All my passion for the sport has gone :(

[Krzysztof_O]

@Ilmaestro99

Come on, man! Landismo is doing his best numbers ever, Vuelta win incoming!
Plus I'm feeling Fausto will win Il Lombardia (when Teddy retires, that is).

 

[fbjim]

but van der poel in roubaix was like sixteen times crazier than anything in the tdf

not only have people won Roubaix on long solos before, but i seem to recall it being a pretty frequent way to win.

this isn't to say that VDP is the cleanest boy in the world but i also don't think this is something unprecedented, so much as, part of the Big Cycle.

 

[Cookster15]

Anybody else feels like this?

No, I actually enjoyed it, are you a Vingegaard fan?

The best thing was the last three years Visma seemed so sure of themselves. Then who can forget that ludicrous Combloux TT? I stopped watching.

But the Visma team radio during PdB on stage 15 was priceless, as I recall Plugge or whoever it was said something like this ….

Jonas you have done great, Pogacar is just better and we must accept this.

I used to be in denial about doping. But what we are seeing is really not much different to the Contador or Sky years - just a much higher level.

Now I just wait for the next bust or UCI control to bring things back a notch or two. Like 2008 and 2011. But surely you agree Pog and Vingegaard are equally absurd but for different reasons?

 

[Krzysztof_O]

No, I actually enjoyed it, are you a Vingegaard fan?

The best thing was the last three years Visma seemed so sure of themselves. Then who can forget that ludicrous Combloux TT? I stopped watching.

But the Visma team radio during PdB on stage 15 was priceless, as I recall Plugge or whoever it was said something like this ….

I used to be in denial about doping. But what we are seeing is really not much different to the Contador or Sky years - just a much higher level.

Now I just wait for the next bust or UCI control to bring things back a notch or two. Like 2008 and 2011. But surely you agree Pog and Vingegaard are equally absurd but for different reasons?

Teddy is the sport's wonder boy, who smiles to everyone and eats porridge. Who would want to bust such a nice kid? Skeletor is very much needed as well - to keep TdF interesting for years to come and preserve the balance in this cycling world (good vs evil etc).

All in all I'm expecting the most thermonuclear rivalry ever to keep delivering. You had better get ready for earth-shattering chapter 5 next year!

 

[DJO]

I have to say, there's more to our sport than the World Tour. Today alone we have, Ordiziako Klasika,The Tour of Wallonie, Tour of Alsace, the turbo charged insanity that is the Volta Portugal and the Czech Tour. That's before we get into going out on your bike.

If we fell out of love with cycling because of the inherent doping, doping that's been around since pro-cycling started, where does that all the other sports we watch? As a football fan it annoys me to see Man City sports washing their way to trophy after trophy. All I can do in response to that is boycott both games my club plays against them. Not may fans of any sport are willing to take this kind of action. I still say, enjoy the sport for it's beauty, warts and all.

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[Froome]

Tbh with most CN posters giving this Tdf an 8 or higher I can't even take fans here seriously anymore either.

I gave 0 to this Tour de France because my favourite rider didn't won, otherwise i would give 10.

 

[Froome]

at this point

Just legalize it. Set specifications like a hematocrit limit. Everyone needs to stay within spec or they get a 10 minute penalty. No exceptions

Where I draw the line is the truly dangerous stuff like CO huffing or things that fundamentally change the sport, like motors. Using pharma products under a physician's supervision? Have at it boys!

I agree with that.

 

[topcat]

These turbo charged mutants don't even look good on a bike. Froome-noddy. Vingo-arms and elbows. Pog-not as bad but still not graceful. Remco-efficient but has a facial twitch (side effects?).
Landa looks good but he's an also ran. I never thought I'd say it- bring back Valverde.

 

[fbjim]

nobody in the current young mutant generation has ever looked as bad as like, Ventoux Froome, let's be fair. vingegaard at least looks where he's going most of the time

 

[Nick2413]

I don’t care if my favorite rider wins, what we’re seeing is trash. The sport is more saturated with talent than ever yet performance gaps are back like we’re in the farmer days. If I wanted to watch something scripted I’d watch F1 or go to the movies.

 

[Froome]

Because that totally never happened before.

I was just joking. Unfortunately soon or later something will happen again like in the past and this sport will go down again.

 

[snipeheem]

I don’t care if my favorite rider wins, what we’re seeing is trash. The sport is more saturated with talent than ever yet performance gaps are back like we’re in the farmer days. If I wanted to watch something scripted I’d watch F1 or go to the movies.

F1 is scripted? Damn I watch f1 over 23 years and never saw this.

 

[zlev11]

nobody in the current young mutant generation has ever looked as bad as like, Ventoux Froome, let's be fair. vingegaard at least looks where he's going most of the time

yeah i actually think they all look pretty good on the bike. especially after suffering through 7 years of watching the Froomdog.

 

[hrotha]

Bit tired of fanboys projecting in IMAX and saying anyone who doesn't enjoy the circus must be some loser's fanboy. Like jokes aside, it is a regular occurrence

 

[E_F_]

F1 is scripted? Damn I watch f1 over 23 years and never saw this.

Huh? You haven't noticed the Red Bull domination? No overtaking?

 

[JosefK]

Anybody else feels like this?

Yeah, I'm kind of there ... or found myself there (again) at the end of the 2nd week of the TDF. I must have a type of fan addiction for the sport, as I'll periodically find myself coming back again for more abuse after a spell of disillusionment. Right now, it's pretty bad ... comparable to the ennui I felt after the 2016 Tour. We did have Peter Sagan back then doing special things in classics/monuments and the Worlds. So now, MVDP fulfills that role, kind of. But a lot of those one-day specials are being gobbled up in a different way, this time. We seem to be in a historically special time for the competitive part of the sport. Merckx's GOAT status looks like it's going to be eclipsed. ... Wake me when it's over.

 

[snipeheem]

Huh? You haven't noticed the Red Bull domination? No overtaking?

Its not scripted

 

[Saint Unix]

I feel y'all.

Honestly, there's a solution. Get a mountain bike. Ride the heck out of it. Watch downhill MTB races, they're exciting, fast, technically incredible, and you don't need to dope to win. Ya just have to be good. Really good.

There's no more conclusive proof of that than this. Breaks his chain straight out the gate, finishes the race on pure skill.

 

[E_F_]

Its not scripted

Of course not! No scriptwriter would ever write something so boring.

 

[Pantani Attacks]

I was close to giving up after the joke Visma made of the sport last year, peaking with the skeleton fisherman nearly going into orbit at the Tour.

However this year has been a breath of fresh air. Yes, one man is dominating but at least he is entertaining.

The Tour for the last 2 years would nearly have you convinced we were back to the Sky train human centipede days.

Long live Pog.

 

[ManicJack]

the cookie man has been a fraud for a long time. the speeds that guy goes on his strava segments is not normal.

Has he covered up that ridiculous tattoo on his forearm yet?

 

[Cookster15]

I agree with that.

The problem with allowing pharma products under a physician's supervision is it would widen the gaps between the richer teams and the rest.

 

[Bald_Fraud]

The great thing about watching cycling over a number of decades, as many of the grumpy old men on this forum clearly have, is that one gets to see things repeat over time. It seems like just other day I was reading all those articles about how Indurain's exploits could be completely explained by advances in training, nutrition and bikes, in combination with his freakish natural attributes. A turbocharged rider bringing kids into the sport? Yes, we all miss Marco. Journalists banging on about how someone dominating the sport is "inspirational"? Got far too much in the Lance era, but maybe that's considered old news now. Teams pretending that "this time is different"? Well, all dominant teams try that one. Sometimes they even get it to stick for a while.

There's more money involved now, and we have carefully managed social media feeds to show us how lovable our heroes are. Maybe it'll take someone getting up to "7" before the appeal of watching a couple of riders in a different universe to the rest wears off, one of them managing to do it in the classics too. Are all the attacks still as interesting when nothing is really being risked as the difference in levels is so extreme? It felt like something changed in the Combloux time trial last year, even some Vingo supporters becoming a bit uneasy with the display. Then this year the nice Mr Gianetti and the smiling "kid on a bike" came back with even bigger nukes and the number of people finding it hard to suspend disbelief seems to be growing. Hard to maintain the halo while skirting the difficult questions, CO is probably just the beginning.

But the show must go on. The clinic in the 2050s will probably be fired up by arguments about a couple of riders who have had more advanced genetic engineering than the rest. Some old codger will then remind the rest that this is nothing, he was around for the days of Pog and Vingo in the 2020s. At which point a forum contrarian will disagree and point to the real villain of this age: Superman Lopez.

 

[Froome]

The problem with allowing pharma products under a physician's supervision is it would widen the gaps between the richer teams and the rest.

What you are talking about is the reality if cycling at the moment.

Allowing products maybe could decrease the gap by letting them use cheap but efficient products.

 

[Cookster15]

Allowing products maybe could decrease the gap by letting them use cheap but efficient products.

No it wouldn't. How do you test to ensure products are efficient and safe? Everything in medical research costs a lot of money.