Re: Re:
Stop calling them "Olympic champion" as if track riding is in any way relevant to winning grand tours. Track riders winning grand tours is akin to middle distance runners winning marathons. If it ever happens alarm bells better be ringing all over the place, just like with Thomas and Wiggins. That's why they have long threads dedicated to them. Nothing about them suddenly pounding everyone in the mountains makes any sense, and Wiggins in particular finishing 3rd in 2009 raises more red flags than a communist rally.
Bernal on the other hand has always been an extremely talented climber. The most suspicious thing about him is the team he rides for, not the way he rides. I'd even go as far as saying Bernal is one of the more believeable riders of the last 30 years. Not that it takes much, mind you.
Fergoose said:Olympic champion Wiggins getting escorted by super-domestiques up every climb was more 'dominant' than Bernal stomping up the shortened stage?
I dont feel persecuted, I dont support Ineos and you may note the author of the Froome clinic thread. So I'm not sure why you interpreted it as such (Pinot, Bardet, Nibali and Sastre are probably my fav riders this century, not a Brit among them). What drives my perspective is that there is a something deeply amusing about individuals who will jump up and down about Olympic champs like Wiggins and Thomas and conspiracy theories about Cookson then having nothing to say about Egan. The silence is deafening and to me the situation mirrors the roadside fans who boo Thomas because he is a 'cheat' on terrible Sky but cheer Bernal who is on the same team and performing better than doping Thomas. It's a position I find worthy of comment.
As I say, I have no concerns about Bernal but if you think he is doping then fair enough.
- Olympic champion Thomas apparently merits 85 dedicated pages
- Olympic champion Wiggins apparently merits 92 dedicated pages
- Sky/Ineos apparently merits 1997 dedicated pages
- Bernal, the youngest TdF champ in a century on the same team - not even a thread
I think it is reasonable for me to suggest a Colombian is getting a comparatively easy ride and I look forward to the mental gymnastics that will take place in some quarters to reconcile the above inconsistency. Maybe Botero would have got no comment if he was working for Brailsford too.
Stop calling them "Olympic champion" as if track riding is in any way relevant to winning grand tours. Track riders winning grand tours is akin to middle distance runners winning marathons. If it ever happens alarm bells better be ringing all over the place, just like with Thomas and Wiggins. That's why they have long threads dedicated to them. Nothing about them suddenly pounding everyone in the mountains makes any sense, and Wiggins in particular finishing 3rd in 2009 raises more red flags than a communist rally.
Bernal on the other hand has always been an extremely talented climber. The most suspicious thing about him is the team he rides for, not the way he rides. I'd even go as far as saying Bernal is one of the more believeable riders of the last 30 years. Not that it takes much, mind you.