Ag2r

[luckyboy]

Apart from hanging onto Nibali a few times nothing crazy about how he has ridden either. And Nibali isn't going at full effort.

Look at who he is beating..
Bardet who never finished top 10, TJVG in not great form, ill Mollema, ill VDB, tired Rolland, ill Porte

 

[djpbaltimore]

Apart from hanging onto Nibali a few times nothing crazy about how he has ridden either. And Nibali isn't going at full effort.

According to Jens' great blog, Peraud and Nibali actually climbed Pla D'adet 2s faster than Armstrong in 2005. (Caveats about comparing different years and stages definitely apply). I wonder what Nibali could do at full effort!

 

[hrotha]

Look at who he is beating..
Bardet who never finished top 10, TJVG in not great form, ill Mollema, ill VDB, tired Rolland, ill Porte

The best part about this is that if we swapped them people would say "well look at who Bardet is beating... Péraud..."

 

[westerner]

Things going for Peraud

Peraud, top mountain biker prior to going on the road late in career.

Antoine Vayer vouches for him

Last year doing well until he crashed out,

Younger than one of last years GT winners

Only one guys knows for sure about Peraud and that is JC himself, but...

-Good reputation from mtn. bike days, nice character, not a desperate win at all costs sort of fellow
-Combined a professional career (engineer I believe?) with pro mtn bike racing
-Guy is smart, educated and does not NEED cycling to make a living, though I'm sure his pay on the pro tour is better than his day job was.
- he would have been in the french passport system for a long long time now

Who knows, but he's a guy I think one can at least argue may be racing clean and do it with a straight face.

 

[pmcg76]

As far as I am concerned, this is where Antoine Vayer really needs to step up. He has been a noted anti-doping advocate, has coached JC Peraud in the past and has vouched for his cleanliness.........so time for Vayer to step forward and tell us if what Peraud is doing is real/believable. Surely he still might have some contact with the rider in question.

 

[poupou]

He already said something in 2005 about Peraud :
http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=504

So he thinks that he is an exceptionnal athlete.
Maybe time to question him by twitter.

 

[pmcg76]

He already said something in 2005 about Peraud :
http://www.cyclismag.com/article.php?sid=504

So he thinks that he is an exceptionnal athlete.
Maybe time to question him by twitter.

I noted that, but would like to hear his current opinion on Peraud. It's all fine producing a book on unelievable performances but if you are not prepared to comment on a rider you coached personally, then you cannot real claim credibility as an anti-doping advocate.

 

[lemoogle]

The best part about this is that if we swapped them people would say "well look at who Bardet is beating... Péraud..."

Competition aside, I'm pretty sure everyone would be more accepting of increasingly better performances from a young promising rider like bardet than JC Peraud at 37, although the number of people that believed in Horner was still pretty high so I dont know.

 

[luckyboy]

Horner had a bad reputation and beat 2 GT winners though. Peraud has neither

 

[luckyboy]

Daniel ‏@inthe_drops 1m
@festinaboy We can believe what Peraud is doing in the Tour?

Antoine VAYER ‏@festinaboy 1m
@inthe_drops yep, pour une fois. (for once)

 

[Netserk]

Horner had a bad reputation and beat 2 GT winners though. Peraud has neither

Horner and Valverde (yes, Papy will beat him)

 

[Christian]

Apart from hanging onto Nibali a few times nothing crazy about how he has ridden either. And Nibali isn't going at full effort.

Look at who he is beating..
Bardet who never finished top 10, TJVG in not great form, ill Mollema, ill VDB, tired Rolland, ill Porte

Agree... if Contador and Froome were still there, plus Tejay or Mollema in slightly better shape, Peraud would be around his usual 7th-9th on GC and no one would find it suspicious.

Same goes for Ag2R as a whole, what they are doing now seems extraordinary, but under normal circumstances they'd be much more anonymous since Sky and Tinkoff would be battling it out at the front

 

[hrotha]

No, sorry, Péraud was still climbing with Nibali, a bona fide GC contender. Until I see his power numbers compared to those from 2011 and the rest of his career, I'm not going to buy it even slightly.

 

[sniper]

agreed he would look less suspect in the presence of contador and froome. (perhaps kreuziger/talansky would be close to him as well)
but lets not downplay peraud's performance either.
he's the only one following nibbles in the mountains hitting his finest form at age 37.
peraud is beating the 'ill' guys fair and square.
ag2r peaking collectively is dodgy as well.

 

[Christian]

Valid point hrotha, but I may add one thing: Peraud seems like a highly talented rider, all around top notch racer. I think we can apply Wiggins' quote again, he's not "some sh*t rider", or a "donkey to racehorse"; though, to continue in Wiggins' words, he did more or less come out of nowhere due to his MTB past.

Of course this doesn't make him doping more or less likely, I just wanted to say regardless of whether or not he dopes, he seems to be a highly talented and tactically smart racer, as we already saw in Critérium International this year.

Same counts for Bardet - they may well be doping, but at the same time they have a huge talent

 

[hrotha]

Yes, Christian, he's widely acknowledged to be talented, and as a latecomer his good results at 34 didn't raise (m)any eyebrows. But that he'd improve so dramatically at such an age and on his fifth season on the road defies all explanations.

But maybe he didn't improve per se, maybe the others went backwards. Doesn't look likely, but it's a possibility I suppose. That's why I want to see his 2011 watt numbers.

 

[thrawn]

Yes, Christian, he's widely acknowledged to be talented, and as a latecomer his good results at 34 didn't raise (m)any eyebrows. But that he'd improve so dramatically at such an age and on his fifth season on the road defies all explanations.

But maybe he didn't improve per se, maybe the others went backwards. Doesn't look likely, but it's a possibility I suppose. That's why I want to see his 2011 watt numbers.

Just wait until he hits his peak at age 42. Going to win the tour by 10+ minutes!

 

[Tonton]

Yes, Christian, he's widely acknowledged to be talented, and as a latecomer his good results at 34 didn't raise (m)any eyebrows. But that he'd improve so dramatically at such an age and on his fifth season on the road defies all explanations.

But maybe he didn't improve per se, maybe the others went backwards. Doesn't look likely, but it's a possibility I suppose. That's why I want to see his 2011 watt numbers.

I'd be interested to see the watts as well for both 2011 and 2014. Until I do, looking at his 2011 stage results, JCP was already really good when compared to Evans, AC, the Bee Gees from Luxembourg, Basso, and the likes.

And he finished 6th of the last ITT (1:33 behind Panzer), which I hope he duplicates tomorrow.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Yes, Christian, he's widely acknowledged to be talented, and as a latecomer his good results at 34 didn't raise (m)any eyebrows. But that he'd improve so dramatically at such an age and on his fifth season on the road defies all explanations.

But maybe he didn't improve per se, maybe the others went backwards. Doesn't look likely, but it's a possibility I suppose. That's why I want to smountaie his 2011 watt numbers.

Mountainbikers are even better wheelsucker than Valve piti is my explanation.

Last year he would have been 6th - 7th, minus Froome = Conta = Rodriquez and the fact that this years mountainracing is full on gung ho style could explain something.

Par Nibali this Tour resembles a lot of Eighties Tour the Frances. No trains, or, not big enough trains.

I believe in Peraud, at least he has a measured VO2max.

Or, should I say, I want to believe.

?

 

[thehog]

No, sorry, Péraud was still climbing with Nibali, a bona fide GC contender. Until I see his power numbers compared to those from 2011 and the rest of his career, I'm not going to buy it even slightly.

He wasn't actually climbing "with" Nibali. He was hanging on to his back wheel for dear life on one climb of one stage and half of another.

Penaud's success has been the fact hat he has literally sat in a draft the entire race bar one downhill.

 

[difdauf]

Yes, Christian, he's widely acknowledged to be talented, and as a latecomer his good results at 34 didn't raise (m)any eyebrows. But that he'd improve so dramatically at such an age and on his fifth season on the road defies all explanations.

But maybe he didn't improve per se, maybe the others went backwards. Doesn't look likely, but it's a possibility I suppose. That's why I want to see his 2011 watt numbers.

Not that much, riding his first GT 3 years ago, he obviously wasn't riding at his best.

But what is surprising is his new ability to put some strong acceleration to catch Nibali. Until now he was some kind of french Zubeldia.

if it is his true level you have to wonder why he came to road so late. I agree his results ask many questions.

 

[roundabout]

The second hand info I read suggests that he didn't want to become a road pro in the 00's cause of all the doping

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Well the MTB scene was (is) riddled with dopers.

 

[roundabout]

Yeah, I also don't really find it that convincing

But I think it's true that there were road teams interested in him 10 years ago

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Good points, lets ask Race Radio to ask Hesjedahl in the eyes.