Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

[MartinGT]

Poels got ejected early. Expect him to win the sprint tomorrow.

 

[JosephK]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

I found a hilarious post on one of today's CN articles from a poster called "eminusx":

". . . what's more, Team Sky actually discovered Geraint when he was a homeless busker, he'd never ridden a bike in his life, smoked 50 cigarettes a day and only had one leg. . . it's [a] testament to Sky's 'programme' that he's come this far from literally zero, less than zero even, truly remarkable."

 

[Rollthedice]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

Maybe he'll get the five Tours before Froome. He's only 33.

 

[Red Rick]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

Maybe he'll get the five Tours before Froome. He's only 33.

Nah they gotta win multiple Tours with bottle carriers from every former British colony.

Next up: The Virgin Islands.

 

[Forever The Best]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

 

[Ripper]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

Yup

It must be a bit nerve racking for the 'great DB though, to have two leaders who are both (relatively) crash prone.

BTW, hilarious that some pundits have noted that G's climbing is typically on par with other racers (e.g. Fugl), suggesting last year was in any way a normal representation of what G was capable of when it was actually quite a marked jump up in performance. FFS

 

[Koronin]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

This. The beach looks a lot more fun and useful than any more of this race as well.

 

[Robert5091]

Look forward to G wining the Vuelta as well - just keep him away from the post-race buffé.

 

[macbindle]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

Maybe you missed the Amstrong years? Were they a mockery? Or the Indurain years? Were they a mockery

What about the intervening years, with Pantani, Ulrich and Riis, not a mockery?

No?

What about post Armstrong? Landis? Or Contador, with one win revoked through doping, and the other wins tainted with the knowledge that he is a doper?

Pre-Sky the only two years that were not a total open mockery were Sastre and Evan's, but dont lift the edge of the carpet too high...

What about that wonderful oasis of purity, 2014, when Sky didnt win? Oh yes, Nibali. Riding for Astana. Heard of them? :lol: Managed by Vinokourov FFS, a man who's only redeeming feature is that he makes absolutely no attempt to deny, because he absolutely doesn't give a FK.

So, sorry, what was it you were saying about Sky making a mockery of the race :lol: :lol:

Hey, let's all cheer on Fulsgang (Astana, Vinokourov), or Kriswiijk (J-L, born from the corpse of dope-soaked Rabobank) or maybe just forget about the GC and cheer on the panache of world champion Valverde..

Oops.

 

[dacooley]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

oh yeah, for once sky made a mockery out the race by thomas putting 5-7'' into pinot and a few other guys and by bernal bonking in the last 300 meters.
reality not matching hopes is never pleasant, but there is a still long way to go.

 

[rick james]

Re:

Poels got ejected early. Expect him to win the sprint tomorrow.

Why is this in the clinic, and a Geraint Thomas thread?

 

[Forever The Best]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

Maybe you missed the Amstrong years? Were they a mockery? Or the Indurain years? Were they a mockery

What about the intervening years, with Pantani, Ulrich and Riis, not a mockery?

No?

What about post Armstrong? Landis? Or Contador, with one win revoked through doping, and the other wins tainted with the knowledge that he is a doper?

Pre-Sky the only two years that were not a total open mockery were Sastre and Evan's, but dont lift the edge of the carpet too high...

What about that wonderful oasis of purity, 2014, when Sky didnt win? Oh yes, Nibali. Riding for Astana. Heard of them? :lol: Managed by Vinokourov FFS, a man who's only redeeming feature is that he makes absolutely no attempt to deny, because he absolutely doesn't give a FK.

So, sorry, what was it you were saying about Sky making a mockery of the race :lol: :lol:

Hey, let's all cheer on Fulsgang (Astana, Vinokourov), or Kriswiijk (J-L, born from the corpse of dope-soaked Rabobank) or maybe just forget about the GC and cheer on the panache of world champion Valverde..

Oops.

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

Cheating has been prevalent in sports since the start and will be, but this kind of dominance isn't that much prevalent. Even USPS did it with only one rider. Sky did it with Wiggins, Froome and now with Thomas.

And the only one that came close to this was USPS and given how they were/are viewed from the crowd (hint: similar to how people are viewing Sky now) your attempt to whitewash is quite pathetic.

Also, all of the 3 showed absolutely nothing as a GC rider in young age and made ludicrous transformations.

 

[King Boonen]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

Maybe you missed the Amstrong years? Were they a mockery? Or the Indurain years? Were they a mockery

What about the intervening years, with Pantani, Ulrich and Riis, not a mockery?

No?

What about post Armstrong? Landis? Or Contador, with one win revoked through doping, and the other wins tainted with the knowledge that he is a doper?

Pre-Sky the only two years that were not a total open mockery were Sastre and Evan's, but dont lift the edge of the carpet too high...

What about that wonderful oasis of purity, 2014, when Sky didnt win? Oh yes, Nibali. Riding for Astana. Heard of them? :lol: Managed by Vinokourov FFS, a man who's only redeeming feature is that he makes absolutely no attempt to deny, because he absolutely doesn't give a FK.

So, sorry, what was it you were saying about Sky making a mockery of the race :lol: :lol:

Hey, let's all cheer on Fulsgang (Astana, Vinokourov), or Kriswiijk (J-L, born from the corpse of dope-soaked Rabobank) or maybe just forget about the GC and cheer on the panache of world champion Valverde..

Oops.

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

Cheating has been prevalent in sports since the start and will be, but this kind of dominance isn't that much prevalent. Even USPS did it with only one rider. Sky did it with Wiggins, Froome and now with Thomas.

And the only one that came close to this was USPS and given how they were/are viewed from the crowd (hint: similar to how people are viewing Sky now) your attempt to whitewash is quite pathetic.

Domination by 1 team/group of riders is pretty much the norm in the Tour.


France/Saint Raphael/Ford did it with Anquetil/Aimar, Faema/Molteni did it with Merckx, Renault/La Vie Claire did it with Hinault/Fignon/LeMond, Indurain won 5 in a row which no-one else has ever done (officially), and US Postal did it with Armstrong. I've kept this to post-WW2 and from the first rider once trade teams came back (anquetil) but the same pattern is seen between WW1 and WW2 and even before WW1 (although these races were pretty different).

The usual pattern is domination, a few different winners, domination and so on.

 

[macbindle]

No takers today after Stage 6 vertical takeoff from G? . . . Forum was down for a while.

What is there to say. People were expecting Bernal. Then Thomas takes off, yet nobody is the least bit surprised, cause it's the special kind of horse manure we've been seeing the last 8 Tours.

This. I'm not surprised by anything from Sky. They've made such a big mockery out of the race that the only thing left is laugh.

Maybe you missed the Amstrong years? Were they a mockery? Or the Indurain years? Were they a mockery

What about the intervening years, with Pantani, Ulrich and Riis, not a mockery?

No?

What about post Armstrong? Landis? Or Contador, with one win revoked through doping, and the other wins tainted with the knowledge that he is a doper?

Pre-Sky the only two years that were not a total open mockery were Sastre and Evan's, but dont lift the edge of the carpet too high...

What about that wonderful oasis of purity, 2014, when Sky didnt win? Oh yes, Nibali. Riding for Astana. Heard of them? :lol: Managed by Vinokourov FFS, a man who's only redeeming feature is that he makes absolutely no attempt to deny, because he absolutely doesn't give a FK.

So, sorry, what was it you were saying about Sky making a mockery of the race :lol: :lol:

Hey, let's all cheer on Fulsgang (Astana, Vinokourov), or Kriswiijk (J-L, born from the corpse of dope-soaked Rabobank) or maybe just forget about the GC and cheer on the panache of world champion Valverde..

Oops.

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

Cheating has been prevalent in sports since the start and will be, but this kind of dominance isn't that much prevalent. Even USPS did it with only one rider. Sky did it with Wiggins, Froome and now with Thomas.

And the only one that came close to this was USPS and given how they were/are viewed from the crowd (hint: similar to how people are viewing Sky now) your attempt to whitewash is quite pathetic.

What attempt to whitewash???

I'm saying that pretty much every winning team has made a mockery of the Tour for the last 30 years, including Sky.

Cycling didnt start just when you started watching it.

 

[Parker]

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

 

[Forever The Best]

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

Ok, so I was wrong about 70s to 80s. But I was saying that even Banesto and USPS didn't have this kind of domination. This is almost unprecedented in last 35 years.

 

[staubsauger]

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

Ok, so I was wrong about 70s to 80s. But I was saying that even Banesto and USPS didn't have this kind of domination. This is almost unprecedented in last 35 years.

La Vie Claire!?

 

[Forever The Best]

Yes, because one team having the strongest rider and dominating one race every single year for 8! years (and sometimes 2! riders in one race) is totally the norm in history. The closest was USPS and they only did it with one rider. Sky did it with 3!

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

Ok, so I was wrong about 70s to 80s. But I was saying that even Banesto and USPS didn't have this kind of domination. This is almost unprecedented in last 35 years.

La Vie Claire!?

They won Giro and Tour in '85 and Tour in '86. They didn't win 6 Tours in 7 years (I'm sure it will be 7 in 8 in Paris this year)

 

[Merckx index]

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

That fifteen year time period you refer to involved mostly three riders—Hinault (5 titles), Lemond (3) and Fignon (2). You really can’t compare these riders, in terms of their early potential, with Wiggins, Froome and Thomas. Hinault won his first TDF at 23; Lemond at 25; Fignon at 22. My point being, Renault attracted top talent, they didn’t develop it from riders with little GT promise, as Sky has apparently done. Wiggins and Thomas, of course, are former track cyclists, who have won Tours in their early 30s, an age by which all the Renault stars were done. In fact, four of the six TDF titles won by Sky were by riders who were older than any of the Renault riders at the time of their last Tour victory, and seven of the ten titles won by Renault were by riders younger than any Sky winner.

 

[macbindle]

Different era, different pressures.

Nobody wins a tour at 22 years old these days.

 

[Forever The Best]

USPS aren't the closest. Another team surpassed Sky. Between 1976 and 1984 Renault (formerly Gitane) won seven Tours in nine years with three different riders. Four of the next six years were won by former Renault riders. In 1984 the podium was filled with three riders who had all been at Renault the previous year (two still were).

That fifteen year time period you refer to involved mostly three riders—Hinault (5 titles), Lemond (3) and Fignon (2). You really can’t compare these riders, in terms of their early potential, with Wiggins, Froome and Thomas. Hinault won his first TDF at 23; Lemond at 25; Fignon at 22. My point being, Renault attracted top talent, they didn’t develop it from riders with little GT promise, as Sky has apparently done. Wiggins and Thomas, of course, are former track cyclists, who have won Tours in their early 30s, an age by which all the Renault stars were done. In fact, four of the six TDF titles won by Sky were by riders who were older than any of the Renault riders at the time of their last Tour victory, and seven of the ten titles won by Renault were by riders younger than any Sky winner.

Very good post. The Sky TDF winners showed nothing as a GC rider in young age.

 

[macbindle]

Different era, different cycling.Remind me, which 22 year old has won a Gt recently?

For all that Team Sky are horrid and dodgy, to compare the 2010s with the 1980s is silly. The sport is in a different position. Its like comparing current rugby to the 1980s

 

[The Hegelian]

Say what you will, that Thomas is the best climber in the world '18-'19 is just impossible for me to believe.

It's in the same category as Jalabert and Armstrong. Just*impossible*to*believe.

 

[Robert5091]

Re:

Different era, different pressures.

Nobody wins a tour at 22 years old these days.

Ineos thought one could at the Giro

 

[macbindle]

Re:

Say what you will, that Thomas is the best climber in the world '18-'19 is just impossible for me to believe.

It's in the same category as Jalabert and Armstrong. Just*impossible*to*believe.

Statements like that deserve careful attention because it sounds like a possible strawman. What are your criteria for judging the 'best climber in the world' and what has Thomas done to fulfil these?

Judging by Thursday's TdF stage, Alaphilippe is the best climber in the world, which, of course, is impossible to believe