State of the peloton 2022

Toggle sidebar Toggle sidebar
Krzysztof_O

Krzysztof_O

Jul 7, 2013
8,100
14,943
23,180
There could be some spectacular numbers soon: UAE Tour is getting closer and even today in Valencia there may be fireworks by the new Spilak and co.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ilmaestro99
Cookster15

Cookster15

Moderator
May 14, 2011
6,177
6,683
23,180
Glad someone decided to give the Clinic a kick start. Clinic stuff has been very quite for months now. Obviously little racing lately is part of the reason. But I worry the teams and riders are looking for a competitive edge however they can find it while Lord Sauron's eye isn't watching.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Ilmaestro99
Mayomaniac

Mayomaniac

Apr 10, 2019
12,076
15,990
23,180
Ricco' said:
It looks like all the lower WT teams (or wannabe WT next season) came out with guns blazing. Intermarché, Cofidis, Lotto, TotalEnergies and even Arkéa and Uno-X look like they massively improved over the winter.
Click to expand...
I hate to say it, but it feels a bit like the Cera days...
 
  • Like
Reactions: BlueRoads
M

MikeS369

Mar 1, 2015
144
19
8,860
C

ChewbaccaDefense

Nov 5, 2013
5,299
5,078
23,180
BlueRoads said:
Well, I really like Ganna, but this is looking a bit ridiculous.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that was absurd. There was a shot with under 1k to go with the larger group...and Ganna looked to be taking up the space of any 2 of the other riders there. A giant among men...climbing with Pog...and that wasn't the only thing about that finish that rang the alarm bells.
 
S

spredy

Jul 15, 2021
14
20
580
Just because Ganna is big doesn't mean he can't climb. How about you actually look at the data?

Jebel Jais is about 5% average, power to weight has less of an effect on a shallow climb like this, meaning Ganna's raw large watts can help overcome his weight disadvantage.

Then, if you look at the power data of Neilson powless they 'only' did 5.5 watts per kg for 45 mins after about 4 hours of 160 watts. Heck, when I'm in peak form I could nearly have hung on the climb, and I can assure you I'm not doping.

So with Ganna's raw power requiring him to use less power to weight, if he was at 5.3 watts per kg @82kg he would have done like 434 watts. We see him make efforts like this all the time, and in much harder races, he posts a lot on Strava. So yeah, he may be on some stuff, but this ride in and of itself is no crazier than anything else he's done.
 
BlueRoads

BlueRoads

Jan 4, 2020
6,327
7,737
16,180
spredy said:
Just because Ganna is big doesn't mean he can't climb. How about you actually look at the data?

Jebel Jais is about 5% average, power to weight has less of an effect on a shallow climb like this, meaning Ganna's raw large watts can help overcome his weight disadvantage.

Then, if you look at the power data of Neilson powless they 'only' did 5.5 watts per kg for 45 mins after about 4 hours of 160 watts. Heck, when I'm in peak form I could nearly have hung on the climb, and I can assure you I'm not doping.

So with Ganna's raw power requiring him to use less power to weight, if he was at 5.3 watts per kg @82kg he would have done like 434 watts. We see him make efforts like this all the time, and in much harder races, he posts a lot on Strava. So yeah, he may be on some stuff, but this ride in and of itself is no crazier than anything else he's done.
Click to expand...

Well, it was enough for Dumoulin, George Bennett, de la Cruz, Almeida and some other probably not in peak form but generally pretty good climbers to not hang on. If you're better I hope you have a pro contract. Bissegger, who seems to be in good form, wasn't able to hang on at all, he got distanced in the beginning, despite certainly trying, so it was not a day for time trialers per se. And no, I don't think Ganna is in peak form already either, because his major goals obviously come later, and I'm also not sure he only weighs 82 kg at the moment if he did indeed put on weight for P-R.
We never know, and I'm not saying this is different from some other things he has shown, but don't make this "I could have done this".
(I'm really quite a fan, I like this style and he seems like a very nice guy, and therefor it's not even that I don't like to see it, but I feel it would be hypocrite to suspect other riders I don't like that much and pretend this is totally normal.)
 
S

spredy

Jul 15, 2021
14
20
580
Any of those riders might just not have wanted to contest the GC/the stage, they might not do well in the heat, they might just think ahh who cares this is just UAE tour or might have just had an off day.

I'm not trying to say 'Oh I'm better than Tom Dumo' or whoever but I'm saying based on the power data, it really isn't some super human effort. It's easy just to see x rider do x thing and have doubts, but once you give some context to help fill in the blanks, those suspicions can be alleviated.
 
SafeBet

SafeBet

Sep 2, 2011
17,534
13,757
28,180
BlueRoads said:
Bissegger, who seems to be in good form, wasn't able to hang on at all, he got distanced in the beginning, despite certainly trying, so it was not a day for time trialers per se.
Click to expand...
Bissegger must be extremely aero, because his incredible TT performances have seldom translated to road races, especially when they involved some climbing (the lone exception being his win from the break in Tour de Suisse).
All the other riders you mention must have had a bad day or are far from their peak, because the power output required to be in the leading group up to the final 500 metres of the stage is nothing to write home about for a WT rider. I'd even argue this wasn't Ganna's best climbing performance of the last couple of weeks if you ask me.
 
  • Like
Reactions: spredy
Mayomaniac

Mayomaniac

Apr 10, 2019
12,076
15,990
23,180
SafeBet said:
Bissegger must be extremely aero, because his incredible TT performances have seldom translated to road races, especially when they involved some climbing (the lone exception being his win from the break in Tour de Suisse).
All the other riders you mention must have had a bad day or are far from their peak, because the power output required to be in the leading group up to the final 500 metres of the stage is nothing to write home about for a WT rider. I'd even argue this wasn't Ganna's best climbing performance of the last couple of weeks if you ask me.
Click to expand...
Yeah, his climbing in the Tour de la Provence was probably more impressive.
Lower gradient tempogrinders are also different than actually hard climbs and Ganna has always been good on this kind of climbs. Look at him winning from the breakaway on the Montescuro stage of the Giro and at his performances on the Alto Colorado in San Luis.
It's still not in the same league as some of the stuff that Wout has pulled off. If he looses some weight like planned things could look different in a few months, I have to say that...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

TRENDING THREADS

Latest posts

Moderators online

Share this page

COMPANY
RESOURCES
FOLLOW
Top Bottom