• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

State of Peloton 2023

Page 5 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Again with the flatline. When has he ever flatlined for longer periods without a good reason?

Well, that "good reason" is itself often entirely debatable, no? But frankly don't get me wrong here, i.e. I do not care enough about Van der Poel either way to go into further long-winded dissections of the how & why I think the way I do.

I'll just say as a spectator my heart sank yesterday when I saw him take off at the top of the Poggio because I knew in my bones what I was seeing, especially with the stark juxtaposition of VdP's form in Strade & Tirreno versus the monster we saw yesterday. Some people might enjoy the spectacle, I didn't. For me the suspension of disbelief was broken for those few minutes.

And I'm no downbeat cynic sh*tting all over cycling either, or falsely taking a moral high ground, i.e. I'll admit there are situations where a juiced spectacle can be... spectacular? Yesterday wasn't it. It was a mugging of the highest order.
 
  • Wow
Reactions: noob
Well, that "good reason" is itself often entirely debatable, no? But frankly don't get me wrong here, i.e. I do not care enough about Van der Poel either way to go into further long-winded dissections of the how & why I think the way I do.

I'll just say as a spectator my heart sank yesterday when I saw him take off at the top of the Poggio because I knew in my bones what I was seeing, especially with the stark juxtaposition of VdP's form in Strade & Tirreno versus the monster we saw yesterday. Some people might enjoy the spectacle, I didn't. For me the suspension of disbelief was broken for those few minutes.

And I'm no downbeat cynic sh*tting all over cycling either, or falsely taking a moral high ground, i.e. I'll admit there are situations where a juiced spectacle can be... spectacular? Yesterday wasn't it. It was a mugging of the highest order.
Sure buddy
 
I have a lot of sympathy for this view point, but then why not light it up for Strada? After all Willy Vout said once they gave the riders the good stuff, it was like crack, and they would want more and more and the coaches struggled to keep them in check.

Also, I know from my own racing career that form is a weird thing and you can be dog crap one week and then the next week you come around and you suddenly have another 50 watts.

Not like I think VDP is clean, lol.
Forgot to add I "raced" VDP on Zwift on Tuesday. If you think there's a lot of doping in pro cycling well VDP can drop Pog but still lost to a bunch of random 40 year old Asians lighting him up in their basement.
 
everyone has been sold ketones as the great reason why speeds are going to the moon but it's the same old story. it's BS snake oil just like marginal gains and "on my bike busting my ass 6 hours a day"

View: https://twitter.com/dwrowland/status/1636051477427896336?s=20
Ketones are easy to point to because they’re uber scientific and nobody has any real world experience with them to be able to say otherwise. There are some compelling things about training in a ketogenic state to enhance fat oxidation rates to preserve muscle glycogen, particularly for ultra endurance competitions beyond even a cycling monument, but exogenous ketones as a product indeed haven’t really been found to be of much use yet.
 
Ketones are easy to point to because they’re uber scientific and nobody has any real world experience with them to be able to say otherwise. There are some compelling things about training in a ketogenic state to enhance fat oxidation rates to preserve muscle glycogen, particularly for ultra endurance competitions beyond even a cycling monument, but exogenous ketones as a product indeed haven’t really been found to be of much use yet.
And in all likelihood, if a pro with some dodgy results (superhuman) and is skeletal says "I took keytones to lose weight", it is more likely they are taking thyroid medications for their, cough cough, thyroid issues. :p
 
Forgot to add I "raced" VDP on Zwift on Tuesday. If you think there's a lot of doping in pro cycling well VDP can drop Pog but still lost to a bunch of random 40 year old Asians lighting him up in their basement.
That sounds about right. Zwift is great for training when the outdoors sucks, but OMG it is so over the top with bizarre sandbagging, full-blown cheating, etc. I've seen folks racing in the B and C category who have world tour type numbers :p
 
I expect much of the same like last year. The big 4 and more (mvdp, pogacar, wout, remco etc) will continue to give us "not normal" rides this year, and none of them will get caught. It seems the cycling and doping federations no longer
really" want to pursue riders as they prefer the "show" and possibly the new money being generated into the sport. Also, I think there is less pursuance of the stars, as there is no longer any journalist like the former David Walsh. Unfortunately, it won't happen probably never again in my life time. But I would love to see a new journalist writing and pursuing these new "Keytone Heroes" :)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Tricycle Rider
  • Haha
Reactions: acm
No doubt over the top, but I actually think Maurten is making some significant improvements in the fueling realm and it’s not all gimmick. This is the first I’ve seen of the sodium bicarb stuff, but the 1:.8 glucose:fructose ratio in their products was sort of a pioneering effort and is starting to become the standard.
 

TRENDING THREADS