Cadel Evans is a Clean Champion

[deviant]

Good clean ride from the 36 yr old Cadel today, rode away from Porte who is supposed to be an uber-doper on Sky's magic potions.... what does it say about Cadel, quite the renaissance he looks like having, maybe he's following Horner's training plans?!

 

[the sceptic]

Yeah Evans would probably have beat Froome on ax3 domains with the ride he put in yesterday

 

[skidmark]

Yeah Evans would probably have beat Froome on ax3 domains with the ride he put in yesterday

What? Corkscrew Hill (I mean, 'hill' is right in the name) is like 2.4 km and he got 15 seconds at the top over 2 guys, maybe 25 seconds on a group of a dozen. How does that even justify mentioning in the same breath as a high alpine pass, let alone suggest he'd beat Froome, who beat the closest rider by 1:20 and slaughtered the field?

There doesn't seem to be anything to me, performance or otherwise, to suggest that Evans is any dirtier than he has ever been on his career. I don't get what's remarkable about this occasion.

 

[DirtyWorks]

What? Corkscrew Hill (I mean, 'hill' is right in the name) is like 2.4 km and he got 15 seconds at the top over 2 guys, maybe 25 seconds on a group of a dozen. How does that even justify mentioning in the same breath as a high alpine pass, let alone suggest he'd beat Froome, who beat the closest rider by 1:20 and slaughtered the field?

There doesn't seem to be anything to me, performance or otherwise, to suggest that Evans is any dirtier than he has ever been on his career. I don't get what's remarkable about this occasion.

Not disagreeing with you at all, but it just so happens Cameron Wurf detailed the stage in a blog post. http://cameronwurf.blogspot.com/2014/01/corkscrewed-stage-3-tdu.html

I read it as a very high-speed, difficult run-in to the hill AND THEN Evans took off. Also complicated by the fact Evans was targeting his National Championships. So, he is coming into the event much fitter than many of his rivals. It's early in the year. Let's see how many months-long peaks we have in 2014.

One thing is for sure, if dopers were as publicly well-behaved as Evans, the sport would have a much better reputation.

 

[ralphbert]

One thing is for sure, if dopers were as publicly well-behaved as Evans, the sport would have a much better reputation.

I am liking Cadel more and more. He went up a few more notches with his response to Ballans failed test. Didn't deny knowing him or throw him under the bus like most of the pros seem to.

 

[The Hitch]

Not disagreeing with you at all, but it just so happens Cameron Wurf detailed the stage in a blog post. http://cameronwurf.blogspot.com/2014/01/corkscrewed-stage-3-tdu.html

I read it as a very high-speed, difficult run-in to the hill AND THEN Evans took off. Also complicated by the fact Evans was targeting his National Championships. So, he is coming into the event much fitter than many of his rivals. It's early in the year. Let's see how many months-long peaks we have in 2014.

One thing is for sure, if dopers were as publicly well-behaved as Evans, the sport would have a much better reputation.

Contador is worse behaved than Evans?

 

[DirtyWorks]

Contador is worse behaved than Evans?

Not at all. Contador is another fine example of how a doper should behave.

 

[karlboss]

Cadel's performance yesterday is a single performance and not indicitive of very much. Yes he rode Porte off his wheel, now go to the group who finished with Hansen, and Haas, year in year out GC contenders and known climbers those 2. It was a climb suited to Evans, too punchy for Porte too long/tough for Gerrans, too far south for europeans Too early for everyone. Like most things in isolation this one performance says zero about Evans doping or otherwise.
Evans on Ballan. You'd look a right c### if you threw your team mate under the bus publicly without knowing the full facts wouldn't you. Cadel has always been pragmatic about dopers famously in 2007 "i've been beaten by dopers in the past I'll be beaten by them again in the future" and this was in the wake of puerto. However this is the first time i've heard him move from that pragmatic line to defending someone, he didn't do it with Dekker.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

Maybe BMC got this one the old fashioned way and just paid for it?

Cadel is near the end, an Oz victory lap would be a nice touch, guys like Porte probably could win....but, eh?

BMC buys a nice story, Sky pads the prize money pot and gets a working holiday.

 

[roundabout]

I think he is clean and he has today more option to win le Tour de France than 5 years ago, and of course, 10 years ago.

He is one of the few that was able to be in the top been clean in a dark era. He and Sastre, maybe no more. But in that era he has to work in Telekom as Sastre had to work for Basso. He wanst lucky.

I think we will have Evans for 4 years more in a hight level, as well as Purito. Evans is wrong if he think tour de France is now out, he must go there instead the Giro. Evans is better with hot weather.

Both of them are endurance riders. It is surprising how in more explosive stage as yesterday Evans is clearly better than Porte and Gerrans, but Evans is really good.

Evans - beat "well prepared" riders like Obwaller, Vandelli and co on the Kitzbüheler Horn when he was just switching to road racing

Sastre - pack fodder for 2 years, improved results in 2000, finishes 2nd of the favorites behind the supersonic Heras on the Covadonga.

 

[the sceptic]

What? Corkscrew Hill (I mean, 'hill' is right in the name) is like 2.4 km and he got 15 seconds at the top over 2 guys, maybe 25 seconds on a group of a dozen. How does that even justify mentioning in the same breath as a high alpine pass, let alone suggest he'd beat Froome, who beat the closest rider by 1:20 and slaughtered the field?

There doesn't seem to be anything to me, performance or otherwise, to suggest that Evans is any dirtier than he has ever been on his career. I don't get what's remarkable about this occasion.

Sorry I was trying to be sarcastic. I agree with you that last night wasnt anything clinic worthy.

 

[roundabout]

15 seconds in a 2km climb over the next best is a lot

 

[Ferminal]

I was thinking that he did well to cycle away from Porte who, himself, has been a oft-discussed subject in this forum. And Evans, extremely poor all last year, and on his way down, suddenly finds power and speed to take the lead in his local race? Maybe cycling really is an old man's sport.

And didn't I read a prediction that Thomas would be giant killing this year? Maybe that was another of the Clinic's predictions re: Sky that didn't quite come true.

You get upset that people think Sky dope, and then take all the reasoning used in that argument which you dispute and use it to form an even flimsier argument of your own in this thread. Well played.

Evans = doper, because he dropped someone (whether that person dopes or not doesn't really matter at this stage of the season) in a race in January and is 37. Awesome reasoning.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

You get upset that people think Sky dope, and then take all the reasoning used in that argument which you dispute and use it to form an even flimsier argument of your own in this thread. Well played.

Evans = doper, because he dropped someone (whether that person dopes or not doesn't really matter at this stage of the season) in a race in January and is 37. Awesome reasoning.

Add in that Evans is targeting the Giro. Whilst Porte is also targeting the Giro, he is also looking to support Froome at the Tour.

 

[Ferminal]

And both have spent much of the past two months in Australia (Evans all of it), they may not both have had the same access to preferred substances.

Will be interesting to see the GC between Winners of the Australian GT at the end of the race. Lucky Haas is doing quite well for himself

 

[The Hitch]

You don't think it's very suspicious that a 37 year old is doing this Fermi?

Which riders have been able to perform at that age in recent years

Rebellin
Garzelli
Armstrong
Levistrong
Vinokourov
Pettachi
Horner

 

[Dear Wiggo]

You don't think it's very suspicious that a 37 year old is doing this Fermi?

If you're going to have a private conversation in-thread with a single individual, wouldn't you be better off taking it to a PM?

 

[skidmark]

Sorry I was trying to be sarcastic. I agree with you that last night wasnt anything clinic worthy.

Ahhh, the old 'I can't tell sarcasm from the written word on the internet' thing. I guess if I posted more often I'd know people's personalities better.

Either way, yeah, Cuddles' performance was impressive, especially if it was a crazy run-in, but there are just so many factors that I take nothing from this performance in itself either.

 

[skidmark]

15 seconds in a 2km climb over the next best is a lot

Really? It seems like a reasonable amount. Friggin' Cancellara has picked up more than that in the 2km of Paris-Roubaix when he attacked on the flat.

 

[The Hitch]

Really? It seems like a reasonable amount. Friggin' Cancellara has picked up more than that in the 2km of Paris-Roubaix when he attacked on the flat.

E3 2 weeks before that would be a better example imo. He got like 5 seconds in 1 k. A better example because when people attack 50k out the chasers don't neccesarily try to shut them down immediately (eg Andy on 18). Boonen was having a look around and Cancellara probably had 15 seconds before Boonen even had turned his head.

At the finish on the other hand everyone is going full out. Pozzato and Boonen were immediately on his tail, and it was harder to drop them.

But the main flaw in the comparison is that Paris Roubaix is raced hard for 100k (50 k before Canc attack) if not the full 260 k.

A hill top finish, even in the TDF or at FW or at Lombardia sometimes, is soft peddalled until the finish.
A hill top finish at the Tour down under even more so.

So 15 seconds - when everyone is ready for the climb>>>> 15 seconds when everyone is tired near the end of Paris Roubaix.

 

[The Hitch]

If you're going to have a private conversation in-thread with a single individual, wouldn't you be better off taking it to a PM?

To answer your question.

No.

 

[movingtarget]

Evans trained hard in the off season as he is targeting the Giro and not the Tour. First race of the season for many so a lot of riders will be underdone. Evans targetted this stage and trained on it. Short stage about half as long as a GT stage. Steep hill followed by a technical descent to the finish sounds like Evans territory to me. The result does not mean he will do something similar in a harder race later in the season. Nor does it mean he will win the Giro like Horner won the Vuelta. Is every single performance seen as suspect ? This stage had Evans name all over it.

 

[movingtarget]

E3 2 weeks before that would be a better example imo. He got like 5 seconds in 1 k. A better example because when people attack 50k out the chasers don't neccesarily try to shut them down immediately (eg Andy on 18). Boonen was having a look around and Cancellara probably had 15 seconds before Boonen even had turned his head.

At the finish on the other hand everyone is going full out. Pozzato and Boonen were immediately on his tail, and it was harder to drop them.

But the main flaw in the comparison is that Paris Roubaix is raced hard for 100k (50 k before Canc attack) if not the full 260 k.

A hill top finish, even in the TDF or at FW or at Lombardia sometimes, is soft peddalled until the finish.
A hill top finish at the Tour down under even more so.

So 15 seconds - when everyone is ready for the climb>>>> 15 seconds when everyone is tired near the end of Paris Roubaix.

According to the footage I saw it wasn't soft pedalled before the climb and BMC drilled it from the bottom of the climb. Narrow road and riders wanted to be in a good postion on the climb. Gerrans got caught out and reacted late. Too late.

 

[The Hitch]

Steep hill followed by a technical descent to the finish sounds like Evans territory to me.

Well it would be even more suspicious if he were to win a sprint stage.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

It must be the magical touch of Bobby Dullich.