Cycling thread


TheWinslowBoy said:
The GC as a competition is virtually dead now....

But this race is something special.
I was at the start in Auch this morning, and it was such a wonderful, joyous spectacle.

Town centre jam packed at 9am, 4 hours before the start, a wonderful festive mood, everyone's poured in from miles around for the biggest event in the area for years.

The insane publicity caravan 2 hours before the start. I must be the only person in history not to get any freebies....feral kids and sharp elbowed parents (maybe ex-sprinters) hoovered up everything thrown in my direction.

Then a trip down to the paddock/bus park. Even Tadej has to sit on a bus in a massive traffic jam to get to the start.
Display said it was 37ºc (perfect for riding up massive mountains in the Pyrenees) so I got a beer from a little Portuguese cafe opposite the bus park and got a wave from Remco (who i used to think was arrogant) as his bus was stuck in the gridlock as I was drinking it.

Then the riders dice with death to get to the sign-on, cars driving through the middle of them, fans trying to grab them. You're literally inches away from some of the greatest athletes in the world.
A Slovenian lad in a stripy jersey clearly took my advice to "Go on lad!"
The stewards cross you from one side of the road to the other and you realise Tim Merlier and one of the Paret-Peintre brothers are waiting for you to hurry up.


Then the ceremonial roll out. No-one was even racing at this stage but the whole town is at fever pitch.

And then after they'd rolled out, I popped into a bar, everyone watching the race, and the old guys who inhabit every French bar are jumping up in excitement every time they see somewhere they know.

Because the Tour de France is in their area, at last.
And it will always be special.
Click to expand...
A great post. chapeau Sir 👏👏👏.
 

So what do Visma and Jonas do now? They surely can't just allow Tadej to just keep TT ing up mountains. That should be their forte.

Maybe try the old Contador style? Short, sharp attacks. Try and get him out of the saddle. Stop burning their Dom's out with stupid tactics and get Jonas and Simon Yates attacking like that?
 
Root66 said:
So what do Visma and Jonas do now? They surely can't just allow Tadej to just keep TT ing up mountains. That should be their forte.

Maybe try the old Contador style? Short, sharp attacks. Try and get him out of the saddle. Stop burning their Dom's out with stupid tactics and get Jonas and Simon Yates attacking like that?
Click to expand...
I suppose just try and do a good TT today and see the lay of the land after that. If they're another 90 seconds behind then there's not really much hope.
 
Listening to the Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas podcast this morning. G man said Pog told him on Weds what he was gonna do.

Also G Man says the cyclists union are trying to get the cut off time increased for todays stage as the peloton are in panic mode.

They think Pog will average 7.5 watts up the climb and over half of the group would miss the cut
 
Root66 said:
Listening to the Luke Rowe and Geraint Thomas podcast this morning. G man said Pog told him on Weds what he was gonna do.

Also G Man says the cyclists union are trying to get the cut off time increased for todays stage as the peloton are in panic mode.

They think Pog will average 7.5 watts up the climb and over half of the group would miss the cut
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My brother has worked as a doctor at a cycling performance lab on the continent. He's seen a lot of now famous cyclists in the lab at 18-19 years old. And while Pog was impressive, he didn't outshine his peers the way he does now. Some other south-american ex-tour winners, on the contrary, did. A certain man from Leeds did remarkably well as well.

This doesn't mean that a man can't develop. Nor does it mean you'll win the tour if you perform well on these tests. It is however very strange seeing these types of differences. Certainly if the man in question didn't attain these numbers 24 months ago.

Spoils cycling for me, to be honest.
 

Root66 said:
So what do Visma and Jonas do now? They surely can't just allow Tadej to just keep TT ing up mountains. That should be their forte.

Maybe try the old Contador style? Short, sharp attacks. Try and get him out of the saddle. Stop burning their Dom's out with stupid tactics and get Jonas and Simon Yates attacking like that?
Click to expand...

Bruce Wayne said:
I suppose just try and do a good TT today and see the lay of the land after that. If they're another 90 seconds behind then there's not really much hope.
Click to expand...

We now know that the late arrival of a HC climb in this tour was a for a reason: to not make it a procession from mid-week 1 rather than one from mid-week 2.

The only thing to be done to make any GT entertaining again is to wait for Pogacar to lose his form / have an accident that puts him out for a spell / wait until he gets a doping charge.
 
davek said:
We now know that the late arrival of a HC climb in this tour was a for a reason: to not make it a procession from mid-week 1 rather than one from mid-week 2.

The only thing to be done to make any GT entertaining again is to wait for Pogacar to lose his form / have an accident that puts him out for a spell / wait until he gets a doping charge.
Click to expand...
www.cyclingnews.com

Ullrich refuses to hand over Olympic medals | Cyclingnews.com

"Those medals belong to me"
www.cyclingnews.com www.cyclingnews.com

"Almost everyone at the time was taking performance-enhancing substances," he said. "I didn’t take anything that was not taken by the others. It would only have been cheating for me if I had gotten an advantage which was not the case. I just wanted to ensure I had an equal opportunity.”

Jan Ullrich. Professional doper and part time cyclist.
 
davek said:
They're not on another planet, they're on PEDs.
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As a point of reference, Pantani's Alp d'Huez record had a VAM of 1829. Pogacar's ride yesterday was 1854. When he (and others) blitzed Pantani's record on Plateau de Beille last year, I think he had a VAM of 1875.

Since Covid, it's noticeable how much quicker everyone has got, and since the start of 2024, Pogacar has improved "so" much.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
As a point of reference, Pantani's Alp d'Huez record had a VAM of 1829. Pogacar's ride yesterday was 1854. When he (and others) blitzed Pantani's record on Plateau de Beille last year, I think he had a VAM of 1875.

Since Covid, it's noticeable how much quicker everyone has got, and since the start of 2024, Pogacar has improved "so" much.
Click to expand...

Something's not right. It's 90's era ascent speed.

He looks like he's yawning here after that ride yesterday.



Anyway, I'm just off out for my Hautacam - Cleves Hill, Ormskirk...I'll let you know my VAM later.
 

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