Rodriguez's time trial of his career!

[lemoogle]

Purito could smoke some puritos under that tempo indeed, but its only a margin faster than the Giro which is somewhat regarded clean. But now because he beats Bert at the same w/kgs its suspicious?

It didn't just beat him, to me it looked like in those movies when a tiny guy is hitting 100 times a massive guy that couldn't care less in the ring. That's what's suspicious. Rodriguez never looked in difficulty at all.

 

[hrotha]

If these three were riding like this, but at the Tour and kicking Evans all around the mountains, this thread would have 2,000+ posts.
As dodgy as it gets.

Indeed. The Vuelta gets less exposure, there's some mitigating factors in that few people peak specifically for it, and, above all, most of us are too busy discussing Armstrong and Hamilton to make a big fuss about this, but it smells.

 

[Cycle Chic]

I started a seperate thread for you lot - come on get using my thread

EL PURITO = PURE EPO ??

 

[ebandit]

?

I started a seperate thread for you lot - come on get using my thread

EL PURITO = PURE EPO ??

your thread? this is a forum of the people for the people

meanwhile jrod looks better and better ( dodgier and dodgier )

 

[ferryman]

If these three were riding like this, but at the Tour and kicking Evans all around the mountains, this thread would have 2,000+ posts.
As dodgy as it gets.

Not quite but up there with July no doubt. When Nibali is getting a kicking on every mountain stage from a couple of Sky domestiques THAT is as dodgy as it gets.

And for the record Froome is no Evans.

 

[Mellow Velo]

Not quite but up there with July no doubt. When Nibali is getting a kicking on every mountain stage from a couple of Sky domestiques THAT is as dodgy as it gets.

And for the record Froome is no Evans.

For the record, I wasn't using Froome as a gauge; he's a spent force.
Just the three, overall.
Everyone thought JRod rode the GT of his life at the Giro.
Wrong. He's clearly gone up a level since May.

Then there's Piti. He too is riding a back-to-back Tour/Vuelta double,
but appears fresh as a daisy.

Bertie? Make of him what you will, but he has destroyed the rest of the field. So, anyone suggesting he's overly rusty, to deflect suspicion of the other two, is well off the mark.

 

[the big ring]

For the record, I wasn't using Froome as a gauge; he's a spent force.
Just the three, overall.
Everyone thought JRod rode the GT of his life at the Giro.
Wrong. He's clearly gone up a level since May.

Then there's Piti. He too is riding a back-to-back Tour/Vuelta double,
but appears fresh as a daisy.

Bertie? Make of him what you will, but he has destroyed the rest of the field. So, anyone suggesting he's overly rusty, to deflect suspicion of the other two, is well off the mark.

Valverde is not believable to me. People complain about Vino winning a one day race at the Olympics, but Valverde has done more than that just by riding this far into the Vuelta, winning stages and staying near the pointy end without fail.

JRod is not believable to Alberto Contador. That says enough for me. AC doesn't seem to say much but it reminds me of Evans incredulity in the Tour a couple of years ago when Andy Schleck and 3 other riders held off a group of 30, putting time into them along the valley, into a headwind.

Alberto is up there with no competition in his legs for a long stretch. Until you consider it was 5 months between Worlds TT and Volta Agarve when Wiggins had no competition and went from 2nd in the WC TT to 3rd at Volta and then won Paris Nice starting 2 weeks later.

If Alberto is unbelievable now, Brad Wiggins is easily as unbelievable for me. And on the road, Bertie for me is far more believable than the British trackie. Just sayin'.

And you're right, Bertie is smashing the rest.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

The last 15 km were at 8% grade (1200m elevation)
So 41 minutes means 1756m/h VAM
That's about 6,3-6,4 w/kg or am I wrong ?
If it's correct, for more than half an hour it's a lot !

I will never handclock again, climb for Rodriguez was 43 minutes 23 seconds to be precise. Nevertheless I am quite impressed by the little man from Barcelona, and by Valverde of course. It again is La VUELTA d'ESPAGNA.

 

[the big ring]

I will never handclock again, climb for Rodriguez was 43 minutes 23 seconds to be precise. Nevertheless I am quite impressed by the little man from Barcelona, and by Valverde of course. It again is La VUELTA d'ESPAGNA.

The home crowd cheering for you gives you at least 5% - as we saw in the UK with the British track cyclists.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

The home crowd cheering for you gives you at least 5% - as we saw in the UK with the British track cyclists.

Five procent plus Weber is forty watts, we are there. Nothing to see here, move along.

 

[taiwan]

JRod is not believable to Alberto Contador. That says enough for me. AC doesn't seem to say much but it reminds me of Evans incredulity in the Tour a couple of years ago when Andy Schleck and 3 other riders held off a group of 30, putting time into them along the valley, into a headwind.

In no way am I denying that Rodriguez is juiced, but Berto dropping hints about it? Come now.

 

[Parrot23]

Then there's Piti. He too is riding a back-to-back Tour/Vuelta double, but appears fresh as a daisy.

Was wondering about that too: Froome is washed out from the double; Piti is superstrong in the double.

Can't believe Piti was just cycle touring and soft pedaling at the Tour. Maybe the blood logistics are easier not having to cross the border.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Rodriguez rides like Rebellin in 2008. The only difference is the lenghtitude of the climbs...

Off course he is a nice climber but what he is showing now is just insane, same for the reborn Valverde.

Was wondering about that too: Froome is washed out from the double; Piti is superstrong in the double.

Can't believe Piti was just cycle touring and soft pedaling at the Tour. Maybe the blood logistics are easier not having to cross the border.

Incomparable, Valverde was 55? in the Tour? Froomey is still a top 4 contender. And yes, they are riding in Spain.

 

[the big ring]

In no way am I denying that Rodriguez is juiced, but Berto dropping hints about it? Come now.

True. AC has said nothing. And I misread the report - my take on this was based on the following snippets of race reports.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-8/results

Contador looked to have the win wrapped up, so he must have been shocked to peek over his shoulder in the final 100 meters to see Rodriguez and Valverde quickly approaching him. They passed him in the final meters, while Froome struggled across the finish line some 15 seconds later.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/vuelta-a-espana/stage-14/results

Just as important for Rodríguez was the psychological blow he delivered to Contador, who is not used to being chased down in the mountains and looked distinctly rattled when approached by the press at the finish.

But there are no quotes. From AC. On any stage that I can see (but I only quickly scanned them all). Perhaps noone at CN talks to him?

 

[the big ring]

Does this prove they are riding clean or dirty?

He's a 4th year conti/pro rider.

Garmin-Sharp's Andrew Talansky also tagged on to this elite group, which steadily edged away from Froome.

GC @ Stage 14:

8 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin - Sharp 0:06:13

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

Talanski is at the clean team so we must believe his performances.

 

[iZnoGouD]

Machado is only clean rider

 

[ferryman]

For the record, I wasn't using Froome as a gauge; he's a spent force.
Just the three, overall.
Everyone thought JRod rode the GT of his life at the Giro.
Wrong. He's clearly gone up a level since May.

Then there's Piti. He too is riding a back-to-back Tour/Vuelta double,
but appears fresh as a daisy.

Bertie? Make of him what you will, but he has destroyed the rest of the field. So, anyone suggesting he's overly rusty, to deflect suspicion of the other two, is well off the mark.

OK. Let's forget about the domestiques in July. And concentrate on how 'the two' totally dominated both the ITTs and all of the climbs. Where do you want me to make a start in comparison to your destruction of Piti, Purito and AC?

Wait, there is a big difference isn't there

 

[cineteq]

OK. Let's forget about the domestiques in July. And concentrate on how 'the two' totally dominated both the ITTs and all of the climbs. Where do you want me to make a start in comparison to your destruction of Piti, Purito and AC?

Wait, there is a big difference isn't there

no, it's just called double standard.

 

[palmerq]

in my opinion contador is a bit overrated and he has lowered his doping levels from 2009 so he is back closer to the other riders again add in his lay off i tihnk this is a normal performance from rodriguez

 

[T_S_A_R]

JRod is not believable to Alberto Contador. That says enough for me. AC doesn't seem to say much but it reminds me of Evans incredulity in the Tour a couple of years ago when Andy Schleck and 3 other riders held off a group of 30, putting time into them along the valley, into a headwind.

i don't remember it like that at all.

the evans chase group was a farce. they had two anoxeric euskatel riders at the front for most of it.

from the CN report.

Even on the descent, the yellow jersey group had long since stopped any concerted chase effort, effectively conceding to Schleck.

Contador changed bikes near the bottom of the descent, perhaps simply changing to a special bike for the final climb. Still it cost him time and effort to get back to the group and then to face the challenge of chasing Schleck.

Schleck moved into the virtual lead as the gap to Iglinsky went under a minute between the final two climbs. He and Monfort had joined forces with Roche, Devenyns and Silin, and they caught Iglinsky with 30km to go. Behind them, Euskaltel finally moved in to lead the chase.

The yellow jersey group got larger as the stage went on. The gap had gotten smaller, but then moved back up to three and a half minutes, as Euskaltel moved out of the lead. The reason for that became clear later, when Samuel Sanchez became one of the first of the favourites to fall out of the group.

Monfort sacrificed himself for his captain, doing the majority of the lead work in the breakaway, before burning out and dropping back with about 17km to go. The group had become a trio of Schleck, Iglinsky and Roche at the 15km marker, with a lead of nearly four minutes.

That was enough for Contador, who finally moved to the head of his group, sharing the work with Evans. The Spaniard soon dropped back into the group though, leaving Evans at the front. Further up the mountain, Schleck was naturally at the head of his group as well, as the other two saw no reason to help him win the stage and possibly the Tour.

There was much discussion - not always a happy one - within the chase group, as no one appeared willing to take on the responsibility of chasing. Meanwhile, the gap extended beyond four minutes.

Evans tried an attack, but the others climbed on to his wheel. He continued to grind away at the head of the chase.

Schleck led Iglinsky up the final climb, as he turned to go up the final 8km with a 3:50 lead. And on one of the first curves, Schleck turned on the power and took off alone on the fan-filled road.

The chase finally started bearing fruit, as the gap came down under Evans' hard work. The group got smaller and smaller, with even Contador eventually having trouble hanging on. He finally gave up the fight and fell back, burying his chances of repeating his victory in this year's Tour.

also uran was in the evans group and crashed at the bottom of the descent and got back in quite comfortably.

 

[Galic Ho]

Valverde is not believable to me. People complain about Vino winning a one day race at the Olympics, but Valverde has done more than that just by riding this far into the Vuelta, winning stages and staying near the pointy end without fail.

JRod is not believable to Alberto Contador. That says enough for me. AC doesn't seem to say much but it reminds me of Evans incredulity in the Tour a couple of years ago when Andy Schleck and 3 other riders held off a group of 30, putting time into them along the valley, into a headwind.

Alberto is up there with no competition in his legs for a long stretch. Until you consider it was 5 months between Worlds TT and Volta Agarve when Wiggins had no competition and went from 2nd in the WC TT to 3rd at Volta and then won Paris Nice starting 2 weeks later.

If Alberto is unbelievable now, Brad Wiggins is easily as unbelievable for me. And on the road, Bertie for me is far more believable than the British trackie. Just sayin'.

And you're right, Bertie is smashing the rest.

The Tour you remember was the 2010 one. On the cobbles in northern France. I think it was stage 5. Frank fell along with Tony Martin at the front of the peloton. Only Evans, Andy Schleck, Cancellara, Hushovd and one other made it by unhindered. That stage caused havoc amongst the GC riders. Andy Schleck did almost no work. Cancellara, on a Roubaix like stage, with Hushovd and Evans pulling was always going to put chunks of time into a peloton delayed by a crash.

Edit: Unless you mean Andy Schleck's breakaway win in 2011. He paid for it the next day on Alpe d'Huez. Which was answered up thread.

JRod hasn't done anything like that. Though, appearance wise, he does look better than at the Giro. Because if he is at the same level, that means Garmin have a rider in theory, who can match Contador. Which means we might as well start talking about Garmin once more.

 

[Ferminal]

I paid attention to your posts. Your alarm only really went off because Contador didn't drop him.

The TT was plenty suspicious by itself. And it would have been suspicious even if had been dropped in the last 3 days.

And I don't get your laughing. Unlike you, I am not a hypocrite flip-flopper.

The TT was suspicious, but he's improved his TT to the level of Frank Schleck, not that scary on its own.

For me, we already saw a new rider in the Giro, something which I struggle to explain. Probably six of his top seven climbing performances have come this season. I guess that's just what happens now that 32-34 is a GT rider's peak.

 

[gatete]

in my opinion contador is a bit overrated and he has lowered his doping levels from 2009 so he is back closer to the other riders again add in his lay off i tihnk this is a normal performance from rodriguez

In other words Ryder is better than the current competition? how about Nibali, he was third last year at the giro and he was better than Purito. I'm sorry, but I have never seen this purito, ever.

 

[palmerq]

In other words Ryder is better than the current competition? how about Nibali, he was third last year at the giro and he was better than Purito. I'm sorry, but I have never seen this purito, ever.

:S he is on good form probably his best ever and he is beating an out of practice(and overrated contador) and valverde who was never a brilliant stage racer and a dead tired froome.. I believe this performance from rodriguez