The Pro Road Cycling Thread

[Churchill123]

Found this documentary.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIY3CBRM6Bg[/youtube]

Before i spend 45 mins watching this is it any good Rascal? - If it is then good work with the link!

 

[Rascal]

Found this documentary.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIY3CBRM6Bg[/youtube]

Before i spend 45 mins watching this is it any good Rascal? - If it is then good work with the link!

I enjoyed it, it links back to Shands post about the 2009 Tdf

 

[leighton]

Things are getting very tetchy between Wiggins and Froome, love it, we could have another 2009 Armstrong/Contador situation and what entertainment that provided!

EDIT: For Rascal who may not know about 09's events http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...or-showdown-at-the-2009-tour-de-france_180322

I dont think Sky will let that happen after last years tour Froome could of attacked but stayed back to help Wiggins if he was more of Vettell Froome would of just left Wiggins struggling up the mountain behind him. I cant wait for the tour always like it and look out for it every year. Be a good tour feel it in my water I do.

 

[Rascal]

Things are getting very tetchy between Wiggins and Froome, love it, we could have another 2009 Armstrong/Contador situation and what entertainment that provided!

EDIT: For Rascal who may not know about 09's events http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...or-showdown-at-the-2009-tour-de-france_180322

I dont think Sky will let that happen after last years tour Froome could of attacked but stayed back to help Wiggins if he was more of Vettell Froome would of just left Wiggins struggling up the mountain behind him. I cant wait for the tour always like it and look out for it every year. Be a good tour feel it in my water I do.

I think if Wiggo wins the Giro he will quite happily support Froome, but if he doesnt it may be different.

But early season form suggests Froome is the best climber in the world right now. He smashed his rivals on the Green mountain, he smashed them at the Crit international and when it mattered he smashed them at Romandie.

Sky also have Porte in the mix. And watching that vid before they said no team has ever filled the podium. I was thinking is that the goal and all the chat is to deflect from that.

 

[Churchill123]

Things are getting very tetchy between Wiggins and Froome, love it, we could have another 2009 Armstrong/Contador situation and what entertainment that provided!

EDIT: For Rascal who may not know about 09's events http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...or-showdown-at-the-2009-tour-de-france_180322

I dont think Sky will let that happen after last years tour Froome could of attacked but stayed back to help Wiggins if he was more of Vettell Froome would of just left Wiggins struggling up the mountain behind him. I cant wait for the tour always like it and look out for it every year. Be a good tour feel it in my water I do.

Can't beat a good bit of drama to stir things up can you! - Like Vettell & Webber etc..

 

[Rascal]

Can't beat a good bit of drama to stir things up can you! - Like Vettell & Webber etc..

Did you watch the link i posted mate

I thought it was brilliant in bits and i was amazed to see Wiggo up there with the top guys

 

[dom]

Found this documentary.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIY3CBRM6Bg[/youtube]

Before i spend 45 mins watching this is it any good Rascal? - If it is then good work with the link!

I enjoyed it, it links back to Shands post about the 2009 Tdf

Interesting viewing, that. Thanks

Can't wait for the Giro to start this weekend !!

 

[Shands]

Found this documentary.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIY3CBRM6Bg[/youtube]

Good find that Rascal thanks. What isn’t really touched upon is Lance’s motivation for coming back. I felt the whole situation was a clear illustration of the character traits we’ve come to know were common place for Armstrong. He saw this new kid being feted as the best Grand Tour rider of his generation, and crucially receiving praise for doing so in an entertaining fashion that was the antithesis to US Postal’s style, and Lance didn’t like it. Rather than being satisfied with his own seven titles and letting Contador have his moment, he had to come back and prove he was still the Alpha male in the peloton. If he’d really wanted to go toe to toe with Contador to prove to himself who was best then he would have joined another team and made it a fair fight. I’ve no doubt he chose Astana, not just because Johan Bruyneel was there with the protection he could afford Lance, but more so because it was his way of trying to bully Contador, effectively saying ‘move over this is my team, my guys, don’t forget who’s the boss in cycling’ and attempting to stack the odds well in his favour. As it happened though Contador was mentally tough enough for the scrap and that’s what made it so entertaining. For someone like me who’d hated the Armstrong years it was lovely to watch haha.

 

[Churchill123]

Found this documentary.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIY3CBRM6Bg[/youtube]

Good find that Rascal thanks. What isn’t really touched upon is Lance’s motivation for coming back. I felt the whole situation was a clear illustration of the character traits we’ve come to know were common place for Armstrong. He saw this new kid being feted as the best Grand Tour rider of his generation, and crucially receiving praise for doing so in an entertaining fashion that was the antithesis to US Postal’s style, and Lance didn’t like it. Rather than being satisfied with his own seven titles and letting Contador have his moment, he had to come back and prove he was still the Alpha male in the peloton. If he’d really wanted to go toe to toe with Contador to prove to himself who was best then he would have joined another team and made it a fair fight. I’ve no doubt he chose Astana, not just because Johan Bruyneel was there with the protection he could afford Lance, but more so because it was his way of trying to bully Contador, effectively saying ‘move over this is my team, my guys, don’t forget who’s the boss in cycling’ and attempting to stack the odds well in his favour. As it happened though Contador was mentally tough enough for the scrap and that’s what made it so entertaining. For someone like me who’d hated the Armstrong years it was lovely to watch haha.

I'm only half way through that documentary as i fell asleep watching it late last nights :S

What i couldn't get over though is just how much of an out and out wanker Armstrong was/is... I was watching and listening to all his interviews that they were showing during the documentary, and all the time i couldn't help but think your a serial drugs cheat, yet you try and make out as if your some kind of cycling god and someone whom everyone should bow down to and do as you say! - The guys got more front than the brighton pier!

 

[Shands]

Things are getting very tetchy between Wiggins and Froome, love it, we could have another 2009 Armstrong/Contador situation and what entertainment that provided!

EDIT: For Rascal who may not know about 09's events http://velonews.competitor.com/2011...or-showdown-at-the-2009-tour-de-france_180322

I dont think Sky will let that happen after last years tour Froome could of attacked but stayed back to help Wiggins if he was more of Vettell Froome would of just left Wiggins struggling up the mountain behind him. I cant wait for the tour always like it and look out for it every year. Be a good tour feel it in my water I do.

I think if Wiggo wins the Giro he will quite happily support Froome, but if he doesnt it may be different.

But early season form suggests Froome is the best climber in the world right now. He smashed his rivals on the Green mountain, he smashed them at the Crit international and when it mattered he smashed them at Romandie.

Sky also have Porte in the mix. And watching that vid before they said no team has ever filled the podium. I was thinking is that the goal and all the chat is to deflect from that.

Froome has certainly been the stand out stage racer of this season so far (though to be fair to Nibali he has had excellent results too) and Chris will go to the Tour deservedly as favourite, especially as he should have the strongest supporting cast of all the riders. However, as great as he looks, there are still questions to be answered for me.

It’s only around six months ago that he finished a full ten minutes adrift of Contador at the Vuelta, nine minutes shy of both Valverde and Rodriguez, which in grand tour terms is a massive amount. The caveat to that performance is that he was coming off the Tour, and how much that took out of him we just don’t know. At the same time though it was also Valverde and Rodrigiez’s second Grand Tour of the year, whilst Contador was arriving with no competitive racing for a year, which could be either an advantage or a disadvantage, it’s very difficult to know.

Froome has proved now that he can outperform these guys in one week races, where generally it’s about the one big mountain stage, but the great unknown still is can he live with them when the tough mountains come back to back for three or four consecutive days and are raced hard from the off. Are his recovery abilities good enough over three weeks to cope?

Not wishing to detract from his achievements in anyway, last year’s tour and the 11’ Vuelta don’t really give us the answer to that, as the former was not a particularly difficult course, nor was it raced in a punishing fashion, while the latter was a relatively weak field, at least by the standards of who he’ll be racing this summer.

Ultimately that’s what makes this year’s edition of Le Tour so compelling, we just don’t know what will happen.

Just quickly back on that 2009 tour as you mentioned Wiggins. I said it last summer and I still maintain now that the performance by Bradley that year is superior to what he did in actually winning the Tour. When nobody expected him to do anything, he was there mixing it with the top guys day after day, clearly really suffering and pushing his limits. It was a tremendous ride.