curse of the world champions jersey?

[Anonymous]

I was being sarcastic

What?!?

I thought it was a good compliment, and was willing to offer you an assistant coach position, but I guess that's out of the picture

I doubt VDB will do the giro/vuelta, he thinks he's the king of lotto now so will get the #1 position as he is belgium and marc seargent said after the tour, VDB will be co-leader with Cadel, or he will be sole leader (meaning they already think of Cadel as #2 for GC).

If Cadel wants to do Giro/Vuelta, i'm sure he can convince management to give him Wegelius, Lloyd and Brandt, as they are buddies, and the rest of the belgians can do the tour.

I agree with powderpoff that the tour is his key goal of the season, but tour selection is the key goal for all 1000 pro riders, and we dont always get what we want if I were him, i would rather be sole leader for giro/vuelta than be the support rider for Jurgen van den Breakaway.. belgian politics will determine what happens here

 

[Anonymous]

Does anyone think that the WC are a lottery? I heard a 2 cycling journalists say so and was wondering what your thoughts were?

I don't think it WAS a lottery, but I do think the Worlds CAN BE a lottery sometimes.

Given the course, I think the strongest 9 nine riders were left in the race, from then on perhaps the fact that cadel got away showed strength, smarts and too much looking at each other from the spanish, as they had their designated men to mark..

definately not a lottery though as I beleive the top 5 were the strongest riders in the race. valv and cunego looked tired and i think their placings in the end were spot on with their efforts/ability on that given day

 

[irishpeloton]

Interesting topic!

I've written a piece about it at IrishPeloton.com

I personally think he should forget about the Tour next year and concentrate on the Ardennes and the Giro or Vuelta. I reckon, if he ignores the Tour, that he's more than capable of winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a Grand Tour next year.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

I hope he agrees. I think it would be good for his head to ride the giro/vuelta double and give the tour a rest for one year.

If he wins the giro, then perhaps attempts the tour, but given menchov's performance at the TDF, i think it would be better for him to have a rest, then try at the vuelta.

Hypothetically, if he wins either the giro or the vuelta in 2010, this could be a launching pad for the TDF in 2011. A recharge of the batteries for Cadel will definately benefit him.

As many have said, the fact the Deni Menchov has 3 GT's to his name and Cadel has zero, doesn't really make sense. Menchov was smart to focus on other GT's to add to his palmares

Evans will never win a GT imo. His TTing which has been his big advantage in the past doesn't seem like such an advantage anymore. And he will never give up on winning the tour, and let us face it... He will never beat contador. The vuelta next year (after failing to beat conta at the tour) might be his one last big chance.

BTW: I don't think evans is a better GT'r than Menchov when dennis is at his peak (might not be the right forum though...), just my opinion. 07' vuelta (especially) and Giro 09' he was pretty unbeatable imo.

 

[blaxland]

Interesting topic!

I've written a piece about it at IrishPeloton.com

I personally think he should forget about the Tour next year and concentrate on the Ardennes and the Giro or Vuelta. I reckon, if he ignores the Tour, that he's more than capable of winning Liege-Bastogne-Liege and a Grand Tour next year.

agreed.not only can he win some classics(liege and fleche)but finally maybe win a gt(vuelta would be my choice)the tour is out of his reach now....

 

[auscyclefan94]

Evans will never win a GT imo. His TTing which has been his big advantage in the past doesn't seem like such an advantage anymore. And he will never give up on winning the tour, and let us face it... He will never beat contador. The vuelta next year (after failing to beat conta at the tour) might be his one last big chance.

BTW: I don't think evans is a better GT'r than Menchov when dennis is at his peak (might not be the right forum though...), just my opinion. 07' vuelta (especially) and Giro 09' he was pretty unbeatable imo.

Do you ever say anything positive about evans? I'm surprised you hold so much angst against the guy. Evans said that he will ride 3 or 4 more tours if he feels he can be at the top level of the sport. Just because he had 1 tour doesn't mean you should write him off so easily though Contador will be hard to beat. I agree with you though that he hasn't time trialled as well he use to. I hope he can get back that form.
With Menchov, him being a better GT'r is debateble but Menchov winning 3 and evans having won 0 GT's is not refelction on how much "better" Menchov is compared to evans.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Although the WC reduces wins by a considerable margin, Sagan came into the WC already cursed. So a double whammy should bring him back to normal winning ways especially with Tinkov going

 

[King Boonen]

http://www.bmj.com/content/351/bmj.h6304


A very interesting read I was just about to start a new thread for when I saw this one!

It also highlights regression to the mean which is what causes this issue and the reason placebo effects are constantly over-estimated. Highly entertaining and very informative!

Sorry if it's behind a paywall, I'm on campus so don't know.

 

[Armchair Cyclist]

Heavyweitght medical opinion former the BMJ has an article, concluding that the WC is won by someone having a good season, and that any perceived curse is merely a return to mean performance.