Positions 2,3,4,5 in my road.cc fantasy team 🙂

Enjoyed watching that today… One hell of a head wind when the turned right before the causeway..

Ro5ey – Member

How d’you get on Lifer ?

I got 20 times more points than I did on stage 7, so pretty happy. 1,2,6 and 7 in my team.

Will be fuel for the doubters if a skinny climber beats the TT world champ on a flat course.
A skinny climber who came in 20s behind Martin in the Olympics though. He’s hardly a shock as a solid TT rider

I know it has been said but this doesn’t sit well with me.

Massive attack in the mountains, destroys the opposition, many of whom are good climbers.
Team destroyed from effort, he’s ok and defends multiple attacks the next day.
Bit of a rest.
Wins a TT ahead of the world champion and puts minutes into rivals.

It seems too good to be true – however much I want to believe… Opinions of many will be jaded by the shear number of miraculous performances that turn out to be chemically assisted.

jonba – Member

Wins a TT ahead of the world champion and puts minutes into rivals.

…he came second.

he was second last year in the TdF and won bronze in the Olympic TT – indeed this is a miraculous transformation of one place in each event….it s either the drugs or you jumping to conclsions

puts minutes into rivals who are all much poorer than him at the TT

FTFY

Team destroyed from effort, he’s ok and defends multiple attacks the next day

well if not getting dropped by slower riders you beat the day before is not proof of doping then really what is

If only Edukator were here to tell us all about it…..

Yawn.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/renshaw-to-ride-for-omega-pharma-quick-step-in-2014 – Best. News. Ever.

Whaaaaaaaat? Amazing!

But it’s not the best news ever. The best would be that Bernie is also coming across… 😉

(I would ask for Goss too, but I don’t want to be greedy. )

OK, I hang my head in shame. I only saw the splits then had to leave to get to my own TT.

Something about him though. Don’t feel anywhere near as enthusiastic as I did about Wiggins. Suppose it is because I knew of Wiggins and watched him work his way up and see his vulnerabilities and failures.

Its probably the curse of seeing all my tdf history being rewritten over recent years.

New to road racing and tactics, so please be gentle.

Aren’t Sky in a position of weakness because they now only have one GC hope and no backup? If Froome doesn’t get injured in the next 2 weeks then fine. But Saxo-Tinkoff, Movistar and Belkin have 6 riders in total in the top 10.

Hypothetically, what is to prevent those 3 teams (and maybe some of the lesser teams) from saying, ok we’ll all ride as one “super-team” to deliver our 3 GC contenders to the finish ahead of Sky, see how much time we can take back from Froome, and if/when he cracks we’ll make it a free for all having eliminated him from the podium or something?

Also, has anyone ever deliberately taken out a rival team’s GC rider/teammates and what has the penalty been?

I’m guessing that the doubters either only follow the Tour and none of the rest of pro cycling, or have a poor memory. Froome is not some nobody who’s suddenly come out of nowhere…

Re the drugs, let’s talk hypothetically for a minute. Let’s assume some gifted cyclist comes along who is pretty good at climbing, and also handy at time trialing. Then he joins a team who have excellent coaching and technical staff – would you not expect him to do well at the tour?

I don’t find it so hard to believe that Froome is one such rider. He’s extremely skinny but not tiny like the pure climbers so he has a bit of power, and he must also have a pretty small frontal area. Seems to be one of those people with ideal bodies. Like Bolt for example. It just comes together in some people.

Hypothetically, what is to prevent those 3 teams (and maybe some of the lesser teams) from saying, ok we’ll all ride as one “super-team” to deliver our 3 GC contenders to the finish ahead of Sky, see how much time we can take back from Froome, and if/when he cracks we’ll make it a free for all having eliminated him from the podium or something

Nothing but they are also rivals and working for diferent teams.

Whilst they will work together it wont be to the extent of acting as a super team to attack him alone. It will be a loose arrangement
None of them can afford to let a rival get away either as they are so close in time to each other so they all have to respond to some degree.
Also these riders are weaker than him so say a breakaway of 7 with froome at the back doing nothing and conserving his energy.
He has the legs of them and they must know this now.

I’m not entirely sure about what weight Froome races at, but I think it’s somewhere in the region of 67kg, which for someone who is 6’1″ is a very good weight for climbing. He’s a very good TTer too. As for a massive attack in the mountains… He followed wheels for the entire stage until about 3k to go, and then buried himself. I’m not too sure, but I’m guessing it was probably only 10 minutes of full on effort. His team had to do a whole lot more work, and I wouldn’t say they were destroyed – one got knocked off, Porte had a bad day (it happens), etc. etc. He then rode a good TT, missed out on the win (even though he was a favourite), and beat his rivals who are mostly either crap at TTing, struggling to get used to riding clean, or both.

But it’s not the best news ever. The best would be that Bernie is also coming across…

Baby steps…

Who wants to get on the phone to HTC, Highroad, and Columbia?

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dzOHq5WbQ8k[/video]

struggling to get used to riding clean

I wonder if this is perhaps a key point. Is Froome’s excellence amplified by the drop in performance of other riders who are presumably now not chemically enhanced?
[i]I’m looking at you Bertie[/i]

I think it is a mixture of that and that he can ride it the way he wants to rather than way he did to support Brad.

Baby steps…

Who wants to get on the phone to HTC, Highroad, and Columbia?

I don’t really care what colours they do it under – just so long as Cav ends up with a properly functioning train so his talents don’t continue to be squandered.

It’s so frustrating watching Cannondale, Lotto Belisol and Argos Shimano forming well-drilled trains while Cav struggles to find a wheel. 🙁