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QS 2019

Page 3 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Re:

Pantani Attacks said:
Yeah to be fair to Thomas, he looked destroyed after the TT, Julian looked fine. Madness.
Until last year G would never have been thought of as even a favourite for the podium.

I don't read too much of anything into post TT behaviours. I've seen clean racers look pretty OK after killing themselves, and I've seen doped riders fall down and look 'spent'. What I am really looking for with JA is some form of major collapse in the next week. If not, then he gets some alien awards.

Regardless, QS is obviously doing things 'well' this year ;)
 
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Midnightfright said:
Koronin said:
What is he on? This is feeling like the early/mid 2000's. When do we get are next major doping scandal?

He seemed to get a lot of moto help today. I wonder how much that mattered.

I share your worry but at the moment it is still Alaphillipe at his very best although eye brow raising. I will be more surprised if he finishes in the last group tomorrow. Especially because you know Ineos are going to set a nasty tempo.
This pretty much sums up what I am thinking right now.

I'm actually pleasantly surprised by what the results were today. Perhaps that just says something about my cynicism.
 
Re:

luckyboy said:
Looking tired or ok after a stage has never been any indicator of being clean or not to be fair.


They had both just hammered it up a hill at the end of a time trial. One hopped of his bike and walked around cheering with no sign of having gone into the red...

....and the other looked knackered, barely able to stand.
 
Re:

Koronin said:
What is he on? This is feeling like the early/mid 2000's. When do we get are next major doping scandal?

This is his body, and he can do whatever he wants to it. He can push it. Study it. Tweak it. Listen to it. Everybody wants to know what he's on. He's on his bike busting his *** six hours a day. What are you on?
 
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Re: Re:

macbindle said:
luckyboy said:
Looking tired or ok after a stage has never been any indicator of being clean or not to be fair.
They had both just hammered it up a hill at the end of a time trial. One hopped of his bike and walked around cheering with no sign of having gone into the red...

....and the other looked knackered, barely able to stand.

So? I distinctly remember some very doped riders puking their guts out after the finish. Indeed, there are also shots when after the adrenaline rush Alapolak sits down at the side of the road, probably not that steady on his feet anymore. That euphoria was a huge adrenaline rush, almost certainly not some roid-rage (if so we will know very soon as that is indeed very detectable^^).

Much reason to be ridiculing this performance (as in pretty certain to be doped considering the team), but the state of how riders cross the line has never been an indicator.
 
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silvergrenade said:
F_Cance said:
Should be time to talk about Asgreen. This is a Sky rider like transformation.
Never understood why transformations are such a big thing. A talent slowly progressing vis a vis a talent who transformed massively doesn't prove or disprove doping by any stretch of imagination. European talent has been known to dope very very early in their careers.

Historically, late transformations are pretty much exclusive to dopers. Berzin, Chiappucci, Riis, Armstrong... all dopers. I know Wiggins, Froome and Thomas haven't been popped yet, but it's pretty obvious what they are doing considering you can hardly see the race through all the smoke billowing out of that team. If a rider suddenly transforms it's synonymous with doping, in my opinion. It's happened too many times with riders that eventually got caught or admitted to doing it that I'm willing to believe in miracles when the next one comes along. A natural progression doesn't mean a rider is definitely clean, but it's much, much more probable that they are than the Instant Aliens™.

Challenging for monuments and Grand Tours clean requires the sort of freakish one-in-a-few-hundred-million physiology that can't be achieved by anyone just by training really hard. It's a gift some people are born with and it shows from the moment they start competing and dominate everyone they come up against, and that domination never really stops until they make their way up to the upper levels of cycling as youngsters and start racing against seasoned pros.

Basically, If a rider in their early to mid-20s or above has been training to be a pro cyclist for almost their whole life without ever being noticeably better than their peers it's pretty clear they don't have the X-factor, and any hint of having some sort of X-factor after that point is probably due to illegal methods and not them suddenly discovering an extra lung or another quadriceps in their leg that they weren't aware of before. A rider that has been noticeably better their whole career might have the X-factor, or they might have been doping their whole career, or they might have the X-factor and be doping on top of that, but at least the first option is an actual option.

That being said, even though Alaphilippe has been a beast his whole life it's probably the third option for him.
 
Re:

scapewalker said:
Armstrong mentioned on his podcast that QS bought $100k worth of ketones for the tour.
Looks like they were all for Allaphilipe ;)

No he said "a team" bought for 100k, also that 80 percent of the teams where using ketones, i dont know why ketones are such a big deal, they have been in use for a few years
 
Re: Re:

Franklin said:
macbindle said:
luckyboy said:
Looking tired or ok after a stage has never been any indicator of being clean or not to be fair.
They had both just hammered it up a hill at the end of a time trial. One hopped of his bike and walked around cheering with no sign of having gone into the red...

....and the other looked knackered, barely able to stand.

So? I distinctly remember some very doped riders puking their guts out after the finish. Indeed, there are also shots when after the adrenaline rush Alapolak sits down at the side of the road, probably not that steady on his feet anymore. That euphoria was a huge adrenaline rush, almost certainly not some roid-rage (if so we will know very soon as that is indeed very detectable^^).

Much reason to be ridiculing this performance (as in pretty certain to be doped considering the team), but the state of how riders cross the line has never been an indicator.

Says who? You? :lol:

That was a 17% hill he had just sprinted up like it wasnt there.
 
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Re: Re:

macbindle said:
That was a 17% hill he had just sprinted up like it wasnt there.

That's something utterly different than him roaring after the finish wouldn't you say? Unless you can point out where I said that I found his performance okay? All I stress that Julian having an adrenaline rush after crushing everyone else is in itself not an indicator of doping. Dopers get tired to... and clean riders can get an adrenaline rush as well.

To ram this one home: you think Delgado and Roche were clean? They had pretty much get oxygen after some stages due to going so deep in the red. Doping really says NOTHING about how someone crosses a line. There have been so many dopers who had to be carried around after they crossed the line that this simply is no reliable metric.

Also, what bloodenhancing drug(which he undoubtedly is on) leads to euphoria like this? Must be a new one...

Euphoria is more in the Amphetamine/Steroid category. Now unless he's a huge idiot, it's unlikely he went that road... if he did he will be caught as those substances light up in a test like a christmass tree.
 
Re: Re:

rghysens said:
Mayomaniac said:
macbindle said:
It wasnt a flat time trial so not sure what the fuss is about. I think he'll pay heavily for his time in yellow, in the coming days.

Now if he doesn't crack...then there will be a discussion to be had.
He didn't loose time to Thomas on the flat part, that's the thing.

The "flat" part contained a 17% "berg" in it.

Alaphilippe was 6 seconds ahead at chrono 2, 5 seconds ahead at chrono 3 and roughly 6 seconds ahead with 1km to go.
 
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Re:

macbindle said:
Not a bike rider, are you.

LMFAO. Personal attack as my argumentation is rather solid and you fail to find a single post where I say this is a normal performance? Reflect on what you want to attain with that post. Do you want a serious disussion? Or is anyone who has a different interpretation of events someone to be attacked?
 

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