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The Pro Cycling Thread (Part 2)
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Edward_Sloley
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by aggs:
“Cav and the omnium is a bit of an unknown quantity - I know he won in Lithuania was it?”

Panevežys, to be exact.
Originally Posted by aggs:
“But I don't think he's raced against the other main contenders at all?”

Not since London - major track meets besides the international championships take place during autumn/winter and the big names also race on the road at this time of year anyway.
Ginger Daddy
20-07-2016
Sagan gets in the break, wins the 20 sprint points and then almost immediately drops off the breakaway.

Personally I dont know why he bothered. he was 177 points ahead of Kittel before today and I dont even think there are that many points left in the race!
Marti S
20-07-2016
I assumed he was in the breakaway to help the polkadot jersey, at times he was doing the majority of the pulling.
Ginger Daddy
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by Marti S:
“I assumed he was in the breakaway to help the polkadot jersey, at times he was doing the majority of the pulling.”

Ah yes fair point. Not exactly helping him over the last two climbs though
Marti S
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by Ginger Daddy:
“Ah yes fair point. Not exactly helping him over the last two climbs though ”

Lol, no but you wouldnt expect him to be he was just helping establish the break over the peleton I think.

Have Sky just shed a number of riders, looked up and only saw 2 with Froome, they all went quickly.

Scrub that, now they have crested the climb team sky are re-assembling
swingaleg
20-07-2016
Good ride by Adam Yates in the GC group........came in 3rd behind Porte and Froome with gaps back to the other contenders

might be some movement lower down in the Top Ten but as you were at the top........Yates gets about 30 seconds back on Molema and Porte should move up a bit on those just above him
wns_195
20-07-2016
I hope today's Russian winner wasn't doping.

Porte is the only person who has consistently troubled Froome this year. If it wasn't for his bike problem earlier in the race it would be between those two. Porte seems to be the only one prepared to challenge Froome. Other challengers seem resigned to a Froome victory.

Quintana has been disappointing. I wonder why he is not as competitive as he was last year?
grassmarket
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by wns_195:
“I hope today's Russian winner wasn't doping.
”

Your hope is vain. He is indeed a doper in the modern Russian style - i.e. dope 'em young, take the ban (while competing at home), reap the benefits later. Served a ban at age 20-22.
grassmarket
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by wns_195:
“I
Quintana has been disappointing. I wonder why he is not as competitive as he was last year?”


Wonder if it isn't overtraining. He has been awfully one-paced, whereas before he could always put the attacks in, that's usually a symptom.
cmq2
20-07-2016
Zakarin hopes to avoid any ban on Russia competing in the Olympics because he lives in Cyprus and is tested by the UCI (not the discredited State testers).

Like Cavendish knew EQS's lead-out tactics so Porte knows the Sky train from the inside. Both anticipate how it will play out and know the moment when a move is most likely to succeed. Froome benefited again today from Porte's wheel but did not try to pass him as in the Dauphine.
jcafcw
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by wns_195:
“I hope today's Russian winner wasn't doping.

Porte is the only person who has consistently troubled Froome this year. If it wasn't for his bike problem earlier in the race it would be between those two. Porte seems to be the only one prepared to challenge Froome. Other challengers seem resigned to a Froome victory.

Quintana has been disappointing. I wonder why he is not as competitive as he was last year?”

Quintana is the emperor's new clothes as far as I am concerned - over-hyped by the media. I think Yates, Porte and Molina are better challengers to Froome. I am not too sure if Aru has it either.
aggs
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by jcafcw:
“Quintana is the emperor's new clothes as far as I am concerned - over-hyped by the media. I think Yates, Porte and Molina are better challengers to Froome. I am not too sure if Aru has it either.”

I think part of the myth of the Tour in the high mountains is the 'mountain goat' climber who stands on the pedals, dances away and lights up the race. For the last few years there hasn't been a true grimpeur so anyone who looks like they might be is given an expectation that's probably hard to live up to.
gemma-the-husky
20-07-2016
Originally Posted by aggs:
“I think part of the myth of the Tour in the high mountains is the 'mountain goat' climber who stands on the pedals, dances away and lights up the race. For the last few years there hasn't been a true grimpeur so anyone who looks like they might be is given an expectation that's probably hard to live up to.”

I always remember the year Bjarne Riis eyeballed Indurain and then rode away.

Hard to do it without the assistant of TdF chemistry now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwHlCl2s0UM

in English with paul and phil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBrmC6pUNE
apaul
21-07-2016
If they wanted it, Sky could pick up the team prize as well. They are now only 2 mins 20 behind Movistar after picking up over 4 mins on yesterday's stage.
aggs
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky:
“I always remember the year Bjarne Riis eyeballed Indurain and then rode away.

Hard to do it without the assistant of TdF chemistry now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwHlCl2s0UM

in English with paul and phil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBrmC6pUNE”

I still can't watch that. It still goes down as my personal 'saddest day in cycling', even without knowing then what we know now it was obvious something was up. To about 60%.
grassmarket
21-07-2016
Just a reminder, here's your one-stop page for all your time trial needs.

http://racecenter.letour.fr/#/timetrial

Chris Froome is off at 16:59 local, 15:59 UK time. Current lead time is about 33 minutes, so expect about 30 for the main contenders.
culttvfan
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky:
“I always remember the year Bjarne Riis eyeballed Indurain and then rode away.

Hard to do it without the assistant of TdF chemistry now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DwHlCl2s0UM

in English with paul and phil

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2OBrmC6pUNE”

Mr 60% apart, the thing that really strikes me is how riding technique has changed. Noone mashes in big gears like that with such low cadence now. Speed apart, they look like guys in the entry level group in my club.

I guess it's easy to be critical knowing what we now know, but it just seems common sense to come down a gear or two and up the cadence. Having said that I don't recall thinking it at the time.
aggs
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by culttvfan:
“Mr 60% apart, the thing that really strikes me is how riding technique has changed. Noone mashes in big gears like that with such low cadence now. Speed apart, they look like guys in the entry level group in my club.

I guess it's easy to be critical knowing what we now know, but it just seems common sense to come down a gear or two and up the cadence. Having said that I don't recall thinking it at the time.”

Not according to Mr LeMond, apparently
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/greg...ll-dont-exist/

Quote:
“LeMond expressed doubts about Froome's high-cadence attacking style in the L'Équipe interview.
"He turned his legs at a high speed, but it's not effective and contrary to all physiological laws," LeMond is reported as saying, also dismissing the idea of Team Sky's marginal gains philosophy.

"You can't get a gap on small gears," LeMond argued.”

Marti S
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by aggs:
“Not according to Mr LeMond, apparently
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/greg...ll-dont-exist/”

Sounds like Le Mond cant except sports science and thinks he knows better.

I tend to believe Sky rather than him, they have shown what marginal gains can do
aggs
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by Marti S:
“Sounds like Le Mond cant except sports science and thinks he knows better.

I tend to believe Sky rather than him, they have shown what marginal gains can do”

I'd be more inclined to take notice of him, if he hadn't won the entire thing by 8 seconds because his rival didn't wear a helmet or use tribars which I would have said is the definition of marginal gains!
culttvfan
21-07-2016
Originally Posted by aggs:
“Not according to Mr LeMond, apparently
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/greg...ll-dont-exist/”

There's high cadence, and then there's Froome cadence! I've tried to copy it but I do find it too high (btw I'm just an average club rider - no more than that). I'm comfortable between 90 to 100 rpm on the flat (about 80 uphill) - any more than that and I find it very hard work and I go slower. For instance, when Froome attacked up Mont Ventoux in 2013 his cadence probably reached above 120 at times. That's high for a road cyclist on the flat - up a mountain it's virtually unimaginable.

So from personal experience I partially agree with Lemond in that Froome's super-high cadence isn't for everyone, certainly not me, although Lemond is clearly wrong about a small gear not being able to create a gap in Froome's case because Chris has done exactly that many times.

It obviously works for him, but what I was referring to in my previous post is how cadence in general is considerably higher now than 20 years ago - just have a look at that YouTube clip again and the big gear mashing/upper body swaying/muscling compared with the much smoother, more efficient technique of today's riders.
Mark F
21-07-2016
Froome wins the TT.

Looks like Porte and Aru will be the big winners of those near top of the of the GC.

2nd and 3rd pretty much as you were.
Edward_Sloley
21-07-2016
Today was probably the first time Yates's relative lack of GT experience was shown in this Tour - he went out too hard and lost time to most of the top-10 (e.g. 38s ahead of Meintjes at checkpoint 1 to 15s behind at the finish).
gemma-the-husky
21-07-2016
I like Greg.

Has he ever commented on Indurain

Does he think himself and Hinault were the last "straight" racers?
batdude_uk1
22-07-2016
I hope Yates can hang on, as it would be fantastic to have two British people on the final podium once again, as the last time that happened, I think was with Froome and Sir Brad was it not??
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