Cycling thread

[salmon fingers]

It's difficult to get away from the Armstrong tainted days but cycling today has more tests than any other sport. I think food change altitude training and fueling during a race has changed the landscape. It's interesting that after over 2000km the difference between the 2 is 4 minutes both phenomenal athletes

 

[Root66]

I dont rule any top rider out.

You can kid yourself about 'generational talent' all you want, but his sports director is a known doper and Pogacar has been warned off the carbon monoxide rebreathing training they adopted to boost red blood count.

If it looks too good to be true, it usually is.

That was Visma more than UAE by the way. And they've tanked since they brought that in...

I agree with the last sentence, but this doesn't look too good. Vingo has dropped off loads which makes it look worse.

Doping wouldn't allow pog to win classics too. He's always been exceptional.

This isn't an Armstrong or Frome rags to riches story

 

[davids]

Ha ha.

So you don't believe somebody who's been exceptional all the way through his career...

But you believe your favourite vingo... Who's a fishmonger by trade and did nothing as a junior?

Pog is simply a generational freak. The greatest cyclist I've ever seen.

He's nothing like Armstrong. Such a lazy comparison

Like it or not cycling has been badly tainted. The history of the sport is littered with drug cheats.So when a rider is breaking records on climbs stage after stage the reaction is natural. As with most things,time will tell.

 

[davek]

That was Visma more than UAE by the way. And they've tanked since they brought that in...

I agree with the last sentence, but this doesn't look too good. Vingo has dropped off loads which makes it look worse.

Doping wouldn't allow pog to win classics too. He's always been exceptional.

This isn't an Armstrong or Frome rags to riches story

Keeps bad company. For sure.

It's pro cycling. It's just a matter of time until the testing catches up with what many of the top riders are taking.

I'd be interested to hear what @Bruce Wayne has to say on the matter, as he's been hinting heavily throughout that the sort of mountain ascent effort put in by Pogacar in this Tour is unseen since dopers like Riise and Pantani in the 90s.

 

[FrenchDarrenBent]

That was Visma more than UAE by the way. And they've tanked since they brought that in...

I agree with the last sentence, but this doesn't look too good. Vingo has dropped off loads which makes it look worse.

Doping wouldn't allow pog to win classics too. He's always been exceptional.

This isn't an Armstrong or Frome rags to riches story

Nothing suggested total and utterly dominance, from spring to fall. Something not seen since the seventies.
He was a great prospect until he went to UAE.

 

[wgtwiddle]

"Doping Top Secret: In the Slipstream" - Aicar and "extraterrestrials": ARD documentary reignites doping discussion

Cycling insiders have spent years insisting that professional cycling has learned the lessons of its dark past. New research from the ARD doping editorial team concludes differently.

www.sportschau.de

 

[Rita_Poon]

"Doping Top Secret: In the Slipstream" - Aicar and "extraterrestrials": ARD documentary reignites doping discussion

Cycling insiders have spent years insisting that professional cycling has learned the lessons of its dark past. New research from the ARD doping editorial team concludes differently.

www.sportschau.de

Thanks, I hadn't kept up with AICA Ribonucleotide or its very close cousins.

 

[davids]

Keeps bad company. For sure.

It's pro cycling. It's just a matter of time until the testing catches up with what many of the top riders are taking.

I'd be interested to hear what @Bruce Wayne has to say on the matter, as he's been hinting heavily throughout that the sort of mountain ascent effort put in by Pogacar in this Tour is unseen since dopers like Riise and Pantani in the 90s.

I'd imagine it's a race to win as many titles as possible then retire before the hammer drop.

 

[davek]

I'd imagine it's a race to win as many titles as possible then retire before the hammer drop.

Inevitably so.

It's amazing to me that there are people still believing in Father Christmas concerning the legitimacy of the sport.

All of these drugs / regimes should be above board and left to the cyclist to determine what they want to do in terms of their own safety - within reason. A level playing field is the only way to get a spectacle back again.

We've had a few years where it was put to bed for a while when their was competition. Pogacar's invincibility has just awoken all those fears again and it's a matter of time until the next scandal with him front and centre emerges. It's baked into this sport unfortunately.

 

[Rita_Poon]

It's baked into this sport unfortunately.

You're obviously not keeping up.

In the past day a world record holding marathon runner has been suspended/banned. Wherever advantage can be found, it'll be used.
Boxing, rugby, swimming, football, all that twaddle in the u.s. it's simplistic sensationalism to isolate cycling because it has been the whipping boy of sports for decades. Those other sports are happy to keep cycling in the gutter because it keeps them clean by comparison.
Less hype, more honesty.

 

[davek]

You're obviously not keeping up.

In the past day a world record holding marathon runner has been suspended/banned. Wherever advantage can be found, it'll be used.
Boxing, rugby, swimming, football, all that twaddle in the u.s. it's simplistic sensationalism to isolate cycling because it has been the whipping boy of sports for decades. Those other sports are happy to keep cycling in the gutter because it keeps them clean by comparison.
Less hype, more honesty.

It's on an industrial scale in cycling.

 

[Root66]

Inevitably so.

It's amazing to me that there are people still believing in Father Christmas concerning the legitimacy of the sport.

All of these drugs / regimes should be above board and left to the cyclist to determine what they want to do in terms of their own safety - within reason. A level playing field is the only way to get a spectacle back again.

We've had a few years where it was put to bed for a while when their was competition. Pogacar's invincibility has just awoken all those fears again and it's a matter of time until the next scandal with him front and centre emerges. It's baked into this sport unfortunately.

Why watch it then? You didn't seem to care when you were telling everyone vingo was going to destroy him in the mountains.

Seems your just salty that you prediction was wrong and your boy is getting pummeled.

The weather looks grim up the tourmalet today, that usually suits Pog

 

[davids]

Rio and his missed tests.

 

[davek]

Why watch it then? You didn't seem to care when you were telling everyone vingo was going to destroy him in the mountains.

Seems your just salty that you prediction was wrong and your boy is getting pummeled.

The weather looks grim up the tourmalet today, that usually suits Pog

Because competition looked to be part of the deal.

That's palpably not so now...and hasn't been all season by the way.

The finger of suspicion will be pointed at Pogacar now as he and his doper sports director have pushed the envelope a bit too far - got a little bit too greedy.

The days of joe public being conned over 'out of this world' cycling performances ended with Armstrong. Even the Sky frauds were found out.

 

[Rita_Poon]

It's on an industrial scale in all professional sport.

quite.