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Nibali wants ban on SRM meters

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J

JRanton

Apr 2, 2010
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_nm___ said:
i didn't have the impression they lost it in the descents when watching it.
cyclingnews says: "Froome also admitted he didn’t have the legs to go with him on the climb, insisting the descent was not a problem."
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Exactly. Nothing to do with descending. Nibali had the legs, Froome didn't. Does anyone seriously think that the use of a SRM makes a difference to the outcome of a race? It's about who has the legs. Sky had them on Tivo, they didn't yesterday. Pretty simple really.
 
D

Dazed and Confused

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It took one of the hardest stages i've seen in a long while (in crap conditions) to derail the Sky train. I don't expect Sky's train to derail in the tour, there are no stages as tough as the one in T-A. Not even close.

Instead we will see a train going for 3000 km and a bunch of 1-3km sprints. Computerized, precision racing.

The concept reminds me of the Greek football approach a couple of years ago: dull and effective.

Chapeau Nibali, you are looking the champ.
 
Pentacycle

Pentacycle

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Some people were really sad to see HTC-Highroad folding, but weren't they team Sky avant la lettre? Of course not in mountain stages, but in flat stages you'd have one or two of them on the front all day, and in the last 5 km noone could surpass them to deliver Cavendish. Same borefest really, but somehow many people didn't want to see that team go. At least sprints are more chaotic nowadays, less predictable with more possible winners.

If Sky has the riders and discipline to do the same for Froome uphill as HTC did for Cav delivering him to the line, they should do it. (as anyone would do with such a strong team) Maybe Sky will suffer the same fate as HTC, losing not their money but their best domestiques (Uran, Henao, Porte?) to other teams over the next few years, significantly hurting their GT team strength. That's nothing an SRM meter can change.
 
J

JRanton

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Dazed and Confused said:
It took one of the hardest stages i've seen in a long while (in crap conditions) to derail the Sky train. I don't expect Sky's train to derail in the tour, there are no stages as tough as the one in T-A. Not even close.

Instead we will see a train going for 3000 km and a bunch of 1-3km sprints. Computerized, precision racing.

The concept reminds me of the Greek football approach a couple of years ago: dull and effective.

Chapeau Nibali, you are looking the champ.
Click to expand...

The Tour is still unpredictable in terms of crashes. Sky might be down to six riders by the time we've left Corsica, you never know.
 
J

JRanton

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Pentacycle said:
Some people were really sad to see HTC-Highroad folding, but weren't they team Sky avant la lettre? Of course not in mountain stages, but in flat stages you'd have one or two of them on the front all day, and in the last 5 km noone could surpass them to deliver Cavendish. Same borefest really, but somehow many people didn't want to see that team go. At least sprints are more chaotic nowadays, less predictable with more possible winners.

If Sky has the riders and discipline to do the same for Froome uphill as HTC did for Cav delivering him to the line, they should do it. (as anyone would do with such a strong team) Maybe Sky will suffer the same fate as HTC, losing not their money but their best domestiques (Uran, Henao, Porte?) to other teams over the next few years, significantly hurting their GT team strength. That's nothing an SRM meter can change.
Click to expand...

But HTC just replaced them with others who did an equally good job. For Sky, witness Kiryienka/Cataldo replacing Mick Rogers for example.
 
Miburo

Miburo

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Pentacycle said:
Some people were really sad to see HTC-Highroad folding, but weren't they team Sky avant la lettre? Of course not in mountain stages, but in flat stages you'd have one or two of them on the front all day, and in the last 5 km noone could surpass them to deliver Cavendish. Same borefest really, but somehow many people didn't want to see that team go. At least sprints are more chaotic nowadays, less predictable with more possible winners.
Click to expand...

Setting up a train on the flat is a bit more believable than what we've seen sky do besides sky can also set up a train on the flat (look at the last stage of the tour '12)

Besides why do you watch cycling? For sprints on the flat? :eek:

Untill the last 5km it will always be boring.
 
Pentacycle

Pentacycle

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Miburo said:
Setting up a train on the flat is a bit more believable than what we've seen sky do besides sky can also set up a train on the flat (look at the last stage of the tour '12)

Besides why do you watch cycling? For sprints on the flat? :eek:

Untill the last 5km it will always be boring.
Click to expand...

Actually it's much easier on a mountain than in a sprint with 60+ km/h speeds. But Sky have the team strength, just as HTC had. Their doms who had chased the break for 100kms were still pulling with 10 to go, they were amazing just as Sky. Two years ago you could easily predict who'd win the Tour stage if HTC was off the front with 5 to go. Now it's the same on a MTF with the Skyborgs.

And yes, I watched a lot of TdF flat stages in 2009/2010 for instance, where HTC never failed to deliver all day long. Now I rarely watch flat stages besides the last 10kms.
 
Kwibus

Kwibus

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ultimobici said:
My point is that Nibali is using an SRM this season, as he has in previous seasons.

His descending skills are, I agree, beyond question.

However I think his argument is flawed. SRMs and their use don't affect the pattern of racing anywhere near as much as he suggests, unless you have someone advising the rider on the analysis of the data. Remove the SRM & you still have, as evidenced by Garmin, remote control racing. Remove the radio and allow the SRM and the rider still has to decide what to do without outside influence.
Click to expand...

It would be stupid not to use it. You can be against something, but still use it.
For example I could be against health insurance, but ofcourse I will use it when I need it. Nibali is not stupid.

He just wants cycling to be about balls and not about a meter telling you what to do.
What did SRM give to cycling? Did it make it better? No way.
 
Jelantik

Jelantik

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gerundium said:
If the sport turns into robots riding the front all day long with nobody able to make an attack stick until we get into VO2max level efforts at the end of stages it will soon start losing popularity. it's just boring. Why do you think the classics get so much praise here? Because there we can see the competitors going after each other from 50k out sometimes. Creating epic drawn out battles where tactics and rider prowess become far more critical.

Riding tempo at 5 W/kg on the front for the first climb, then the next dom rides 5.2 W/kg for the second climb and for the third climb of the day we start at 5.5 W/kg and ramp it up by 0.1 every 2 kilometers until we can get our leader into the 3 minute barrier where the leaders will test each others remaining capacity for VO2max level efforts on the last kilometer of the stage. It's admirable for sure and the strongest steady state rider who can conserve the most for his VO2max effort will win. but is it any good for the fan / the sport? not in my opinion.
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maybe instead of long climb like Galibier, it should be more medium climb with steep gradient like TA stage 6? So no one can't control the race...
 
Netserk

Netserk

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Pentacycle said:
Some people were really sad to see HTC-Highroad folding, but weren't they team Sky avant la lettre? Of course not in mountain stages, but in flat stages you'd have one or two of them on the front all day, and in the last 5 km noone could surpass them to deliver Cavendish. Same borefest really, but somehow many people didn't want to see that team go. At least sprints are more chaotic nowadays, less predictable with more possible winners.
Click to expand...

I think there was many that were happy that we no longer have to see the HTC-train. Just ask Libertine ;)
 
Pentacycle

Pentacycle

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del1962 said:
But now we will have the Quick Step Train
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Quickstep sucks at leading out Cav, he'll have to do the last km's by himself. Lotto at least have a good leadout in Roelandts and Henderson, Steegmans doesn't have it anymore in sprints lately. Only when Boonen decides to ride the Tour (which I strongly doubt) Cav could have a team he can trust.

HTC was the summum of sprint trains. If you let them at the front in the final 5k, you knew who was gonna win. Not very exciting to watch, but effective for Cavendish.
 
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