Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[MarkvW]

Well its my perogative whether i believe or not.

If you win convincingly in professional cycling, you must be doping. Winning convincingly is sufficient proof of doping.

Disagree with that unassailable analysis and you must be naive. What's wrong with you?

 

[Justinr]

At what point did they start using aerodynamic pillows? No marginal gain is too insignificant!

No idea when they started using their own pillows but if they want to then why shouldn't they? Cycling has never been a glamorous sport when it comes to rooming in hotels. The standard of accommodation in alpine hotels is very variable. Doesn't this just go to show that they are fastidious about everything?

 

[Justinr]

I'm assuming you mean before a rider was actually sitting on the bike and after a rider was a sitting on the bike?

Just look at all these aerodynamic obstacles. It beggars belief that such an appalling contraption could pass through the air at all.

Thats right, no-one could possibly improve on that now could they ... there are so many areas there i wouldn't know where to start.

 

[bobbins]

No idea when they started using their own pillows but if they want to then why shouldn't they? Cycling has never been a glamorous sport when it comes to rooming in hotels. The standard of accommodation in alpine hotels is very variable. Doesn't this just prove that they are fastidious about everything?

Teams have used their own bedding for years. They do nothing different or new apart from the obvious.

 

[Justinr]

Teams have used their own bedding for years. They do nothing different or new apart from the obvious.

Then why do people make such a big thing about it with Sky?

 

[Justinr]

They do have the budget to have special frames and wheels made though. Sorry not wheels, they dodged that bullet.

Made me laugh when the French track team complained about the GB track teams wheels, and Brailsford replied that indeed they were special because they were 'more round'.

 

[coinneach]

Made me laugh when the French track team complained about the GB track teams wheels, and Brailsford replied that indeed they were special because they were 'more round'.

Did you laugh when Chris Hoy failed in his world Kilo record attempt?
Mavic thought British cycling had discovered some wonderful aero secret in their Mavic wheels by turning them round the other way.
Turned out, it was a simple mistake......if the front wheel had been in the right way, he'd probably have the record.

 

[bobbins]

Made me laugh when the French track team complained about the GB track teams wheels, and Brailsford replied that indeed they were special because they were 'more round'.

Or were they unapproved wheels made by UKSI?

 

[bobbins]

Then why do people make such a big thing about it with Sky?

Sky make a big deal about it and the media / fans lap it up.

Yes, Brad won the Tour because he drank special pineapple juice and took his favourite pillow with him. That's what made the difference, we're geniuses.

 

[nevada]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-to-miss-volta-a-catalunya

Training climbing to help prepare him for the massive cols of Paris - Roubaix

At the start of the season he was heavy because he needed power for P-R but did TA, now he's not racing a hilly race to train in the hills to prepare for PR.

Lots of mixed and disjointed messages here, all against the back drop of riders with dodgy blood values and relative underperformance this season.

It's certainly starting to look odd.

 

[badboygolf16v]

Then why do people make such a big thing about it with Sky?

Is that you Fran?

 

[Ventoux Boar]

Drug abuse

"Call yourself a bottle of paracetamol (acetaminophen)?"

Most disappointed in the performance of The Clinic since the Henao news broke. Have y'all stashed a bag for Flanders? There's a genuine development - arguably a bombshell - staring you in the face.

Where are the stalwarts? Too busy circling the wigwams, hunting heretics, or winding up for another tiresome polemic.

 

[SundayRider]

Because the data is complex and open to misinterpretation, no-doubt accidentally, by people who can sell a few papers in July. And since the only people who care are a few wingnut conspiracy theorists who will never be satisfied, there's no upside.

No brainer.

I don't think its that complex really. His power/weight ratio clearly wasn't high enough for him to make the Tour squad in 2011. Yet barely two months later at the Vuelta he is good enough to almost win the race and beat his team leader - the same leader that was leader of the Tour squad - that he did not even make!

 

[Ventoux Boar]

I don't think its that complex really. His power/weight ratio clearly wasn't high enough for him to make the Tour squad in 2011. Yet barely two months later at the Vuelta he is good enough to almost win the race and beat his team leader - the same leader that was leader of the Tour squad - that he did not even make!

Excellent. What's your analysis of Horner's data?

 

[SundayRider]

Excellent. What's your analysis of Horner's data?

Wasn't referring to blood values, the power values. Froome has to have had a big increase in FTP or a big percentage in weight loss to go from not making the Tour team to almost winning the Vuelta, there is no other explanation.

 

[Ventoux Boar]

Wasn't referring to blood values, the power values. Froome has to have had a big increase in FTP or a big percentage in weight loss to go from not making the Tour team to almost winning the Vuelta, there is no other explanation.

You don't even have the data yet, and you're already arguing it's not the data you need. You will never be satisfied.

 

[TailWindHome]

Wiggo was nowhere near anywhere the person they were expecting to take to the Tour as a winner.

His 4th place is the only reason Sky wanted him as badly as they did, ending up paying a premium in transfer fees to Garmin.

Can you help me reconcile those two seemingly contradictory statements.

 

[Netserk]

Can you help me reconcile those two seemingly contradictory statements.

Clue: When did they make the claim of the Tour win within five years goal?

 

[Justinr]

Clue: When did they make the claim of the Tour win within five years goal?

It was in 2009 i believe

 

[Skibby the bush kangaroo]

It was in 2009 i believe

Before the Tour in 2009.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/29/britain-olympic-cycling-tour-brailsford

 

[SundayRider]

Before the Tour in 2009.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/29/britain-olympic-cycling-tour-brailsford

BW was being trained/coached by Rod Ellingworth at that time.

 

[sniper]

Before the Tour in 2009.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/29/britain-olympic-cycling-tour-brailsford

nothing to see here!

British Cycling plans to build on Olympic success
Governing body aims to inspire mass participation

jeez you gotta have your head deep in the sand not to raise an eyebrowe or two here.

 

[The Hitch]

Sky make a big deal about it and the media / fans lap it up.

Yes, Brad won the Tour because he drank special pineapple juice and took his favourite pillow with him. That's what made the difference, we're geniuses.

It's what made the difference between dying on his bike behind the gruppeto, and being half an hour down the mountain outclimbing Nibali.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

He kind of did because he started Sky whose aim was to "create the first British winner of the Tour de France within five years". At the time Wiggins was about the only rider who would fit the bill, but I don't think he actually mentioned Wiggins name at the time - probably because he was riding for another team.

Lessee...

Coach Wiggo from 1998 - 2008, taking him all over the world for Comm games and Oly games. Learning, in that time, what his strengths and weaknesses are, both mentally and physically, inside out. Pay him 20-75k GBP per year for that priviledge, and let him muck about with road teams but he's got nothin' on the road, even with a dedicated road focus and team of helpers there preparing him for a 4.1km, dead flat, dead straight prologue (2006 Dauphine).

Option 1:
Employ Wiggo (out of contract) to do nothing for the entire year of 2009: $200k
Employ Wiggo for a 2 year contract: 2010 - 2011: $400k
Total: $600k

Option 2:
Train Wiggo (via Ellingworth) to 4th at the Tour, in Manchester, while Garmin pay his contract and put him up in Girona for 2009: $0
Buy Wiggo out of his contract from Garmin: $2M (GBP)
Sign a 2 year contract with Wiggo: $4M (GBP)
Total: $6M GBP

Yeah nah, you're right, Brailsford knew Wiggo was going to rock the Tour in 2009, clearly. And is an attention to detail freak who knows cycling, coaching, and performance potential of riders, particularly riders he spent 10 years developing and coaching on the track, no question.

Please. Engage critical thinking.

 

[The Hitch]

Before the Tour in 2009.

http://www.theguardian.com/sport/2009/jun/29/britain-olympic-cycling-tour-brailsford

Brailsford says he wants to win a gt with a British rider at a time when not one of the top 50, maybe even 100 best gt riders or potential gt winners, are Brits.

2 years and 2 months later, the top 2 gt riders jn the world are Brits riding for sky.

How anyone can find that not suspicious is a mystery of the human brain.