Recent content by The Ripper

That's one way of looking at it. There are other reasons he might not be so dominant now :p

The thing about Gilbert is that it could be seen either way. He is now so dominant that he must be doing something. Or, the peloton is so much cleaner and his talent so strong that he is able to win much, much more. Both are plausible. There does tend to be very little 'negative' following...

A jeez, I just spat food on my keyboard from LMAO! Ball is one of the most complete losers within cycling. His nickname should be 'The Tool'. What a friggin ***! (note: my apologies to all those with learning disabilities, as I do not wish to insult you with this comparison to Ball :D)

Hey, why can't I add to the pole? Has it closed already :p Yes cycling is getting cleaner, significantly so. And it is much cleaner than many other pro sports.

Trying to predict past races when plugging in a bunch if this did or did not happen scenarios is pretty much crystal ball work. Obviously, Evans did not win 2007. End of story.

Now now. I've never said that Shrek should ignore his TT or that a terrible TT was OK. I just don't think the examples initially used were the best. If you don`t like that, then HTFU :D FWIW, if he had raced the Dauphiné TT, he would have likely gone at least 30 seconds faster. Not...

That is pretty much it. Ride smarter (training and racing). Don't wait till the last few days to make a move. And race shorter stage races to learn, simulate, and practice. He needs to turn into a real bike racer FFS! :D

Once again - bwa ha ha ha. Yes, it does matter. Pick some other climbers that pulled out that kind of TT. Not a "hanging in there and killing them in the climbs" performance. While Andy gave up the jersey after the TT (or perhaps during is a better statement :p), he lost the race by not...

A bit of a mean joke, but this said it all ... "Andy Schleck's eyes were full of rain and anger that a downhill finish would cost him over a minute to the GC contenders. If not for time-trialing, descending and climbs where you need to change gears, he could probably win the Tour de...

Actually, support on the flat and transitional stages is critical. There is only so much a team can do for you up a mountain ... just watch the pacemaking of TV. But if they save you tons of energy on the flatter or rolling stages (and from some crashes), then that translates to great savings...

Bwa ha ha ha ha! Of course it matters. If Andy came in second or third in this tour's final TT, we'd all be waiting for the news leak in the next week. Just like no one was shocked when Rasmussen was given the punt (ummm, he didn't win :o) Heras smoked a TT and then, oh ya, things did not...

I don't want to drag this into a clinic discussion, but those examples are not good ones to use, given all of the other information we now have about Pantani and Rasmussen in those tours :D

It's a bit severe to say he'll never win, especially given his age/maturity. However, this was more of a climber's race and he could not pull it off, so he'll have to make some changes in training and his approach to competition in order to succeed. He has some years still ...

Funny trolling by the OP. Evans had a great race, especially given this was a "climber's tour" and it had been presumed by numerous folks that he would have no chance. Every year it's a different race, with different things happening. Some folks had crashes and injuries this year. Evans had...

One of the best Tours ever. Great racing. Lots of drama and excitement. Fantastic race by Evans. :)