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May 3, 2015
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You don't know what was inside that bidon.

To me it's puzzling what they're in but in 20 years I follow the sport I don't recall seeing anything so stupidly absurd as the Belgian Hulk today. After 17 all-out stages, attack on KM 0, multiple pulls and attemps to get in the breakaway, little sprint in the intermediate, pulling constantly on Aubisque and Spandelles, attack on top of Spandelles and than this effort to Hautacam. All this while appearing he was everywhere giving his max.

It seems they are into something very powerful and with quick response that maybe they can top up during races to provide extra boost.
Haha, if Thomas would have suddenly caught Pogacar we at least would have known their secret is in their drinks.

And yes, indeed. We are discussing of Pogacar was too aggressive early on and tanked because of that. WvA just goes solo on half of the stages and no questions arise?
 
Jul 2, 2019
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i'm starting the Pogacar is Clean meme


i think the most comparable rider to WVA is Peak 1995 Jalabert but even he wasn't doing the kind of work that WVA was doing this tour
 
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Jul 25, 2015
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2015-18 Dumoulin would have finished with Thomas on a good day today. The Jumbo program - and the UAE one, for that matter - is on a different level entirely than anything seen in the 2010s.
I can honestly see a world were Big T was on a conservative program of testosterone, corticoids and some microdosed Epo and he wasn't ready to hop on the nuclear program by Jumbo which possibly includes multiple BBs, perfluorocarbons and god knows how many research chemicals.
 
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Jul 2, 2019
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wanna see WVA do this next year. I think people might be upset

3LSSBXR.png
 
Jul 2, 2019
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also yeah in fairness Jalabert in 1995 is probably more ridiculous but then again Jalabert in 1995 was maybe the most ridiculous cyclist of all time
 
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I can't really compare with the nineties. I was a child/ teenager then. Among those I have seen as an adult van Aert is the most ridiculous. Of course someone like Froome had a much bigger transformation, but in absolute terms - Wout ain't human anymore.
 
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Jun 27, 2009
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i'm starting the Pogacar is Clean meme


i think the most comparable rider to WVA is Peak 1995 Jalabert but even he wasn't doing the kind of work that WVA was doing this tour
Nope, after today’s performance a la Monsieur 60% at Hautacam, WWA is The Eagle of Herning Herentals…
 
Sep 10, 2016
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Haha, if Thomas would have suddenly caught Pogacar we at least would have known their secret is in their drinks.

And yes, indeed. We are discussing of Pogacar was too aggressive early on and tanked because of that. WvA just goes solo on half of the stages and no questions arise?
What do you mean "no questions arise"? Van Aert has a very busy clinic thread, with plenty of questions asked, and rightfully so. Same thing in this very thread.
 
Oct 15, 2017
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Tom D seems like he did that stuff in 2015-18 and it messed with his head. So he probably refuse to go on full jumbo program

If he were on those sort of stuff... it kind of falls right in line with a depression after maybe either slowing down or being of them.

Because that is a side effect, right?
 
Jul 1, 2015
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let's see,start in denmark.checked.vist uci hq.checked.danish winner.checked.on aserious note.i was just a kid when riis happened.and then came festina.and then us postal and lance.it will never end,the game is too high for uci to let it crumble.only when the question will start to rise..we will see something
 
Oct 15, 2017
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let's see,start in denmark.checked.vist uci hq.checked.danish winner.checked.on aserious note.i was just a kid when riis happened.and then came festina.and then us postal and lance.it will never end,the game is too high for uci to let it crumble.only when the question will start to rise..we will see something

Cheaters are probably miles ahead.

The ones that are caught are simply stupid.
 
May 3, 2015
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What do you mean "no questions arise"? Van Aert has a very busy clinic thread, with plenty of questions asked, and rightfully so. Same thing in this very thread.
In the RR forum it was rarely to never discussed that WvA might waste energy. For Pogacar its used as one (maybe even main) reason why he lost. I think thats quite funny.

In the clinc both have a thread for very good reasons.
 
Sep 10, 2016
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In the RR forum it was rarely to never discussed that WvA might waste energy. For Pogacar its used as one (maybe even main) reason why he lost. I think thats quite funny.

In the clinc both have a thread for very good reasons.
Right but Wout is not riding GC. It doesn't matter if he loses 20 minutes here and there. Pogacar probably lost the race when he ran out of gas on Granon.
 
Apr 3, 2009
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In the RR forum it was rarely to never discussed that WvA might waste energy. For Pogacar its used as one (maybe even main) reason why he lost. I think thats quite funny.

In the clinc both have a thread for very good reasons.
Disagree entirely. Countless post on Jumbo's supposed bad tactics, all referencing Wout wasting energy.
 
May 29, 2011
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Yeah. Not much to say, really. Today was way too much.

However, when it comes to framing the rides kudos to Jumbo for just cynically going for it: no asinine propaganda about revolutionary preparation methods, pillows, etc, and no audience of flag waving, gullible true believers either. When sky took the stage, these threads were full of people arguing that Brits don't dope because of their high morals. Not much of that this time around.

For a moment during the Granon stage it was somewhat exciting when it wasn't yet known that Vingo is just the strongest. Cheers for slaying the darling boi, though.
 
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Dec 22, 2017
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Edgy.

Come to think of it, you are right, and no one defended Lance either. Yet somehow the threads dedicated to those topics around here got rather long in 2009-12 and 2011-15, respectively.

Read the post.

Sure people were defending Sky....but on the basis of British "high morals"?

Apparently the threads were "full" of people talking British "high values".

"Full", I tell you ;)
 
Dec 2, 2020
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Yeah, maybe there is no connection, but I can imagine he struggled with thoughts how far he's willing to go.
He’s going to be one of the first people to open up when the scandals start to fall in a few years
 
Sep 2, 2011
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Van Aert was absurd yet again and to think that he was allegedly doubtful for the Tour with a knee injury after missing the Belgian nationals.
Stop believing all the bullsh*t Jumbo and Van Aert' camp are trying to feed us on a regular basis.
Last year they said he couldn't train for the mountains and then he proceeded to win the double Ventoux stage and finish top20 in GC.
 
Jul 25, 2015
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What strikes me is how confident they are showing their strength day in, day out.

It used to be good practise in cycling to throw in some sandbagging performances here and there when you are dominant to calm down the critics.
Hincapie talks about on his show and it was quite obvious during the Sky era aswell.

Jumbo and especially WvA don't seem to give a crap about doing unbelieveable rides day after day.

The only explanations i can come up with are:

  1. They are 100% confident whatever they are on is undetectable
  2. They have some weird agreement with the Uci about not getting caught
 
What strikes me is how confident they are showing their strength day in, day out.

It used to be good practise in cycling to throw in some sandbagging performances here and there when you are dominant to calm down the critics.
Hincapie talks about on his show and it was quite obvious during the Sky era aswell.

Jumbo and especially WvA don't seem to give a crap about doing unbelieveable rides day after day.

The only explanations i can come up with are:

  1. They are 100% confident whatever they are on is undetectable
  2. They have some weird agreement with the Uci about not getting caught

They saw in 2020 what Pogacar did and that nothing happened?
 
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