State of Peloton 2023

[Blobs]

Yep. 50 years from now, these may be seen as the golden days. If the UCI has quietly went back to the 1990s or the2008 giro to make that happen, then good for them.

Just don't allow Rasmussen and his injecting cow blood from 2007. That's IMO, where the line should be drawn

The cow blood incident was in 2002

 

[Mayomaniac]

Haussler being the 2nd Bahrain rider who has to retire because of heart related problems in less than one year sounds a bit concerning to me. Maybe it's just coincidence, but in such a short time span, on the same team that has been targeted by police raids? It does raise some eyebrows.

 

[fmk_RoI]

Haussler being the 2nd Bahrain rider who has to retire because of heart related problems in less than one year sounds a bit concerning to me.

Depends on the condition. There is this thing called a pandemic floating about and it is known to have possibly cardiac implications.

 

[Ilmaestro99]

Haussler being the 2nd Bahrain rider who has to retire because of heart related problems in less than one year sounds a bit concerning to me. Maybe it's just coincidence, but in such a short time span, on the same team that has been targeted by police raids? It does raise some eyebrows.

Regardless of how squeaky clean or dirty the sport is, those cardiac problems will always be present (in a very small %% of athletes) in an endurance sport that involves pushing the body to its absolute limits.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Regardless of how squeaky clean or dirty the sport is, those cardiac problems will always be present (in a very small %% of athletes) in an endurance sport that involves pushing the body to its absolute limits.

I agree, given the low impact on your joints and tendons compared to other endurance sports cycling is always more likely to push your cardiovascular system to it's limit before the rest of your body breaks down. It's just that twice in such a short time span on the same team is really a lot, even if it might be a coincidence.

 

[Rob5091]

Ok, I'm back baby! (as George Castanza would say)
Fastest ever Tour de France last year, fastest ever Strade Bianche, nearly fastest ever Milan-Sanremo (though 4 riders beat the time up the Poggio), fastest ever de Ronde. It can n't be all tailwinds, nutrition, baking soda and rounder wheels, surely?

 

[zlev11]

Ok, I'm back baby! (as George Castanza would say)
Fastest ever Tour de France last year, fastest ever Strade Bianche, nearly fastest ever Milan-Sanremo (though 4 riders beat the time up the Poggio), fastest ever de Ronde. It can n't be all tailwinds, nutrition, baking soda and rounder wheels, surely?

intervals, busting their ass 6 hours a day

 

[Rob5091]

Training harder, that's what I like to hear! Good honest sweat ... and ass busting. I'm not having any of that muck-raking journalism about thyroid medicine and the like. No more of that Festina talk now - we had the Tour of Renewal and things have only got faster, I mean, cleaner.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

intervals, busting their ass 6 hours a day

...and the dude that coined that phrase never won the Tour de France once, not even once.

 

[Nick2413]

The "they can't hint at anything because of [specifically British] libel laws" thing would be a lot more convincing if the media was simply silent instead of actively peddling the kool-aid

I feel like libel is a pretty huge thing here in the US and presumably other European countries, is it really stricter in the UK?

 

[Red Rick]

I feel like libel is a pretty huge thing here in the US and presumably other European countries, is it really stricter in the UK?

The threshold for these cases is actually pretty high as far as I know? Magnus Carlsen lost some game and accused his opponent of cheating in very blatant way, got sued for it, and now from what I read from lawyers the lawsuit itself doesn't have a chance in hell.

 

[Red Rick]

Climbing times on Asturiana and Izua are through the absolute roof.

Feels like a few riders in this peloton have taken another huge leap for mankind this year

 

[Riek s]

Climbing times on Asturiana and Izua are through the absolute roof.

Feels like a few riders in this peloton have taken another huge leap for mankind this year

Vingegaard now well above 7W/kg for <13min efforts. (2nd time this year i believe? where he previously didn't even get close to those numbers for short climbs)
He seems to be moving more and more to also equal Pog on the shorter climbs now. (if not faster according to the W/kg estimation of Izua) (according to LR, he is now in the company of Pantani, Contador, Piepoli, Indurain who crossed the Top25 all time performances)

We are at the point where we have 4 riders that can break the 7W/kg boundary on sub 15minute climbing efforts.

 

[noob]

I just wonder what they're on. Is there signals in other sports (skiing etc) that there's a new doping era with something new? It can't all be same old same old? Or can it?

 

[Nick2413]

The threshold for these cases is actually pretty high as far as I know? Magnus Carlsen lost some game and accused his opponent of cheating in very blatant way, got sued for it, and now from what I read from lawyers the lawsuit itself doesn't have a chance in hell.

That was also coming to mind bc he had to be extremely careful about it. He was practically crucified just for pulling out of a match before he even stated anything, then there was about a month long buildup to his actual accusation. They have statistical/AI analysis saying 99%+ chance Hans cheated on something like 100 games, I think that plays into the lawsuit. And it probably helps it’s not the other way around with Carlsen being the accused. But either way, a card that can always be pulled by a big rider or team, a deterrent at least.

 

[therealthing]

Paris Roubaix set to be fastest ever, nearly 2 km/h faster than last year's, which at the time was also the fastest yet.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Fastest Roubaix, fastest Flanders, Vingegaard, Pogačar, Evenepoel all flying. The Froome-era is looking cleaner day by day.

 

[Rob5091]

46.841 average km/h beating last year's Paris-Roubaix's laughably slow 45.792 km/h (which was the fastest ever). Have they all gone over to eating porridge à la Pogacar?

 

[QueenStagiaire]

It‘s the baking soda, I‘m telling you.

 

[Peyroteo94]

Yeah, it is getting too obvious that a new drug is on the menu again.

 

[Tim Cahill]

The ice vests, bespoke pillows and Rod Elligworth's hard work last season have really come to the fore.

 

[zlev11]

it's truly crazy. one "fastest ever" race can be an anomaly, but not when it's all of the monuments in the same season lmao. all while there are climbers putting up near 2000 VAM's willy nilly. there's also a really clear distinction in the guys going fast and the ones without a hope, a true "peloton à deux vitesses" if we've ever seen one.

 

[Riek s]

It‘s the baking soda, I‘m telling you.

i'm pretty sure its the climate change that results in ever growing tailwind.

Also in case you do have a sporadic headwind, its easier to push harder (pointing to vingegaard who had a headwind up those climbs...)

 

[QueenStagiaire]

Red Rick said they softpedaled a lot, so I guess it was like Zone 2 training which is the secret to everything

 

[Rackham]

Yeah, it is getting too obvious that a new drug is on the menu again.

I'd be curious to know whether pro-cyclists are on sophisticated programs unseen in all pro-sports... or they're really just on a trickle-down-economics drug program of sorts which the likes of superstar tennis players & footballers have been on for years. I mean something is keeping the world's favorite mid 30 year old record tennis grand slam winners going, even when their bodies are breaking down with injuries!

The money in those aforementioned sports being much, much greater than in cycling would suggest cycling isn't exactly awash with the best access to the most trailblazing methods. And endurance is what it is in all sports, aka primordial - whether cycling for 5 hours or playing a 4 hour tennis match in a grand slam (or playing a football match).

IMO (& I'm maybe going out on a limb here) cycling might have merely caught-up with the good times enjoyed by every other major sport with #nevertired superstars loved & adored by billions around the world whilst they perform superhuman feats defying age & human capabilities.