Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[Parrot23]

They can (impossibly) do threshold work all day long on the front, but the acceleration changes really do them in.

Yes, seems like it. Here's to Bertie and Andy Schleck next year. Should be back to a more typical Tour then.

 

[Dalakhani]

Could just be that other papers are $hit scared of legal action from the teams backers...

I can understand any accusation being removed for legal reasons. But we're talking about posts just saying, basically, "Froome did not have GC contender or future GC contender form prior to the Vuelta - and now look at him".

Even comments like, "Very emotive, but don't dopers say the same thing?", seem to go.

I still suspect it's because they have Wiggins writing for them, and they don't want to sour the deal.

 

[mastersracer]

Uh no, it was a joke. You can tell that from the green-faced guy with the seriously ugly teeth.

Like this one.

kind of - the first one was a joke but it was taken seriously in subsequent posts.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

I beg @bradwiggins' pardon. He is the leader of the race so he and his team have the right to do whatever they want. See you.

Genuine apology for losing his cool, or sarcastic call-out of Wiggins' attitude? Hard to tell in 140 characters.

 

[Don't be late Pedro]

Genuine apology for losing his cool, or sarcastic call-out of Wiggins' attitude? Hard to tell in 140 characters.

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

 

[Montanus]

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

Only Wiggo haters and LLS lovers.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

That's why I ask, because it sounds like a call-out, but I'm not sure what it would be for.

 

[hrotha]

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

Tactically, or ethically?

Tactically, you could say EBH had very little chance against Greipel, so as the race leader it would have been wiser to save his energy for the next stage. But it was a very short effort, and hey, why not give it a try?

Ethically, I don't see anything wrong with it, unless other riders perceive him as a guy who's taking things too far, making them all look like fools and potentially risking tripping the wire and screwing the whole peloton over.

 

[Square-pedaller]

kind of - the first one was a joke but it was taken seriously in subsequent posts.

Maybe I didn't go back far enough, but the only allusion to doping I can find is in the post you quote and is followed by a

 

[Zam_Olyas]

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

Luis Leon Sanchez was obviously disappointed, but not bitter. “It’s a pity it didn’t work out, but we can’t keep going on about it. I also want to learn from today. I was amazed by my own strength. It was going so well I thought ‘let’s give it a try. I’m going for it’. It was looking really good for a while, but when the yellow jersey is chasing you, it turns into an almost impossible task. It’s a pity. Next time we’ll do it differently.”
Sports director Nico Verhoeven was especially annoyed the possibility for a stage win was frustrated because of a decision by Bradley Wiggins that ended up not helping the yellow jersey wearer in any way. “He had the illusion Boasson Hagen could sprint for victory, but that guy rode at the front of the peloton for the last five days. He’s really not going to beat the two best sprinters of the group. Wiggins ended up being the ideal team mate for two other sprinters, and ruined it for us. It was a little hard to swallow to see the yellow jersey closing the gap. Luis Leon’s gesture? He made room for the yellow jersey shortly before. Wiggins even thanked him at the time. While overtaking, Luis Leon thought about that.”

http://www.rabosport.com/news/item/17500

 

[sniper]

Genuine apology for losing his cool, or sarcastic call-out of Wiggins' attitude? Hard to tell in 140 characters.

Fairness in the peloton is also about sharing some of the prize money, i.e. leaving some of the crumbs and scrapes for the poorer teams.
Rabo hasn't won any dough yet, so I can understand LLS's frustration seeing the yella yersey chasing him down.

 

[Square-pedaller]

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

Rabobank have only ?4 guys left and not many opportunities for 'saving' their Tour. I guess Sanchez felt that Sky had destroyed one of their few chances for something that Sky didn't need and which had a very small chance of success.

PS was posting while above posts were made.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Everything is cool.

 

[the big ring]

It sounds like the latter but that could be just his English.

That said, does anyone think Wiggins actually did anything wrong in chasing down for EBH?

So we've now had

"The Train" - UK Postal cf US Postal.
"The Look" - Wiggins to Nibali cf Lance to Ullrich
"No gifts" - Wiggins to LL Sanchez cf Lance to Kloden.



+1 to EBH being a domestique in this tour, not a sprinter. Sky's sprinter's name is Mark "I missed the split" Cavendish.

 

[maxmartin]

Fairness in the peloton is also about sharing some of the prize money, i.e. leaving some of the crumbs and scrapes for the poorer teams.
Rabo hasn't won any dough yet, so I can understand LLS's frustration seeing the yella yersey chasing him down.

SKY is not making any friends, maybe they think they don't need to

 

[taiwan]

Genuine apology for losing his cool, or sarcastic call-out of Wiggins' attitude? Hard to tell in 140 characters.

"Perdón a @bradwiggins. Es el líder de la carrera y puede hacer y deshacer como quiera el y su equipo! Sigue quedando una semana. 1 abrazo."

Got posted on PdC. Sounded non-sarcastic when someone translated it.

 

[maxmartin]

So we've now had

"The Train" - UK Postal cf US Postal.
"The Look" - Wiggins to Nibali cf Lance to Ullrich
"No gifts" - Wiggins to LL Sanchez cf Lance to Kloden.



+1 to EBH being a domestique in this tour, not a sprinter. Sky's sprinter's name is Mark "I missed the split" Cavendish.

The looks is not there, Wiggins talked with Nibali, the look is reserved for Maxime Monfort, ego Wiggo thought Monfont is doing risky sprint. I am wondering what will Monfont think about that?

 

[Zam_Olyas]

The looks is not there, Wiggins talked with Nibali, the look is reserved for Maxime Monfort, ego Wiggo thought Monfont is doing risky sprint. I am wondering what will Monfont think about that?

What do ya know... next king bradley will fart at the peloton.

 

[hrotha]

"Perdón a @bradwiggins. Es el líder de la carrera y puede hacer y deshacer como quiera el y su equipo! Sigue quedando una semana. 1 abrazo."

Got posted on PdC. Sounded non-sarcastic when someone translated it.

Heh, I'm quite sure his apology is sincere, but the Spanish version is actually easier to read in a sarcastic way than the English tweet. "Hacer y deshacer como quiera" implies some degree of arbitrariness in absolute power.

 

[Stueyy]

First post so please go easy...

I'm firmly in the camp that the top 4 riders on Sky are well and truley suspect as to whether they are clean or not. But when it comes down to 4 riders on one team then the focus must be directed firmly at the team principal as it's not a rogue individual it's a team program and very well run. What I really don't like is Brailsford's link to the British cycling team and British Cycling (silence is consent).

If ASO were serious about stamping out dopping then they'd impose physical restrictions to limit the chance of teams doping. Things like random checks of buses, cars, hotels etc. Tighter control of people in the teams and who riders have access to, listing of all equipment and team observes to monitor goings on. Drug testing is just so ineffective these days they need to catch cheats redhanded with the drugs etc.

 

[Tyler'sTwin]

JV hits a new low

Vaughters just gets more and more ridiculous.

RT @skibby_tbk Wiggins has been "strongly advised" not to release his biological passport data by the team doctors.

Jonathan Vaughters ‏@Vaughters
@charliegirl2008 yes, because the last time he released it, it was criticized by some Danish fellow that is not an anti doping expert.

http://twitter.com/Vaughters/status/224197320454057984

The Bispebjerg Hospital anti-doping researcher has worked on many scientific studies, including a 2008 paper co-written with Belhage and Damsgaard entitled Changes in Blood Profiles during Tour de France 2007, and stated that expected trends over a three week race were not seen in the Texan’s data.

"What we know from our research is that during periods of hard activity, like in the Tour de France, we normally see a drop in these blood values. We don't see this with Armstrong," he told DR Sport.

He elaborated on this when speaking to Cyclingnews. “His blood profile contradicts what we see and what we know from international studies during the last few decades,” he said in a phone interview. “His blood values are not acting as we would expect, so that is highly unusual.” (see sidebar)

Mørkeberg has just finished a Ph. D. dissertation entitled Detection of Autologous Blood Transfusions via Analyses of Peripheral Blood Samples, and is working on a method to trace this method of doping.

His aforementioned Tour de France study catalogued seven riders in the 2007 race, revealing lower hemoglobin and lower hematocrit (percentage of red blood cells in whole blood) on day 19 when compared to their pre-Tour reading. On average hemoglobin dropped 11.5% and hematocrit fell by 12.1%, keeping in line with physiological expectations.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/analysis-armstrongs-tour-blood-levels-debated

AS: Can you tell me about your background?

JM: I'm an exercise physiologist, Copenhagen University graduating 2006, and I have just written up my PhD and submitted it one week ago, the PhD is about detecting autologous blood transfusions in an anti-doping context.

AS: And you have published with Damsgaard and Ashenden.

JM: Yes.

http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/armstrongs-bio-passport-critic-speaks

Some danish fellow who is not an anti-doping expert?
**** off!

 

[taiwan]

Heh, I'm quite sure his apology is sincere, but the Spanish version is actually easier to read in a sarcastic way than the English tweet. "Hacer y deshacer como quiera" implies some degree of arbitrariness in absolute power.

Ah.

chachacha

 

[maxmartin]

Vaughters just gets more and more ridiculous.





http://twitter.com/Vaughters/status/224197320454057984



http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/analysis-armstrongs-tour-blood-levels-debated



http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/armstrongs-bio-passport-critic-speaks

Some danish fellow who is not an anti-doping expert?
**** off!

always feel JV is a hypocrite, anyway probably he will be banned by USADA
soon

 

[maxmartin]

First post so please go easy...



If ASO were serious about stamping out dopping then they'd impose physical restrictions to limit the chance of teams doping. Things like random checks of buses, cars, hotels etc. Tighter control of people in the teams and who riders have access to, listing of all equipment and team observes to monitor goings on. Drug testing is just so ineffective these days they need to catch cheats redhanded with the drugs etc.

lots of people will jump out by saying it is a violation of basic human rights

 

[pedaling squares]

It's interesting to watch Sky this month. They're ripping up the race, dominating the mountains and the TT's. 3 different stage winners, holding the maillot jaune and the 2nd place. All should be good on Team Sky. But I'd love to be a fly on the wall of their bus. They've upset some rivals, their team leader had an embarrassing meltdown, they've got the strongest man in the race holding back and trying not to win, embarrassing his leader in the process, they've got the best sprinter in the world isolated and watching lesser talents win multiple stages, and half the fans believe that they're the most doped bunch in the race. I would love to know just how happy Wiggins, Froome, and Cav really are with their tour thus far. Even the women are getting into it - they've got to take Yoko Wiggo's twitter away from her before she breaks up the band. I think Wiggins is going to win this thing and hear nothing but "Froome was stronger" for the rest of his life.