State of Peloton 2023

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Barely watched cycling this year, but seems like its the same with Pogacar, VdP or Jumbo leading the way. Seriously, out of the prestigious races, Strade Bianche is the only one that wasn't won by Pogacar, Van der Poel or Jumbo.
In UCI rankings, Jumbo and UAE hold a massive lead over everyone else.

Don't know about others, but it is really not interesting to me when you know only 3 or 4 teams have a chance of winning a proper WT caliber race.
Can someone please put an end to this?
 
Barely watched cycling this year, but seems like its the same with Pogacar, VdP or Jumbo leading the way. Seriously, out of the prestigious races, Strade Bianche is the only one that wasn't won by Pogacar, Van der Poel or Jumbo.
In UCI rankings, Jumbo and UAE hold a massive lead over everyone else.

Don't know about others, but it is really not interesting to me when you know only 3 or 4 teams have a chance of winning a proper WT caliber race.
Can someone please put an end to this?

There's also a guy who's the current winner of Vuelta, WC and Liege and he's not from those teams...
 
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I do wonder what is the next team / rider to join the elite club.
Occasionally Vaughters seems to find the random sputnik, but they're rarely consistent, let's see if Healy is the new beast in town.
Lost faith in QS (apart from Remco obviously). And I'm starting to doubt Ineos as well. Bahrain is probably not digging as deep as it was a couple of years ago.

What do you think?
 
I do wonder what is the next team / rider to join the elite club.
Occasionally Vaughters seems to find the random sputnik, but they're rarely consistent, let's see if Healy is the new beast in town.
Lost faith in QS (apart from Remco obviously). And I'm starting to doubt Ineos as well. Bahrain is probably not digging as deep as it was a couple of years ago.

What do you think?
Trek seems to have stepped up it's game this year.
 
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I found myself picking up Tyler Hamilton's book the other day and re-reading it. When I last read it (in 2012) I was still a relative newcomer to pro-cycling and lot of it went over my head. At the time I simply didn't appreciate the implications of the stuff he was saying, and I was only really after the Lance bits.

My jaw has been on the floor for the past few days. And not because of just how filthy the pro peloton was in those days, but rather because of the realization that there's no chance in hell that things could have changed to any significant level from those days.
 
I do wonder what is the next team / rider to join the elite club.
Occasionally Vaughters seems to find the random sputnik, but they're rarely consistent, let's see if Healy is the new beast in town.
Lost faith in QS (apart from Remco obviously). And I'm starting to doubt Ineos as well. Bahrain is probably not digging as deep as it was a couple of years ago.

What do you think?
QS lost Ibarguren so that's why they are all of a sudden not very hot (apart from Remco apparently)
 
Imagine the Chubby-faced killer and the Skeleton get busted in the first week of the Tour.

UAE:
Pogacar:
I've never taken PEDs intentionally but I don't know what Mauro added to my meal. Or maybe it was Jonas?
DS: How disappointing! I thought Tadej belonged to the new generation of honest riders but I never know what riders do behind my back. He's not different than Ricco.

JV:
Vingegaard:
It must be due to the fish I ate recently. I had a poisoning and I saw Tadej near my table when I went to a toilet!
DS: We don't give Jonas any illegal substances and we can prove it. He's an artificial human and isn't affected by PEDs at all. And it's not against the rules.

New hope in the peleton can be seen and Chris does a PC:
I always knew they were too good. Hard miles are paying off and I already noticed marginal gains here and there. Now I'm only 5 minutes down in the GC and this is my chance for #5!
 
The thing that surprises me a lot about the state of the peloton in the last 2-3 years is that we hear nothing. We keep breaking records in every race and nothing. Back in the wild west days there were always people talking. If it wasn't an ex-cyclist, it would be an ex-coach, or a sour grapes rider. But nothing but crickets. This is really strange. And looking at Pogacar and Remco they really make Froome look like an amateur compared to the way they ride nowadays. Maybe cycling has learned from other sports in how to handle the business, but I am still very skeptical. We'll know in the future and maybe there is a bust just around the corner. And not just a silly bust like the one to the Arkea team in 2020, LOL. A Fuentes type bust!!!
 
The thing that surprises me a lot about the state of the peloton in the last 2-3 years is that we hear nothing. We keep breaking records in every race and nothing. Back in the wild west days there were always people talking. If it wasn't an ex-cyclist, it would be an ex-coach, or a sour grapes rider. But nothing but crickets. This is really strange. And looking at Pogacar and Remco they really make Froome look like an amateur compared to the way they ride nowadays. Maybe cycling has learned from other sports in how to handle the business, but I am still very skeptical. We'll know in the future and maybe there is a bust just around the corner. And not just a silly bust like the one to the Arkea team in 2020, LOL. A Fuentes type bust!!!

Remember when someone like Kiviliev was able to top 5 the Dauphine, but had to get 15 minutes as a present to do the same at the Tour de France?

If Francaise des Jeux & Gaudu are just as chanceless at the upcoming Tour de France and the peloton au deux vitesse is full reality again, the talk is going to start again.
 
The thing that surprises me a lot about the state of the peloton in the last 2-3 years is that we hear nothing. We keep breaking records in every race and nothing. Back in the wild west days there were always people talking. If it wasn't an ex-cyclist, it would be an ex-coach, or a sour grapes rider. But nothing but crickets. This is really strange. And looking at Pogacar and Remco they really make Froome look like an amateur compared to the way they ride nowadays. Maybe cycling has learned from other sports in how to handle the business, but I am still very skeptical. We'll know in the future and maybe there is a bust just around the corner. And not just a silly bust like the one to the Arkea team in 2020, LOL. A Fuentes type bust!!!

Maybe cycling authorities decided to follow tennis footsteps and build an image of clean sport. No problems, no scandals, just let the boys ride and entertain.
 
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Remember when someone like Kiviliev was able to top 5 the Dauphine, but had to get 15 minutes as a present to do the same at the Tour de France?

If Francaise des Jeux & Gaudu are just as chanceless at the upcoming Tour de France and the peloton au deux vitesse is full reality again, the talk is going to start again.
If the peloton is at two speeds, FdJ is one of the fast teams.