Great Innovations in Cycling (Presented by Sky)

[the big ring]

So Pat says there is indeed a good part of correct suspicions? Note he didn't say "I think that is missguided" or even: "I think most of that is missguided".

If that quote is correct it's a foot in mouth action and should get scorn from all sides of this discussion.

If you think Pat is dumb you are misstaken. You don't become head of UCI without very good negotiating skills and a tremendous memory.

Now you agree with me?

 

[ultimobici]

XIIV) Employing 'specialised' Doctors to ensure TeamSky Staff live long enough to complete a GT.

Comments like this are just beyond the pale. You have taken this to a new low. Well done.

Wiggins must have been talking about you specifically.

 

[Dalakhani]

As perfectly (!) demonstrated today.

1. Swear at your support staff.

2. Grab the towel out from under his arm.

3. Wave all the w@**ers off.

4. Sit down on the pavement.

5. Have support staff carry OJ (EPO mix???) and give you a water bottle.

That, my friends, is the perfect warm down. If put to good use, you will be going 50 kph+ in a TT within the month.

Dave.

Ha, ha.

Brad's a lovely fella, really. (I know this because the British media tell me so.)

 

[Dalakhani]

Not even looking at the Tour de France route before the race. Wiggins claimed he didn't know when the mountain stages were.

Ah, wait, I know you're a sceptic, but I am reading 'Rough Ride', and Kimmage said that, when he had to ascend the Col Granon, he was regretting having done it in training - because he could remember how steep it was.

If you don't know when the mountains are, maybe that helps - maybe you don't worry about them so much.

 

[andy1234]

XIIV) Employing 'specialised' Doctors to ensure TeamSky Staff live long enough to complete a GT.

You are a disgusting piece if ***.

 

[thehog]

You are a disgusting piece if ***.

Now now andy1234. Play fair.

 

[2008885]

Indeed.
"Lump" of *** would be better.

 

[andy1234]

Now now andy1234. Play fair.

That was the edited version.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Can we add:

Turning [some] UK citizens in chauvinist w@nkers when it comes to the dealing with Sky/BC.

Never had a cycling intrest those guys, or, wait, maybe this is not a novelty as it has been done in the States.
Sorry, indoctrination is not a novelty.

 

[BroDeal]

You are a disgusting piece if ***.

Indeed.
"Lump" of *** would be better.

I just wanted to save a record of these plus bump the thread so they remain visible. Good show. You have made fanboys everywhere proud.

 

[Benotti69]

Comments like this are just beyond the pale. You have taken this to a new low. Well done.

Wiggins must have been talking about you specifically.

Maybe you missed Brailsford comment which i merely repeated.

He used the death of a soigneur as a reason to hire a doping doctor. That is low.

 

[andy1234]

I just wanted to save a record of these plus bump the thread so they remain visible. Good show. You have made fanboys everywhere proud.

If by fanboy you mean someone with the decency not to make the death of a colleague into an opportunity for points scoring, I thank you.

It's a pity that your mock indignation doesn't stretch to things that actually matter.

 

[Digger]

I can see what you're saying. Thanks for the non-abuse.

Wiggins is not like Armstrong. Wiggins does not climb like Contador, as someone else said. Whoever thinks that hasn't been watching cycling. Wiggins comes from a track background, team pursuit, that sort of thing, where the ability to set a pace and vary that pace slightly brings success. Because he was good at it. Lots of Olympic and championship medals show that.

So, can we say that he should be a good time trialler. It's what he doesn, it's the way he rides.

So, the climbing. How does he climb - off the front like Contador, Armstrong, Ricco? No, he sticks behind his team mates, they do the work for him, mostly, and they stick to a set pace. When Froome lights up and moves away, Wiggins has no answer. Once he had to come back because he was dragging Nibali with him away from Wiggins, and once because he thought it was the thing he should do (or Yates told him to).

What we saw in the tour would have been very different if Contador or A Schleck had been there. Sky would have had to leave Wiggins, because he had no reply.

So, in truth, although I see some similarities between Sky and US Postal, Sky only ever have 4 people in the team on the climb (Wiggins, Froome, Rogers, Porte). USPS used to have more.

Sky brought a sprinter and his helper, something which USP never ever did. So Sky were two down straight away. Then they had a rider crash out on the first couple of days. So they were three down.
By the way, Hagen was bossing things as well. So your last paragraph holds no weight. They were every bit as dominant as Sky, for the amount of riders they had.

 

[Benotti69]

If by fanboy you mean someone with the decency not to make the death of a colleague into an opportunity for points scoring, I thank you.

I know, it was despicable of Brailsford to do this wasn't it?

“When someone dies on your team and you feel you’re putting riders at risk… for all we knew the riders could have had the same thing.

“We sat down and realised that as a group of people we did not know enough about looking after people in extreme heat, with extreme fatigue."

 

[Ripper]

Can we add..

Not going to Rihanna concerts.

Important.

Priceless!

 

[the big ring]

They were every bit as dominant as Sky (USPS?), for the amount of riders they had.

They won 6/21 stages and 1+2 on GC - I'd say even more successful than any USPS Tour victory.

 

[gerundium]

12) Special team olive oil

Wow this amazing.

 

[fruit bars with eyes]

Brailsford wittering on this morning about a) pillows and b) washing your hands properly

 

[diorgen]

Didn't it come out that Lance was doing test mixed with olive oil and drinking it with an eyedropper

 

[Galic Ho]

But what exactly is the economic argument you're making? That in 2009, Wiggins suddenly checked his bank account, and thought 'hold on, if I start doping I'll be able to double my salary. Pass me the epo'?

However, if this economic incentive to dope is so powerful and sound, then why didn't he think the same thing in, say, 2008? Or in 2007? or in 2006? (A period when doping was, by all accounts, much more rife than it is now). Why did the economic 'argument' only kick in at 28, when he was already a triple olympic champion, making a comfortable living from his trade (£200k a year is what, eight times higher than the average UK salary?)

I don't really understand what the argument is you're making, other than pointing out that prior to 2009 Wiggins concentrated on one aspect of cycling that was less lucrative than the one he started concentrating on after 2009.

Your math and common sense are lacking. The average UK salary based on your 200K figure and it being 1/8 puts it at 25K. Seriously??? Seriously???

Average UK salary is about a grand a week. That is 52K per annum. Wiggins barely had a contract after Cofidis. He was exceptionally lucky Jonathan Vaughters signed him on at Garmin. Even more fortunate Allan Lim and his rice cakes were there. Even luckier they had he entire team work for him in the Tour. Take out the TTT, he'd have been 7th on GC. Can almost bank on a lower Sky contract on that. Wiggins contract went up to 1.5 Million GBP at Sky. First season. You know, the one without Leinders and Tim Kerrison mixing the fruit cocktails and warm down sessions in Teneriffe?

Wiggins new fully well Brailsford had money coming up. He knew they had a vacancy for GC rider and that the sponsor was Sky and WANTED a British winner. Want me to do the math for you champ? His salary increased over 7 fold in the space of a season and on the back of a weak Garmin doping program. Wiggins knew Brailsford had funds to get doping products. How the hell do you think he won on the track? Clean...he's been doping a very long time. Difference was he sucked on the road. Literally autobus climber...at times worse. Money and glory...they are the real motivators. Ask Wiggins wife. She loves the extra mullah. I'd wager she was a discerning motivator in his transformation. Well worth it. He knew how the game was played and how it worked for LA. Why ride in the autobus on the road and get no glory, no wins and by comparison earna pitance to the big names who get the wins? It's a no brainer. Blackcat has it...he said the same back in 2009 BTW.

To add to BroDeal's list.

no.xx: Travel to your continent of birth. Stay for a while and holiday. Somehow find a way to contract a mysterious blood disease. On team Sky, it'll make you stronger. You'll go from getting smashed by Simon Gerrans to losing weight and powering past your own team Captain on the mountains and dominating ITT courses beating world champions and the most gifted ITT'ist in history. All while recontracting the same disease and missing the entire season. You're the anti-thesis to the peaking all season of your team mate. Your sickness makes you better, in a sport where it should be a detriment. Forget racing, catch some fancy African blood disease...that'll teach your body how to regenerate blood that superior to any one elses.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Your math and common sense are lacking. The average UK salary based on your 200K figure and it being 1/8 puts it at 25K. Seriously??? Seriously???

Average UK salary is about a grand a week. That is 52K per annum.

I would be amazed if 52K (or close) was the average salary.

Average salary

 

[Caruut]

12) Special team olive oil

Made in Ferrera?

 

[Caruut]

I would be amazed if 52K (or close) was the average salary.

Average salary

Wikipedia makes it £42,000, but it's hard to get up to date figures on salaries.

 

[Galic Ho]

I would be amazed if 52K (or close) was the average salary.

Average salary

Ok. Guess all the figures I've seen are from higher paying industries. But if its the govt stats body, they'll reliable because of the sample size.

Convert to Aussie dollars, simply multiply by 1.5. Way, way, way below the Aussie average. I was always under the impression the Aussie and GB averages were almost identical numerically.

Still only solidifies Blackcats point that economic favour plays a massive part. And it's not like he wasn't comfortable. One season alone, you can literally upgrade your entire lifestyle. New house, new car, new holidays...the whole lot. You were well off, now your are flippin RICH. Wiggins contract went up by a massive margin. Cav was only getting 500K at HTC. Tripled at Sky. Also the glory part Franklin mentioned. I'd say its a measure of both that induce one to dope. Why not? What have you got to lose if everyone else winning big does it and doesn't get nabbed? After all, if the team can guarantee the doctors and dope funding, you are literally set.

 

[richtea]

Wikipedia makes it £42,000, but it's hard to get up to date figures on salaries.

It really isn't. Figures are produced annually in the Annual Survey of Hours and Earnings, sponsored by the Office for National Statistics. £42k is definitely incorrect, its in the region of £26-28k, although obviously much higher in London.