Fabio Aru 6.5w/kg

[SkyTears]

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana and especially Aru (he says he will be 90% at start cause of his stomach problems)

UCI had their chance to kick them out but failed , so they took it like a free doping card.

Atm i'm waiting for tomorrows stage, if they start the final climb with 8 people riding everybody off their wheel then the crusade will start.

 

[gmedina]

Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana and especially Aru (he says he will be 90% at start cause of his stomach problems)

UCI had their chance to kick them out but failed , so they took it like a free doping card.

Atm i'm waiting for tomorrows stage, if they start the final climb with 8 people riding everybody off their wheel then the crusade will start.

There is something different this year....I feel like Astana and a bunch of other teams are in a full doping regime...

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana

You've clearly not seen the '94 Flèche Wallonne, Roubaix '96 or the 2008 Giro, I guess, and I guess you must have missed US Postal.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana and especially Aru (he says he will be 90% at start cause of his stomach problems)

UCI had their chance to kick them out but failed , so they took it like a free doping card.

Atm i'm waiting for tomorrows stage, if they start the final climb with 8 people riding everybody off their wheel then the crusade will start.

Then you will be surprised, not only tomorrow, but trou-out the 3 weeks. I won´t.

FYI, Astana is stacked with proven top tier CG-GT riders (Aru, Cataldo, Kangert, Tiralongo, LLSanchez), young guns who just shone at Trentino (Landa, Rosa) and are over-due to finish high in a GT, and potential T-20 riders (Zeits).
What you expect them to do? Finish in the gruppetto with the likes of Greipel, or just roll around like Nathan Brown?

If everybody dopes (the weak and the strong) who you think comes out on top? Exactly... riders like those Astana have at this years Giro.

 

[red_flanders]

Re: Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana

You've clearly not seen the '94 Flèche Wallonne, Roubaix '96 or the 2008 Giro, I guess, and I guess you must have missed US Postal.

Or, and IMO more on point with the general thrust of the post, Sky 2012-2013. But I guess the point is to act like Astana is worse somehow.

 

[hrotha]

Re:

Atm i'm waiting for tomorrows stage, if they start the final climb with 8 people riding everybody off their wheel then the crusade will start.

Would having 4 guys in a front group of 8 be blatant enough?

 

[Mr.White]

Re: Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana

You've clearly not seen the '94 Flèche Wallonne, Roubaix '96 or the 2008 Giro, I guess, and I guess you must have missed US Postal.

Or Sky 2012-2013

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Re: Re:

i never saw a more ridiculously doped team than Astana and especially Aru (he says he will be 90% at start cause of his stomach problems)

Admit it, you first started watching cycling last year.

I'll go with Gewiss, Sky, and US Postal far above today's performance.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re: Re:

Atm i'm waiting for tomorrows stage, if they start the final climb with 8 people riding everybody off their wheel then the crusade will start.

Would having 4 guys in a front group of 8 be blatant enough?

Yes.
That is just 50%. And 8 means that some known GT talent has already been dropped!

You have to do like Real Madrid does now or La Vie Claire did in the 80's. Otherwise I don't buy it.

 

[Escarabajo]

Re:

12th in a flat sprint stage ... he should have poo for 7-8kg instead of 5, maybe he can beat Kittel soon

Now you are being a little bit silly.

 

[doperhopper]

Re: Re:

Yeah all that blood weights. Riding around with an extra kilo must be factored in.

Finally, someone who gets why it is silly to dope. The weight increase is simply too much for it to be effective.

Here we go, new marginal gain: get rid of a kilo or two of unused blood before climbs (having more powerful one in the veins anyway) and put it back afterwards to keep biopass happy.

 

[carton]

FYI, Astana is stacked with proven top tier CG-GT riders (Aru, Cataldo, Kangert, Tiralongo, LLSanchez)

Catlado, Kangert, Tiralongo & Sanchez, you're dead wrong Escarabajo, those guys do remind me of that '86 La Vie Claire squad. Except La Vie Claire could only manage 5th in the Tour TTT since they didn't have riders of anywhere near the talent and pedigree of this year's glorious Astana team.

If everybody dopes (the weak and the strong) who you think comes out on top? Exactly... riders like those Astana have at this years Giro.

ROFL

 

[Big Doopie]

Re:

FYI, Astana... those guys do remind me of that '86 La Vie Claire squad.

Um... I'm thinkin' more festina 1997.

LOL

 

[SkyTears]

How many Astana riders are on the Kreuziger/Uran level ? 4? 5? this is ridiculous

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

FYI, Astana... those guys do remind me of that '86 La Vie Claire squad.

Um... I'm thinkin' more festina 1997.

LOL

Yup Festina.
now only if there is a scandal

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Astana reminds me of Sky and Postal's Tour teams.

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

You people
Got nothing better to do than bash on talented cyclists ey? Just because your favourite riders ain't as good as mine, doesn't mean thatmine are cheating

 

[carton]

Re:

How many Astana riders are on the Kreuziger/Uran level ? 4? 5? this is ridiculous

You're talking about Landa and Cataldo emerging as guys who can work really hard at the front and the having the finishing kick to beat everyone but Contador and Porte at the end? Or having 7 guys in the top fifty after working harder than anyone the last two stages?

What's going to be the media-digestible explanation? I'm going with Astana finding the ultimate marginal gain: exposing guys to the wind on hot stages cools them off so they actually have more energy at the end.

If you want to be a skeptical crank, there may be two factors possibly at play:

One is that this is simply a byproduct of transparency. Since you have a very clear system of epo testing and bio-passport triggers, and the UCI has had to defend it trial after trial, the doctors now have pretty clear lines of up to what points they can micro-epo/micro-transfuse. They were trying to have a firmer grasp of how much they could push, and some riders were caught because of it. Collateral damage. Now they have an even better handle of the parameters at play.

The other is that none of their target audiences really give a darn if they're doping. Most serious cycling fans outside the hopeless romantics believe that they are doping. Their Italian and Kazakhstani fans are either too casual to know or too jingoistic to care. So why bother pretending otherwise?

The real hardcore cynics would argue that everyone is doing it, but that since Astana are not getting benefits from the "clean era" cycling narrative, that's the reason why they aren't going to waste any energy keeping up the charade. That is a little bit too harsh, particularly on everyone else, IMHO. But perhaps more digestible than the kopi luwak espresso being served at the moment.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re:

Astana reminds me of Sky and Postal's Tour teams.

RCS and the UCI have an interest in Aru succeeding as it would promote cycling in Italy.

I hope one day we find out what Astana did to get the UCI angry. And then they didn't gear down the least little bit. And then the UCI won't sanction anyone on the squad.

I knew 2015 was going to be crazy. We should be back to old guys dominating the podiums real soon now.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re: Re:

One is that this is simply a byproduct of transparency. Since you have a very clear system of epo testing and bio-passport triggers

The system of testing (literal) is clearer. There are WADA standards, you can read the minutes of WADA meetings, WADA generates some reports. What hasn't changed is the administration of results.

There's less transparency now as a result of USADA perfectly executing their Armstrong sanction.

We know there is every kind of corruption in results management and there is no third-party organization granted the power to police the sports federations. Meanwhile, the IOC is still working hard to decriminalize doping under the guise of "keeping sports independent from politics."

I believe the latter explanation you posted.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Here we go... Another team getting the big UCI protection... Is it the 5th or 6th team in this mega CT? In two years we shall be trou all WT teams, right?

Ofc Astanas strong performance has got nothing to do with that they have the strongest team of them all at the start line. By a mile.

You guys are funny...

 

[DirtyWorks]

Re:

Here we go... Another team getting the big UCI protection... Is it the 5th or 6th team in this mega CT? In two years we shall be trou all WT teams, right?

Ofc Astanas strong performance has got nothing to do with that they have the strongest team of them all at the start line. By a mile.

You guys are funny...

Are you saying the UCI has never graced teams with "never tested positive" status?
Are you saying the UCI doesn't pick winners to "grow cycling?"
Are you saying it's not possible to dope and never test positive at a grand tour?

I'm not clear where the disagreement lies.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Re: Re:

Here we go... Another team getting the big UCI protection... Is it the 5th or 6th team in this mega CT? In two years we shall be trou all WT teams, right?

Ofc Astanas strong performance has got nothing to do with that they have the strongest team of them all at the start line. By a mile.

You guys are funny...

Are you saying the UCI has never graced teams with "never tested positive" status?
Are you saying the UCI doesn't pick winners to "grow cycling?"
Are you saying it's not possible to dope and never test positive at a grand tour?

I'm not clear where the disagreement lies.

1.) No
2.) No
3.) No

4.) In that Astana is the 5th/6th team in the great cover-up CT... Yet they were just about to lose the WT status.
I OTOH go with the obvious: Best team > best results...

If they all dope, the better team still prevails, especially if more people get in the pool. AST will have good responers and bad ones, as other teams have. In the end it all evens out across the teams > AST best team > AST best results. Pretty simple, isn´t it?

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Re:

How many Astana riders are on the Kreuziger/Uran level ? 4? 5? this is ridiculous

Of course, it is cycling
Who ever gave you the impression that it ain't ridiculous?

 

[SkyTears]

I would have thought that after yesterday stage when Astana destroyed, alone, 10 mins break lead, that today they will be a little tired...

3 in top 10 of the stage, Cataldo was in yesterday's break i think