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Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

Page 68 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
tedious link indeed

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Someone posted the a comparison chart of Thomas' climbing performances in the TdS thread. While he nicely won, he is lacking from his 2017-19 level quite a bit (and I don't think he will ever get to that level again, purely due to age). So yes, nice win, nice performance but will he feature prominently in the Tour (in the sense of fighting for the win)? Only if Pog and Rog and probably more end up with very bad luck.
 
Someone posted the a comparison chart of Thomas' climbing performances in the TdS thread. While he nicely won, he is lacking from his 2017-19 level quite a bit (and I don't think he will ever get to that level again, purely due to age). So yes, nice win, nice performance but will he feature prominently in the Tour (in the sense of fighting for the win)? Only if Pog and Rog and probably more end up with very bad luck.
Just a warm up, get the levels right that's all.
 
Interesting to see him at the level of rubbing shoulders with Bardet and Quintana and Gaudu. I think this TdF performance lends him credibility for previous performances. The above three could all win a TdF if their ITT was as strong as Geraint's, the opposition wasn't great and they were team leader protected by a team as financially dominant as the infamous Sky Train.
 
Interesting to see him at the level of rubbing shoulders with Bardet and Quintana and Gaudu. I think this TdF performance lends him credibility for previous performances. The above three could all win a TdF if their ITT was as strong as Geraint's, the opposition wasn't great and they were team leader protected by a team as financially dominant as the infamous Sky Train.
This TdF has the same credibility as his win or second place: zero. He is the icing on the cake of crap Sky cooked for almost a decade after Sir TUE and Dawg.

Seeing him riding this high in the GC at this age would be ridiculous but, then again, everything this donk turned Tour winner ever did is quite silly.

A guy who as an ok classics rider, at best, for the better part of his career has no business turning into a world class climber. No business then, no business now.
 
I am laughing at/with LS laughing, but also laughing at the idea of G's TDF win being credible/believable.
I was laughing at the one-eyed nature of the comment, stating something which is true which supports the argument they're making but ignoring something which is equally true which blows it to smithereens. "rubbing shoulders with Gaudu" (who he beat by nearly 30 seconds, mind) might suggest that the performance is not out of the ordinary (then again, at Gaudu's current age the nearest thing to a credible GT performance Thomas had was coming 21st at the Dauphiné in 2010), but they omit "dropping Tadej freaking Pogačar by over a minute" which is not the kind of thing that "adds credibility" to your transformation from injury-prone northern Classics man to climbing up HC mountains with the heads of state.
 
I was laughing at the one-eyed nature of the comment, stating something which is true which supports the argument they're making but ignoring something which is equally true which blows it to smithereens. "rubbing shoulders with Gaudu" (who he beat by nearly 30 seconds, mind) might suggest that the performance is not out of the ordinary (then again, at Gaudu's current age the nearest thing to a credible GT performance Thomas had was coming 21st at the Dauphiné in 2010), but they omit "dropping Tadej freaking Pogačar by over a minute" which is not the kind of thing that "adds credibility" to your transformation from injury-prone northern Classics man to climbing up HC mountains with the heads of state.
I would not think the person who was one eyed was the one who had commented as this TdF being credible for the entire peloton and for Pogacar as well. Rather youd have to be zero eyed to draw the conclusion that I've been one eyed. Your vision also seems impaired by conventiantly ignoring my mention of Quintana and Bardet (who Geraint also rubbed shoulders with).

I wonder does your definition of 'one eyed' include comparing Geraint 15 years ago (he won gold for team pursuit at Olympics and World Champs when he was a year older than Gaudu now) to Gaudu? I wouldn't call that one eyed. More, no brained. ;)
 
Yes, a 36-year-old classics guy blowing the doors off Pogi on an uphill finish is seriously funny!
Are you suggesting Geraint's performance relative to all of Yates, Gaudu, Vingegaard, Quintana and Bardet was comically unbelievable? Yes, the age is very much against him but he is an unusual case in that he didn't transition to 30-40mins extended speed endurance until he had bagged a bundle of gold medals. Coming late to the game and being a diesel may be things that help guys get a GT top 10 (which he looks like doing) into their mid-30s.
 
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I am laughing at/with LS laughing, but also laughing at the idea of G's TDF win being credible/believable.
Well, lends him 'more' credibility would perhaps be a more accurate reflection of my opinion. I would never say any GT victory is completely credible. My point is showing that the speed to compete for a GT top 5-10 is probably within him. I doubt he would risk his legacy as a TdF winner and multi gold medal winner by getting sanctioned for cheating en route to a top 10 TdF finish. That'd be madness. He wouldn't be anywhere near the conversation for a podium had Roglic and O'Connor not had problems.

Yes, this LS is a funny guy. :D
 
Are you suggesting Geraint's performance relative to all of Yates, Gaudu, Vingegaard, Quintana and Bardet was comically unbelievable? Yes, the age is very much against him but he is an unusual case in that he didn't transition to 30-40mins extended speed endurance until he had bagged a bundle of gold medals. Coming late to the game and being a diesel may be things that help guys get a GT top 10 (which he looks like doing) into their mid-30s.
To me, yes. Geraint's performance today was amusing. But what is my opinion vs. anyone else's? I'm an old hermit with senility issues, and I post on CN forums way too much. Still, I did enjoy today's stage for a whole host of reasons. G's performance was part of the complete soup. It's all good.
 
I would not think the person who was one eyed was the one who had commented as this TdF being credible for the entire peloton and for Pogacar as well. Rather youd have to be zero eyed to draw the conclusion that I've been one eyed. Your vision also seems impaired by conventiantly ignoring my mention of Quintana and Bardet (who Geraint also rubbed shoulders with).

I wonder does your definition of 'one eyed' include comparing Geraint 15 years ago (he won gold for team pursuit at Olympics and World Champs when he was a year older than Gaudu now) to Gaudu? I wouldn't call that one eyed. More, no brained. ;)
I compared Geraint at the age Gaudu is now. When he was a classics specialist. That isn't 15 years ago.

And I mean, the comparison of Thomas climbing with Quintana was what caused Peter Kennaugh to lose his rag with the Chicken a few years ago, when Geraint was a lot younger (and Quintana, despite being perceived as past it, is four years younger than Thomas too).
I doubt he would risk his legacy as a TdF winner and multi gold medal winner by getting sanctioned for cheating en route to a top 10 TdF finish. That'd be madness. He wouldn't be anywhere near the conversation for a podium had Roglic and O'Connor not had problems.
Ah yes, the "he would never dope, because it would suck if he got caught" argument. Never heard that one before.

And to be honest, based on the first nine years of his professional road career, he wouldn't be anywhere the conversation for a podium in any Grand Tour, period. What happened after that is what is the fundamental difference in this thread, and comparing the 2022 Thomas to the 2018-19 Thomas to describe his 'credibility' as a Tour winner is not really going to get us anywhere, because the thing that has the biggest impact on Thomas' credibility as a Tour winner is his career at any point until 2015.
 
Stage 11 and things are getting really weird. Vingegaard, Thomas, and van Aert all riding in some amazing form. I didn't believe Thomas was a GC champ a few years ago, and I'm not believing his high-altitude riding yesterday. YIKES!

Also, where in the heck did Laporte come from? I knew the name but had to look him up. Riding like a champ right now.
 
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