7/19/15 2:05 PM

Pardon my french, but WTF is this to-do about Froome and doping?

I've been ignoring the feed, but after a punch and a cup of thrown urine it looked like an important story line.

Apparently some rotten crab apples from doping days can't believe one racer can be better than everyone else. Froome's wife outed the esteemed (sarcasm) director of Festina and Laurent Jalabert among others. I saw a headline where Armstrong kinda sorta retracted an inflammatory statement.

I haven't seen the data, but I bet the watts today are not up there with the all time high marks produced in the disgraced years.

Recently I came across a story that the pharmaceutical industry has started to work with doping controls so they can have a fighting chance getting ahead of the cheats.

Maybe the racers need UHD GoPros on the handlebars to go with the telemetry wand on the saddle, to ID the perps.

7/19/15 2:24 PM

Shades of US Postal.

Chris Froome is simply dominating everyone. Watching the NBCSN coverage, he simply accelerates and the best in the world are going backwards.

Not only that, but his team is a bit like the US Postal of old, killing other dopers. Remember when even faithful George Hincapie was dropping climbing specialists?

This year, Richie Porte was kicking the ass of GC contenders earlier. And Geraint Thomas, my goodness, is riding with Contador and Nibali and nearly outperforming all of them. WTF...

7/19/15 3:43 PM

...unbelievably good.

7/20/15 5:54 AM

Funny, I turned to my g/f during the Plateu Belle stage and said, geez, this looks just like Postal...

I'm not sure what to think. Ketones? Maybe, but why deny knowledge of them. Whatever it is it walks like a duck. Like Astana at the Giro.

7/20/15 6:13 AM

I had to concur with Sandi & Greg regarding the USPS comparison. I was thinking back to the days when names like Beltran, Acevedo, and Landis were punishing the other top riders with their uphill tempo riding. One difference was that occasionally, those Postal/Discovery teams had a bad day and the domestiques disappeared early. Not seeing that as much with Sky.

I also scratched my head about the likes of Geraint Thomas pulling back the best GC riders in the World. I'd like to read about Sky's training regimens and team philosophy that has produced this performance.

7/20/15 6:50 AM

The performance of the team makes me suspect a problem.

Other teams like BMC have strong riders but can't match the pace of the Sky squad.

When all the other team GC riders are alone with 3 or even 4 riders from Sky, that raises an eyebrow.

They may be on a program. It sure appears they could be.

7/20/15 9:14 AM

...that froomie uses the same crazy-high cadence LA used. leaning heavily on similarly enhanced O2 delivery capabilities?

that said, getting a bucket of piss thrown in your face is sooo not cool...WTF?!

7/20/15 9:34 AM

"getting a bucket of piss thrown in your face is sooo not cool...WTF?!"


By a Frenchman by all accounts, who thinks no French riders are juiced and thus that is why no real French threat to the yellow jersey been seen in a little while??

7/20/15 10:27 AM

"occasionally, those Postal/Discovery teams had a bad day and the domestiques disappeared early." My reaction at the time was LA planned to ride defensively and 'gave them the day off.' These days you will see a domestique have a super day and then lose an hour the next two or three stages. --But the Sky issue is different. I thought since BMC and Tinkoff were stocked full of world champions and classics winners their leaders wouldn't be isolated.


"...thinks no French riders are juiced and thus..." Writing as someone who has never been to France, maybe talented french youth avoid the sport because of the ill repute. But that doesn't account for the years between Hinault and Festina.

Man I hope this all proves to be nothing.

7/20/15 12:57 PM

Porte tapped out early today. HMMM

7/21/15 6:47 AM

I had to appreciate Thomas' "flight" on yesterday's stage and the way he got back at it again. Thrilling to watch the descents and I'm glad he dodged all the solid obstacles.

I'll order whatever Sky's having.

7/21/15 7:33 AM

he mentioned it and you could see the crumpling/dimpling on the left side above his ear during the post-race interview @ the finish-line.

7/21/15 9:03 AM

"Thrilling to watch the descents and I'm glad he dodged all the solid obstacles."

Seems like Sagan has 3 testicles as compared to Lances one. Even when he baked a turn he has zero panic and reels it right in. Awesome skills that boy has got!!

7/21/15 9:30 AM

sky released froomie's power data.

while not the magical EPO-fueled 7w/kg metric, almost 6w/kg still seems pretty dang suspect!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/team-sky-reveal-froomes-tour-de-france-data-from-stage-10

7/21/15 11:18 AM

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/racing/tour-de-france/watch-peter-sagans-amazing-descent-of-the-col-de-manse-183579#f6Ve2eTJEJ0qJiZY.99

Enjoy

7/21/15 12:09 PM

THAT WAS INSANE.

The other rider was like "F... that S..."

His corners following the 5k kite were the most impressive. I have tried that drop to the top tube and found it to unstable for me to be comfortable at all.

7/21/15 1:00 PM

Sagan was assisted by being able to watch the moto in front for clues to the best line to take. So some corners were not truly blind.

Perhaps he could have also done with one of those new aero road lids. And a pair of deep dish aero wheels. And don't keep turning his head to look back. But I'm not sure the 30 second gap to the stage winner would have been close-able even with then...

7/27/15 8:01 AM

After watching a lot of the stage action, I had to conclude that Froome was just 1-2% better than all the rest. Whether he is artificially enhanced or not, I do not know.

However, after watching Saturday's stage where Chris went into superspin mode near the top of the Col de la Croix de Fer and closed the distance to Valverde and Quintana like they were mere club cyclists, I don't believe Sky's released power numbers for a second. I think the 5.8 Watts/kg number was old data from another time in the season that was just released to deflect attention and criticism. It sure didn't look believable for that time I was watching near the top of that specific climb. Is there an accepted standard for how long a time the power must be measured over to quote a Watts/kg number? 1 min? 20 min? other?

WRT Team Sky super domestiques, I know Porte had good and bad days and that Geraint Thomas didn't seem the same after that near miss with the telephone pole, but Wouter Poels really blew my mind. The guy is a Dutch flat-lander with little for palmares and on the last 2 days, he was pulling back the top GC riders on the climbs until near the finish. Wouter Poels? Are you kidding me?

I'll still stand by my order of whatever Team Sky is having. They seem to be on to something, whether it's training technique or "supplements".

Last edited by LeeW on 7/27/15 12:05 PM; edited 1 time in total

7/27/15 11:06 AM

Yeah. Everyone is on board the "Quintana only lost because of the crosswinds" train of thought. I don't for a minute think that if Sky needed to shut him down they couldn't have. The whole train thing is what made my head turn, not Froome specifically. They rode only as hard as they had to, suspect they could have toasted everyone if needed.

7/27/15 1:47 PM

exactly. Froomie had these guys covered. the true difference bigger than 1% or whatever it appeared.

i believe Sky intentionally allowed Quintana to pull back time alpe d'huez so they wouldnt appear so dominant, trying to curry some favor with the fans/public.

froomie was watching his power with brailsford chirping updates in his earpiece the entire climb. they kept it steady at 400watts or whatever, knowing there's no way that Quintana or anyone would take chunks of time out of him at that output. he never looked in trouble or even trying particularly hard.

7/27/15 3:34 PM

One percent? I'm going to be contrarian for a minute.

The difference between first and second place was less than .0003

Granted, to take a minute back on a 40 minute climb is another matter, 2.5%. And where else are you going to do that, a 40 minute TT, so no diff.

The tone sounded here is they need to test the whole teams of the podium. And apparently they need to focus an IR camera at bottom brackets too. That little motor just needs to add 2.5%... hide the button in the D.S. car... sticky bottles are so old fashioned.

7/27/15 4:47 PM

I don't really follow racing any more for several reasons, but if someone does well, and that leads you to accuse him of doping, why follow it at all? Is there anything enjoyable about it to you?

7/27/15 8:50 PM

they didnt merely "do well"...froomie looked effortless, his roleurs riding like grimpeurs -- it looked like the Blue Train from postal days.

even back in '86 when La Vie Claire absolutely destroyed the entire TdF field, both Bernie and Greg regularly looked pretty ragged along the way.

for anyone that follows pro cycling closely and knows the races/teams/riders well, there are lots more stories in the race besides the GC battle to keep it interesting.

to wit: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/10-conclusions-from-the-2015-tour-de-france/



Last edited by walter on 7/27/15 9:46 PM; edited 1 time in total

7/27/15 9:35 PM

^ ^

Yeah, exactly what Walter said on both counts

7/28/15 5:41 AM

...at how conspiracy theorists come out of the woodworks every time someone or team rides a good Tour. Froome was simply the best rider with the strongest team behind him and had good luck along the way. Anyone who thinks this looked effortless has to be completely blind. Go back and watch the video. The idea that they were holding back to make it look good is complete crap. Yes, Froome was smart enough to ride within his capabilities so he didn't crack and throw the race away, but that's just smart riding, not a conspiracy.

Sky is always looking for little advantages and they've made no secret of that. I suspect that they're flirting with the edge of the rules, but there is no evidence that they've done anything illegal. While I was rooting for Quintana to do something magic on the final stage, I'm satisfied that the best rider and team won.