Richie Porte - what do we know about him?

[FoxxyBrown1111]

So now we have to wait for youngster to hit 26 years before we see any "real" talent. Now that sounds like a myth to me.

Not now.... There were times when sudden GT-Talent showed at age 28-32 and even later.
Sure, Froome came out of nothing, and it might be suspicious to many here. But to me it´s not. Being sick, coming from a 3rd world country, changing late to road race, going trou lower class teams, makes it all plausible to me.
I like his riding style (reminds me of Ulle), his behaviour (not talking to much) and his sunglasses (like Ulle again ).
I´ll root for him until (if) he/Sky disappoints me with a doping scandal. Until then i enjoy their rides...

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Not now.... There were times when sudden GT-Talent showed at age 28-32 and
I´ll root for him until (if) he/Sky disappoints me with a doping scandal. Until then i enjoy their rides...

Nah, real GT talent shows much earlier than 26. From donkey to race horse. We have seen it all before.

Froome's parasites are really helping him. Without these pesky worms, he wouldn't be able to flush out some of the bad blood cells etc.

Fans often enjoys domination. Fans of US Postal were in high heaven in July and we will see a similar pattern this time around.

Enjoy the Porte/Froome show.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Nah, real GT talent shows much earlier than 26. From donkey to race horse. We have seen it all before.

Froome's parasites are really helping him. Without these pesky worms, he wouldn't be able to flush out some of the bad blood cells etc.

Fans often enjoys domination. Fans of US Postal were in high heaven in July and we will see a similar pattern this time around.

Enjoy the Porte/Froome show.

Yeah i know. Early 20s... But from donkey to race horse is a little hard. At least he showed some ITT ability (unlike some 90s/00s GT-"Stars") early after he changed to road racing.
And he is a little different than Pharmstrong who prepared his blood half a year, showed up for 2 months and then went back into obscurity. Froome/Sky show up the entire year, like champions always did until the 90s. I like that.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Snipped..


And he is a little different than Pharmstrong who prepared his blood half a year, showed up for 2 months and then went back into obscurity. Froome/Sky show up the entire year, like champions always did until the 90s. I like that.

July dopers are for sure the worst. That stuff is not just donkey to race horse from year to year, but rather from month to month. Accelerated doping cycle.

 

[coinneach]

So the SkyTrain tactic has no effect whatsoever? Everything Nibali said about it was just poppycock?

God, I wish people would read what i actually wrote sometimes, rather than what they wished I'd written. I NEVER said the sky tactic was brillant. A radio guest described catenaccio as brilliant. for the love of god, man...

And i wish people would stop losing their rag just because Sky is being discussed. It simply doesn't make the discussion any better.

Honestly, I've seen mass murderers discussed more calmly than this!

I'm with Martin on this (but missed all the discussion whilst asleep in bed)

The discussion was started by comments by Nibali, wanting to ban power meters. perhaps he feels they lead to a style of riding that is effective but boring: more likely he thinks they give Sky an unfair advantage. The point I was making is that they suit Skys style of racing, which is also linked to their way of training. The team work out in training what riders are capable of and the riders know how many watts are expected of them at every stage of the stage. Its not tactical brilliance other than playing to your strengths.

Richie Porte was lucky most of the talent was in Italy: Cannondale smashed Sky on stage 6. We'll see how he does this year when up against the best: my fear is he'll end up playing Froome to Wiggins Vuelta11.

 

[The Hitch]

these threads are extremely generic and boring.

rider X wins race by > margin of Y.
rider X is suspected of doping, as it's unlikely a clean rider would be spanking dirty riders, and we know there are almost certainly dirty riders.
rider X has connections with doping identities A, B, C, etc.
rider X denies doping, drawing further comparisons with a long list of riders previously found guilty of doping who also denied doping.
rider X didn't look tired enough after a 10km time trial, an indication of doping as everyone knows that when you're doping you can win easily without trying hard.

QED rider X is a doper.

the problem is, anyone who wins a race by > margin of Y and who doesn't slump over their handlebars (like stephen roche at La Plagne... oh, wait) afterwards will meet those criteria. it doesn't mean they're clean, but it's not proof of anything either.

What you forgot to add is that for sky threads there is also - rider x was gruppeto fodder before joining sky.

 

[The Hitch]

Its not tactical brilliance other than playing to your strengths.
.

The main strenght being that your 4th best rider is stronger than 95% of the peloton

 

[coinneach]

The main strenght being that your 4th best rider is stronger than 95% of the peloton

I'd put it closer to 85%, seeing as they don't have to race to the finish.

And yes, that's why they signed them (and look after them)

 

[Franklin]

"Hey, let's all ride at the front and hope the dope holds out to the end." In the history of cunning plans that one did not even reach Baldrick level.

But it was an awesome spectacle... The sheer stupidity combined with the sheer anger by the Italians/Spanish was amazing.

Vino, now that was smart. The guy knew exactly that when Uran went that was the defining moment. We can discuss about the end (suffice to say I have some questionmarks if there truly was a sale), the way he rode showed he can read a race.

 

[Franklin]

US Postal only dominated one race: The Tour.

Actually false. Lance dominated one race. But Heras and Il Falco won the Vuelta and Giro. The Contador/Leppy tandem ruled in the Vuelta. (Contadors first Giro win was not so much USPS domination)

So USPS dominated other GT's too when they chose.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

There are a lot of dopers in Spain, no question. The issue becomes how come a bunch of squeaky clean riders can suddenly drop these well known dopers in just about any race they enter.

Porte almost broke the record in the final TT in P-N, taking it easy on the last part of the course while smiling and lifting his arms as he crossed the line.

We have to go back to the Armstrong days to see similar domination.

This. Exactly.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Actually false. Lance dominated one race. But Heras and Il Falco won the Vuelta and Giro. The Contador/Leppy tandem ruled in the Vuelta. (Contadors first Giro win was not so much USPS domination)

So USPS dominated other GT's too when they chose.

My mistake. Appears to be take 2. Almost.

US postal lacked in one week races? If Sky starts to dominate in the classics as well, Team Armstrong will be looking like a 5c stamp.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

JV,
Were you as annoyed as the rest of us at seeing team sky cheat Talansky out of a victory?

 

[Trudgin]

My mistake. Appears to be take 2. Almost.

US postal lacked in one week races? If Sky starts to dominate in the classics as well, Team Armstrong will be looking like a 5c stamp.

Agree, thats what i have been saying....

world domination for Dr Evil after all those years of trying, and doing it clean - whoop whoop (sarcasm, in case you didnt notice)

 

[Trudgin]

There are a lot of dopers in Spain, no question. The issue becomes how come a bunch of squeaky clean riders can suddenly drop these well known dopers in just about any race they enter.

Porte almost broke the record in the final TT in P-N, taking it easy on the last part of the course while smiling and lifting his arms as he crossed the line.

We have to go back to the Armstrong days to see similar domination.

Exactly, and what did Lance always say - He was clean and all the others were found to be dirty... and yet we were never to question how he was able to beat all these dirty cheaters.

I cannot say it often enough... its the same frakking script for UKPS as it was for USPS.. only difference is Dr Evil wants what Dr Evil types always want - World Domination mwhahahahaha

He wants the GT's, Classics & Monuments.. and cycling will die of boredom.. Pray for breakaways and the Spanish riders and the French working together against them... well it's what I'm hoping..

 

[Galic Ho]

Not now.... There were times when sudden GT-Talent showed at age 28-32 and even later.
Sure, Froome came out of nothing, and it might be suspicious to many here. But to me it´s not. Being sick, coming from a 3rd world country, changing late to road race, going trou lower class teams, makes it all plausible to me.
I like his riding style (reminds me of Ulle), his behaviour (not talking to much) and his sunglasses (like Ulle again ).
I´ll root for him until (if) he/Sky disappoints me with a doping scandal. Until then i enjoy their rides...

Go back and rewatch the 2008 Tour. Froome rode for Barloworld that year. Was garbage. Absolute garbage. John Lee Augustyn was the big name on that team other than Soler Hernandez. Where are they today?

Coming from a third world country means squat. Kenya is one of the best places to dope uninterrupted in Africa. Same with South Africa.

Also Froome didn't show up for the whole year and race. Last season he was supposedly doing no training then two weeks later was stomping people in the Dauphine. Bilharzia came back, couldn't ride, no training and then was stomping everyone but Evans and his own team mates. Not normal. The start of his season last year until mid June was all over the place.

 

[webvan]

Go back and rewatch the 2008 Tour. Froome rode for Barloworld that year. Was garbage. Absolute garbage. John Lee Augustyn was the big name on that team other than Soler Hernandez. Where are they today?

What kind of an argument is this, Soler fractured his skull and almost KILLED himself in an accident at the 2011 TDS when he was flying, you really have no shame.

Porte has a big engine, like the others in the "magic 4" at Sky, like the "magic 5" at La Vie Claire in 1986, open a book guys if you weren't following cycling at the time. He seems credible to me.

 

[bianchigirl]

And of course la vie Claire were clean, clean, clean - Andersen never had 5 (count 'em!) positive tests, no sir

 

[Spencer the Half Wit]

Go back and rewatch the 2008 Tour. Froome rode for Barloworld that year. Was garbage. Absolute garbage. John Lee Augustyn was the big name on that team other than Soler Hernandez. Where are they today?

Coming from a third world country means squat. Kenya is one of the best places to dope uninterrupted in Africa. Same with South Africa.

Also Froome didn't show up for the whole year and race. Last season he was supposedly doing no training then two weeks later was stomping people in the Dauphine. Bilharzia came back, couldn't ride, no training and then was stomping everyone but Evans and his own team mates. Not normal. The start of his season last year until mid June was all over the place.

Bit harsh on him. 84th in his first tour, then 36th in the Giro. Given his lack of race experience and terrible bike handling skills that's not too bad. Certainly, they are no worse than say JRod or Ryder's early GT results.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Porte has a big engine, like the others in the "magic 4" at Sky, like the "magic 5" at La Vie Claire in 1986, open a book guys if you weren't following cycling at the time. He seems credible to me.

Talking about no shame in the same post where you compare SKY to la Vie Claire. You have some serious credibility issues here.

If you want to compare, please compare them to Festina/PDM/ONCE.

 

[webvan]

Sez who? You? What's your credibility on this?! Why would it be better than what my eyes and brain have been processing since the Vuelta 1978?

The most amazing "feature" of the resident clinic experts (as opposed to people coming here to exchange ideas) is the fact that they're absolutely convinced they're right and everyone who doesn't agree with them is a "fanboy". This is really "not normal"...

An example? Ok, since we're in the Porte topic why rant and rave about Sky and Porte cheating Talansky of a PN victory instead of wondering whether his flamboyant/Bertie style tactics (3 unneeded accelerations and then waiting for others to lead in the last k as opposed to one acceleration by Porte when he was exhausted) were not the reason for his demise? Maybe, maybe not, but it's certainly of more interest than trumpeting around that Sky are cheating with nothing to back it up.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Talking about no shame in the same post where you compare SKY to la Vie Claire. You have some serious credibility issues here.

If you want to compare, please compare them to Festina/PDM/ONCE.

Quite honestly I've come to the conclusion that Sky should simply disband as a team, because they can't win either way. In fact I'll make a prediction: they'll wrap up Sky after this season. Then we can all go looking for the next pantomime villain.

The sport is so tainted it seems to hate itself.

 

[Lanark]

Sez who? You? What's your credibility on this?! Why would it be better than what my eyes and brain have been processing since the Vuelta 1978?

The most amazing "feature" of the resident clinic experts (as opposed to people coming here to exchange ideas) is the fact that they're absolutely convinced they're right and everyone who doesn't agree with them is a "fanboy". This is really "not normal"...

An example? Ok, since we're in the Porte topic why rant and rave about Sky and Porte cheating Talansky of a PN victory instead of wondering whether his flamboyant/Bertie style tactics (3 unneeded accelerations and then waiting for others to lead in the last k as opposed to one acceleration by Porte when he was exhausted) were not the reason for his demise? Maybe, maybe not, but it's certainly of more interest than trumpeting around that Sky are cheating with nothing to back it up.

We weren't wondering that because that would be completely preposterous. Porte finished 55 seconds ahead of Talansky in the GC. He was clearly a lot better than Talansky, on Montagne de Lure and again on the Col D'Eze. Maybe (although unlikely) Talansky could have finished 10 seconds closer to Porte if he rode really conservative, but he still would have been crushed by Porte.

 

[webvan]

Exactly what I was saying, who knows?! He could well taken time on Porte with better timed attacks and/or stayed in yellow and the ITT could have been different...at that level the differences are minute so every little thing counts.

Anyway it's simply ridiculous to declare that Sky and Porte are obvious cheaters and that Talansky was robbed based on the last two days of racing at PN.

 

[Lanark]

Exactly what I was saying, who knows?! He could well taken time on Porte with better timed attacks and/or stayed in yellow and the ITT could have been different...at that level the differences are minute so every little thing counts.

Anyway it's simply ridiculous to declare that Sky and Porte are obvious cheaters and that Talansky was robbed based on the last two days of racing at PN.

I know. Porte was clearly much, much better than Talansky. Porte's single attack wasn't a sign of tactical acumen but of physical strength, Talansky could barely drop anyone with his attacks, Porte took over 30 seconds in 1.5km. The differences between Talansky and Porte weren't minute, they were big. Especially for a race like Paris-Nice, this was the biggest domination in that race for the last 10 years.