Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

[el_angliru]

I saw an interview with former Sky DS Dan Frost during this year's Tour de France. He mentioned an episode from last year's Vuelta, I think, where Valverde attacked and Contador followed. Froome, however, was confident that he would catch them by riding constant wattages. And he did.

That's Sky's approach, according to Dan Frost. But he also stressed that they were concerned about their image at Team Sky. They were very well aware that they were being compared to robots. And they knew that their style of riding wasn't very popular.

So maybe it's not such a (conspirational) long shot to suggest that Sky are concerned about what's going on among cycling fans or here in the clinic?

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

+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.

Poels did little climbing for Sky and today after nealry 2 weeks he was immense. Clean, not a chance. Thomas came back to the group after CdF how if after 3 weeks he is clean racing against dopers?

As for #pissgate, a made up story for the british press. Twice cameras have caught Froome being spat at, but no one caught the urine and no other team rider verified it. Nope, make believe. The British press has been pushing the whole French hating Froome because he is British and winning their race. Bollix. The French know how to protest and if they were upset, no doubt team cars, team buses and all the riders would've been targetted, but a couple of idiots spat. End of. No worse than at a punk gig.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

so the boy tanked in the critical 3rd week after the final rest day,

Would rather he kept the focus on classics, but I fear he will continue the GT quest.

 

[Benotti69]

Re:

so the boy tanked in the critical 3rd week after the final rest day,

Would rather he kept the focus on classics, but I fear he will continue the GT quest.

Knighthoods don't grown on classic roads, it is on GT podiums i'm afraid........

 

[carton]

Re: Re:

Poels did little climbing for Sky and today after nealry 2 weeks he was immense. Clean, not a chance.

Poels did the same for Uran at the Giro last year. Absolutely huge at Zoncolan. Also as a crowd manager. Anacona did the same or more for Quintana. Hesjedal (yeah, I know) also gets better as the weeks go by so is usually not called for duty early on. I'd be more suspicious if the same guys could keep it up indefinitely.

 

[the sceptic]

clearly a future tour winner in the making here. He comes from a track background after all.

Podium this tour? I look forward to him dropping Quintana next.

I just found out he's got an autobiography coming up! I can hardly wait to see if it will be as good as Mein Climb.

"Inevitably an hour will come where everything becomes rather vague. All that remains in the memory are fractured snapshots: Richie Porte on the floor, being swung round on his back by one of the swannies; someone throwing a pizza like a frisbee and then realising that they actually quite fancied eating it; Froomey and I hugging each other under the disco ball, all boozy man-love and shouting over the music. “I love you man!” “Yeah! You’re a legend!” “Shall we have a drink you can set fire to?” “No. Let’s have four of them!”

And then, with a ghastly inevitability, it is suddenly morning, and you are in a hotel room that looks like a laundry after an accident with a strimmer. Bags everywhere, all of them upside down and empty. Clothes hanging off the mirror. A sensation in your stomach of both intense hunger and overwhelming sickness. The usual recriminations. Why did we do that? Why didn’t I wait until home and have a few there? Who thought it would be a good idea to get drinks that you could set fire to?"

sounds like this one could be comedy gold too.

 

[42x16ss]

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.

Armstrong and The Hog flushing Floyd's rest day refill down the toilet anyone?

 

[42x16ss]

Re: 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.

Most accurate 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

Fixed it for you.

 

[the sceptic]

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has said that he may ease back in the Classics in order to switch to an all out focus on stage racing, and specifically the Tour de France in 2016.

So this year he wasn't even trying that hard to be a stage racer when he was dropping Quintana and Contador in the tour..

 

[the sceptic]

Re:

........me thinks thomas is hoping to finish better than 31 mins back..................

Mark L

............what?............

 

[wendybnt]

If you look at who Team Sky have (probably) signed up for 2016, you can see why Thomas is going to focus on the Tour. With Landa and (probably) Kwiatkowski in the team Thomas will have to prove his worth at the Tour, as well as possibly be up for a co-lead at the Giro or Vuelta.

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has said that he may ease back in the Classics in order to switch to an all out focus on stage racing, and specifically the Tour de France in 2016.

So this year he wasn't even trying that hard to be a stage racer when he was dropping Quintana and Contador in the tour..

until now he's a 2 week grand tour racer, since he kept top 5 for 2 weeks, but then he arrived in Paris with 30minutes

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Re: Re:

Geraint Thomas (Team Sky) has said that he may ease back in the Classics in order to switch to an all out focus on stage racing, and specifically the Tour de France in 2016.

So this year he wasn't even trying that hard to be a stage racer when he was dropping Quintana and Contador in the tour..

until now he's a 2 week grand tour racer, since he kept top 5 for 2 weeks, but then he arrived in Paris with 30minutes

Riding as a domestique.

 

[doolols]

Re: Re:

Riding as a domestique.

A bit more than that. A "trusted lieutenant" for Froome.

 

[Benotti69]

Re: Re:

Riding as a domestique.

A bit more than that. A "trusted lieutenant" for Froome.

Yeah, LRP cannot be trusted

 

[May0maniac]

Re: Re:

Riding as a domestique.

A bit more than that. A "trusted lieutenant" for Froome.

Yeah, LRP cannot be trusted

The Loyal Lieutenant 2.0.

 

[Irondan]

Re: Re:

Riding as a domestique.

A bit more than that. A "trusted lieutenant" for Froome.

Yeah, LRP cannot be trusted

Neither can Mikal Landa...

 

[Cycle Chic]

I wanted to know where Thomas is based so looked at the Sky site - quite interesting some of his answers

Would you rather be really really big or really really small?
I’d like to be really small and fly up hills for a change, and not have to diet for six months!

If you could play another sport professionally what would it be?
Well you've got football obviously. There’s a lot of money there but I think being from Wales rugby is pretty massive

If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?
Just be naturally skinny. Constantly 68 kilos!

Read more at http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/article/7309#vj7WwGpYcLp7qrW8.99

 

[thehog]

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

I think Thomas is tired. He has been riding all year, smashing the classics and then the Tour. He should have stopped post Tour and rested.

In saying that, his Tour ride was "out of this world". Froome had his own super human day but Thomas in my mind was the most suspicious Sky rider in the race based purely on performances.

 

[the sceptic]

Re: Re:

I think Thomas is tired. He has been riding all year, smashing the classics and then the Tour. He should have stopped post Tour and rested.

In saying that, his Tour ride was "out of this world". Froome had his own super human day but Thomas in my mind was the most suspicious Sky rider in the race based purely on performances.

Just wait until next year. Team GB will juice the brits up to full mutant level since it's an olympics year.

Thomas for the giro win.

"We're still making our plans but G will be biased towards stage racing next year and will give it a really good shot," Brailsford said. "He really focused on stage racing this year after the classics. But I think if he starts from earlier in the season he might be able to explore that whole area and see if he can make a real difference."

"I think now we've got the Giro route and the Tour route we can create our 'winning documents' as we always do and start to analyse which riders are right for which races," Brailsford said. "But we are serious about the Giro this year. And instead of having an 'A team' and a 'B team' as it were, sometimes, I want two A teams.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/11956740/Geraint-Thomas-to-focus-on-stage-racing-at-the-expense-of-his-classics-ambitions-after-breakthrough-season.html

 

[thehog]

Re: Re:

I think Thomas is tired. He has been riding all year, smashing the classics and then the Tour. He should have stopped post Tour and rested.

In saying that, his Tour ride was "out of this world". Froome had his own super human day but Thomas in my mind was the most suspicious Sky rider in the race based purely on performances.

Just wait until next year. Team GB will juice the brits up to full mutant level since it's an olympics year.

Thomas for the giro win.

"We're still making our plans but G will be biased towards stage racing next year and will give it a really good shot," Brailsford said. "He really focused on stage racing this year after the classics. But I think if he starts from earlier in the season he might be able to explore that whole area and see if he can make a real difference."

"I think now we've got the Giro route and the Tour route we can create our 'winning documents' as we always do and start to analyse which riders are right for which races," Brailsford said. "But we are serious about the Giro this year. And instead of having an 'A team' and a 'B team' as it were, sometimes, I want two A teams.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/11956740/Geraint-Thomas-to-focus-on-stage-racing-at-the-expense-of-his-classics-ambitions-after-breakthrough-season.html

Thomas has signed up for the full program. He'll be smoking cigarettes by March. Him a Dawg will be matching mutant attacks up the mountains at the Tour. It's going to be awesome!!

 

[veganrob]

I think LRP could not quite handle the full program. But G, that guy is going to go FFR.

 

[doperhopper]

I wanted to know where Thomas is based so looked at the Sky site - quite interesting some of his answers

Would you rather be really really big or really really small?
I’d like to be really small and fly up hills for a change, and not have to diet for six months!

If you could play another sport professionally what would it be?
Well you've got football obviously. There’s a lot of money there but I think being from Wales rugby is pretty massive

If you could change anything about yourself what would it be?
Just be naturally skinny. Constantly 68 kilos!

Read more at http://www.teamsky.com/teamsky/home/article/7309#vj7WwGpYcLp7qrW8.99

and, most importantly, he believes in ALIENs

 

[gooner]

Was Froome taken aback by the vitriol shown towards him during the Tour when he was spat at and had urine thrown at him? “2013 was the biggest shock. This year he just brushed it off. But yeah, when we were having dinner, he certainly got more animated with us than he did in front of the cameras. When Laurent Jalabert [the former cyclist] said Chris was from another planet that fuelled the fire for the hatred.

“But why does no one give Nibali and Astanta an even harder time? Why is Contador never questioned like Froomey? It baffles me. Chris won one big stage on the Tour but other than that day he was just defending the jersey. He didn’t really light up the race. There were no doubts over the way Quintana went in the last week. People just said: ‘Oh, he’s just a really good climber.’ But Froomey? ‘Oh, he must be cheating …’”

Thomas refutes any suggestion that there is still widespread doping in cycling today. “I am sure some people will always try to find shortcuts – but the fact I’m competitive shows how much cleaner it is. Percentage-wise it’s tough to know [how many riders are doping] but the majority of teams are doing it the right way. It’s good I’m being tested more and more. Even on the stag-do in Berlin I had to fill out what hostel we stayed at. But I’m glad the testers didn’t turn up. I don’t think the boys would’ve been too happy if there was a knock on the door at 6am.”

On the more serious issue of whether Team Sky will release further data in an effort to prove they are racing clean, Thomas says, “It could help but a lot of the haters will always find a reason even if you give them all your blood results and power files. Why is it only Sky who have to do this? You don’t see Astana or Katusha giving out all their power files. Maybe Froomey and the team are too polite.”

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/27/geraint-thomas-tour-de-france-team-sky-interview?

 

[Benotti69]

Only fans new to the sport swallow this!

On the more serious issue of whether Team Sky will release further data in an effort to prove they are racing clean, Thomas says, “It could help but a lot of the haters will always find a reason even if you give them all your blood results and power files. Why is it only Sky who have to do this? You don’t see Astana or Katusha giving out all their power files. Maybe Froomey and the team are too polite.”

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2015/oct/27/geraint-thomas-tour-de-france-team-sky-interview?

Funny how Thomas points to dopers who Sky beat and yet expects people to accept Sky are clean. Really Geraint, really????

GT calling people 'haters' is not what i would expect from someone who is clean.