Tenerife

[pmcg76]

When there's a dearth of inhabitants, it falls under Spanish doping laws / jurisdiction, and people go there to prepare for the cycling season, this will become relevant.

And when you guys can come up with somewhere in Europe with better training conditions at this time of year, then Wiggins going to Mallorca will become relevant.

Also a dearth of inhabitants is surely a plus considering every cyclist's dream of any level are quiet to deserted roads for riding on.

 

[arjanh]

And when you guys can come up with somewhere in Europe with better training conditions at this time of year, then Wiggins going to Mallorca will become relevant.

Sicily, Greece (oh, wait, maybe not...)

 

[Dear Wiggo]

And when you guys can come up with somewhere in Europe with better training conditions at this time of year, then Wiggins going to Mallorca will become relevant.

Also a dearth of inhabitants is surely a plus considering every cyclist's dream of any level are quiet to deserted roads for riding on.

Wiggins came 4th in 2009, training in Girona and Manchester.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

I noticed online today, one article title right below the other, very similar.

Both Wiggins and Rafael Nadal are out training on Mallorca.

Things that make you go hmmmmmm...

Nadal was born in Mallorca, lives in Mallorca, is Mallorcan.

Things that make you go

 

[Cloxxki]

And when you guys can come up with somewhere in Europe with better training conditions at this time of year, then Wiggins going to Mallorca will become relevant.

Also a dearth of inhabitants is surely a plus considering every cyclist's dream of any level are quiet to deserted roads for riding on.

I am just wondering why he doesn't ride an MTB in Kenya. It's nicer weather and higher up. Seems to work for European road runners. Even if there are hardly roads there. By utter lack of OoC controls, you are guaranteed to have a long night's sleep.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

OK, it's really simple. The requirements are as follows…

Somewhere with some serious, well surfaced climbs
Somewhere where the weather's good and there's no chance of experiencing any snow affected training in the aforementioned timescales.
Somewhere where the facilities and logistics are sound.
Somewhere which is within Europe or close by, given that the team is based in Europe and long journeys would be detremental to the performance of a pro cyclist.

Given the unique climate in the Canaries and it's latitude, it's multitude of good hotels and direct transport links, the Mt. Teide climb and the fact that it's a territory of a European country, it's the only place on the planet that meets these requirements, unless you think's Sky's budget extends to erecting a biosphere around a mainland European mountain and creating it's own micro-climate.

 

[sniper]

Nadal was born in Mallorca, lives in Mallorca, is Mallorcan.

Things that make you go

so whatever it is that made Nadal become the fittest player of all times, he got it in Mallorca.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I think we ought to have a:
"When is it time to stop flogging a dead horse?" thread.
I know conspiracy material is a bit thin at the moment, but today's nonsense postings give credence as to why elsewhere, this place is quite commonly referred to as the Asylum.

 

[sittingbison]

OK, it's really simple...Sky's budget extends to erecting a biosphere around a mainland European mountain and creating it's own micro-climate.

Fixed. Free of charge

 

[thehog]

Wiggins came 4th in 2009, training in Girona and Manchester.

But the results were "amazing" in Tenerife. Everyone should go there for "amazing" results.

 

[Cycle Chic]

so whatever it is that made Nadal become the fittest player of all times, he got it in Mallorca.

well we dont know where he got it do we ? uncle tony would know

 

[sniper]

well we dont know where he got it do we ? uncle tony would know

fact of the matter is: we've seen russians (e.g. the Safinas) and italians (e.g. Serrani) move to (the north-west of) Spain to train (and with great results), but no Spanish players moving to Russia or Italy, afaik.

iow: There is something cosey about the north-west of spain, mallorca, etc.
What Bretagne was to the Galliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix), Catalunya, Valencia and the Baleares are to Spanish sports.

 

[del1962]

fact of the matter is: we've seen russians (e.g. the Safinas) and italians (e.g. Serrani) move to (the north-west of) Spain to train (and with great results), but no Spanish players moving to Russia or Italy, afaik.

iow: There is something cosey about the north-west of spain, mallorca, etc.
What Bretagne was to the Galliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix), Catalunya, Valencia and the Baleares are to Spanish sports.

As far as the Russians are concerned it is a bit of a shame as you would think that January in Russia would be a great place to get out on the roads and ride your bike

 

[martinvickers]

As far as the Russians are concerned it is a bit of a shame as you would think that January in Russia would be a great place to get out on the roads and ride your bike

Not all of Russia is Siberia! By the Black sea, it barely falls below a mild chill.

 

[JimmyFingers]

Not all of Russia is Siberia! By the Black sea, it barely falls below a mild chill.

Who trains there then?

 

[martinvickers]

Who trains there then?

no-one presumably - I was simply noting that the cliche of Russian winter as ice-bound desert is just that; a bit of a cliche.

I'm afraid I don' buy into geography as guilt, myself. correlation not equalling causation and all that. Of course there was a huge amount of doping in tenerife. But that doesn't mean it was 'because' it was tenerife - or that that is all tenerife is good for.

correlation not equalling causation and all that.

After all, perhaps the reason Tenerife was used by some doping doctors is because the cyclists were already happy to be there, precisely because it's a perfect natural base - and they would be there whether the doping doctors were there or not.

i.e. they didn't neccesarily go to tenerife only to meet the doctors - just as likely the doctors went to tenerife because that's were the cyclists were able to train.

it's not like the shining, you know; the very island is not imbued with the spirit of evil - just the evil of spirit

 

[King Of The Wolds]

After all, perhaps the reason Tenerife was used by some doping doctors is because the cyclists were already happy to be there, precisely because it's a perfect natural base - and they would be there whether the doping doctors were there or not.

i.e. they didn't neccesarily go to tenerife only to meet the doctors - just as likely the doctors went to tenerife because that's were the cyclists were able to train.

it's not like the shining, you know; the very island is not imbued with the spirit of evil - just the evil of spirit

Nail on the head, right there.

 

[JimmyFingers]

no-one presumably - I was simply noting that the cliche of Russian winter as ice-bound desert is just that; a bit of a cliche.

I'm afraid I don' buy into geography as guilt, myself. correlation not equalling causation and all that. Of course there was a huge amount of doping in tenerife. But that doesn't mean it was 'because' it was tenerife - or that that is all tenerife is good for.

correlation not equalling causation and all that.

After all, perhaps the reason Tenerife was used by some doping doctors is because the cyclists were already happy to be there, precisely because it's a perfect natural base - and they would be there whether the doping doctors were there or not.

i.e. they didn't neccesarily go to tenerife only to meet the doctors - just as likely the doctors went to tenerife because that's were the cyclists were able to train.

it's not like the shining, you know; the very island is not imbued with the spirit of evil - just the evil of spirit

This makes imagine evil doctors dressed like **** Dastardly hiding behind rocks and jabbing unsuspecting cyclists going past with a giant syringe labelled 'PEDs' before running off, laughing evilly shouting 'that should give you a 15-20% performance boost'

 

[martinvickers]

This makes imagine evil doctors dressed like **** Dastardly hiding behind rocks and jabbing unsuspecting cyclists going past with a giant syringe labelled 'PEDs' before running off, laughing evilly shouting 'that should give you a 15-20% performance boost'

Remove the word unsuspecting and you aren't far off the reality ;-)

 

[martinvickers]

This makes imagine evil doctors dressed like **** Dastardly hiding behind rocks and jabbing unsuspecting cyclists going past with a giant syringe labelled 'PEDs' before running off, laughing evilly shouting 'that should give you a 15-20% performance boost'

p.s. Doping doctors are in my view the lowest of the low - worse than cheating cyclists, worse even than the Bruyneels, because they betray something absolutely fundamental to society - that medicine "do no harm"

 

[RownhamHill]

This makes imagine evil doctors dressed like **** Dastardly hiding behind rocks and jabbing unsuspecting cyclists going past with a giant syringe labelled 'PEDs' before running off, laughing evilly shouting 'that should give you a 15-20% performance boost'

Funny you say that, from what I've been led to understand by reading the Clinic, it sounds like the perfect description of the team Sky training camp.

 

[Le Baroudeur]

fact of the matter is: we've seen russians (e.g. the Safinas) and italians (e.g. Serrani) move to (the north-west of) Spain to train (and with great results), but no Spanish players moving to Russia or Italy, afaik.

iow: There is something cosey about the north-west of spain, mallorca, etc.
What Bretagne was to the Galliers (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asterix), Catalunya, Valencia and the Baleares are to Spanish sports.

Seriously, buy an atlas and a compass! For someone so obsessed by a certain locality it's quite embarrasing that you still mix up west and east.

Valencia - South EAST
Catalunya - North EAST
Balearics - EAST
Canaries - West African Coast.

Not all of Russia is Siberia! By the Black sea, it barely falls below a mild chill.

On the beach 11C average and sub tropical... Not so mild in the costal mountains and hills.

Who trains there then?

Sharapova did for a while, some Top tennis players still do. Sochi in particular is quite the sporting mecca with the Winter Olympic games being held there soon. Not so great as a winter base for cycling though, and it's not in the EU.

 

[sniper]

Seriously, buy an atlas and a compass! For someone so obsessed by a certain locality it's quite embarrasing that you still mix up west and east.

Valencia - South EAST
Catalunya - North EAST
Balearics - EAST
Canaries - West African Coast.

ha, true, i tend to mix those up. funny.
thanks for making my point clearer.

 

[DirtyWorks]

But the results were "amazing" in Tenerife. Everyone should go there for "amazing" results.

Dredging this thread up with news that Robo-Basso is training there. We all know Basso to be the paradigm of an honest sportsman, even while giving testimony.

Giving evidence by video link from Tenerife, where he is training, Basso, banned for two years in 2007 for his links to the doping scandal, repeated the claim he made then that he never actually doped, but only planned to do so.

http://road.cc/content/news/76158-g...s-aim-ivan-basso-it-publishes-doping-evidence

 

[thehog]

Dredging this thread up with news that Robo-Basso is training there. We all know Basso to be the paradigm of an honest sportsman, even while giving testimony.

Giving evidence by video link from Tenerife, where he is training, Basso, banned for two years in 2007 for his links to the doping scandal, repeated the claim he made then that he never actually doped, but only planned to do so.

http://road.cc/content/news/76158-g...s-aim-ivan-basso-it-publishes-doping-evidence

The entire peloton is there!

Everyone seems be training because it harder than racing.

“I’m going to Tenerife after this,” Wiggins told VeloNews. “I’m not doing Paris-Nice or Tirreno, or those races.”

Oman will be the last race for the Giro group until the Volta a Catalunya, March 18-24. The Giro del Trentino (April 16-19) and Liège-Bastogne-Liège (April 21) are also scheduled.

“I’m not doing many races this year; this is my last race for a while.”