• The Cycling News forum is still looking to add volunteer moderators with. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

Page 131 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
What would even work this fast?! It went so fast I am baffled 😁
It could have been taken sublingual instead of swallowing. That’s absorbed faster but I don’t know how that’s possible on a bike.

Edit, unless there was a dissolvable tablet(s) mixed in as well. I think that’s doable to put under your tongue and keep it there while riding.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Tricycle Rider
Didn't he say in the post race interview that they never fully disappeared? He went down on the watts and was surprised he gained time rather than loosing it.

Yeah although with how fast he was able to ride it must’ve resolved somewhat. I didn’t understand how he gained time after dropping watts. The group behind might not have been cooperating great but they were still riding, as was Remco’s group, which gained no time either.
 
He said he was given an anti-cramping drink and then the cramping mostly stopped, but lowered his power to not lock up again. I'd say it was mostly placebo it worked, because anything through the mouth is not gonna have any effect for 15 mins, longer if dehydrated.

Agree- I was thinking that the team car might as well have handed him some sports drink and told him that it was something super special that would work instantly if he lowered his output by ten percent.

That said, could UAE perhaps work on finding a way to keep him properly fed and watered during races?
 
  • Like
Reactions: magliaroz
Agree- I was thinking that the team car might as well have handed him some sports drink and told him that it was something super special that would work instantly if he lowered his output by ten percent.

That said, could UAE perhaps work on finding a way to keep him properly fed and watered during races?
He probably didnt drink much on the last part of the climb, nor much on the descent that was quite long. He went full gas on the descent, deep into a hard race.

When it is time to start pushing on the flat, he experiences cramp. May have just gotten a bit too eager and pushing too hard on the beginning on the flat.

I just think it is one them ones where the race was just on and it can happen. That they malfunctioned with something fundamental as drink and feeding, that they need to look over it, wasnt what happened here.

And if he missed to grab a bottle or took his moment to attack instead, then thats just racing. He won.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miss Violet Smith
I still think there could potentially be ingredients out there that could have an effect on reducing cramps, not electrolytes, but it’s probably a mix of him reducing intensity and also being a bit depleted of fuel at that point. Electrolytes are indeed massively overrated in most contexts
 
Horner remarked that after the last climb Pogacar gaped everyone as they were getting drinks just after the top, and he did not. A smart team gives drinks just before the summit of a climb so that problem does not occur.

Yes, I think Pogačar did grab a bottle before the top, about the same time as Roglič came up behind him.

I just think it is one them ones where the race was just on and it can happen. That they malfunctioned with something fundamental as drink and feeding, that they need to look over it, wasnt what happened here.

I expect that you're right - and he did win!

Earlier in his career, I had the impression that he wasn't the best at feeding himself during races and the 2019 anecdotes about the UAE sports drinks are pretty funny, but I suppose the team has that sorted now.
 
Gianetti upgraded his Frankenstein. Tour de France will be crazy this year

giphy-downsized-medium.gif
 
As always, it is very interesting to see such large gaps in what essentially comes down to basic aerobic metabolic capacity and observe the gap within the subpopulation of the elite of the elite cyclists.

While some riders' ability to just take off is indeed the new normal, it wasn't that way 10 or even 5 years ago. Within this time frame, the peloton as a whole became more professional and competitive. Arguably the expectation then is to see gaps diminish.
 
As always, it is very interesting to see such large gaps in what essentially comes down to basic aerobic metabolic capacity and observe the gap within the subpopulation of the elite of the elite cyclists.

While some riders' ability to just take off is indeed the new normal, it wasn't that way 10 or even 5 years ago. Within this time frame, the peloton as a whole became more professional and competitive. Arguably the expectation then is to see gaps diminish.
Whenever only one of the foul four is present in a one day race he usually dominates it at will...