wessy wrote:
A Prize for First, second and TURD

wessy wrote:
A Prize for First, second and TURD
boltonbonce wrote:Bringing the tone down a bit Wessy, as an endurance athlete yourself, how are toilet breaks dealt with. Is it just a question of doing a Paula Radcliffe? Bit difficult on a bike.
wessy wrote:Slufffy genuine question because those of us who love endurance events have had many problems over the years with the drug issue, How clean is cycling now?
I ask because i have spent most of my life competing in distance events, 12 marathons, many fell races, The Three Peaks 23 miles with over 5000 feet of climbs, I was part of a relay team that ran the Pennine Way and the Coast to Coast pathways, so i have paid my dues so to speak.
Why is this relevant ? well i watched the last stage (Sunday)in wide mouthed amazement, after 4 hours in the saddle the riders hit the final climd 17.4k (over 10 miles) of steep ascending, the guys at the front wound it up and slowly split the peloton and crushed last years champion, with a sprint finish to win the stage.
I was truly awe struck clapping the winner, BUT like in my sport if what you are seeing is drug induced then it takes away from the achievement, In my sport Mo Farah poses this question, am I seeing a truthful performance ?
whats your take.
Another very informative summary thank you, i take your point re impossible to tell at this point, remarkable performances will always sadly receive scrutiny due to the times we live in, and yes time will tell.Sluffy wrote:
It's an unanswerable question really - for now at least - and we will only really know in years to come if and when the real truth comes out - but for now at least I don't think so - or only confined to the odd one or two.
The reason I think this is because both the teams and the cycle sports body itself knows that another major drugs scandal will probably see all the big sponsors (who really pay for the teams to exist in the first place) will drop out and the Olympics may well scrap cycling events (particularly those outside the velodrome).
The real difference, if you think about it for a moment (and now knowing a bit more about cycling in the last few weeks than perhaps you knew before) is that the elite GC riders aren't in fact participating in an endurance race as such - their team is doing that, they are simply passengers aboard their 'train' so to speak, until really the final big climb of the day.
For instance on Sunday's race, Jumbo-Visma (featuring Tom Dumoulin, who I mention above, as a 'super domestique...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Domestique#Super-domestique
...a rider good enough to be a GC rider himself on another team but riding in the service of his team leader in the team he's on) more or less delivered Roglic to less than 10km from the finish in order for him to 'start' his race - if you see what I mean.
All the other GC's more or less kept in Jumbo/Roglic slip stream to the 10km and battled it out from there.
I don't know enough about the science of the different sports but I would also guess that it's probably easier on the body sitting down aerodynamically for a cyclist on a distance race than a person running a distance race?
In the Armstrong era there were some blatant signs that something wasn't right when certain riders who shall we say were 'big units' were suddenly up at the front and even winning mountain stages - that simply shouldn't be happening in a weight to power ratio over such elevations they climbed.
The French 'knew' what was going on with Armstrong - but they knew all the French riders were doping too!
As I say it is all part of the theatre of cycling, you know the old 'oh yes he's doping, oh no he's not', sort of routine.
As I've asked before where do you draw the line on any sport - footballers used to have cortisone injections for instance - that is/was certainly used to help them to perform, for instance.
Just enjoy the moment and enjoy the scandal too if someone IS found to have doped in the current era.
I think fwiw all the big names ride clean - but you never know for certain!
wessy wrote:It really is very technical and very tactical, some of your explanations i have witnesed just through watching this year, like the slip streaming and the agreement among teams, i guess this is all agreed with the race directors for each team, even noticed the clever hand over of drinks were they keep hold for a couple of seconds.
I still find it hard to see the Peleton let a biggish group like today gain 12 minutes and not worry, i realise that they know that no one in the group is a threat to any of the categories so no danger to the standings, for me the hardest bit is (hard to explain) but because you watch a seperate race daily you don't really see the time advantages build up. probably for me because all the names are new and foreign sounding lol. getting to know the teams now at least thats a start.
I hope someone picks up all the litter they throw away lol Sluffy what got you into cycling?
boltonbonce wrote:Just a question that's possibly relevant in our modern times Sluffy.
To the untutored eye, the sport appears to be 'white/European in make up. Is this a fact, or am I missing something?
Is it simply that African and far Eastern peoples have no interest in it? I know there was a chap called Yohann Gene, but he was French.
Is it simply like the British with baseball, not really interested?
wessy wrote:Another brutal day in the mountains, astonishing performances can only applaud how fit these guys are. was hoping Carapaz would hang on but they pulled him back with superb timing, funnily enough Sluffy i was brought up on the same two newspapers, i also noted the lack of african or asian riders.
During the broadcast they actually explained the litter situation and how tough they are on anyone breaking the rule, also noted Bonce one rider actually taking a leak whilst on the bike with a team mate supporting him lol.
Getting to understand why certain groups do certain things now like the sprinters sitting it out today, and the stage winners team mate dropping off the lead group to do his paid job.
All fascinating stuff will really miss this next week. Intend to watch your clips later sluffy thanks again.
One thing i can relate to is the close proximity of the fans and why sometimes the athletes lash out, not at the same level obviously but at London from say 20 miles to finish the more boisterous and noisy fans somehow can annoy you, by this time real fatigue sets in and concentration is high, the slightest distraction can put you off, i found this really distracting at times. Guess that had some bearing on Froome lashing out.
Brilliant i assume the coverage is on normal telly? i have Virgin but not Sky Sports. if available to watch i'm in.Sluffy wrote:
Don't worry Wessy because of the virus messing up the cycling season, the Tour of Italy (the Giro) starts on the 3rd October for three weeks (it's usually run in May) and the Tour of Spain (the Vuelta) starts before the Giro even has time to finish, starting on the 20th October - loads of cycling to come yet!
In recent years (with Sky being so dominant at the TdF) these lesser two Tours have actually been more enjoyable and unpredictable to watch.
I can't promise the same this year but there's no reason why they should be equally as good and riders you will know like Thomas (Giro) and Froome (Vuelta) will be starting amongst the favourites to win GC.
One little trivia tip I don't know if you are aware of is that on a Tour (probably the same for non tour races to but I don't watch them as much) the team leader is always the person with a '1' as the last digit of their squad number - 1, 11, 21, 31 and so on.
So particularly in a mountain stage and you aren't quite sure of who the riders are, if you see cyclists with a '1' as the last digit of their number, those should be the ones to keep your eyes on to perhaps get an understanding of the tactics going on in the group at the time.
Sometimes of course the team leader is a sprinter, so you look out for the number '1's positioning themselves towards the end of the sprint sections.
wessy wrote:Brilliant i assume the coverage is on normal telly? i have Virgin but not Sky Sports. if available to watch i'm in.
I only knew that the previous winner was number one, now that you point it out it makes perfect sense so will look out for that in future races thanks.
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