I think I lost more passion for it during last years race, because that TT came out of nowhere and felt like a slap in the face again as Ive been watching this stuff since the early 90s, I dont recall the Indurain years being particularly memorable to watch, then we were in the Team Telekom, Pantani and Festina era, then there was Armstrong, and then Landis...sheesh why am I still watching this sport era so I missed Contador, was drawn back in by Sky, and exciting they werent either, though they felt believable.
now we are in the Pog/Vingo era who I dont know anymore,, you look at Pog and go well yeah ok he's doing crazy things this year, but he's been doing crazy things like this all season so far and maybe theres still a little part of me that wants to believe in the magic, and Vingo seems to be doing even crazier things by seemingly coming back from an unbelievable crash and set of injuries and is even better than he was last year, and would have won this years race at a canter too, if it hadnt been his main rival was even quicker.
and I cant explain why they are so far ahead of everyone, we see this kind of thing more & these kinds of gaps in the womens pro tour, and I dont want to get into who might be juicing there debate, but you can look at the WWT and go well these teams are really well funded, theyve got good riders, and for most of the time theyre up against fairly average teams and fairly average riders in comparison, they absolutely would still kick the backside of even a decent club rider, but most of them arent at that elite grade of rider and so you get big gaps.
but in the mens pro tour, youve got to be an elite grade to be there, youve got to be on a well funded team to be there. and most of them have been be made to look like complete mugs this year in comparison, which isnt something you see that often in pro sport.
maybe some of the belief rather than the passion has gone, as that last stage TT was just mesmerising to watch.
now we are in the Pog/Vingo era who I dont know anymore,, you look at Pog and go well yeah ok he's doing crazy things this year, but he's been doing crazy things like this all season so far and maybe theres still a little part of me that wants to believe in the magic, and Vingo seems to be doing even crazier things by seemingly coming back from an unbelievable crash and set of injuries and is even better than he was last year, and would have won this years race at a canter too, if it hadnt been his main rival was even quicker.
and I cant explain why they are so far ahead of everyone, we see this kind of thing more & these kinds of gaps in the womens pro tour, and I dont want to get into who might be juicing there debate, but you can look at the WWT and go well these teams are really well funded, theyve got good riders, and for most of the time theyre up against fairly average teams and fairly average riders in comparison, they absolutely would still kick the backside of even a decent club rider, but most of them arent at that elite grade of rider and so you get big gaps.
but in the mens pro tour, youve got to be an elite grade to be there, youve got to be on a well funded team to be there. and most of them have been be made to look like complete mugs this year in comparison, which isnt something you see that often in pro sport.
maybe some of the belief rather than the passion has gone, as that last stage TT was just mesmerising to watch.