Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

[Dear Wiggo]

Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

Pretty easy to arrive at this conclusion, agreed. Funny how there was someone ready to step into his vacant cleats somewhat immediately.

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

+1.

They sacrificed Porte and Thomas but not Froome. The criticism will slow down now.

actually, not a bad idea - different dom each day, so no suspicious GC standings. Just another masterpiece from Brailsfraud, he'll explain tomorrow this is the way to go, save doms from unnecessary thinking about "what if I was the leader", that's why they ordered LRP to lose few minutes in the first week. Marginal gains at their best, combine it with pillow and handwashing and we have a winner. And expect tons of new scientific research papers on special tires that don't get tar sticked on it (so no little rock picking and mechanicals).

All that implies that they actually care about how their performance looks like enough to sacrifice some of the possible results. Nothing they have done so far indicates they care that much about appearance. Outside of wild conspiracy theories of course.

Everything sky has done shows they actually monitor how everything is perceived. Why get Walsh on board if you dont care how things are looking. #1 objective, win the race, after that everything is sacrificable, if Sky deem it.

Walsh is doing multiple interviews, an almost min by min of stages and 'believes in Froome' and tells everyone at every opportunity.

So dropping others out of contention to make it look less like USPS or Astana is carefully orchestrated. The 'urine' incident proves this. No one else saw it but Froome and teammates. The Maillot Juane has a camera at all times, yet it did not catch the 'urine' being thrown. Today they caught on camera a guy spitting (idiot, i hope the Gendarmes get him)....

 

[goggalor]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

+1.

They sacrificed Porte and Thomas but not Froome. The criticism will slow down now.

-1.

Doesn't make sense with a somewhat shaky team to stop doping your second best guy for the queen stage after doping him for nearly 3 weeks.

-2

Makes no sense to leave Froome isolated on the first climb of the day.

Bad day caused by fatigue after a very hard crash and loads of intense domestique work is more likely.

 

[djpbaltimore]

I watched the replay of the first climb after the stage and Thomas looked good covering the first attack by Contador and Valverde. I think he went too deep early on during the stage and paid for it on the beastly climb up to Croix de Fer. Once his podium hopes evaporated, he did the sensible thing and road home conservatively and started preparing for Alpe d'Huez. I don't think he is a clean rider by any means, but not every performance fluctuation is determined by doping.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Re:

I watched the replay of the first climb after the stage and Thomas looked good covering the first attack by Contador and Valverde. I think he went too deep early on during the stage and paid for it on the beastly climb up to Croix de Fer. Once his podium hopes evaporated, he did the sensible thing and road home conservatively and started preparing for Alpe d'Huez. I don't think he is a clean rider by any means, but not every performance fluctuation is determined by doping.

Thank you.

I thought on the previous week's climbs that he did that there too -- brought back the attacking climbers too quickly.

He also got dropped, got back on, then went straight to the front again, which is fine, but imo he did it too quickly. I did not get the sense that he paced himself as best he could in either scenario, given his aspirations of GC placing as well as role as a domestique.

A natural mistake for someone who has never been at the pointy end of a GT so often this deep into a GT, dom or not.

In 2012, the roles were reversed, so Froome had an easier time pacing a diesel like Wiggo, whereas here, diesel Thomas the tank engine is pacing a turbo charged rotary engeined Froome.

 

[TheRedSon]

Finally having a bad day on Stage 19 is NOT an indication of being clean.

It's an indication of having a bad day 19 stages into a 21 stage race. A lot of guys have been sick. He had a nasty wreck just recently. He dug deep to narrow losses after that wreck. A LOT of Guys are experiencing fatigue at this stage of the race. Including known dopers and perhaps even Froome himself.

Nothing that happened today changes what Thomas has done the previous 18 stages, which was look like one of the top five riders on the entire planet, rivaled only by Quintana, two of his teammates and... Maybe Valverde?

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Re:

Finally having a bad day on Stage 19 is NOT an indication of being clean.

It's an indication of having a bad day 19 stages into a 21 stage race. A lot of guys have been sick. He had a nasty wreck just recently. He dug deep to narrow losses after that wreck. A LOT of Guys are experiencing fatigue at this stage of the race. Including known dopers and perhaps even Froome himself.

Nothing that happened today changes what Thomas has done the previous 18 stages, which was look like one of the top five riders on the entire planet, rivaled only by Quintana, two of his teammates and... Maybe Valverde?

He didnt have a bad day, indeed, he had a bad MOMENT when scarred POny went full gas, when you look back at the video you will see he just gave up. No SKy riders to help him so he was *** big time.

 

[The Hitch]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

+1.

They sacrificed Porte and Thomas but not Froome. The criticism will slow down now.

actually, not a bad idea - different dom each day, so no suspicious GC standings. Just another masterpiece from Brailsfraud, he'll explain tomorrow this is the way to go, save doms from unnecessary thinking about "what if I was the leader", that's why they ordered LRP to lose few minutes in the first week. Marginal gains at their best, combine it with pillow and handwashing and we have a winner. And expect tons of new scientific research papers on special tires that don't get tar sticked on it (so no little rock picking and mechanicals).

All that implies that they actually care about how their performance looks like enough to sacrifice some of the possible results. Nothing they have done so far indicates they care that much about appearance. Outside of wild conspiracy theories of course.

Rigging the data to make his power outputs look far weaker than they were, doesn't count?

 

[carton]

Kinda turning a corner on ol' G. Never liked him much as a racer but interview after interview wearing me down. Has a sense of humor and a semblance of humility. Can also get through an interview without exposing that throbbing vein of ambition almost every other GC guy can't even pretend to keep in. He's could be an interesting case of nature vs. nurture for the next couple of years if he keeps "developing". Kinda glad to see him crack so thoroughly today, then. Maybe a little too late, though.

 

[BYOP88]

Re:

Kinda turning a corner on ol' G. Never liked him much as a racer but interview after interview wearing me down. Has a sense of humor and a semblance of humility. Can also get through an interview without exposing throbbing vein of ambition almost every other GC guy can't even pretend to keep in. He's could be an interesting case of nature vs. nurture for the next couple of years if he keeps "developing". Kinda glad to see him crack so thoroughly today, then. Maybe a little too late, though.

Isn't he like 30 years old? Can't be much development time left unless he's the British version of Horner.

 

[Benotti69]

Under Sky and their 'science' anything is possible for British riders.

 

[AICA ribonucleotide]

Re:

Kinda turning a corner on ol' G. Never liked him much as a racer but interview after interview wearing me down. Has a sense of humor and a semblance of humility. Can also get through an interview without exposing that throbbing vein of ambition almost every other GC guy can't even pretend to keep in. He's could be an interesting case of nature vs. nurture for the next couple of years if he keeps "developing". Kinda glad to see him crack so thoroughly today, then. Maybe a little too late, though.

The old nice guys don't dope argument.

 

[doolols]

So he's a doper when he does well, and he's a doper when he does badly. Oh, and now he's 29, so that *proves* he's a doper.

 

[The Hitch]

This may sound harsh but if four years your first post in the clinic you still don't understand that dopers have bad days, are unaware of the large number of examples of dopers having bad days and think that pointing out that a rider finished low on a stage is some sort of an argument for cleanliness, then I think you lack the intelligence to discuss these issues.

 

[argel]

Ah the old higher plane argument. The guy is just stating his own opinion on Thomas based on a few factors, not least that he likes him as a bloke.

FWIW I agree completely, Thomas could very well be doping and suffer like he did today. That alone would be no indicator, but I don't think that is what carton appears to be saying.

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

Kinda turning a corner on ol' G. Never liked him much as a racer but interview after interview wearing me down. Has a sense of humor and a semblance of humility. Can also get through an interview without exposing that throbbing vein of ambition almost every other GC guy can't even pretend to keep in. He's could be an interesting case of nature vs. nurture for the next couple of years if he keeps "developing". Kinda glad to see him crack so thoroughly today, then. Maybe a little too late, though.

The old nice guys don't dope argument.

Yep. Right there with nobody lies while staring at you straight at the eyes. Factual facts, them both.

 

[yespatterns]

Don't worry, G's replacement can look forward to a 2017 podium place.

 

[Gung Ho Gun]

Re:

Don't worry, G's replacement can look forward to a 2017 podium place.

Could it be poor Kennaugh, Sky's GC hope before Wiggins, Froome and now Thomas suddenly became world class climbers?

 

[Franklin]

Re:

I don't think he is a clean rider by any means, but not every performance fluctuation is determined by doping.

This one should be engraved in bronze.

Doping helps avoiding bad days, but they are not a guarantee. Lance had his (rare!) bad days, Landis is textbook, Jan had days when he lost a TdF.

Considering Geraints earlier consistency in the race (certainly among the best 5 riders which was reflected in his classification) in a discipline (climbing/GT classification) where he never has shown any noteworthy talent the red flags are undeniable.

 

[Singer01]

Re:

This may sound harsh but if four years your first post in the clinic you still don't understand that dopers have bad days, are unaware of the large number of examples of dopers having bad days and think that pointing out that a rider finished low on a stage is some sort of an argument for cleanliness, then I think you lack the intelligence to discuss these issues.

that isn't what they were saying at all, and i think you know that.

 

[ebandit]

pomp

This may sound harsh but if four years your first post in the clinic you still don't understand that dopers have bad days, are unaware of the large number of examples of dopers having bad days and think that pointing out that a rider finished low on a stage is some sort of an argument for cleanliness, then I think you lack the intelligence to discuss these issues.

pompous post of the day...............and not just here..........on the entire interwebz

most members from day one realise discussion is about the thread subject............

not other members

Mark L

 

[BradCantona]

Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

This is where it becomes conspiracy theories for the sake of conspiracy theories. Utter nonsense which makes absolutely no sense

 

[The Carrot]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

This is where it becomes conspiracy theories for the sake of conspiracy theories. Utter nonsense which makes absolutely no sense

What some people would call 'utter nonsense' has frequently turned out to be normality in the batfck crazy circus that is pro cycling.

 

[wendybnt]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

+1.

They sacrificed Porte and Thomas but not Froome. The criticism will slow down now.

actually, not a bad idea - different dom each day, so no suspicious GC standings. Just another masterpiece from Brailsfraud, he'll explain tomorrow this is the way to go, save doms from unnecessary thinking about "what if I was the leader", that's why they ordered LRP to lose few minutes in the first week. Marginal gains at their best, combine it with pillow and handwashing and we have a winner. And expect tons of new scientific research papers on special tires that don't get tar sticked on it (so no little rock picking and mechanicals).

All that implies that they actually care about how their performance looks like enough to sacrifice some of the possible results. Nothing they have done so far indicates they care that much about appearance. Outside of wild conspiracy theories of course.

Everything sky has done shows they actually monitor how everything is perceived. Why get Walsh on board if you dont care how things are looking. #1 objective, win the race, after that everything is sacrificable, if Sky deem it.

Walsh is doing multiple interviews, an almost min by min of stages and 'believes in Froome' and tells everyone at every opportunity.

So dropping others out of contention to make it look less like USPS or Astana is carefully orchestrated. The 'urine' incident proves this. No one else saw it but Froome and teammates. The Maillot Juane has a camera at all times, yet it did not catch the 'urine' being thrown. Today they caught on camera a guy spitting (idiot, i hope the Gendarmes get him)....

Much as I dislike the whole imperious nature of the Team Sky project and the PR heavy approach, I've got to say that the notion that the main Sky riders are so über strong that they can feign weakness just to avert suspicion is just nonsense.

Geraint Thomas has worked his ass off. He's tired. That doesn't mean he's clean and it doesn't mean he's dirty. It just means that like everybody else up at the front he has been riding at the top end of his capabilities.

Equally, stories about people spitting or piss-throwing at Sky work against Sky not for them. The last thing Sky want is to spread the notion that people on the roadside believe the bad press. I think the piss incident occurred, but I'm surprised that Froome mentioned it.

 

[Scarponi]

Re: Re:

Dunno...something tells me that they backed him off the gear a bit to appear human.

This is where it becomes conspiracy theories for the sake of conspiracy theories. Utter nonsense which makes absolutely no sense

What some people would call 'utter nonsense' has frequently turned out to be normality in the batfck crazy circus that is pro cycling.

though didnt Hamilton write about being stopped on the gear and he couldnt even chase breakaways 100km out like Big G.....