2019 Alien Awards

[F_Cance]

a sprint is a sprint. Bennett was way out of position. Evenes win was about pure watts and he even rode Campenaerts out of his wheel.

 

[JosephK]

Clearly it's Froome, today (13 June 2019). From a hospital bed, no less. Winning a grand tour while completely immobilized. . . . Telekinesis?

 

[movingtarget]

Fuglsang has been riding like a droid all season. See what happens in the Tour. Mid thirties must be the new 25. Always had talent but this year he looks very strong.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Fuglsangs season makes absolutely no sense to me, but then again whole Astana is riding on rocket fuel this season. So let's just enjoy the show while it lasts

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Re:

Fuglsang has been riding like a droid all season. See what happens in the Tour. Mid thirties must be the new 25. Always had talent but this year he looks very strong.

That would be really alien, because he's almost always been crap in the Tour, despite doing well at Dauphine/Suisse.

 

[Kokoso]

Re:

Fuglsangs season makes absolutely no sense to me, but then again whole Astana is riding on rocket fuel this season.

Really? I'd say they have better and worse moments. Cataldo, Ion Izagirre, Bilbao, Lopez, Sanchez... Only Fuglsang really sticks out.

 

[proffate]

Hugh Carthy solos 90km for his first ever wt win.

 

[brownbobby]

Re:

Hugh Carthy solos 90km for his first ever wt win.

Context is a beautiful thing...

 

[F_Cance]

What about this context? https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1143197618153185281

"HUGE mountain raid yesterday by Hugh Carthy in @tds He was the fastest rider on all the 3 mountains of the day and he climbed Furka Pass in 34 min, just 1:10 slower than '05 TerminAitor. One of the best solo attacks in recent times. #TourdeSuisse"

"~5,8 w/kg on Nufenen (high altitude, 2480m), ~5,6 w/kg on Gotthard (cobbles, top at over 2000m), ~5,8 w/kg on Furka (high altitude, 2429m). Similar to the best raids of Chiappucci, Virenque or Rasmussen!"

 

[yaco]

Re:

What about this context? https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1143197618153185281

"HUGE mountain raid yesterday by Hugh Carthy in @tds He was the fastest rider on all the 3 mountains of the day and he climbed Furka Pass in 34 min, just 1:10 slower than '05 TerminAitor. One of the best solo attacks in recent times. #TourdeSuisse"

"~5,8 w/kg on Nufenen (high altitude, 2480m), ~5,6 w/kg on Gotthard (cobbles, top at over 2000m), ~5,8 w/kg on Furka (high altitude, 2429m). Similar to the best raids of Chiappucci, Virenque or Rasmussen!"

Whatyou dont consider is that stage wasn't a true alpine stage in which he had to ride 50 to 70 kms on flat valley roads - It was three mountain passes, three descents and around 10kms flat roads at the end.

 

[brownbobby]

Re: Re:

What about this context? https://twitter.com/faustocoppi60/status/1143197618153185281

"HUGE mountain raid yesterday by Hugh Carthy in @tds He was the fastest rider on all the 3 mountains of the day and he climbed Furka Pass in 34 min, just 1:10 slower than '05 TerminAitor. One of the best solo attacks in recent times. #TourdeSuisse"

"~5,8 w/kg on Nufenen (high altitude, 2480m), ~5,6 w/kg on Gotthard (cobbles, top at over 2000m), ~5,8 w/kg on Furka (high altitude, 2429m). Similar to the best raids of Chiappucci, Virenque or Rasmussen!"

Whatyou dont consider is that stage wasn't a true alpine stage in which he had to ride 50 to 70 kms on flat valley roads - It was three mountain passes, three descents and around 10kms flat roads at the end.

Exactly...so 3 longish efforts around threshold with recovery in between....a great effort, outstanding endurance but not alien....we see Thomas De Gendt doing this kind of stuff regularly

Consider the quality of the field chasing and the motivation (lack of) to chase him down, his efforts on previous stages of the race, and his threat to the overall GC contenders....then for context compare all of the above to Froome's Giro solo raid

 

[proffate]

When exactly have we seen De Gendt do that? He rides in breakaways with other people to get 10 minute gaps, then eventually drops the others, and holds onto enough of the lead to finish first. De Gendt doesn't ride faster than everyone up every climb. He doesn't ride 90% of a stage with his nose in the wind, while behind we watch Ineos domestiques blow themselves up and still lose time. Recall that during his most famous exploit, the Stelvio raid at the Giro, he lost a grip of time on the Stelvio itself.

 

[brownbobby]

Re:

When exactly have we seen De Gendt do that? He rides in breakaways with other people to get 10 minute gaps, then eventually drops the others, and holds onto enough of the lead to finish first. De Gendt doesn't ride faster than everyone up every climb. He doesn't ride 90% of a stage with his nose in the wind, while behind we watch Ineos domestiques blow themselves up and still lose time. Recall that during his most famous exploit, the Stelvio raid at the Giro, he lost a grip of time on the Stelvio itself.

We see from Strava/Velon data released after his solo wins long efforts at threshold power...that was my point for comparison. Carthy is a climber, De Gendt isn't....

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

Re: Re:

You do know that Cavagna is a year younger, right? So to use your development argument the gap should be closing.

And I love how you play the weak field card and then 1 paragraph later wonder what Cavagna had to race for...

This may come as a shock to you, but not all riders evolve in a similar, linear fashion. And this was only part of my point.

And, did Cavagna beat the former worldchamp ITT who would become the new worldchamp a few months later, when he was 21? Did Cavagna already pump out the biggest wattages when he was 22 but lost ITT's solely due to the fact that his bike was crap and his position on said bike wasn't aero at all?

So no, the gap shouldn't have been closing because van Aert always had the raw potential for ITT (which i already said in my previous post but you chose to ignore), but only recently started working on it with his new road team, while two years ago Cavagna wasn't riding for a cyclocross team that couldn't affort a decent TT bike and that didn't know the first thing about positioning on a TT bike or aerodynamics.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/longo-borghini-calls-van-vleutens-passo-fraele-attack-alien/
Longo Borghini calls Van Vleuten's Passo Fraele attack 'alien'

 

[hfer07]

Re:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/longo-borghini-calls-van-vleutens-passo-fraele-attack-alien/
Longo Borghini calls Van Vleuten's Passo Fraele attack 'alien'

I was laughing at that quote
so Van Vleuten NOT NORMAL, huh? :lol:

Is there a open thread for Women's Doping?

 

[Cookster15]

Ha ha, Longo Borghini helps give this thread a kick a long :lol:

But I do think it requires discussion.
Are women pros just less professional in their prep which leaves them open to a rider doing altiude prep then destroying competition who has relied on traditional methods?
Or is Van Vleutin's transformation into a dominant climber at 36 years of age cause for concern?

To me it doesn't look too good. Also don't know why this thread should be men only. Alien is alien.

 

[hfer07]

Re:

Ha ha, Longo Borghini helps give this thread a kick a long :lol:

But I do think it requires discussion.
Are women pros just less professional in their prep which leaves them open to a rider doing altiude prep then destroying competition who has relied on traditional methods?
Or is Van Vleutin's transformation into a dominant climber at 36 years of age cause for concern?

To me it doesn't look too good. Also don't know why this thread should be men only. Alien is alien.

Women's Professional cycling has developed quite a lot, since they're being trained/guided by Men's Professional coaches- all familiar with the training programs- "legal & illegal"- some of the famous female cyclists have friendships & married to Pro Cyclists, so the level & knowledge of the sport in the female division is quite high. So for Longo- one of the top names - to call Van Vleutin out publicly in such fashion, it only means VV's performance was without a doubt thermonuclear/Not Normal/Alien/ET/Vino, etc.

The big question: Is there an Omerta going on in Female Cycling?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Idunno, I don't think Lizzie Deignan got much quarter given about her reprieve. Quite a few voices in the women's péloton were pretty vocal about that. Elisa's brother domestiqued for Basso in his post-ban career, so I'm sure she knew how her words would be read.

 

[JosephK]

Does the ITT stage at the TDF today qualify? I would say possibly, considering it was 14 seconds put into G, himself no stranger to miraculous dominance.

Just kicking the hornet's nest a little.

 

[ice&fire]

Jalabert is reborn. Thief who steals from thief... all is well, I suppose.

 

[therealthing]

Does the ITT stage at the TDF today qualify? I would say possibly, considering it was 14 seconds put into G, himself no stranger to miraculous dominance.

Just kicking the hornet's nest a little.

Yep- this definitely takes the cake I think. Before the stage we were discussing whether he could even keep the jersey. Now he has beaten the 2nd placed rider by 14 seconds. Time to start asking questions.

 

[Cookster15]

As soon as I saw the result I thought of this thread and its title - we have a winner!

Beyond ridiculous. I note someone in the race article wrote that its because he's ex cyclocross :lol: . Problem with that theory is JA must have only taken up cyclocross this season because he has never ridden even remotely like that before. I think the French have been relatively benign in the doping stakes compared to others. This ended today.

This was worse than the Vino who destroyed the first ITT in the 2007 TdF then was popped the day after. A standout performance if ever there was one.

 

[Ripper]

Re:

As soon as I saw the result I thought of this thread and its title - we have a winner!

Beyond ridiculous. I note someone in the race article wrote that its because he's ex cyclocross :lol: . Problem with that theory is JA must have only taken up cyclocross this season because he has never ridden even remotely like that before. I think the French have been relatively benign in the doping stakes compared to others. This ended today.

This was worse than the Vino who destroyed the first ITT in the 2007 TdF then was popped the day after. A standout performance if ever there was one.

It was eyebrow raising, but not total alien, unless you consider all of JA's results alien (which you might!). Not saying he does not have alien happening, let's just see what massive climbs hold, that will tell a lot more than today's test. Tomorrow will be interesting.

Regarding the bolded part - hyperbole my friend. Not even close to Vino's TT. That was a massive clobbering over an EPO-infested field. Vino was (is?) a special category of insane.

 

[Cookster15]

Re: Re:

As soon as I saw the result I thought of this thread and its title - we have a winner!

Beyond ridiculous. I note someone in the race article wrote that its because he's ex cyclocross :lol: . Problem with that theory is JA must have only taken up cyclocross this season because he has never ridden even remotely like that before. I think the French have been relatively benign in the doping stakes compared to others. This ended today.

This was worse than the Vino who destroyed the first ITT in the 2007 TdF then was popped the day after. A standout performance if ever there was one.

It was eyebrow raising, but not total alien, unless you consider all of JA's results alien (which you might!). Not saying he does not have alien happening, let's just see what massive climbs hold, that will tell a lot more than today's test. Tomorrow will be interesting.

Regarding the bolded part - hyperbole my friend. Not even close to Vino's TT. That was a massive clobbering over an EPO-infested field. Vino was (is?) a special category of insane.

Not sure about that. I recall 2007 pretty well. Firstly the EPO test came out in 2000 so by 2007 it was pre Passport transfusions not EPO. But doping or not we already knew Vino was strong prior to that day although the rumours that circulated about him before being popped the following day for detection of Allogeneic transfusion were probably less then now.

But today there was no warning of this performance - at least not based upon anything we have seen from JA before. Yes he's won TTs before but not against this level of competition and not when he already danced away from the best climbers in the race on stage 6.

I'm pretty confident you won't see JA collapse in the coming mountain stages - at least not the Pyrenees, maybe by the Alpes the physical and psychological pressure will bite, we will see.