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Tricky, but just wondering out loud if the investigation will ever get underway before the TdF or perhaps delayed until after the event.
Nice to see Sunweb drink down a whole cooler of beer whilst sitting outside thier team on the grass flaked out 🤙🤙🍺🍺🍺🍺🍻🍻🍻🥂🥂🥂
Tom said “time for a BBQ and some beers” I love that !!
MOAR comments post race..
That's part of the problem with having former pros commentate.
David Millar I'll let off because he's at least willing to acknowledge what went on, his part in it all and because he retired recently enough to still be very knowledgable but pros who last turned a pedal in anger in the late 80's are out of touch with the sport as it's developed now.
Even Lance, while his podcasts can actually be quite entertaining, some of his views are still very much stuck in the "we did it this way in the 90's therefore that's all I need to know".
The Pippa York article is pretty disgraceful really - lazy opinion piece rather than proper journalism. The Times article above is good - it wasn't one factor, it was a combination of everything coming together at the right time and the race unfolding in what was actually quite a lucky way (the composition of the chase group being one of those aspects).
my beloved sport of rugby was awash with steroids for a long time
I suspect it still is
its very much at the forefront of doping in the uk.
https://www.ukad.org.uk/mobile__anti-doping-rule-violations/current-violations/search/P20
Compare Froome's performance with Yates' attack 17km from the end of stage 15 into Sappada. In that relatively short distance he put almost a minute into the chasers before they got their act together and pulled some time back. In Froome's case the chase was never well organized and he had more kms to extend his lead.
With regards to PY.. I read this and couldn't quite understand the point she was trying to make.
The TT specialists can turn a massive gear quickly and they try to spin a tiny gear on steep hills to limit the hurt, but they aren't going over mountains in the front using that style.
In comparison, Bradley Wiggins rode a small gear uphill but he also pedalled at a similar speed in the time trials, so that kind of made sense. With Froome, there's no recognisable connection between the power used in each discipline.
What is the point, bar wasting a few words in a column as clearly he DOES ride like that. And quite successfully.
Kelly is someone who has been pointed out by people in the know as a doper and as for Hinault, didn't he get a ban for refusing to have a doping test in the 80s (at a post-tour Criterium of all things)?
Returning to Froome, there are youtube vids of him on the Finestre last year so it's pretty obvious he and Sky did their homework to work out how they could ram-raid the Giro rather than do a Tour-style start to finish domination as I'd guess they knew he'd come in under-cooked. I don't know what the hell happened at the Vuelta but surely his doping controls will be subject to such strictness that we can probably assume he's clean if he doesn't get busted (or he's got some awesome new gear).
Oh, and something else from PY's article...
After all the scandals, from Shane Sutton saying that Team Sky gamed the TUE system, to the stock of Kenalog, Jiffy bags, lost medical records, the DCMS report, UKAD's investigation, testosterone deliveries, Tramadol use, and a win-at-all-cost culture, Froome’s ride could only lead us to ask questions.
How much of that list is from Wiggo and British Cycling, how much is down to Team Sky and how much down to Froome. It doesn't help reasoned discussions when even "expert" commentators don't provide any perspective.
How much of that list is from Wiggo and British Cycling, how much is down to Team Sky and how much down to Froome. It doesn’t help reasoned discussions when even “expert” commentators don’t provide any perspective.
How much perspective do you want when you’ve just been given a list of ‘indiscretions’ that Sky - and that is all Sky, not BC - have been involved in over that last few years. Not a short list, either. Do you genuinely think that Froome hasn’t benefited from any of that? How about his domestiques? (Remember that out of a bunch of 17 riders that blew the race apart pre-Landis solo ride there were 6 Sky riders present. )
We don't need no grumpy ex-pros.
No dark suspicion in the press room.
Hey Badger! Leave our dogs alone!
How much perspective do you want when you’ve just been given a list of ‘indiscretions’ that Sky – and that is all Sky, not BC
Rubbish.
Kenalog - wiggins (whilst at Team Sky)
Jiffy bags - wiggins (whilst at Team Sky) + BC
the DCMS report - Wiggins, team Sky, BC
UKAD’s investigation - all of the above
testosterone deliveries - BC
Tramadol use - Team Sky
win-at-all-cost culture - BC + Team Sky
Now, there's a lot of overlap I agree but it's hardly like all of this is 100% related to Team Sky and it's also nuanced. If you remove the Wiggo-era stuff and the stuff lots of teams were doing (tramadol for example) then it's hardly as damning as PY wants to make it seem. She's got an axe to grind for some reason and she's working pretty hard on it.
I dont think there is any such thing as clean sport anymore unfortunately. You can either pass the doping test or you cant. Passing a test is no longer, if ever, a demonstration of being cleam
Rubbish.
Kenalog – wiggins (whilst at Team Sky)......................
If you had come back to me with equivalent investigations into Astana, or Giant/Sunweb or whoever then I’d be more inclined to agree.
The Secret Pro on Froome at the Giro. He seems reasonable.
https://cyclingtips.com/2018/05/the-secret-pro-an-insiders-view-on-chris-froomes-crazy-giro-attack/
Hinault never likes it when riders are compared favourably to him.
I was hoping for a Secret Pro view on this - if (as is claimed) it's the view from a composite of (probably Australian) riders then it's a good gauge of how the pros view the stage. The views on Froome actually starting were overwhelmingly negative so it's certainly not the view of a Froome fanboy.
Didn't hinault refuse to do a drug test at a race once?
Didn’t hinault refuse to do a drug test at a race once?
Yep. One month suspended ban, IIRC.
Hinault never likes it when riders are compared favourably to him.
To anyone TBH, he’s a prickly character at best.
Yes, Bernard always the master of tact and diplomacy:
I love that photo! 😀
As someone once said of Hinault "He is a big champion but a small man"