Tenerife

[martinvickers]

I agree: thats what happens when you rip the heart of the backup team out....Yates Jullich Lienders, all missed (by the team, not the parent company, or the clinic)

But no training is going to make a big long lanky guy like Wiggins good descending in the rain

Froome and Porte, if anything have pushed on. This isn't a Sky problem. It's a wiggins problem. And the key guys he's missing are Yates on the road, and Sutton. and sutton, i suspect, is the big miss.

 

[martinvickers]

it's not that good

athletes go to kenya to evade ooc testing
http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/...hing-the-boundaries-in-athletics-8604176.html

John Fahey, president of the World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada), said there was a "cloud hanging over them". He said: "For some time, we have been very concerned about the accusations of doping there," going on to describe Kenya as "a location of choice for dopers".

Wiggins et all aren't going to Kenya. They're going to Tenerife/Majorca - within easy lab reach.

And if the guys are doping at altitude in Kenya, it's the same thing - the doctors go to where the athletes already are, not the other way round. Because when the cyclists were going to the doctors, it didn't half seem obvious.

 

[Arnout]

Riders need to get over this Tenerife thing. Riders before the advent of cheap flight travel trained in the places they were home based, Kelly in Ireland (over Xmas) and then back to Belgium (2nd home)for preseason.

They managed without the sun and got on with it.

I guess you live without central heating and a car too.

 

[thehog]

I agree: thats what happens when you rip the heart of the backup team out....Yates Jullich Lienders, all missed (by the team, not the parent company, or the clinic)

But no training is going to make a big long lanky guy like Wiggins good descending in the rain

Racing in the wet. Descending in all conditions make the man.

Bugno used to decend in training listening to classical music. It helped him get a rhythm through the corners.

The real problem is isolating yourself and only working to numbers. It gives a false impression of strength.

I'd say Nibili just about has mentally destroyed both Froome and Wiggins. They are scared of him and what he does. There's more to come as well.

 

[Granville57]

Kerrisons magic number machine didn't program rain into his equations.

Given his background in aquatics, this shouldn't be surprising. When told that "wet and slippery conditions" had a negative effect on Brad's performance, he was dumbfounded—near catatonic (according to inside sources). He had simply never heard, nor considered such a thing.

True story.

 

[orbeas]

Teneriffe

I used to go in January to Tenneriffe in the early 80's and stay in Playa D'Americas... the ride to the Visitor Centre on the Plateau by Mt Teide is 36 miles ( sea level to 10000 ft) and apart from 1/2 mile it is climbing all the way.. Never saw any other cyclist on the roads when I was there..

 

[armchairclimber]

Racing in the wet. Descending in all conditions make the man.

Bugno used to decend in training listening to classical music. It helped him get a rhythm through the corners.

The real problem is isolating yourself and only working to numbers. It gives a false impression of strength.

I'd say Nibili just about has mentally destroyed both Froome and Wiggins. They are scared of him and what he does. There's more to come as well.

No, Nibali is, apparently, a few notches down the ladder from Froome. No amount of courage and downhill bike handling can hide that.

 

[thehog]

No, Nibali is, apparently, a few notches down the ladder from Froome. No amount of courage and downhill bike handling can hide that.

Nah. Nibs made his SRM comment at TA and the next day Froome went to pieces.

Sky are all defensive about their SRMs. They know everyone sees it for what it is.

Contador did a number on Froome last year. Nibs has now turned both Wiggins and Froome inside out.

The Borgs just want to go in straight lines all check numbers with Kerrison.

They forget that racing isn't all about numbers.

 

[Cycle Chic]

Froome and Porte, if anything have pushed on. This isn't a Sky problem. It's a wiggins problem. And the key guys he's missing are Yates on the road, and Sutton. and sutton, i suspect, is the big miss.

Good point - and also unrest in the Sky camp...too many wannabe leaders.

 

[mikehammer67]

Wiggins et all aren't going to Kenya. They're going to Tenerife/Majorca - within easy lab reach.

And if the guys are doping at altitude in Kenya, it's the same thing - the doctors go to where the athletes already are, not the other way round. Because when the cyclists were going to the doctors, it didn't half seem obvious.

the athletes go to the doctors

 

[42x16ss]

the athletes go to the doctors

I doubt that there are too many high calibre doping doctors living permanently on Tenerife. The riders go there for kickar$e conditions, the docs go there because that's where the riders are doing their most intensive training.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I doubt that there are too many high calibre doping doctors living permanently on Tenerife. The riders go there for kickar$e conditions, the docs go there because that's where the riders are doing their most intensive training.

A shame the same conditions are not present in the riders' races when it comes to the Giro and the classics, eh? ;-)

 

[42x16ss]

A shame the same conditions are not present in the riders' races when it comes to the Giro and the classics, eh? ;-)

Doesn't stop it from being an awesome place to train for the winter. What would you prefer to ride in - 25 degree sunshine or -5 degree sleet?

Easy choice if you can afford the airfare and accommodation and aren't Aussie/riding the TdU.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Doesn't stop it from being an awesome place to train for the winter. What would you prefer to ride in - 25 degree sunshine or -5 degree sleet?

Easy choice if you can afford the airfare and accommodation and aren't Aussie/riding the TdU.

I train to suit the conditions I am going to race in. If it's going to be cold and wet, I would make sure that's what I trained in.

If I have to pedal nonstop for 6+ hours like you do in a classic, I wouldn't ride up and down mountains in Tenerife all day - rolling down the mountains like they were in the Leopard Trek video.

This sort of stuff seems pretty simple but hey, if they don't even train on TT bikes at Movistar...

Curious that for a team that don't train on their TT bikes they came 2nd in the TTT at this year's Giro, innit?

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Let me add:

* attention to detail
* revolutionising training

 

[Ferminal]

Movistar last 5 TTTs: 2nd, 2nd, 6th, 1st, 7th

They tend to train more in Andalucia than the Canaries. Bit surprising as you'd think the Spaniards would be worse than anyone else at dealing with the cold.

 

[blackcat]

let me add

-not a rounding error on a doping program

 

[42x16ss]

I train to suit the conditions I am going to race in. If it's going to be cold and wet, I would make sure that's what I trained in.

If I have to pedal nonstop for 6+ hours like you do in a classic, I wouldn't ride up and down mountains in Tenerife all day - rolling down the mountains like they were in the Leopard Trek video.

This sort of stuff seems pretty simple but hey, if they don't even train on TT bikes at Movistar...

Curious that for a team that don't train on their TT bikes they came 2nd in the TTT at this year's Giro, innit?

Tenerife is a stupid place to train for the classics, there's no denying that! However, when your main goals are the GT's it's a great place to go for the winter.

Just remember to do some recon of the important stages as well. Laugh at Bruyneel and Riis all you want but they were adamant about recon, which was one of many factors in their success over the years.

 

[Benotti69]

Tenerife is a stupid place to train for the classics, there's no denying that! However, when your main goals are the GT's it's a great place to go for the winter.

Just remember to do some recon of the important stages as well. Laugh at Bruyneel and Riis all you want but they were adamant about recon, which was one of many factors in their success over the years.

That we got to hear about Bruyneel and Riis doing recon were excuses to deflect from their riders extreme superhuman performances.

Plenty of riders have reconned stages for GTs before. Like Sky claiming they invented warm downs, to delfect.

 

[ebandit]

adding

Let me add:

* attention to detail
* revolutionising training

don't forget the british bulldog spirit

and the british diet...........curry...kebabs and pizza

Mark L

 

[42x16ss]

That we got to hear about Bruyneel and Riis doing recon were excuses to deflect from their riders extreme superhuman performances.

Plenty of riders have reconned stages for GTs before. Like Sky claiming they invented warm downs, to delfect.

Of course they didn't invent it and the programs they were on did about 10x more. Having said that, how often did you see the USPS or CSC guys crash on an important descent because they weren't familiar? Just because it was part of the myth doesn't mean that it had no benefit at all. Is Wiggins riding like he's taken the time to do this?

 

[thehog]

Is Lugano the new Tenerife?

"Yeah, I'm living near Lugano and I spend most of my time there. My teammates Rogers, Paulinho, Zaugg and Hernandez also live nearby and so I can train well, under the eyes of Bjarne Riis, who also lives in Lugano." Contador said.

 

[Benotti69]

Is Lugano the new Tenerife?

Ferarri scared to leave Switzerland these days?

 

[ToreBear]

Apart from cuckoo clocks what more is Switzerland known for?

I'm not giving a hint just yet, that would make the answer too easy.

 

[thehog]

Apart from cuckoo clocks what more is Switzerland known for?

I'm not giving a hint just yet, that would make the answer too easy.

Hot chics and banking?