Geraint Thomas, the next british hope

[PhiLiz]

@ Philiz

You just said yourself "Thomas himself acknowledged the switch". The switch. Get it? He isnt a Classics rider.

As for my mate, I'll take his opinion over some bloviating forum obsessive, on any day of the week. He isn't opaque at all in private, to me. He explained the ins and outs of how and why people dope very succinctly to me, and it really is a matter of having to rather than choosing to at that level. It's also a risky calculation between committing to an expensive process with no guarantee of reward.

You can call him a liar if you wish, or me. But only one of us here actually knows what he is talking about, and that person isn't you.

Yeah, and that switch near his 30's is precisely what makes him ridiculous. That was the point all along and you're just in shambles at this point if you've to resort to goalpost change like that

I never called him a liar. Actually, at this point I'll take your approach and I'll say you're just making stuff up so he can't be a liar since he really doesn't exist. This is the way you do it, right?

If he's such a good insight then it should be easy for you to disprove the theories here and yet you've failed completely at doing so, so far.

Funny the one that kNoWs wHaT hE iS tAlKiNg seems to have all his facts wrong time and time again. Better call your mate for some help.

 

[BullsFan22]

I did. They pushed the TUE system to the max on steroids.

So come on O Grand Cogniscenti, please bestow your knowledge on this poor ignorant soul

I am not going to do the work for you. You can just ask your friends who are in the know. LOL. As Roy Keane says, you’re living in ‘cuckoo land.’

 

[macbindle]

I am not going to do the work for you. You can just ask your friends who are in the know. LOL. As Roy Keane says, you’re living in ‘cuckoo land.’

AKA "Do your own research"

 

[macbindle]

Yeah, and that switch near his 30's is precisely what makes him ridiculous. That was the point all along and you're just in shambles at this point if you've to resort to goalpost change like that

I never called him a liar. Actually, at this point I'll take your approach and I'll say you're just making stuff up so he can't be a liar since he really doesn't exist. This is the way you do it, right?

If he's such a good insight then it should be easy for you to disprove the theories here and yet you've failed completely at doing so, so far.

Funny the one that kNoWs wHaT hE iS tAlKiNg seems to have all his facts wrong time and time again. Better call your mate for some help.

There's that narrative again...moving from one day races to GTs aged 30 is "ridiculous".

Says who? You?

Bwah ha ha haaa

 

[PhiLiz]

There's that narrative again...moving from one day races to GTs aged 30 is "ridiculous".

Says who? You?

Bwah ha ha haaa

Top kek

The absolute state of Skybots after the loss of dominance. I miss the marginal pillows.

 

[macbindle]

Ah yes "Skybot".

The dehumanising label. Anti-vaxxers label anybody who challenges their dogma a "bot". The parallels are amazing.

"Waaaaa. Geraint Thomas isn't allowed to win. Waaaaa"

"Why not?"

"Because I said so waaaaaaa"

 

[PhiLiz]

Ah yes "Skybot".

The dehumanising label. Anti-vaxxers label anybody who challenges their dogma a "bot". The parallels are amazing.

"Waaaaa. Geraint Thomas isn't allowed to win. Waaaaa"

"Why not?"

"Because I said so waaaaaaa"

I see your mate has thought you some excellent """argumentation skills""" on top of the elite cycling expertise.

I've three Covid shots, don't know what that has the slightest thing to do with this, but I see you're having trouble with facts again...

My last reply to you: you've been exposed as a know nothing Sky apologist. Don't want you in your feelings again with the word bot, you might add some another "a" to your onomatopoeias and that would start to look foolish and I really don't want that...

Everytime we're talking about something objective, you fall flat on your face and either try (and fail miserably) to dodge the point by start talking about anti-vaxxers (kek, can't make this up) or proven dead wrong about easily verifiable information. You're not ready for the Skineos PR machine just yet but with some marginal gains I'm sure you can improve massively. Like Thomas did.

 

[BullsFan22]

AKA "Do your own research"

What does this have to do about doping in cycling? You are the only one here talking about this.

 

[perico]

I'm talking the loss of TV ad revenues etc. that came with the loss of German audiences following 2006-7. The UK has a similar population size and at the time relatively untapped audience potential. The ASO-run Tour de Yorkshire. The success of the GD in the UK. Are you trying to earnestly suggest British viewing figures for cycling haven't gone up in the last fifteen years? I would be absolutely shocked if so. Now, maybe it's not grown to become massively mainstream, but while still a niche sport it's a much larger niche than it was before the Olympic successes in Beijing and the translation of those to the road afterward. I would absolutely lay money on the Tour's viewing figures being far higher in the UK now than they were when London held the GD in 2007. Time has healed the wound in Germany, too, of course, as they've had a GD of their own since.

And no resurgence of French cycling? Maybe not in terms of GT winners, but compared to where they were in 2005-2009, the likes of Bardet, Pinot, Alaphilippe and Démare very much ARE a resurgence.

Nice to see all y'all back in one place though - good to get the band back together once in a while

In the states, every race was shown live on a niche channel, or in highlight packages on backwater channels like ESPN2. In the 1980s, they would have 3 weekend highlight programs. Live Tour daily coverage didn't become a thing until 2001. Until that point, ESPN still had the contract with ASO before then and would show 30 minute to an hour packages on their 2nd channel. The demand for Lance at that point was so great that a small channel (OLN, who up until that point only provided live daily coverage of the Giro and classics) worked out a deal with ASO. The first year there was live coverage was 2001 (the year of "The Look" on Alpe d'huez). During the peak of the Armstrong era, ratings for the TDF were huge for a small network, but weren't enough for a major player like ESPN to provide live daily coverage. After Armstrong retired and was exposed, the TV audience numbers basically cratered back to not a whole lot- around 500,000 viewers the year Floyd won and was then stripped. It's probably about half that now. We still have live coverage now due to the long standing contract NBC (who bought out OLN/VS.) has with ASO. NBC shut down their sports channel last year to move towards streaming, and I guarantee that in the years ahead the only way to watch the Tour will be through their streaming site.

I would be shocked if there hadn't been a similar shift in the UK over the last ten years. Even a niche sport on a non-major network will draw in a larger audience when they are having the success that Sky/Ineos have had since 2012.

 

[macbindle]

I see your mate has thought you some excellent """argumentation skills""" on top of the elite cycling expertise.

I've three Covid shots, don't know what that has the slightest thing to do with this, but I see you're having trouble with facts again...

My last reply to you: you've been exposed as a know nothing Sky apologist. Don't want you in your feelings again with the word bot, you might add some another "a" to your onomatopoeias and that would start to look foolish and I really don't want that...

Everytime we're talking about something objective, you fall flat on your face and either try (and fail miserably) to dodge the point by start talking about anti-vaxxers (kek, can't make this up) or proven dead wrong about easily verifiable information. You're not ready for the Skineos PR machine just yet but with some marginal gains I'm sure you can improve massively. Like Thomas did.

Wow. A word salad.

Somebody has got under your skin.

 

[macbindle]

What does this have to do about doping in cycling? You are the only one here talking about this.

It has to do with group think on a subsection of a cycling forum, and what happens in the absence of facts and knowledge.

Think of it as a sort of allegory.

 

[ngent41]

It has to do with group think on a subsection of a cycling forum, and what happens in the absence of facts and knowledge.

Think of it as a sort of allegory.

Ya everyone, MacBindle has the facts and knowledge that geraint thomas is 100 % clean. Nothing to see here about a 36 year old improving his climbing times up the Alpe. Close the thread.

 

[macbindle]

Lol. Now putting words into other people's mouths. Classic tactic

 

[ngent41]

If you aren't arguing that he's clean than what are you arguing about ? Obviously nobody has the facts, its all speculation. Ask your ex pro rider friend if he was faster as a 32 year old or a 36 year old.

 

[macbindle]

If you want to know what the discussion is, try reading the thread. Love how you try and force it into a binary of your choice. Standard tactic.

 

[ngent41]

If you want to know what the discussion is, try reading the thread. Love how you try and force it into a binary of your choice. Standard tactic.

I have read the thread, and I am definitely an idiot, and work the night shift so i only sleep like 2 hours a day. Given that,it seems to me like you are arguing that thomas isn't doping. So correct me if I am wrong please. Will you just give a straight answer to the question, are you arguing thomas is clean?

 

[macbindle]

That isn't what the discussion is about. Try harder, and stop blaming me for your inadequacies.

 

[ngent41]

That isn't what the discussion is about. Try harder, and stop blaming me for your inadequacies.

So like usual you can't answer a question. I knew from your posting history it was pointless to have a conversation with you.

 

[macbindle]

That's right, I don't give in to manipulative zealots

 

[SHAD0W93]

Ah...is this the latest narrative?

that’s not a narrative, I’m stating a fact. Steroid use, especially long term, hampers bone strength and makes them more brittle. For everything said about the cynics and their beliefs, a lot is missed by the non cynics on medication and that it does more than what they say they use it for.

 

[nayr497]

I honestly had to look it up when I heard it after yesterday's stage. Froome has won FOUR TdFs?! Yikes.

 

[shalgo]

And yet the time he spent focusing on the classics is, at this point in time, still a longer part of his career than his time as a mountain climber.

Is it really? He rode the spring classics for the first time in 2010, had his first good classics results in 2011 (2nd DvV, 10th Ronde), didn't ride them in 2012, then had good classics seasons in 2013, 2014, and 2015. But 2015 is also the year he was 4th in the Tour after stage 18, eventually finishing 15th. He has been a GC rider pretty much ever since then. He rode only MSR and the Ronde in 2016, and was already 1st in Algarve and Paris-Nice that year. He has had at least one podium (and usually several) in a stage race every year since 2016.

 

[BullsFan22]

My good friend Chris Froome said he doesn’t dope, he’s never doped and will continue to race clean. I trust him.

 

[SHAD0W93]

Is it really? He rode the spring classics for the first time in 2010, had his first good classics results in 2011 (2nd DvV, 10th Ronde), didn't ride them in 2012, then had good classics seasons in 2013, 2014, and 2015. But 2015 is also the year he was 4th in the Tour after stage 18, eventually finishing 15th. He has been a GC rider pretty much ever since then. He rode only MSR and the Ronde in 2016, and was already 1st in Algarve and Paris-Nice that year. He has had at least one podium (and usually several) in a stage race every year since 2016.

She’s focusing even more so on the fact he was doing it over 3 weeks, not just a week stage race where his TT and far superior team can help secure the win or placing. If 2016 was harder or had another difficult stage, Contador probably wins Paris Nice.

 

[macbindle]

that’s not a narrative, I’m stating a fact. Steroid use, especially long term, hampers bone strength and makes them more brittle. For everything said about the cynics and their beliefs, a lot is missed by the non cynics on medication and that it does more than what they say they use it for.

You've done your own research lol