Damiano Cunego, the Italian Christophe Bassons

[Eshnar]

It was insane, but he gained 3 minutes over the rest through luck and a superior team

Ok, for the best team , but luck? When?

 

[roundabout]

Could have been Simoni instead.

 

[Eshnar]

Could have been Simoni instead.

Oh well, could have been anyone else instead, with crashes or similar. But Cunego was the strongest in that Giro and he demonstrated it in almost every stage.

 

[roundabout]

I mean on the stage when they took turns with Simoni attacking Popovych and Cunego was the one who could get away and get 3 minutes over the rest.

Or at least that's how I remember it.

 

[Eshnar]

I mean on the stage when they took turns with Simoni attacking Popovych and Cunego was the one who could get away and get 3 minutes over the rest.

Or at least that's how I remember it.

There was no luck in it though. No one was ever gonna let Simoni break away. And on the last climb of the day Cunego was actually the fastest guy of the race, just after Figueras, who started the climb in Simoni's group and Simoni couldn't follow him.

 

[Eshnar]

Cunego only lost time on Corno alle Scale (first MTF) for a diversion attack before Simoni's big one. And ofc he did lose time on the Presolana stage because of the Garzelli/Simoni joint kamikaze attack.

 

[jens_attacks]

i think with his 2007 giro level he would have won easily the 2004 giro. that really was weak as hell level




cuneghin strikes me as the guy, who really does a little bit of everything but certainly not pedal to the metal kind of stuff. kind of sad. if you have to put a hypodermic in your arm, or you put the biggest motherfuccer your dottore can find or you don't put it at all


later edit: also cassani said in the 2006 tour, one of the stages that cunego watts were better than 2004 and 2005. still the guys he fighting with were not exactly honchar and dario cioni. you talk about freakin landis, ivan the terrible, killer and so on. tough luck

 

[nomapnocompass]

It would be interesting to see Cunego's bio-passport to see if he still has his naturally high haematocrit, some how I doubt it.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

It would be interesting to see Cunego's bio-passport to see if he still has his naturally high haematocrit, some how I doubt it.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/jun01news
And 7.25w/kg threshold?

 

[Ferminal]

http://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=4079

right between Grabsch and Millar and a few seconds behind Ekimov and Zabriskie

Why was he terrible in the first half of the race? Possibly three blood bags behind the eight ball, spent them all chasing ET in May?

 

[SundayRider]

Why was he terrible in the first half of the race? Possibly three blood bags behind the eight ball, spent them all chasing ET in May?

Definetly doping in 2004 probably cleaner after that, if you look at his grand tour results its like Froome/Wiggins palmares only the other way round!

 

[nevada]

His results are all the evidence you need.

 

[Michele]

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/jun04/jun01news
And 7.25w/kg threshold?

That's insane.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

His results are all the evidence you need.

Doesn't quite follow the performance of say... Thomas Dekker.
Very grey-ish.

 

[SundayRider]

That's insane.

Surely if those numbers are true (at least in 2004 anyway) he could have challenged Armstrong in 2004 Tour?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Can that be correct?

 

[Le breton]

That's insane.

Cunego clearly has tremendous natural talent. He's 1m71cm tall and weighs 58 kilos. His resting heart rate is 44 and he has 5% body fat. His power output at anaerobic threshold is 420 watts, which gives him a world class power to weight ratio of more than seven watts per kilogram. One interesting fact about new phenom Cunego is that his natural level of haematocrit is between 52 and 53%. His father Enzo has the same levels and thus, Cunego has a special medical certificate in his rider's medical book that enables him to race with his high levels of haematocrit.

It is worth pointing out that if his natural Hct is 52-53%, he hardly could gain anything from EPO, which would at most give him a few % according to JV who also has a high natural Hct.

ADDITION (quote from JV1973 in a cyclingnews forum)
.......Which would make sense as my natural hct at this time of year would be 48%. For Ventoux it was doped to 52%. So, an 8% gain in hb mass. This would lead to a 4-6% increase in power at FTP, considering the high density of the blood already (as to say 38% to 42% would lead to a slightly more linear relationship gain, as O2 delivery efficiency is greater, per red cell, in a less crowded blood stream)

 

[Cloxxki]

On top of boosting the Hct, can't you also add in an extra pint of same composition to get another TEN per cent more red blood cells? Wouldn't that help on long, hard efforts, on top of the density?

 

[staubsauger]

Don't think he really had a natural high hematocrit value. Only the attest, just like Ricco

 

[Escarabajo]

Cunego clearly has tremendous natural talent. He's 1m71cm tall and weighs 58 kilos. His resting heart rate is 44 and he has 5% body fat. His power output at anaerobic threshold is 420 watts, which gives him a world class power to weight ratio of more than seven watts per kilogram. One interesting fact about new phenom Cunego is that his natural level of haematocrit is between 52 and 53%. His father Enzo has the same levels and thus, Cunego has a special medical certificate in his rider's medical book that enables him to race with his high levels of haematocrit.

It is worth pointing out that if his natural Hct is 52-53%, he hardly could gain anything from EPO, which would at most give him a few % according to JV who also has a high natural Hct.

ADDITION (quote from JV1973 in a cyclingnews forum)
.......Which would make sense as my natural hct at this time of year would be 48%. For Ventoux it was doped to 52%. So, an 8% gain in hb mass. This would lead to a 4-6% increase in power at FTP, considering the high density of the blood already (as to say 38% to 42% would lead to a slightly more linear relationship gain, as O2 delivery efficiency is greater, per red cell, in a less crowded blood stream)

Obviously, just like Steven Rooks, but most likely wasn't like that. It was just a cover up anyway. 52%-53% is rather high.

As for the >7 watts/kg at threshold. He would be beating evrybody left and right and I never saw that. I don't think that the number is real. Reminds me of the Texan when he was climbing and Carmichael was saying the watts per kilogram required to win a Tour. I think it was close to 7 watts/kg. Of course almost everybody was on EPO at that time so the numbers were OK. But now those numbers for the Texan sound stupid.

 

[DirtyWorks]

On top of boosting the Hct, can't you also add in an extra pint of same composition to get another TEN per cent more red blood cells? Wouldn't that help on long, hard efforts, on top of the density?

My limited understanding is a transfusion in, for example week three, returns blood values resembling the first few days of the grand tour, so oxygen delivery improves, but the improvement is relative. It will be dramatically better compared to a rider with no transfusion in week three of a grand tour.

If I've mangled the summary, then please feel free to correct my understanding.

 

[Le breton]

Obviously, just like Steven Rooks, but most likely wasn't like that. It was just a cover up anyway. 52%-53% is rather high.

As for the >7 watts/kg at threshold. He would be beating evrybody left and right and I never saw that. I don't think that the number is real. Reminds me of the Texan when he was climbing and Carmichael was saying the watts per kilogram required to win a Tour. I think it was close to 7 watts/kg. Of course almost everybody was on EPO at that time so the numbers were OK. But now those numbers for the Texan sound stupid.

What you wrote just confirms what I thought but abstained from saying. I was just waiting for the reactions.

If I'm not mistaken he lived at altitude (on? near? Mount Bondone), but only like at 1500 meters or so, high enough for a slightly higher than average Hct, but also low enough to be really irrelevant.

As for the >7 watts/kg at threshold. He would be beating evrybody left and right and I never saw that
Yes, we all saw it in his 2004 Giro d'Italia.

 

[Race Radio]

If Cunego is going to get back to form he needs to start by losing some weight. The couple times I saw him up close this year he looked like he was carrying at least 5 kilos more then the old days

 

[Dear Wiggo]

If Cunego is going to get back to form he needs to start by losing some weight. The couple times I saw him up close this year he looked like he was carrying at least 5 kilos more then the old days

The "look someone in the eye" test for doping has been upgraded to "detect 8% weight difference by sight alone". Impressive.

 

[Race Radio]

The "look someone in the eye" test for doping has been upgraded to "detect 8% weight difference by sight alone". Impressive.

What are you babbling about?