Tadej Pogacar and Mauro Giannetti

[Krzysztof_O]

He would drop Armstrong...

Armstrong was a beast in his heyday, IMO best TdF rider ever (overall level: mountains+tt). And he liked cold weather too. In his top form I think he would match Pogacar yesterday and would even gain some time in the TT. But Pog is still very young so...

 

[BullsFan22]

Give it a rest.

Western Europe doesn't think of Slovenia as Western Europe. It's an Eastern European country, which is probably a hangover from the iron curtain/cold war/communism and so on, not its exact geographic position.
Whatever the reason, you throwing wikipedia links around doesn't change the fact.

“probably”. Jugoslavija (which Slovenija was a part of) was never an iron curtain country. What part of that do you people not understand? I am assuming you are American, cause mostly Americans go around throwing misinformation so freely.

 

[hrotha]

i have never seen a slav being ashamed of being a slav

stares in Ustaša

 

[bNator]

All fine and dandy, Italians and Austrians think of you as culturally "Eastern Europeans", nobody will think of you as western Europeans, nowhere. I can call myself a "Hollywood heathrob" but that does not make me one. Slovenians speak a Slave language, have a Slave population have been culturally joined to the ex-yugoslavian countries.Practically nothing from Slovenia (writers, music, movies, tv, journals, books, cultural institutions, food) is known, admired or adopted or admitted as part of the Western European legacy.

Here is wikipedia Italia, including Slovenia as part of the Balkan Peninsula :

Penisola balcanica - Wikipedia

it.wikipedia.org

Another Italian encyclopedia, same thing

Balcanica, Penisola nell'Enciclopedia Treccani

La più orientale delle tre grandi penisole mediterranee europee. La bagnano i mari: Adriatico, Ionio, Egeo, Mar di Marmara e il Mar Nero. Nella Penisola rientrano l’ex Iugoslavia, la Bulgaria, l’Albania, la Grecia e la Turchia europea. I limiti, specie verso N, risultano alquanto indeterminati e...

www.treccani.it

Deutsche Wikipedia

Balkanhalbinsel – Wikipedia

de.wikipedia.org

Same thing.

You can curse me, you can call me names you can wish me dead but people all over the world will consider you culturally Balkan and "Eastern European" a lot more closer to your Dušans Ante and Miroslav than to Giovanni, Heiko or John. I am sorry to tell you that.

Oh I'm not cursing you at all- I think you are making a pretty good case for yourself being a *** anyway. No help from me needed.

I am going to report you for calling my language Slave language though. It's Slavic. And it is not Slave population - it's Slavic population. I am pretty sure these were not honest mistakes from your side and they do violate several forum rules...

 

[luckyboy]

Bjerg seems much better at climbing than you would expect from some huge 80kg time trialist. He was good in the Giro last year but still didn't expect him to still be there at the bottom of the Tignes climb.

Maybe if he is great all the time then one day Brian Smith on Eurosport will learn his name instead of saying Zberg all the time

 

[sir fly]

Oh I'm not cursing you at all- I think you are making a pretty good case for yourself being a *** anyway. No help from my side needed.

I am going to report you for calling my language Slave language though. It's Slavic. And it is not Slave population - it's Slavic population. I am pretty sure these were not honest mistakes from your side and they do violate several forum rules...

Relax.
He just can't get over Trieste...

 

[Netserk]

Bjerg seems much better at climbing than you would expect from some huge 80kg time trialist. He was good in the Giro last year but still didn't expect him to still be there at the bottom of the Tignes climb.

Maybe if he is great all the time then one day Brian Smith on Eurosport will learn his name instead of saying Zberg all the time

I noticed several bigger riders did very well today, I think that's down to the weather.

 

[Mr. 64%]

Bjerg seems much better at climbing than you would expect from some huge 80kg time trialist. He was good in the Giro last year but still didn't expect him to still be there at the bottom of the Tignes climb.

Maybe if he is great all the time then one day Brian Smith on Eurosport will learn his name instead of saying Zberg all the time

Please don't get me started on the slaughterhouse of pronunciation that is the English Eurosport commentary booth. It's a deep chest to have a dig into..!

But yeah, that's hard to listen to as a Dane

 

[Mayomaniac]

I noticed several bigger riders did very well today, I think that's down to the weather.

Yeah, that is probably a factor. Politt got dropped from the breakaway, but as soon as Majka was pacing he was able to stay with the gc group on the ascent to Tignes.
Bjerg is climbing really well, but speaking of big guys who climb well, what has happened to Laengen over the last 3 years? The guy was an outstanding climber for an 80kg guy, finished 4th on the gc in the Tour de l'Avenir in 2011 and in 2017 he finished 6th on the gc in the Tour of California.

 

[Netserk]

And it's not out of the blue that he climbs well in poor weather: https://cqranking.com/men/asp/gen/race.asp?raceid=36702

 

[canarydan23]

No it wasn’t.

Cool story bro

 

[hrotha]

In any case the word "Slav" comes originally from "Slave"

Other way around.

 

[sir fly]

In any case the word "Slav" comes originally from "Slave"

Other way around.

You both got it all wrong.
The root of the demonym "Sloven (Slav)" is "slovo (letter)".
This clearly implies an exceptional literacy rate among these people.
Further confirmation of the thesis comes from Slovakia and the works of Saints Cyril and Methodius there, which resulted in the Cyrillic alphabet several decades later.
So it's not just an exceptional literacy rate, it's the ability of these people to invent and create a script.
Unfamiliar with the progressive heritage of the Slavs, the still uncivilized population of the rest of Europe put them in slavery and the false interpretation kept on.

 

[topcat]

Slovenia is in Europe. There are no divisions. We are one.
What about that dopehead Pog? Next we'll see him with dread locks.

 

[BullsFan22]

Cool story bro

Not only is it cool, it’s also true. Fancy that.

 

[bNator]

You are not cursing me by cursing me? You may not be the sharpest tool in the shed in Slovenia. I suppose not everybody can be TP.

You are correct that the term is "Slavic", my mistake. If you want to clinch to that mistake to suppress people who tell you inconvenient truths please go ahead.

In any case the word "Slav" comes originally from "Slave" so I wouldnt get my panties too twisted in a bunch by an accidental historical etymology.

You western Europeans are all the same.

I deliberately used a wildcard to let everyone’s imagination do the rest. What did you think I called you?

And don’t be so aggressive just because you received some spanking in geopolitics.... kiddo

 

[King Boonen]

Mod hat on;


please end the off topic discussion now.

Cheers,

KB.

 

[ChewbaccaDefense]

Pogacar rides like he's from Austin Texas.

 

[superprinz]

Watching a smiling Pog crush his terrified contenders in the big gear is awesome fun. Maybe he takes his vitamins, maybe he does't. Who cares. At least for me, all the mimimi from morally superior keyboard warriors will not take away from that great entertainment.

 

[Zen Master]

The difference with Sky/Froome/Wiggo domination is that it got shrugged under the pretext of a strong team, collective effort, ””marginal gains” and such. Bar the occasional alien effort à la Ventoux 2013 it was more the team that got the spotlight. Very much like the US Postal of old and i suppose that is easier to accept for the public. With Pogacar this guy is like a already juiced up Ricco on steroids, who destroys everything in sight and you dont get the feeling he’ll need a team doing so. Yesterday was more ridiculous then anything Froome ever did (with some few exceptions) and the sort of thing that cant go on for too long before it gets suspicious imo.

I’ve never seen anything like this, but not even remotely close to this kind of full nuclear domination. I mean, even the famous Il Cobra looked far more believable and cleaner than this mutant, because the same doped up to the eyeballs Ricco lost the Giro in 2008 after the ITT to Milano. This guy can easily and without any real effort smash all the ITT specialist, and then just two days after that to literally destroy all the best climbers like they’re just a sad bunch of Cat 4 losers. When I saw him riding the Colombiere in the big ring my jaw just dropped. At the time of Pogacar’s attack Woods was something like five minutes ahead of him, but he easily bridged the gap like it were less than fifty seconds. Unbelievable…

 

[GuntherL1]

Watching a smiling Pog crush his terrified contenders in the big gear is awesome fun. Maybe he takes his vitamins, maybe he does't. Who cares. At least for me, all the mimimi from morally superior keyboard warriors will not take away from that great entertainment.

Dozens of riders died during the EPO era because they had to play along with the cheaters. I don't claim to be morally superior. I might do the same if I were in his position. The question remains whether it is important to pursue the truth. I think it is even when it compromises your entertainment.

 

[Froome]

Cycling fans always complaining. When gc favorites attack just in the last km they say " what a boring race again, i miss the old days", now we are seeing again long range attacks and people complain "this riders are on drugs, unbelievable, it couldn't be like that". What the hell people want?

 

[BullsFan22]

Cycling fans always complaining. When gc favorites attack just in the last km they say " what a boring race again, i miss the old days", now we are seeing again long range attacks and people complain "this riders are on drugs, unbelievable, it couldn't be like that". What the hell people want?

Thank you for this comment! I thought about posting it but decided not to. Glad someone else did. Add to the fact that this rider is coming from a country where quite a few here don’t seem to know much about, and you get double the criticism because it’s not your typical ‘cycling crazy nation,’ and it’s ‘Eastern European’ so it must terrible…

 

[Luthor]

Cycling fans always complaining. When gc favorites attack just in the last km they say " what a boring race again, i miss the old days", now we are seeing again long range attacks and people complain "this riders are on drugs, unbelievable, it couldn't be like that". What the hell people want?

Believable long attacks. You can attack and take like 30 seconds. Putting 3 minutes into GC favorites in an all-alone attack and you barely look tired is basically from Armstrong era. I was excited when Pog attacked so early but when I saw his rhythm and how he destroys everyone my excitement went to 0.

 

[superprinz]

Dozens of riders died during the EPO era because they had to play along with the cheaters. I don't claim to be morally superior. I might do the same if I were in his position. The question remains whether it is important to pursue the truth. I think it is even when it compromises your entertainment.

See, you are invoking moral superiority. The "truth", what a weighty and elusive concept.

Nobody forced any rider to use EPO or any other PEDs. They did not "have to" play along. They were free to choose to not participate, and - if they felt that this would prevent them from winning - speak up, or look for a different team or career path. As is evidenced by the fact that eventually, some did. And yes, of course everyone was understandably afraid of the consequences of spilling the beans, but that's the same as in any other job. Questionable stuff happens everywhere, and most people keep quiet and play along, for the sake of their careers and personal benefits. This still makes it their choice.

Case in point: I have long worked in an environment where it was socially required to drink alcohol. After large deals were closed, it was mandatory to celebrate extensively with the boys. Not playing along meant some serious career ceiling. There were (and are) many high-powered alcoholics in that well-paid peer group. Some of them will surely die because of liver damage.

Long story short: I don't buy the victim story (which you need to invoke moral superiority). That's the weak man's excuse. Neither do I think that doping is OK, and I would never personally do it. I just don't look at the TdF and similar big buck sport media events as anything more than great entertainment.