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State of the Peloton 2024

Page 5 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Even the TV commentators were picking up from G's remark about how it's junior racing style now with full gas from the gun.
Visma's tactics of attack early to get guys in numbers out front then keep on pushing, nearly blew up in their faces on Saturday but their strength in numbers saved the day. With all the peloton now stuffing themselves with carbs and ketones maybe Visma will need to come up with another plan (if WvA is not involved especially).
 
With both Saturday's and Sunday's races being the fastest ever, a look at the other statistics -
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road...-files-of-the-fastest-ever-omloop-and-kuurne/
Visma-Lease a Bike laid waste to “Opening Weekend” as its classics All-Stars twisted the throttle from Omloop’s Saturday start in Gent to Sunday’s showdown sprint in Kuurne.

Riding in the break with WVA in spring’s opening brawl meant finding 400 normalized watts for 60km.

Making moves with Visma’s stormtroopers on the mythical Muur required a rider crush 7W/kg for close to three minutes on the beer-slicked cobblestone wall.

And sprinting for the win – and coming off second-best – meant hitting close to 55kph at the end of a 5,500 calorie day.
 
Good read.

De Lie and others in the break sustaining a normalized power of 90% of threshold for 4h45min is just bonkers. Especially since there were a number of 1-3min hills taken at full gas, which means that pacing (fatigue management) is far from optimal.

Next they will push similar numbers and add an hour in RVV and Roubaix.
 
So are we back to the age of everyone riding faster and faster until someone gets poped and the whole peloton slows down? Is it all really just carbs and gels and energy drinks?
As fun as it is that youngsters like the Lennys and Del Toro are blitzing the races, there is that nagging feeling that this is 1999 again.
With the arrival of the last of the big 4 to start their season over the weekend, we should be able to see with our own "lyin' eyes" over the Summer the lay of the land.
 
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  • Haha
Reactions: Krzysztof_O
Well, even with an extra 30 km Strade Bianche was nearly as fast as last year, and I'm begining to wonder how far out must someone attack from, before people begin to wonder what the heck is going on. Ok, it was not the strongest line up at SB, but even so ...
 
Even the TV commentators were picking up from G's remark about how it's junior racing style now with full gas from the gun.
Visma's tactics of attack early to get guys in numbers out front then keep on pushing, nearly blew up in their faces on Saturday but their strength in numbers saved the day. With all the peloton now stuffing themselves with carbs and ketones maybe Visma will need to come up with another plan (if WvA is not involved especially).
And then today happened, and Pog made VLAB look like his development squad. In the words of Tom Pidcock, What The F**k?
 
"Thanks to Ferrari, I found new motivation and conviction," says Argentin, over an espresso in his hometown on the plains near Venice, where he is now a successful real estate developer, "He was the very first coach who worked on 360 degrees—every aspect—of a rider's training and life: his diet, nutrition and not only training but living the life of a cyclist. Before, we didn't even understand why we had sore legs. With the new methods, we understood why, and we could make changes. He didn't change the amount of training, he changed the methods; so it became more structured and more disciplined, with definite intervals and recovery periods. Thanks to him, I learned more about myself and my own engine. As a consequence, I became convinced! of my own talent, my own physical capabilities."

He had some engine. The very next season, 1990, Argentin won the Tour of Flanders, Fleche Wallonne and a stage of the Tour de France. He won Fleche again the following year, as well as Liege-Bastogne-Liege and another Tour stage. In all, Argentin won more than a dozen races and stages in the five years he worked with Ferrari.

"He was the best then, and the best now," says Argentin. Slim and soft-spoken, he still looks like the elite athlete he once was. His well-tailored tweed jacket, and his brand-new Volkswagen SUV, speak of a comfortable post-cycling life. He's been out of cycling since retiring after the 1994 season, but he well remembers die furor his beloved coach caused with that infamous "orange juice" interview, because he'd won his third Fleche that same day. (Ferrari was right, by the way: Erythropoietin, used to treat anemia, is often cited by medical trade journals and other expert sources as one of the top-selling; and safest, prescription drugs.) "Ferrari said what we all thought," says Argentin. "There are 3,000 products on the doping lists, and only 30 that can be found in a test. I think that's really what Michele wanted to say. You can't just accuse people of doping. You have to verily."

He takes a little sip of coffee, then continues: "I don't deny my past with him. I'm proud to have worked with him. He never prescribed me anything. He did lots of other things, like tests, training, diet, experimental things. We did everything that was legally possible, yes. I'm not saying I'm a virgin. I did everything possible and legal to be good. I didn't hold back, because I knew it was the only way to be competitive."

Pause. Sip, "Cycling at that level wasn't good for my health," Argentin says. "I've got the sacrosanct right to give back to my body everything that it consumes. You can be replaced on a team, you know, so your engine has to work, always work."
Insert the quotes of today for a "That was then, this is now".
 

Insert the quotes of today for a "That was then, this is now".
Basically everyone in it is always one step ahead.

The anti-doping agencies have no idea what they are looking for or how to detect/prove anything.

Sport at the elite level is what it has always has been, not healthy but everyone does what they can to be at their best. Most are treading the line. A few white lies here and there. Taking things that they can buy and no one can detect. "I am clean".
 
Pogacar and Lenny VE's numbers at Strade Bianche -
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-racing/power-analysis-how-pogacar-crushed-strade-bianche/

After reviewing the race video, I found the exact point at which Pogačar attacked on the Sante Marie. Unsurprisingly, this was at the tail end of Van Eetvelt’s peak 5-minute power for the entire race. That is the secret to these attacks – Pogačar is able to attack when everyone else is at their limit.
On the steep climb where Pogačar attacked, Van Eetvelt did 540w (8.6w/kg) for 50 seconds and still lost 10 seconds to the Slovenian. To make that big of a difference on a short climb, Pogačar likely did 10-12w/kg for the first 45 seconds of his solo effort.


According to Velon CC, Pogačar averaged 340w (5.2w/kg) and 38.8 kph for two hours and three minutes to win Strade Bianche. He was more than three minutes ahead of the chasing group, and it was clear that Pogačar was not pushing full gas for the last 10km.
 
  • Haha
Reactions: Ripper
Well, reading about what happened before the TV cameras were turned on at SB, it seems that was what basically happened. UAE drove the peloton hard until Pogacar attacked. Visma's similar tactic at one day races to get numbers up the road, but for UAE it's to get Pogacar to attack.
But what I mean is, I want to see a big name just friggin go solo from the gun. Teams driving it at junior level insane pace for 50 to 100 km followed by a a team leader's extra terrestrial soul crushing acceleration, is still so passé.

Let's have that ridiculous soul crushing event happen right from the neutral zone!