Re: Re:
Hitch nice try, but observations about Valverde today are not just LBL but from the context of his entire career, his age and his performances in the last two seasons against his own performances of seasons past which have caught my eye.
Valverde is not a late bloomer like Horner, he turned pro in 2002. Yes Valverde is a great talent but Dan Martin hasn't been podiuming grand tours at 35 or 36 after turning pro nearly 15 years ago either. Most people expect performances to gradually decline with age but now we have to put up watching a veteran regularly finishing ahead of riders in their physiological prime years of 28 - 32 - not just in hilly classics but in Grand Tours supposedly riding support for Quintana (last years Tour). If Piti podiums the TdF this year you will have some explaining to do. Hopefully I am wrong.
The Hitch said:Inquitus said:DFA123 said:Any evidence to suggest Martin is riding any cleaner than Valverde; apart from the fact he is 2nd all the time instead of first. This is the same Martin, after all, who did to everyone else on the last climb what Valverde did to him.Cookster15 said:I wonder what Dan Martin is thinking? I reckon he was just ripped off a monument win. In 2016 Valverde was sublime in 2017 it is definitely rediculous.
Well he hasn't previously had a doping ban like Valverde, and Valverde is beating him for fun while whistling dixie......
So when Dan Martin beat Valverde in 2013 or 2014 or some such, was he doping then? Or was Valverde clean then?
Obviously Valverde doped in the past. But if we are pointing at him doping in the NOW, then that implicates his competitors as well. If its easy for one guy to get away with it, others can to. The lazy narrative of the one bad guy cheating but everyone (especially one's favourite riders) doing it for the moral good of sport, is a unrealistic one.
Hitch nice try, but observations about Valverde today are not just LBL but from the context of his entire career, his age and his performances in the last two seasons against his own performances of seasons past which have caught my eye.
Valverde is not a late bloomer like Horner, he turned pro in 2002. Yes Valverde is a great talent but Dan Martin hasn't been podiuming grand tours at 35 or 36 after turning pro nearly 15 years ago either. Most people expect performances to gradually decline with age but now we have to put up watching a veteran regularly finishing ahead of riders in their physiological prime years of 28 - 32 - not just in hilly classics but in Grand Tours supposedly riding support for Quintana (last years Tour). If Piti podiums the TdF this year you will have some explaining to do. Hopefully I am wrong.