was ideal for rodriguez.

a big group took him most of the way up the final climb and he only had to put in one of his wee bursts to get to the line. after all the work katusha put in they deserved it.

what are the schlecks supposed to do? they have to escape to win, if someone tags onto to them that's just tough luck. is it smarter for them to wait for the bunch? people said the same thing about cancellera after milan-san remo, as if he had any other choice but to put his head down and power to the line.

Edited April 18, 2012 by T_S_A_R

[Desert Nomad]

it was ideal for rodriguez.

a big group took him most of the way up the final climb and he only had to put in one of his wee bursts to get to the line. after all the work katusha put in they deserved it.

what are the schlecks supposed to do? they have to escape to win, if someone tags onto to them that's just tough luck. is it smarter for them to wait for the bunch? people said the same thing about cancellera after milan-san remo, as if he had any other choice but to put his head down and power to the line.

http://eurosport.yahoo.com/15022012/58/giro-d-italia-cunego-skip-giro.html

Oh well I guess we won`t see Cunego at the Giro. Hope he wins Liege then, certainly has the credentials to do it.

You`re right, the Schlecks just annoy me though, they always give the impression they are looking out for each other more than themselves in a race. This has led to more defeat than glory over the last few years in my opinion. That said Gilbert was imperious last year.

[Jim Leighton]

Really enjoyed today's finish to the Fleche Wallonne, Purito's charge up the Huy hot on the heels of the faltering 15km attack was impressive. Over in the Dolomites, Pozzovivo, co-commentator Dan Lloyd's tip to win, missed the chance to get among the leaders when descending late on and burned himself out trying to catch them, ending up well down the field. BMC's strong time trial gives Matthias Frank the current top spot in the GC placings.

[Jim Leighton]

Ooft, some climb at Trentino today!

[Desert Nomad]

Ooft, some climb at Trentino today!

Basso & Di Luca not helped by following the motorbike the wrong way

[Jim Leighton]

Basso & Di Luca not helped by following the motorbike the wrong way

Aye and Dave Harmon not quite on the ball either, it took him about 3 replays to work out what happened!

[T_S_A_R]

ricardo ricco banned for 12 years.

this is priceless, he flies by the others like he's on a motorbike. you can see them talking amongst themselves, it's not hard to guess what they were saying.

i'll also never forget watching his stage wins in 2008, probably the most blantant outright cheating i've ever seen. i doubt even his mama believed he was clean.

Edited April 19, 2012 by T_S_A_R

[kiddy]

ricardo ricco banned for 12 years.

this is priceless, he flies by the others like he's on a motorbike. you can see them talking amongst themselves, it's not hard to guess what they were saying.

i'll also never forget watching his stage wins in 2008, probably the most blantant outright cheating i've ever seen. i doubt even his mama believed he was clean.

I'm glad they've dished him out this length of ban. It's basically saving him from himself, as he nearly died with his last effort.

[T_S_A_R]

I'm glad they've dished him out this length of ban. It's basically saving him from himself, as he nearly died with his last effort.

the clown will probably still be taking epo to go and get the papers in the morning.

the punishment is more to do with being bad for the image of the sport and not doing the requiste pr offensive when busted. he is no worse than de luca in sporting terms.

[kiddy]

Fancy Gilbert for Liege-Bastogne-Liege tomorrow.

Seemed to be riding back into form in the Amstel Gold & Fleche Wallonne.

[kiddy]

Maxim Iglinskiy takes Liege-Bastogne-Liege from Vincenzo Nibali. Felt sorry for the Italian as he made the decisive break, only to be caught with 1k to go.

2/3 wins this week for Astana though.

[Jim Leighton]

Maxim Iglinskiy takes Liege-Bastogne-Liege from Vincenzo Nibali. Felt sorry for the Italian as he made the decisive break, only to be caught with 1k to go.

2/3 wins this week for Astana though.

And over at Tour of Turkey, a fairly cautious trawl along the seaside until the sprint trains all lined up with 5/6km to go - and then there was an almighty pileup among chasers with 2km or so remaining, with Theo Bos getting the nod on the line from Matty Goss.

[Desert Nomad]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/contador-accused-of-doping-in-2005-by-rival-teams-masseur

Bertie boy back in the news & he`s not even racing. Could this be a never-ending story, convicted once & people come out from the shadows with more allegations of doping?

[Jim Leighton]

Par for the course perhaps for the timebeing, pretty frustrating to see the BBC's cycling page dominated by negative reporting, for example. All they seem to report is negative headlines or a British win.

On more positive (no pun intended) matters, Andre Greipel pulled off a strong finish to today's stage at the Tour of Turkey, good to see my favourites Europcar featuring in the top 3, with Pelucchi lying 8 seconds of the pace for the GC, Matt Goss leading from Greipel.

[Desert Nomad]

Par for the course perhaps for the timebeing, pretty frustrating to see the BBC's cycling page dominated by negative reporting, for example. All they seem to report is negative headlines or a British win.

On more positive (no pun intended) matters, Andre Greipel pulled off a strong finish to today's stage at the Tour of Turkey, good to see my favourites Europcar featuring in the top 3, with Pelucchi lying 8 seconds of the pace for the GC, Matt Goss leading from Greipel.

Don`t ever visit BBC website for cycling TBH, cyclingnews by far the best I`ve come across, although sometimes feel the lay out is a little cluttered.

[T_S_A_R]

http://www.cyclingne. ..l-teams-masseur

Bertie boy back in the news & he`s not even racing. Could this be a never-ending story, convicted once & people come out from the shadows with more allegations of doping?

liberty seguros riders doping! shock horror

contador's career goes from liberty seguros featuring fuentes and sainz, to discovery and bruynell, then onto astana who were banned from the tour for doping at the time, then bruynell comes back on the scene, then its over to saxo and riis.

if anyone actually believes contador is clean then i've got a 100% risk free gambling system i'll share with you for only £1000. pm me for details.

[T_S_A_R]

let's have a look back at the 2005 tour. bert was 31st.

only the 5 discovery riders in the top 30. the blue train must have had an off year.

1 Lance Armstrong (USA) Discovery Channel 86.15.02 (41.654 km/h) king doper

2 Ivan Basso (Ita) Team CSC 4.40 puerto but he wasn't going to use it aye right

3 Jan Ullrich (Ger) T-Mobile Team 6.21 puerto

4 Francisco Mancebo (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 9.59 puerto

5 Alexandre Vinokourov (Kaz) T-Mobile Team 11.01 chucked out the 2007 tour. huge doper

6 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Gerolsteiner 11.21 positive in '96. huge doper

7 Michael Rasmussen (Den) Rabobank 11.33

8 Cadel Evans (Aus) Davitamon-Lotto 11.55

9 Floyd Landis (USA) Phonak Hearing Systems 12.44 :lol:

10 Oscar Pereiro Sio (Spa) Phonak Hearing Systems 16.04 tested positive in 2007. wriggled out it. pretty much admitted doping on spanish tv a few months ago.

11 Christophe Moreau (Fra) Credit Agricole 16.26 festina

12 Yaroslav Popovych (Ukr) Discovery Channel 19.02 the most suspicious man in the peloton according to blood profiles

13 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Lampre-Caffita 21.06 banned for doping conspiracy in 2007

14 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel 23.40 j'accused by landis. no denial.

15 Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Euskaltel-Euskadi 23.43

16 Jörg Jaksche (Ger) Liberty Seguros-Würth 24.07 admitted doping his entire career

17 Bobby Julich (USA) Team CSC 24.08

18 Oscar Sevilla (Spa) T-Mobile Team 27.45 puerto

19 Andrei Kashechkin (Kaz) Credit Agricole 28.04 epo 2007

20 Giuseppe Guerini (Ita) T-Mobile Team 33.02 linked to the freiberg blood doping clinic in 2007

21 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Team CSC 34.24

22 Xabier Zandio (Spa) Illes Balears-Caisse d'Epargne 36.20

23 Leonardo Piepoli (Ita) Saunier Duval-Prodir got busted with ricco in 2008 after their ridiculous climb

24 Michael Boogerd (Ned) Rabobank 38.29 accused by frank vandenbrouke, landis and linked to a plasma clinic in vienna

25 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Discovery Channel 44.30

26 Georg Totschnig (Aut) Gerolsteiner 49.14 charged with perjury in austria for denying doping in this race under oath.

27 Mikel Astarloza (Spa) Ag2r-Prevoyance 54.03 epo ban 2009

28 Laurent Brochard (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 55.29 festina

29 Sandy Casar (Fra) Française Des Jeux 56.47

30 Jose Azevedo (Por) Discovery Channel 59.48

31 Alberto Contador (Spa) Liberty Seguros-Würth 1.03.25 currently banned

so of the riders we dont know are 100% dopers we have...

sastre and evans - both tour winners. i'd be more inclined to believe in sastre. evans TT last year was dodgy as f**k

bobby jullich - 3rd behind pantani and ullrich in '98. guilty!

savoldelli - italian, won the giro in 2002 and 05. raced for t mobile, postal, disco and astana. guilty!

zubeldia and azevedo - loyal armstrong henchmen.

casar and zandio - might actually be clean.

lance's speech after winning this great race.

Finally, the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics: I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. But this is one hell of a race. This is a great sporting event and you should stand around and believe it. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets — this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it. So Vive le Tour forever!

[Desert Nomad]

good post

It really is frightening eh? Sastre under Riis is always going to have a question mark as well. Evans/BMC do look particularly dodgy in my opinion. Sandy Casar may be the only one on that top 30 list to have ridden clean.