State of the Peloton 2024

[Sciatic]

this all makes more sense to me than the nutrition stuff. im a terrible sleeper and the difference between a broken 6-7 hours and a full 8+ is massive. Lance always says he used to sleep 9 hours straight through the night every night during the Tour. if i could do that Ullrich might not be able to drop me either.

And surely that sleep was primary source of his success?

 

[Rob5091]

Makes me wonder what the heck they're giving him at UAE. I know it wasn't just missing out on the dip in the ice tub.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/th...shed-for-return-at-gp-quebec-and-gp-montreal/

... after the Tour when I switched off, my body went kind of into shutdown mode and I was feeling quite bad the first two weeks."

... and Lance's buddy George thinks it's all down to technology ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-falling-into-a-dark-era-of-cycling-as-he-did

Watching the current peloton however, the now 51-year-old is quite hopeful that today's generation haven't fallen into the same pitfalls as he did back in the day. “I think the sport is in such a better place now. [Athletes] will never be confronted with those decisions that we were. They’re so focused on nutrition, technology, altitude training. In many ways, they’ve surpassed the benefits of doping by technology."

 

[noob]

Close the Clinic! These faster speeds are all down to “recovery pajamas" and "smart mattresses" ...
https://velo.outsideonline.com/road/road-training/pro-cyclings-pursuit-of-perfect-sleep/

Like an add for the bed and pyjama companies

I'm actually struck by this lately; the effect is two-fold by claiming it's the new materials, be it food, pyjama, drinks, beds, bikes etc etc it all also has the effect of ads for those companies!

The exact same way beauty influencers claim it's their new skin care when really they just had fillers and botox.

 

[Mayomaniac]

Makes me wonder what the heck they're giving him at UAE. I know it wasn't just missing out on the dip in the ice tub.
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/th...shed-for-return-at-gp-quebec-and-gp-montreal/


... and Lance's buddy George thinks it's all down to technology ...
https://cyclinguptodate.com/cycling...-falling-into-a-dark-era-of-cycling-as-he-did

I mean, just look at how all the other UAE guys who got the rocketfuel at the Tour faded at the Vuelta, that stuff probably takes a toll on your body. Also half of Bora getting sick and multiple riders dropping out the day after they and Roglic dropped the biggest watts bomb.

 

[topcat]

this all makes more sense to me than the nutrition stuff. im a terrible sleeper and the difference between a broken 6-7 hours and a full 8+ is massive. Lance always says he used to sleep 9 hours straight through the night every night during the Tour. if i could do that Ullrich might not be able to drop me either.

The softest pillow at night is a clear conscience.

 

[zlev11]

And surely that sleep was primary source of his success?

did I say anything even close to that?

 

[Sciatic]

did I say anything even close to that?

did I say anything even close to that?

No, I was just joking (okay, sarcasm, not always a good thing) about a sentence that mentions Armstrong and being a good sleeper, in the context of a discussion about possible non-doping performance enhancers.

 

[peterfin]

I mean, just look at how all the other UAE guys who got the rocketfuel at the Tour faded at the Vuelta, that stuff probably takes a toll on your body. Also half of Bora getting sick and multiple riders dropping out the day after they and Roglic dropped the biggest watts bomb.

Even Pogi said that he was totally destroyed after the Tour and can't even drop three Lotto-Dstny guys on a climb 7 weeks later.

 

[ppanther92]

That would not be very helpful for a Merckxian career for Pogacar.

 

[QueenStagiaire]

What are you guys even talking about, Pogačar looked the most convincing he ever has at this point in the season after having won the Giro-Tour double. Like what, if you race really hard for weeks on this drug, you will experience fatigue? That also happens if you aren‘t doping.

 

[Rob5091]

What are you guys even talking about, Pogačar looked the most convincing he ever has at this point in the season after having won the Giro-Tour double. Like what, if you race really hard for weeks on this drug, you will experience fatigue? That also happens if you aren‘t doping.

Pogi won that last TT at the Tour by over 1 minute (and still managed to wave to people on the way) and looked like it was a jaunt before stage 1. To read that he was knocked out for 2 weeks afterwards is surprising.

 

[Samu Cuenca]

What are you guys even talking about, Pogačar looked the most convincing he ever has at this point in the season after having won the Giro-Tour double. Like what, if you race really hard for weeks on this drug, you will experience fatigue? That also happens if you aren‘t doping.

It can also happen if you aren't racing, but still take a lot of drugs.

 

[Nick2413]

The difference is the type of fatigue he claimed to have after the Tour doesn’t just go away in a few weeks so you’re back to dominating again after a couple weeks of proper training if you’re clean.

 

[AmRacer]

The difference is the type of fatigue he claimed to have after the Tour doesn’t just go away in a few weeks so you’re back to dominating again after a couple weeks of proper training if you’re clean.

It's almost 8 weeks after the Tour.

 

[Rob5091]

It's almost 8 weeks after the Tour.

But how many weeks of training since the Tour? Was not he supposed to be on the beach with Mrs Pogi after the Tour?

 

[AmRacer]

But how many weeks of training since the Tour? Was not he supposed to be on the beach with Mrs Pogi after the Tour?

I'm sure they found a week or so for beach life. They were seen fooling around in Paris at the Olympics. So he could've 3 weeks training, the 2 Canada races and another week for final build up.
Something like that, give or take, I suppose

 

[Nick2413]

It's almost 8 weeks after the Tour.

My point exactly, a few down weeks and a few real training weeks is essentially all there was.

 

[AmRacer]

My point exactly, a few down weeks and a few real training weeks is essentially all there was.

And 2 hard races and this week for final build up.

 

[Rob5091]

So does this mean that UCI's EPO doping test now works or will we get the full blown CAS appeal etc etc?
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/je...years-after-epo-detected-in-anti-doping-test/

The UCI has suspended Australian-born Irish cyclist Jesse Ewart for three years, citing an anti-doping rule violation after an in competition doping control test came back positive for Erythropoietin (EPO), with the ineligibility period for the athlete running through to May 15, 2027.

Edit - add - so he was tested in January, provisionally suspended in May and now in September we hear he's suspended until May 2027. Quicker I suppose then Hessman's "problems" but Visma no doubt have more money for lawyers.

 

[Izzyeviel]

Shame he wasn't caught last year. Dude exists to mess with my conti team on pro-cycling manager.

 

[Rob5091]

Inspired by a certain Dr Iñigo San Millán, a look at the “carbolution” or how to stuff 120g carbs per hour down your system -
https://www.endureiq.com/blog/120-g...raze-a-deep-dive-into-physiology-and-research

However, when we increase carbohydrate ingestion above 90 grams per hour, the recent research tells us that we don’t get any further glycogen savings. All the extra exogenous carbohydrate oxidation simply displaces fat oxidation, meaning that we are burning through our glycogen stores at the same rate whether we’re ingesting carbohydrates at 90 or 120 grams per hour. In fact, research from back in 2018 suggested that increasing carbohydrate ingestion above 90 grams per hour not only fails to preserve glycogen, but may stimulate its breakdown . This, of course, is the precisely the opposite of what we are trying to achieve.

A recent Velo article proposed that a “carbolution” is behind the amazing recent performances we have seen in professional cycling.

The premise of the article is that higher carbohydrate intakes are driving increases in the power output of the peloton, and records on climbs and in the Classics. New formulations, or “rocket-science concoctions” like Maurten hydrogels and glucose-fructose mixtures are allowing cyclists to take on carbohydrate at rates of 120 grams per hour, or even higher, and that this is what’s behind improvements in performance.

Based on the evidence I’ve considered above, I think you might agree that this is a bit of a stretch. Sure, glucose-fructose mixtures are a useful means of allowing an athlete to increase carbohydrate ingestion rates during exercise to 90 grams per hour, but we’ve known about these drinks and their metabolic effects for ~20 years (5). We’ve also seen that there’s no need to go beyond 90 grams per hour, as doing so doesn’t further preserve glycogen and in fact might accelerate its use, and worsens performance.

 

[E_F_]

Man I'm really going to need the rest of the peloton to figure out something crazy for next season. Pogacar+UAE dominance is simply way too much for my love of the sport to bear. Please drop some anti-matter watt bombs!!!

 

[pastronef]

Man I'm really going to need the rest of the peloton to figure out something crazy for next season. Pogacar+UAE dominance is simply way too much for my love of the sport to bear. Please drop some anti-matter watt bombs!!!

well, Jumbo-Visma needs to go back to its crazy 2023 levels

 

[E_F_]

well, Jumbo-Visma needs to go back to its crazy 2023 levels

That'll be nowhere near enough, I'm afraid.

 

[pastronef]

I started reading the Clinic 11 years ago in 2013 in the autumn-winter after Froome's Tour win. I became a big Sky and Froome fan because of their haters and obsessed and angered folks on here and twitter. they took it personally. it was another kind of racism towards the white Kenyan, it was personal attacks at Froome, in and out of the races, it was a vitriol never again seen on these pages.
they are gone now. disappeared.
I've read almost every post of the Gianetti-Pogacar thread on here and the last few pages are even philosophical, quiet, comprehensible, normal discussion into many topics about types of doping, reasons, question marks, lines to cross, etc etc.
I am in awe of the normal and calm discussion, about a rider and a team that would leave the Sky train and Froome at many minutes in the crucial races/stages.
so I wonder all the hysterical antidopers on here were just anti-Sky, anti-Froome, "anyone-but-Sky" folks. I know, I've already written this before, but it really hits me how the core part of people on here, that did lead the "fight" against the evil Sky until 2019, have forgotten about doping now and new people have come and you can have a human, unangered, non-obsessive discussion with them.
maybe it was all about the flag. because Sky had Sir Dave and Freeman, ok yadda yadda, but UAE has Matxin and Gianetti but the 2013-2018 antidopers don't care, are not rattled anymore. don't even bother to post on here.