Team Visma LAB

[Carrick-On-Seine]

Just thinking about Wout’s “knee injury” before the Tour which had him pull out of the nationals, along with the rest of the team having similar excuses. Easy explanation is that they were all glowing like fireflies during that window.

Skyborgs always skipped the British championships.

Also how could Van Aert have been this Tour if he hadn’t missed a week of training? Or did he miss a week’s training?

 

[ontheroad]

Skyborgs always skipped the British championships.

Also how could Van Aert have been this Tour if he hadn’t missed a week of training? Or did he miss a week’s training?

Or was the alleged knee injury to provide cover for a potential TUE. I guess we can only speculate but whether he was injured or not he has been super human for this entire tour.

I'm also baffled as to how a super thin almost skeleton like rider such as Vingegaard who supposedly weighs 58-60kg can generate such explosive power. He never allowed Pogacar to gain as much as one or two bike lengths for the entire tour and we know that one of Pog's biggest strength is his explosive power in punchy finishes. Then on the flip side we have a 78 kilo rider like Van Aert riding up climbs with mountain goats and dropping them for fun while sometimes having been in the break all day. It's not logical.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

Gewiss wasn't that blatant.

well if Wva drops Pogacar on Hautacam surely he can drop Pogacar and MVDP on Oude Kwaremont

 

[staubsauger]

We also won't see Steven Kruijswijk winning Lombardy like Vladislav Bobrik now. What a shame.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

Ganna after reconning the time trial: Wout Van Aert has this in the bag…

This is the world champion sounding like he does not even want to try to win.

is it just me or are there more and more people within the peloton now saying subtel things? philipsen, Jakobsen, now Ganna?

 

[BR2]

Ganna after reconning the time trial: Wout Van Aert has this in the bag…

This is the world champion sounding like he does not even want to try to win.

is it just me or are there more and more people within the peloton now saying subtel things? philipsen, Jakobsen, now Ganna?

what did Jakobsen say?

 

[Ricco']

Do you think TJV are a respected team within the peloton as Sky and USPS were back in the day?

I don't feel the rest of the bunch sees them as the bosses of the peloton in the same way as the other teams. This comments plus the comments Schachmann and co. made the other day about their dangerous behaviour in the bunch, if they were made against one of those teams the guy would be in trouble.

I feel the other riders, being repeatedly beaten like dummys, will lose their patience a lot sooner.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

what did Jakobsen say?

Jakobsen said he was struggling early in the stage, seeing a green “motorcycle” destroying the peloton on front.

 

[Tinnekeisabella]

Do you think TJV are a respected team within the peloton as Sky and USPS were back in the day?

I don't feel the rest of the bunch sees them as the bosses of the peloton in the same way as the other teams. This comments plus the comments Schachmann and co. made the other day about their dangerous behaviour in the bunch, if they were made against one of those teams the guy would be in trouble.

I feel the other riders, being repeatedly beaten like dummys, will lose their patience a lot sooner.

I think they are trying to get the Sky/uspostal status but they forget to give the other teams at least some crumbs.

I think this tour wont have made them many friends. All the sprinters teams are beyond pissed. Seeing even Ganna is pessimistic of his chances in a timetrial I feel Ineos is not that happy either.

They make these guys look like amateurs...

 

[ashhutch1997]

Us Postal gifted the yellow jersey many times, usually to a French rider to keep the public happy. They literally made Thomas Veockler's career in 2004.

 

[Riek s]

Us Postal gifted the yellow jersey many times, usually to a French rider to keep the public happy. They literally made Thomas Veockler's career in 2004.

But in the end they were to greedy by winning the TDF 7 times.

If he stopped at 5 and started going to Giro/Vuelta, the french would have kept his name on the victories, just with an asterix like other busted riders. (if they even made an extra effort to catch him like they did now might have well been not caught)

 

[ashhutch1997]

But in the end they were to greedy by winning the TDF 7 times.

If he stopped at 5 and started going to Giro/Vuelta, the french would have kept his name on the victories, just with an asterix like other busted riders. (if they even made an extra effort to catch him like they did now might have well been not caught)

I actually think it was the the comeback in 2009 that was the final straw tbh. That really was a massive f**k you to the French and the haters lol

 

[Riek s]

I actually think it was the the comeback in 2009 that was the final straw tbh. That really was a massive f**k you to the French and the haters lol

True that didn't help either

 

[Barnacle Bill]

Well it's been quite a spectacle. Thanks for making it memorable JV!

 

[Pirazziattacks]

I actually think it was the the comeback in 2009 that was the final straw tbh. That really was a massive f**k you to the French and the haters lol

Lance really was the Michael Jordan of cycling, just a massive hater who couldn't bear anyone else getting plaudits.

 

[PhiLiz]

I’m not really suspicious of WVA. He’s been a talent, and clearly can climb well, he’s done that the last three years. If the opposition wants to really narrow down on someone, it has to be Laporte, who has his best season by miles this year. I think something’s fishy around him.

Yeah, sure. Laporte is the suspicious one on the team. Kek.

 

[Unterlenkerfahrend]

Us Postal gifted the yellow jersey many times, usually to a French rider to keep the public happy. They literally made Thomas Veockler's career in 2004.

Yeah, Bruyneel and Armstrong were smart enough to understand that the public hates them already anyway, better to keep things friendly in the peleton and around (and most importantly were in bed with UCI and ASO).

I feel like JV were so full of vengeance after Pog spanked them two years in a row, they completely lost perspective on how they're slapping everyone else.
They remind me of Team Telekom in the 90s. Brutal dominance two years in a row (1+2+Green+White in 96; 1+7 (would've been 1+3 if not for that stomach bug in the Vosgues)+Green+White in 97) and while in 98 the other big rival gets caught and punished (not that I pitty Festina), they get away with their shiny anti-doping rhetoric. They weren't liked at all after that.

Jumbo has been kicking everyone apart from Pog for 3 years, yet only Pogi had to eat all the doping questions last year and Bahrain were the ones getting raided. Don't think that'll go down well with everyone.

 

[ashhutch1997]

Yeah, Bruyneel and Armstrong were smart enough to understand that the public hates them already anyway, better to keep things friendly in the peleton and around (and most importantly were in bed with UCI and ASO).

I feel like JV were so full of vengeance after Pog spanked them two years in a row, they completely lost perspective on how they're slapping everyone else.
They remind me of Team Telekom in the 90s. Brutal dominance two years in a row (1+2+Green+White in 96; 1+7 (would've been 1+3 if not for that stomach bug in the Vosgues)+Green+White in 97) and while in 98 the other big rival gets caught and punished (not that I pitty Festina), they get away with their shiny anti-doping rhetoric. They weren't liked at all after that.

Jumbo has been kicking everyone apart from Pog for 3 years, yet only Pogi had to eat all the doping questions last year and Bahrain were the ones getting raided. Don't think that'll go down well with everyone.

That's true, but you also have to remember that Richard Virenque was getting on the podium in those days so the French were happy. I remember Ullrich giving Virenque the stage win in Corchavel in 1997. Plus letting people like Cedric Vasseur holding to yellow until Ullrich's thermonuclear attack in Andorra. You also had riders like Pantani and Cipo dominating sprints and climbs

 

[ppanther92]

I feel like JV were so full of vengeance after Pog spanked them two years in a row, they completely lost perspective on how they're slapping everyone else.
They remind me of Team Telekom in the 90s. Brutal dominance two years in a row (1+2+Green+White in 96; 1+7 (would've been 1+3 if not for that stomach bug in the Vosgues)+Green+White in 97) and while in 98 the other big rival gets caught and punished (not that I pitty Festina), they get away with their shiny anti-doping rhetoric. They weren't liked at all after that.

But I actually think they messed up with their 96/97 dominance. 98 Ullrich would still have won without his one bad day but everyone toned it down after Festina, I guess. And in 99 the Spiegel report came out (https://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/a-26954-amp.html). Unless my memory tricks me, Telekom never was as dominant again. And I think thats for sure connected to losing the Freiburg access and team program. Obviously there was still no internal resistance against doping but it was more on the individual riders (like Ullrich with Fuentes). That can’t compete with a perfectly choreographed team effort like Postal.

 

[hrotha]

That super Telekom was built around Ullrich, Zabel, Riis, Bölts and Heppner. The latter three were quite old, and Ullrich spent pretty much every off-season goofing around. Zabel remained at the same super high level until his last couple seasons. Meanwhile, new blood like Klöden and Vinokourov performed incredibly well, but by the mid 2000s most of their high-profile signings were busts (Botero, Savoldelli, Evans, Sevilla, even Guerini despite his Alpe d'Huez win). How much of that was due to Telekom/T-Mobile having lost the arms race and how much was it the inevitable result of signing heavy users from smaller teams is anyone's guess, but it seems to me the reasons for their diminished performance have more to do with bad management and unprofessional star riders than with the doping programs available to their riders.

 

[Netserk]

In 2006 when the Tour win was within reach again, they were clearly fully prepared on a team level. Far more frightening than the year before.

 

[ashhutch1997]

In 2006 when the Tour win was within reach again, they were clearly fully prepared on a team level. Far more frightening than the year before.

The battle we never got, that T mobile team Vs a mutant Ivan Basso.
Thankfully Floyd Landis upped his game to give us the spectacle that we wanted to see!

 

[Fantastico]

In 2006 when the Tour win was within reach again, they were clearly fully prepared on a team level. Far more frightening than the year before.

I still remember the first time-trial. Even without Ullrich, they had 6 guys in the Top 15 (even riders like Kessler or Mazzoleni).

 

[ontheroad]

No cumulative fatigue for Van Aert in the TT either, he's ripping it up again today. Wiggins on commentary earlier compared his style to the 'great Lance Armstrong' now saying that he turns him on!

 

[ashhutch1997]

Surely Jumbo are due a police raid, it's getting to the point where they are outright making a mockery of the Tour.....