Cycling thread

Brilliant from Nibali. Boonen (co-commentator) was already convinced that he'd won the race when he had 11 seconds on the top of the Poggio. He kept saying they wouldn't catch him.
 
Bruce Wayne said:


Sure Dan Roan will get to this just after he files his report on MSR.
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Tbf I think there’s a very logical explanation: nobody cares. There’s no Brit or something similar involved so nobody would read it. Look at the Dailymail or The Guardian etc... Quite lengthy article about Cavendish and his new fall. Minor sentence about Nibali’s win.
 
Armel said:
Tbf I think there’s a very logical explanation: nobody cares. There’s no Brit or something similar involved so nobody would read it. Look at the Dailymail or The Guardian etc... Quite lengthy article about Cavendish and his new fall. Minor sentence about Nibali’s win.
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Kinda my point though. They're not interested in the sport at all, just whipping up a soap opera to create headlines for themselves. The fact that Guardiola was implicated in Puerto and the Spanish courts ensured no athletes other than cyclists were ever named is of no concern because football are too big for him to go after. Either he goes on a crusade against doping, or he ignores it all, he can't cherry pick what he cares about to further his career.
 
Bruce Wayne said:
Kinda my point though. They're not interested in the sport at all, just whipping up a soap opera to create headlines for themselves. The fact that Guardiola was implicated in Puerto and the Spanish courts ensured no athletes other than cyclists were ever named is of no concern because football are too big for him to go after. Either he goes on a crusade against doping, or he ignores it all, he can't cherry pick what he cares about to further his career.
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Well yes it's that cynical. He cherry-picks to further his career because that's what people want. He doesn't care about doping in general or Zidane who uses blood transfusions etc ...

Nobody said it was fair. Ideally he'd report about all sorts of doping. The whole Puerto thing is difficult though since it's long ago and the Spanish investigation was a bit of a farce/cover-up. Dekker was a client, he talked about it in his book and subsequent interviews. Quite liked the book, even though he tends to go for the sensational. Boogerd and De Jong are now trying to put him away as a lunatic. Tbf he completely destroyed their public image. Everyone though that Boogerd was the ideal son in law; when in reality he introduced other Rabobank riders to doping and prostitutes (even during the TdF).
 
Armel said:
Well yes it's that cynical. He cherry-picks to further his career because that's what people want. He doesn't care about doping in general or Zidane who uses blood transfusions etc ...

Nobody said it was fair. Ideally he'd report about all sorts of doping. The whole Puerto thing is difficult though since it's long ago and the Spanish investigation was a bit of a farce/cover-up. Dekker was a client, he talked about it in his book and subsequent interviews. Quite liked the book, even though he tends to go for the sensational. Boogerd and De Jong are now trying to put him away as a lunatic. Tbf he completely destroyed their public image. Everyone though that Boogerd was the ideal son in law; when in reality he introduced other Rabobank riders to doping and prostitutes (even during the TdF).
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I've followed the sport long enough as well to see the vast difference between taking a legal medicine via a TUE and what was commonplace in the Puerto and Festina era. So when I hear that plonker from the Mail or Piers Morgan moralising it is hard to stomach.

Anyway, Gent Wevelgem at the weekend. MSR took a few of the sprinters out of the equation so it'll be interesting to see who has form in the lead up to Flanders. I must say, it's nice now that they don't have to descend the Kemmelberg. That crash in 2007 was horrific.

Don't they finish in or near Ypres @Armel? Is there anything planned for the centenary of the war ending?
 
Bruce Wayne said:
I've followed the sport long enough as well to see the vast difference between taking a legal medicine via a TUE and what was commonplace in the Puerto and Festina era. So when I hear that plonker from the Mail or Piers Morgan moralising it is hard to stomach.

Anyway, Gent Wevelgem at the weekend. MSR took a few of the sprinters out of the equation so it'll be interesting to see who has form in the lead up to Flanders. I must say, it's nice now that they don't have to descend the Kemmelberg. That crash in 2007 was horrific.

Don't they finish in or near Ypres @Armel? Is there anything planned for the centenary of the war ending?
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I don't get worked up about that tbh. Life isn't fair. I don't think that non-interested people know the difference between (ab)use of TUE's or Dynepo etc... If I think something's good/wrong/grey that's good enough for me. Also Piers Morgan is a professional WUM and Daily Mail readers are highly amusing; big fan of the comments section here.

Tbh I prefer the E3 over Gent Wevelgem. Almost always a spectacular race.

This year Gent-Wevelgem is dedicated to the New-Zealanders who fought in WW1. There's also a trophy in commemoration of the New Zealand Cyclist Corps, a unit that fought in WW1. The trophy is basically a cobblestone from the Kemelberg, they helped defend that hill. U23 NZ champion gets it; but has to return it after a year. Oh and they're keeping the plugstreets. Still ends in Wevelgem though; that's like 30 K from Ieper. This is the parcour; it's in Dutch but that doesn't really matter since this you don't need to speak Dutch to see that they pass a cemetery/museum/moment every 5 K: http://www.gent-wevelgem.be/sites/default/files/gewe_hotspots_2018_nl.pdf . I don't necessarily think it will be a sprint. Cold weather and wind prediction so far.
 

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