JV talks, sort of

[Moose McKnuckles]

How fortunate that allergies didn't bother Contador at the 2008 and 2011 Giros. Miraculous, really.

 

[Ripper]

That was my first thought also.
If JV/Garmin had hired Fromme ...

Then they would have hired a god

 

[Poursuivant]

Kudos to JV for even coming on here.

 

[M Sport]

How fortunate that allergies didn't bother Contador at the 2008 and 2011 Giros. Miraculous, really.

It bothered him at the 2008 race, still won though.

 

[thehog]

Kudos to JV for even coming on here.

I know, right. Just to talk to us 12. It's a real honor.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Kudos to JV for even coming on here.

It's called self-interest. It's in his own interest to get fans to believe in this "new cycling." It's his livelihood.

 

[Big Doopie]

Also Talansky was already a major talent in his youth considering he came 2nd to the guy who half the forum thinks will dominate climbing for the next decade, at the Tour de Lavenir.

And his ds is on here answering questions.

Bingo. Yup.

 

[The Hitch]

It's called self-interest. It's in his own interest to get fans to believe in this "new cycling." It's his livelihood.

Well no he doesn't have to. The cycling media afterall has even more interest in telling everyone its clean, so JV could like everyone else ride that boat. The majority of fans want to believe everything is clean and believe anything the media tell them

This way isnt that effective but it is more honest.

 

[Escarabajo]

JV did say that though: you take a chance on riders like that, roll the dice and see how they are on the road. Said he liked to take a chance on riders like that.

As for the first, anecdotaly much has been said about Froome's poor technical ability. Indeed Hog made a mockery of it in the Froome thread. You can't win races if you're falling off all the time. A simple coahing improvement would be to address that flaw.

Soler had similar problems. With the difference that when he did not fall he was goooood.

Big difference.

 

[rata de sentina]

Numbers don't show durability, ability to improve, injury resistance, hormonal and immune system robustness.

The number one thing numbers don't show is in between the ears.

 

[ultimobici]

Really surprised no one has mentioned Contador's "I am never very good this time of year" quote. All those allergies must just stop affecting the poor lad as soon as the calendar hits July.

As one who suffers from hayfever every year I can tell you it does stop almost exactly the same time every year. May & June are dire, July onwards clear as a bell.

That said, "allergies" has been a stock cover story for aeons.

 

[frenchfry]

As one who suffers from hayfever every year I can tell you it does stop almost exactly the same time every year. May & June are dire, July onwards clear as a bell.

That said, "allergies" has been a stock cover story for aeons.

Not defending anyone here, but the crops in France are approx. 3 weeks behind this year due to the incredibly rotten weather. I assume the hayfever season is late as well. On a ride Saturday the air was saturated with pollen, I could see clouds of it blowing off the fields.

 

[frenchfry]

Except it is full of factual mistakes which JV admitted to when it was pointed out to him. Firstly Froome did not start racing bikes in Kenya at 17, he started racing on the road in South Africa at that age which is a completely different thing altogether and he was mountain-biking before that.

JVs opinion is based purely on him hearing that Froome had some big numbers but then he said big numbers are not a guarantee of GT success and other factors are just as relevant.

Then he talked about Froome's weaknesses on the bike, but seriously how could any guy even turn pro if they had such big issues on a bike, especially a guy who was racing from age 17 and had performed in Italian amateur races. What are these faults that when corrected will propel someone from average to superstar???

Well, I assume that he wasn't washing his hands enough for one thing. Marginal gains.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Also Talansky was already a major talent in his youth considering he came 2nd to the guy who half the forum thinks will dominate climbing for the next decade, at the Tour de Lavenir.

And his ds is on here answering questions.

Lets just say his recovery this week has been amazing.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Well no he doesn't have to. The cycling media afterall has even more interest in telling everyone its clean, so JV could like everyone else ride that boat. The majority of fans want to believe everything is clean and believe anything the media tell them

This way isnt that effective but it is more honest.

No, I don't think so at all. I don't see the cycling media quite like that, nor do I see JV's motives as somehow "more honest." It is nice that he comes on here and says a few interesting things though. I don't fault the guy at all, just for the record. He's making his money. Pro cycling is a dirty business.

 

[GreasyMonkey]

Really surprised no one has mentioned Contador's "I am never very good this time of year" quote. All those allergies must just stop affecting the poor lad as soon as the calendar hits July.

I am not surprised by Contador's claim after the Dauphine Libre ITT that he was badly affected by allergies - I live in Madrid area (and am heavily impacted by pollens) and this year the pollens have been abysmal - people who have never had any trouble are being laid low with it.

Contador has a history of pollen allergies and dodgy steak suppliers...

The winter here was very wet, and that has continued right through the spring, I understand it was similar in the French & Italian alpine regions too.

 

[Ride to forget]

I am not surprised by Contador's claim after the Dauphine Libre ITT that he was badly affected by allergies - I live in Madrid area (and am heavily impacted by pollens) and this year the pollens have been abysmal - people who have never had any trouble are being laid low with it.

As I understand it, the very late spring means that instead of various different flora releasing their pollen at different times throughout the spring, everything is being released at all once - a nightmare scenario for sufferers.


Of course, whether Contador's allergy alibi was ever true is another matter, but if it is, no surprise he is having some bad days.

 

[pmcg76]

JV- a few questions coming from recent goings-on in the world of pro cycling.

The development of Froome was discussed the other night but I wanted to ask some more questions on the matter.

Froome said yesterday that him winning was a sign that cycling had changed i.e was cleaner. But considering that your own time-line for cleaner cycling is from 07/08 onward, what accounts for Froome's lack of notable results 08-11???

You talked about areas other than numbers where riders may be weak but what exactly are those areas and how much possible gains can be made in those areas, bike-handling, aero-positioning, tactics etc.

For example I will take a rider from your own team, Dan Martin, around the same age as Froome and roughly the same career span. No offence to Dan but he doesn't exactly have the most elegant or efficient style on the bike either and has always been a relatively weak TT riders as well. You guys have had 5+ years working with Dan to improve those area's and whilst they have improved, they still pale in significance to the Froome improvements and Dan showed a lot more earlier in his career than Froome. How likely is it that someone else can come along and make even bigger improvements to a rider in a matter of months???

If something is stopping a rider from performing as in the case of Froome, surely it should take less than 4 years for a rider to figure out that something is wrong within themselves. Guys who contracts things like monueoclosis figure out pretty quickly something is wrong. Could something that can impact on performance so much really be that un-noticeable??

On the subject of Dan Martin, he has suffered from allergies in the past and I know you guys have spent a lot of time trying to get them sorted. Contador has been complaining of allergies at the Dauphine, Martin seem's to be managing better in Switzerland so far. Are his allergy problems sorted now???

Will have to see if I have any more questions.

 

[gooner]

Dan was on Irish radio in the days his LBL win and said he had no issues with his allergies back then. The only thing he said he had this year was an illness which effected him badly in February.

 

[thehog]

Well, I assume that he wasn't washing his hands enough for one thing. Marginal gains.

Frenchfry. What does the French press make of Froome and Sky train?

Is there much interest in Froome and his accent to the best rider in the world?

Are they questioning him?

 

[DirtyWorks]

The number one thing numbers don't show is in between the ears.

The rider's radio with the road manager barking in one ear fixes that.

"Too fast! You'll catch him too early!"
"Too slow! You won't catch him before the line!"
"WTF are you doing in the back of the peloton! Get up front!"
"I cut a deal with DS XYZ. There's an extra 100 Euro for everyone to goto the front and bring the break back."

"Blah blah blah blah"

 

[frenchfry]

Frenchfry. What does the French press make of Froome and Sky train?

Is there much interest in Froome and his accent to the best rider in the world?

Are they questioning him?

Interesting question - and this goes beyond just the treatment of Froome/Sky but also invites a look into the French presses treatment of the subject of doping in general.

I get the feeling that the French press doesn't really know what to think about Froome. This could be because he has no real history in cycling up to his explosion into the top levels, so not much to base a reaction on. Going on memory, I seem to recall references to best preparation, attention to detail and all that.

I watch France Televisions for television coverage of the races, and they avoid the subject of doping as much as possible. Thierry Adam, the lead commentator, is a Phil Ligget "light" and sang the praises of Armstrong until the very end. He knows about the doping, but holds the "cycling is clean/cleaner" line. Laurent Jalabert also tip toes around the subject and is totally unbelievable when he makes any comments on doping.

I will pay more attention to the consideration of specifically Froome/Sky and keep you posted.

 

[Parrot23]

Ok, here's all the numbers:

42

Average haematocrit of Garmin riders?? (What's the plus or minus, though. Ha, ha!)

 

[thehog]

Interesting question - and this goes beyond just the treatment of Froome/Sky but also invites a look into the French presses treatment of the subject of doping in general.

I get the feeling that the French press doesn't really know what to think about Froome. This could be because he has no real history in cycling up to his explosion into the top levels, so not much to base a reaction on. Going on memory, I seem to recall references to best preparation, attention to detail and all that.

I watch France Televisions for television coverage of the races, and they avoid the subject of doping as much as possible. Thierry Adam, the lead commentator, is a Phil Ligget "light" and sang the praises of Armstrong until the very end. He knows about the doping, but holds the "cycling is clean/cleaner" line. Laurent Jalabert also tip toes around the subject and is totally unbelievable when he makes any comments on doping.

I will pay more attention to the consideration of specifically Froome/Sky and keep you posted.

Thanks FF.

Good summary.

Be interested to see if some of the Euro countries start to question the performances.

But I agree it's important for the French press to protect the race.

 

[Gregga]

Frenchfry. What does the French press make of Froome and Sky train?
Is there much interest in Froome and his accent to the best rider in the world?
Are they questioning him?

Froome made a good PR move with Nicolas Geay, a french TV journalist from France Television. Geay met him several times last winter, made very positives reports on his training camps and races for Stade 2, the main sport broadcast on sunday night. Geay also often chat with @michellecound on twitter. Maybe Geay thinks he's got a new friend, I personnaly think he's been manipulated by the Sky PR machine...