Is Walsh on the Sky bandwagon?

[Samson777]

Hilarious how no one mentions how he came to find out about JTL. It's like it never happened.

Seriously, you think that is the funny part about Walsh's Sky adventure Well I guess humor is just different..

 

[LaFlorecita]

My god is that serious? Threw up in my mouth at that excerpt.

Yuppers...

 

[LaFlorecita]

I must say I find it hard to believe Walsh is serious with this stuff. He is like a parody of every skybot that has visited the forum in the last year. Kerrison lives in France means they are clean? jeez. lol. Even Taxis4all would get embarrassed by writing stuff like that.

Im looking forward to see if anyone still doesnt think Walsh is on the bandwagon.

I was wondering earlier today... where are all the skybots?! Too busy reading Walsh's crap... or too ashamed?!??!?!?

 

[the sceptic]

Hilarious how no one mentions how he came to find out about JTL. It's like it never happened.

So you still think Walsh is an objective observer?

 

[gooner]

Seriously, you think that is the funny part about Walsh's Sky adventure Well I guess humor is just different..

I wasn't referring to it being hilarious. Just funny how it's not mentioned around here. To be expected though.

 

[Samson777]

I wasn't referring to it being hilarious. Just funny how it's not mentioned around here. To be expected though.

Alright, I must have misread the word hilarious then.

So what is significant to mention about how he came to find out about JTL? And you think it makes the other stuff he claims about SKY, more believable?

 

[Dazed and Confused]

I must say I find it hard to believe Walsh is serious with this stuff. He is like a parody of every skybot that has visited the forum in the last year. Kerrison lives in France means they are clean? jeez. lol. Even Taxis4all would get embarrassed by writing stuff like that.

Im looking forward to see if anyone still doesnt think Walsh is on the bandwagon.

Walsh is just taking the pish, but the buyers of the book won't notice. Its all glory and heroes. British industry at its absolute best.

Do we have a section in the book about how Froome's success has provide Africa with hope and happiness?

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Holy smoke:

There is an arresting theatrical drama about Ventoux when the riders get to the top of the tree line and come out into the blinding light of the moonscape beyond. It is a mountain built to stage final acts. This final act begins with Froome attacking and leaving everybody for dead except Quintana. Tactically it is a master class, and illustrates how much wisdom Team Sky have been able to plant in Froome’s head these past few years. The younger, straight out of Africa, Froome would have chased down every break of the day before finding himself out of gas. Or on another day from the early years he would have looked around him, taking in all the big names, and decided his only chance was to attack from far out, when they weren’t paying much attention. They would think he was mad and do what bike riders have done since 1903: give him enough rope to hang himself. He would often get a good placing on the stage but would have emptied his tank to do so. The next day, he would sleep with the fishes. But here on Ventoux, he is calculating, waiting for the right moment. And his understanding of the perfect strategic climb is no coincidence. Froome has climbed Ventoux before. Twice..

 

[Samson777]

Holy smoke:

Haha.. Yes, wisdom is what Froome have. Plato would have been jealous!

 

[thehog]

Holy smoke:

I know! Gold, right?

Did you read what the twice was?

Once for a TV show where he climbed with Sean Kelly and a prize winner contestant from Norway. They talked the whole way up - it's on youtube.

The second time. After taping that lolly of a show, Froome rode back down and rode it a little faster.

Recon-def-con 5!

 

[LaFlorecita]

Holy smoke:

Ha ha so funny!

 

[thehog]

Hilarious how no one mentions how he came to find out about JTL. It's like it never happened.

I read that Walsh tells us JTL doesn't like needles so can't be doping. And in case this is about Endura not team Sky who "are at the vanguard of anti-doping"

Direct quote

 

[the sceptic]

I read that Walsh tells us JTL doesn't like needles so can't be doping. And in case this is about Endura not team Sky who "are at the vanguard of anti-doping"

Direct quote

What was it Walsh "found out" about JTL anyway? that the UCI had sent him a letter? big deal.

Is it true that he writes that the early morning training before breakfast is the reason for the weight loss? I read that on twitter somewhere.

 

[thehog]

I must say I find it hard to believe Walsh is serious with this stuff. He is like a parody of every skybot that has visited the forum in the last year. Kerrison lives in France means they are clean? jeez. lol.

Even Taxis4all would get embarrassed by writing stuff like that.

Im looking forward to see if anyone still doesnt think Walsh is on the bandwagon.

My concern is that seeing Walsh has got the Ventoux stage so wrong and left out key details, what has has he got wrong or left out?

If he didn't see the Froome attack on Contador what else hasn't he seen?

Walsh appears heavily compromised. But I assume very well remunerated.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Last one:

Nevertheless a cottage industry has grown up in recent years, supplying the blogosphere with statistics which are supposed to ‘prove’ or ‘disprove’ whether a cyclist is guilty. I don’t believe the statisticians themselves set out to be conclusive, but their stats draw the rapt attention of scholars of the University of Wikipedia. If the exchanges between these crowd-sourced academics are any indication of the general comprehension of the stats, then it’s all a bit depressing. Lies. Damned lies. Statistics. You get rabid takers for each. When L’Equipe analysed eighteen climbs of Froome’s from the previous two years they discovered what, for me, was the most relevant statistic in the debate. What Froome did on Ventoux is what Froome does best. He has the ability not just to maintain tempo but to insert five-minute bursts of maximum power output. Why pay attention to just one statistic? Well, L’Equipe were comparing the performances of a single rider and isolating a small component of that rider’s performances on hills. The variables are not eliminated but they are minimised, and there is enough baseline data to make a general conclusion viable. Fred Grappe, who did the analysis, didn’t provide a ticker-tape parade proclaiming Froome’s conclusive innocence. That wasn’t his job and he hadn’t enough data for that. Grappe limited himself to a modest conclusion from the figures he was given.

Does Walsh even understands what he himself writes?

 

[burning]

Thanks to this thread, I am about to vomit for real

 

[thehog]

Thanks to this thread, I am about to vomit for real

Apparently Contador went down for bio passport?

Walsh sure knows his stuff!

 

[The Hitch]

More than anything else, what hits me is that Walsh is a really really poor writer. His metaphors, not only are many of them totally out of place in a "work" of non fiction that intends to make a case for the cleanliness of a cycling team, (butterflies landing on DB's shoulder, really) they are very, well,crap and feel forced, as if Walsh thinks including them will make him look like a good writer, or trying to make up the numbers for the required minimum word count.

Lets take this for example

Chris Froome stands to the side looking out to sea like Columbus who was born here, his Tintin profile peering towards either his destiny or a good spot for the spear fishing he enjoys so much.

What is the point of that sentence. Froome looks out to sea like Columbus. The intention seems to be to set the scene of the TDF presentation and make Froome look like he is outwardly expressing through body language his concentration and desire to win. It is supposed to be significant, otherwise there would not be the comparison to the famous historical figure, it would just be - Froome looks out to sea, like every person who has ever been packed with 10 others onto a small boat, because there is no ****ing other place to look at but the sea, since its all around.

But Walsh says its like Columbus. Ok why Columbus. Well because he was born there so Walsh can say that. But, what was Colombus doing looking out to sea? When?
Who was Columbus.
A sailor who commanded the ships that first sailed to the "new world". So he must have looked out to sea at some point right. Probably. And what was he thinking? Erm, I don't know, "I want gold"? or, "I wonder how far away that land that may exist out there is?

Or does Walsh mean Froome is Columbus when Columbus already has the Americas in his sight?

What was he thinking then. Was he thinking " I discovered America". So how does that relate to Froome? Or was he thinking "I have circled the world and reached India". So what is Froome thinking then "I am happy to be on the team for the Tour"???

I don't know. Walsh hasn't explained it at all, just given a very ambiguous comparison because presumably he thinks its intelligent.

Maybe he should have said "Chris Froome stands to the side looking out to sea like one imaginesColumbus, who was born here, would in (whenever Walsh imagines Colombus looked out to sea that way, did, and what it meant)

But even with that, it feels so forced. More like amateur script to a movie scene than non fiction, because in reality, the trip you take on the boat to the barely watched and absolutely meaningless presentation of 200 cyclists and staff, 2 days before the start of the event, is in no way a pivotal moment of the TDF. Was Froome looking at the sea really such an important moment that serves as a metaphor for his entire attitude to winning the Tour, cleans. In a novel, maybe ( a **** one). In a film, yes because you have to use imagery to get your point across. In a work of non fiction?

And if it was just that then one could give Walsh a pass or say- maybe Walsh really does think that stare into the sea was significant and had to be in the book.

But the thing is all the snippets ive seen read like that. In the disgraceful article from July where he lied like Armstrong, Walsh said listening to Brailsford was like listening to Henry V at Agincourt (the most inspirational speech in English literature). Everything Sky do he seems to interpret as having great meaning and evidence of their state of higher functioning

Perhaps the best example of this is in this snippet.

"What he didn’t say but wanted you to know is that he would have his chance to win this year, no matter what. His intensity recalled what Apollo Creed said to Rocky Balboa:

So Froome in a casual conversation is able to get what he wants to say across by not even saying it?

Wow. Thats amazing. And whatsmore he seemed like a total idiot to me in all the interviews I saw.

And again his behaviour, like Brailsfords is identical to some great historical/ fictional moment everyone can identify with. Colombus, Henry V, Rocky Balboa, spending time with these guys sounds like being in a time machine that has been programmed to take you to all the most inspirational moments of human history.

To me it all reads a lot like fiction. because in fiction writers 1 have tremendous ammounts of time to plan every scene and 2 they control all the characters so can make them interract with eachother in a way that comes off as perfect.

Real life just doesn't nor has it ever worked that way.
Apart from for David Walsh for 6 months of the year 2013 in the surrounding vicintiy of the Team Sky Pro Cycling bus.


ps, fearless greg lemond, you are some kind of masochist reading through that whole book.

 

[gooner]

I read that Walsh tells us JTL doesn't like needles so can't be doping. And in case this is about Endura not team Sky who "are at the vanguard of anti-doping"

Direct quote

That is just rubbish. Walsh said he and Dombromski didn't like being blood tested due to a fear of needles. That was it. Nothing about they couldn't be doping because of it and this was said in the first half of the book where the JTL subject wasn't covered like it was in the end of the book.

 

[hrotha]

Apparently Contador went down for bio passport?

Walsh sure knows his stuff!

Leaving aside the blatant factual inaccuracy... is Walsh saying that Froome haters are Contador fans, who are ALSO Armstrong fans? How does that work?

 

[burning]

Apparently Contador went down for bio passport?

Walsh sure knows his stuff!

From now on, I think it is wrong to call him Clentador or stuff like that

 

[The Hitch]

Holy smoke:

And his understanding of the perfect strategic climb is no coincidence. Froome has climbed Ventoux before. Twice..

If someone had the time they would probably be able to do some very neat comparisons between this and Armstrong's own talking points.

 

[thehog]

Leaving aside the blatant factual inaccuracy... is Walsh saying that Froome haters are Contador fans, who are ALSO Armstrong fans? How does that work?

Walsh tells us they are calling for Froome's crucifixion whilst embracing Contador as a villain that can be liked by some.

"Give us Barbarus!" Walsh exclaims.

Walsh then tells us how dirty Riis is. Just so we all know Sky are clean and everyone else is rotten to the core.

He also goes to lengths of all the former dopers working at Katusha.

 

[thehog]

More than anything else, what hits me is that Walsh is a really really poor writer. His metaphors, not only are many of them totally out of place in a "work" of non fiction that intends to make a case for the cleanliness of a cycling team, (butterflies landing on DB's shoulder, really) they are very, well,crap and feel forced, as if Walsh thinks including them will make him look like a good writer, or trying to make up the numbers for the required minimum word count.

Walsh the wordsmith tells us Porte's "index finger is in love with my sternum".

Poetry.

 

[ebandit]

down

Thanks to this thread, I am about to vomit for real

don't be disheartened............it's just what Britain needs during an economic downturn

the feelgood factor will see 'le froggies legs' being sold to our cross channel pals

Mark L