State of the Peloton 2024

[ChewbaccaDefense]

This is a completely ridiculous post. There's no math to be done, you're not even assessing if you can make races 10 years apart with a fair amount of accuracy. I would rather stay away from your posts.

Yeah, completely absurd...except every other **king.year. one of us is making a ridiculous post, for god*damn sure.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

It's the wind, better bikes, know how to eat better, altitude camp, busting there butt's for 6 hours per day what are you doing, spinning a faster gear. In the words of Lance Armstrong, SSDD.

 

[Netserk]

No doubt about that, just like EPO.

That's what i believe more, in some new products who can work as a substitute and not banned.

All forms of blood doping is banned, including new possible substitutes.

 

[DNP-Old]

The difference in fuss between what is most likely the greatest time trial ever (Combloux) and factually the fastest Roubaix ever (by an insane margin), won with the longest solo ever, with the biggest margin of victory in two decades is ... interesting.

 

[pastronef]

The difference in fuss between what is most likely the greatest time trial ever (Combloux) and factually the fastest Roubaix ever (by an insane margin), won with the longest solo ever, with the biggest margin of victory in two decades is ... interesting.

Combloux dropped my jaw in disbelief. today it was "wow" but not a wild as Combloux

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Don't like my comparisons...compare it to any other year. Go ahead, take the Pepsi challengs. We're seeing a freakshow every.single.week. Chris Froome was more believably cleans.

 

[zlev11]

Yeah, completely absurd...except every other **king.year. one of us is making a ridiculous post, for god*damn sure.

yeah like, I understand its dumb to compare the speeds of grand tours because the routes are all so different, but Roubaix has had the same exact...last 100k? for forever. you can compare. especially when it's 8km/hr difference in 14 years. that's not negligible. that's absurd.

 

[Froome]

Don't like my comparisons...compare it to any other year. Go ahead, take the Pepsi challengs. We're seeing a freakshow every.single.week. Chris Froome was more believably cleans.

Chris Froome was clean. Hard work pays off, getting the hard miles was the secret, before getting easy miles during the Tour.

 

[zlev11]

Chris Froome was clean. Hard work pays off, getting the hard miles was the secret, before getting easy miles during the Tour.

is this a bit?

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Chris Froome was clean. Hard work pays off, getting the hard miles was the secret, before getting easy miles during the Tour.

That's absurd, but not as absurd as today

 

[Froome]

That's absurd, but not as absurd as today

I was being ironic.

 

[Nick2413]

Average speed records seem to be getting broken faster than big mountain climb records. Is that just a coincidence or is the type of doping going on not as effective for all attributes?

 

[Nomad]

Blood doping is extremely potent. The only reason to not blood bags and EPO would be for a new product that worked as a substitute.

Yep, even smaller amounts of blood transfusions have a large impact for an endurance athlete:

Small Amount of Blood Doping: Large Impact

Blood doping can improve performance in endurance disciplines such as cycling, long-distance running, cross-country skiing, etc. New data from the Department of Nutrition, Exercise and Sports at the University of Copenhagen reveals that a small blood transfusion of only 135 ml of red blood cells...

nexs.ku.dk

 

[Tim Cahill]

https://twitter.com/x/status/1777101814686445946

Gendarmerie belting Cyrus Monk's door in after checking out niche cycling community twitter accounts and thinking **** something's not right here at all

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Cancellara's fastest ever Roubaix is 5:45:33...20 minutes behind Mathieu...that places him 107th, and finishing ahead of only 4 people who finished inside the time limit, today. What.In.The.Actual.F**k.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I was being ironic.

Sorry for the friendly fire

 

[Nick2413]

Cancellara's fastest ever Roubaix is 5:45:33...20 minutes behind Mathieu...that places him 107th, and finishing ahead of only 4 people who finished inside the time limit, today. What.In.The.Actual.F**k.

There’s a lot of variables at play. But I think there’s enough of a trend it’s clear something has changed significantly in the last few years. Track and field records seem to be getting smashed more frequently now as well, but maybe not to this degree.

 

[Sciatic]

Cancellara's fastest ever Roubaix is 5:45:33...20 minutes behind Mathieu...that places him 107th, and finishing ahead of only 4 people who finished inside the time limit, today. What.In.The.Actual.F**k.

In prior generations, Once a lead group forged a gap they tended to take it easy for stretches between cobbled sectors (thus slower overall). When Cancellara launched his 50 km in P-R, Boonen was eating a sandwich.
A more useful comparison would be the time each rider (of a comparison group) took to cover one or more of the toughest sectors. This would be more like comparing climbing times, but as with ascents there are still variables like wind, weather, drafting to take into account.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

In prior generations, Once a lead group forged a gap they tended to take it easy for stretches between cobbled sectors (thus slower overall). When Cancellara launched his 50 km in P-R, Boonen was eating a sandwich.
A more useful comparison would be the time each rider (of a comparison group) took to cover one or more of the toughest sectors. This would be more like comparing climbing times, but as with ascents there are still variables like wind, weather, drafting to take into account.

I understand all of this, but I do not believe that the raw data can be so easily dismissed, particularly because I'm not comparing Canc or Boonen to Mathieu...I'm comparing them to Joey Rosskopf who finished 107th...and in a similar time. I'm going to guess that Rosskopf didn't ride full gas once getting dropped like a rock, earlier in the race.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

I will caveat to this extent (I wrote this in another thread), but I do think tire size and pressure plays a significant role. Tubeless tires running at the right pressure give you grip and comfort that is light years ahead of the size and pressures that Canc and Boonen were running. Someone mentioned Mathieu cornering, thus carrying momentum, and that is so much easier on the right tires, and pressures. No doubt about that...but still, Joey Rosskopf (no disrespect to Mr. Rosskopf in any way).

 

[Rob5091]

I think this puts things into perspective nicely,
https://inrng.com/2024/04/paris-roubaix-2024-review/#more-44246
"With the race covering 54.7km in the first hour – for anecdotal purposes only: faster than Bradley Wiggins’ hour record"

 

[saganftw]

I understand all of this, but I do not believe that the raw data can be so easily dismissed, particularly because I'm not comparing Canc or Boonen to Mathieu...I'm comparing them to Joey Rosskopf who finished 107th...and in a similar time. I'm going to guess that Rosskopf didn't ride full gas once getting dropped like a rock, earlier in the race.

actually everybody dropped was riding full gas untill the finish to keep up appearances that it was indeed tailwind from helicopter, better waifu pillows and tires pumped with fairy farts that make every race a record breaking event

its funny when EPO got introduced into peloton, people noticed that cycling became suddenly faster and we see the same thing happening now, current generation isnt just a bit faster, they Bob Beamon over elite cyclists from just 10 years ago who were already plenty suspiscious on their own, doesnt matter whether its a classic,TT or a mountain stage

tinfoil hat on

only thing that advanced since pandemic is covering the doping practices and even then cycling just caught up to professional football,basketball,athletics etc. because they figured out its much more lucrative to keep everything under wrap

tinfoil hat off

i probably dont even need that tinfoil hat anyway

 

[zlev11]

I think this puts things into perspective nicely,
https://inrng.com/2024/04/paris-roubaix-2024-review/#more-44246
"With the race covering 54.7km in the first hour – for anecdotal purposes only: faster than Bradley Wiggins’ hour record"

I cant even comprehend this

 

[Sciatic]

I understand all of this, but I do not believe that the raw data can be so easily dismissed, particularly because I'm not comparing Canc or Boonen to Mathieu...I'm comparing them to Joey Rosskopf who finished 107th...and in a similar time. I'm going to guess that Rosskopf didn't ride full gas once getting dropped like a rock, earlier in the race.

Sorry if I wasn’t clear, I’m not trying to dismiss the significance of ever increasing speeds in various races. I was just trying suggest why there might be SUCH a big different in elapsed time in P-R from the Boonen/ Cancellara days. And I could be wrong about it anyways

 

[Krzysztof_O]

So it seems we have 3 supermen right now: Pogacar, Vingegaard and Van der Poel. They seemingly win at will against other rivals.