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Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

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Re:

gmedina said:
so GT not going to the Worlds (neither CF) citing fatigue...fishy, no? specially considering GT didnt race two GTs....or maybe both of them are just out of shape...
Why is it fishy? He's been celebrating, doing sponsor stuff, criteriums and probably very little training. This is normal for a first time Tour winners. Here's what the others did:

2007: Contador's only race was the Tour of Missouri for his US sponsors - he came 19th
2008: Sastre is the exception. He rode seriously getting a Vuelta podium
2010: Schleck didn't know he'd won yet, but still got sent home from the Vuelta for drinking
2011: Evans's only race was the Tour of Colorado for his US team
2012: Wiggins won the Olympics, but then treated the Tour of Britain as a pub crawl
2013: Froome did a bit of racing in North America to little effect, but contributed to Sky's world's TTT bronze
2014: Nibali did a couple of Italian one day races and came 40th at the Worlds, then did a race in Kazakhstan
 
Re: Re:

Parker said:
gmedina said:
so GT not going to the Worlds (neither CF) citing fatigue...fishy, no? specially considering GT didnt race two GTs....or maybe both of them are just out of shape...
Why is it fishy? He's been celebrating, doing sponsor stuff, criteriums and probably very little training. This is normal for a first time Tour winners. Here's what the others did:

2007: Contador's only race was the Tour of Missouri for his US sponsors - he came 19th
2008: Sastre is the exception. He rode seriously getting a Vuelta podium
2010: Schleck didn't know he'd won yet, but still got sent home from the Vuelta for drinking
2011: Evans's only race was the Tour of Colorado for his US team
2012: Wiggins won the Olympics, but then treated the Tour of Britain as a pub crawl
2013: Froome did a bit of racing in North America to little effect, but contributed to Sky's world's TTT bronze
2014: Nibali did a couple of Italian one day races and came 40th at the Worlds, then did a race in Kazakhstan
It's the best chance and perhaps only chance for climbers to win the WC in ages Parker...
 
Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
Parker said:
gmedina said:
so GT not going to the Worlds (neither CF) citing fatigue...fishy, no? specially considering GT didnt race two GTs....or maybe both of them are just out of shape...
Why is it fishy? He's been celebrating, doing sponsor stuff, criteriums and probably very little training. This is normal for a first time Tour winners. Here's what the others did:

2007: Contador's only race was the Tour of Missouri for his US sponsors - he came 19th
2008: Sastre is the exception. He rode seriously getting a Vuelta podium
2010: Schleck didn't know he'd won yet, but still got sent home from the Vuelta for drinking
2011: Evans's only race was the Tour of Colorado for his US team
2012: Wiggins won the Olympics, but then treated the Tour of Britain as a pub crawl
2013: Froome did a bit of racing in North America to little effect, but contributed to Sky's world's TTT bronze
2014: Nibali did a couple of Italian one day races and came 40th at the Worlds, then did a race in Kazakhstan
It's the best chance and perhaps only chance for climbers to win the WC in ages Parker...


maybe, just maybe they need a rest
 
Re: Re:

brownbobby said:
gmedina said:
so GT not going to the Worlds (neither CF) citing fatigue...fishy, no? specially considering GT didnt race two GTs....or maybe both of them are just out of shape...

Yeah, the most fishy thing I've ever seen. Definitely doping. FFS :confused:

Yep - do GTs and the Worlds : doping. Do GTs but not worlds (as fatigued) : fishy and therefore must be doping.

Where's old Benotti when we need him ...
 
You also have to consider that somebody being a pro cyclist doesn't necessarily mean they are a fan of the sport. I've often heard about football players for example who don't give a *** about the sport and never watch it if they don't have to.

Thomas strikes me as the kind of guy who maybe doesn't care about the rainbow jersey, but only doing his job at Sky.
 
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Re: Re:

LaFlorecita said:
rick james said:
maybe, just maybe they need a rest
They had weeks to rest after the Tour and could have skipped Tour of Britain and Poland (?) in Thomas' case
Yes Froome did the double, Thomas didn't.
I don't see why they'd want to miss out on such a chance
He has a one day racing pedigree (ok, mainly cobbled classics, but in Rio he was still better than Froome), so you'd assume that he'd give it a try, same with the ITT.
On the other hand, in recent memory I can't name a single rider who has still done something relevant durning the Autumn after winning his first Tour.
 
There’s nothing weird about him skipping the worlds. He has been living like a particularly ascetic monk for a long time. Since he won the Tour, he has dropped that lifestyle for a more enjoyable one. Consequently the Worlds are not a once in a lifetime opportunity, just a chance to be embarrassed as people talk him up for a race he’s not fit for.

You have to remember that Merckx and Roche and other riders who had some similar year of season long dominance were insane. Thomas is a bit more like the rest of us.
 
Personally, I'm more excited for the squad Matt B has selected than anything Ellingworth put together since Cavendish really. Thomas deserves to kick back and enjoy his win. Froome doesn't have anything to prove and maybe he put his new baby above training for another 2 months to stay on top for one days racing never won in same year by a Giro winner since Hinault anyway.
Sure it's 5000m climbing, but it's not 2500 then another 2500 so it isn't suited to threshold riding and probably not controllable to be that either by GB to bring the race to Frooomes stengths. I'd say Yates is as good as Froome & Thomas given their calendar anyway.
 
Re:

samhocking said:
Personally, I'm more excited for the squad Matt B has selected than anything Ellingworth put together since Cavendish really. Thomas deserves to kick back and enjoy his win. Froome doesn't have anything to prove and maybe he put his new baby above training for another 2 months to stay on top for one days racing never won in same year by a Giro winner since Hinault anyway.
Sure it's 5000m climbing, but it's not 2500 then another 2500 so it isn't suited to threshold riding and probably not controllable to be that either by GB to bring the race to Froome's strengths. I'd say Yates is as good as Froome & Thomas given their calendar anyway.

I think you've mistaken this for a road racing forum......'normalised froome'.........at least Thomas and Yates have had the decency to knock out some world class performances pre-mid 20's' before being world champ potentials.....

Froome has a lot to "prove"......like how he transformed about this time 7 years ago......

maybe he'll get a dirt track in Africa named after him..............
 
Thomas said he hadn't been home for over 90 days because he was on training camps and racing before Tour de France, so he was training and racing out of a suitcase for over 4 months straight. If you compare this to the approach of e.g. Movistar who don't have any training camps and all their riders go home to train between races, I can see carrying on for another 2 months away from home racing and training for Worlds is a big ask when it's just one day and never won by Tour winners anyway. If i'd been away that long, regardless of just having a baby too, I would go home.
 
Re:

samhocking said:
Thomas said he hadn't been home for over 90 days because he was on training camps and racing before Tour de France, so he was training and racing out of a suitcase for over 4 months straight. If you compare this to the approach of e.g. Movistar who don't have any training camps and all their riders go home to train between races, I can see carrying on for another 2 months away from home racing and training for Worlds is a big ask when it's just one day and never won by Tour winners anyway. If i'd been away that long, regardless of just having a baby too, I would go home.
You seriously believe Movistar don't have training camps??? :lol: :lol: :lol:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRs65KH2MQ

http://movistarteam.com/en/2018-01-22/mini-training-camp-rafa-nadal-sports-centre-mallorca-challenge
 
That is their January team get together, hardly a training camp lol! I'm talking about actual 2-3 week altitude training camps throughout Jan-May and before each Grand Tour, drop-in centres, team training bases etc.

There is a really great interview with Unzue's son on the cycling podcast with him explaining why they don't spend money on any training camps.
https://audioboom.com/posts/6995658-kilometre-0-a-spanish-dynasty
 
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Re:

samhocking said:
Thomas said he hadn't been home for over 90 days because he was on training camps and racing before Tour de France, so he was training and racing out of a suitcase for over 4 months straight. If you compare this to the approach of e.g. Movistar who don't have any training camps and all their riders go home to train between races, I can see carrying on for another 2 months away from home racing and training for Worlds is a big ask when it's just one day and never won by Tour winners anyway. If i'd been away that long, regardless of just having a baby too, I would go home.

Sky the miracle performers. Geraint Thomas wins the TdF at the ripe old age of 32 and gives birth too!

Is there nothing Sky cant do?
 

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