The Sky-Con-O-Meter. Predictions on how much more ridiculous they can get

[The Hitch]

Harsh on Wiggins' 2013 Giro. Fair maybe. But still harsh.

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You've just mentioned 3 riders who were the plan Bs and Cs for their teams....

Being plan b can't be that much of a deal seeing as how plan b froome squashed Nibali in 2 straight (participated) gts.


And Wiggins didn't exactly have some superteam helping him, nor for that matter was he the leader for the first half of the race, so I have no idea how those other riders being "plan bs" is supposed to explain why Wiggins beat him.

 

[Benotti69]

Problem is most of the names mentioned so far have already been sanctioned, were already known, have retired already or were nobodies. Unless they come up with some new 'big' names, it will be a storm in a tea cup.

I am also weary of the press adding legs to things. Could be that Ferrari appeared at a training camp at which 17 Astana riders were present but people turn that into Ferrari was working with all 17 riders.

Look how many times such stories have proven to be less definitive than what actually was believed. The Blitz raids at the Giro of 01, 60-70 people implicated, how man sanctioned? The Puerto affair, the Mantova affair, more of less all of Lampre linked but how many sanctioned? Some reports had Cunego on the list, other reports had Cunego as one of those who was not involved.

I would imagine that is why many are hesitant to comment on the matter. Better to wait for the full story than jump on newspaper reports that could turn out to be very inaccurate.

When we have federations and government agencies scrambling to hide their own athletes doping it is no wonder we never get to hear the full extent.

I recall the Spanish Government refusing to name anyone involved in Op Puerto, yet you brush it off as a few bad apples. Spanish Governmenet has ordered the destruction of blood bags to avoid those athletes ever receiving sanctions. So how do athletes compete clean when their own governments expect them to cheat.

If the sport contained only a few bad apples then the majority would be screaming for Astana's heads to roll. It aint. The doping is part of the fabric of the sport and until there is a monumental shift in funding, independence and sanctions it will ever be thus, because the sport has a continuos 'cycle' of giving dopers jobs int he sport. The former dopers become the new enablers.

 

[TailWindHome]

Well they haven't actually sent any of their gt leaders to a gt that Nibali has ridden since he moved to Astana.

Being plan b can't be that much of a deal seeing as how plan b froome squashed Nibali in 2 straight (participated) gts.

Which argument is it to be?






ETA You've made an excellent (and thought provoking) post over in the Brailsford thread which I intend to respond to when I have a bit more time

 

[pmcg76]

When we have federations and government agencies scrambling to hide their own athletes doping it is no wonder we never get to hear the full extent.

I recall the Spanish Government refusing to name anyone involved in Op Puerto, yet you brush it off as a few bad apples. Spanish Governmenet has ordered the destruction of blood bags to avoid those athletes ever receiving sanctions. So how do athletes compete clean when their own governments expect them to cheat.

If the sport contained only a few bad apples then the majority would be screaming for Astana's heads to roll. It aint. The doping is part of the fabric of the sport and until there is a monumental shift in funding, independence and sanctions it will ever be thus, because the sport has a continuos 'cycle' of giving dopers jobs int he sport. The former dopers become the new enablers.

I think we saw what happens when a rider speaks out i.e Kennaugh. Before you start on the SKY thing, what rider on what team could speak out without being attacked as a hypocrite. Considering you believe all are doped, that would make them all hypocrites. Most riders are smart enough to say nothing as they will not fall into that trap.

I would imagine most are also waiting for the official report by CONI rather than basing everything on a newspaper claim that may not even be true.

Case in point Remi De Gregorio a few seasons back, he was hung, drawn and qartered by own his team before anything had been confirmed. He won his case against the team for unfair dismissal when the claims were not backed up by the supporting evidence.

 

[Benotti69]

I think we saw what happens when a rider speaks out i.e Kennaugh. Before you start on the SKY thing, what rider on what team could speak out without being attacked as a hypocrite. Considering you believe all are doped, that would make them all hypocrites. Most riders are smart enough to say nothing as they will not fall into that trap.

I would imagine most are also waiting for the official report by CONI rather than basing everything on a newspaper claim that may not even be true.

Since when did 'officialdom' ever come down on the side of justice?

THe IOC was supposed to be the keeper of sporting morals and look what a sham that is.

Case in point Remi De Gregorio a few seasons back, he was hung, drawn and qartered by own his team before anything had been confirmed. He won his case against the team for unfair dismissal when the claims were not backed up by the supporting evidence.

Who is going to produce evidence and hang out all the enablers?

Look how long it took people to finally speak up about Armstrong, in the end it was the threat of Feds.

Ricco was hung, drawn and qUartered, so was Di Luca, so was Sayer!

Why did no one hang Contador and Piti when they got caught?

Remy small fish, got fried, but obviously had some smart legal eagles to cover his a$$. Where is Remy now? Team La Pomme Marseille 13! Who???

 

[thehog]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thomas-britain-will-be-stronger-than-ever-at-olympic-games

The road race and time trial courses for the Rio Olympics were revealed by the UCI at the beginning of December. The 256.4 kilometre road race course contains two circuits with two climbs a piece, including the 13 per cent average Gumari ascent. The route should favour the strong climbers with a fast kick something Thomas believes suits the British team.

“It should be good,” Thomas said. “I think Britain, with myself Pete [Kennaugh] – depending on if he rides the track or the road – [Ben Swift] Swifty, [Ian] Stannard, and [Luke] Rowe we’ve got a good core of riders for that sort of course.”

What about GT champion Dawg?

 

[mrhender]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thomas-britain-will-be-stronger-than-ever-at-olympic-games



What about GT champion Dawg?

No need to mention him.. As per DB -he is only one of their best riders... Remember?

I think they tried to hold him back this year, but Froome is stubborn..

He might go down with more noise if he keeps it up

 

[the sceptic]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/thomas-britain-will-be-stronger-than-ever-at-olympic-games



What about GT champion Dawg?

Dawg will fight for about 100 km to keep up with Henderson at the back of the group before DNF.

his previous world championship perfmrances proves that Dawg is nothing without the drugs.

 

[thehog]

Dawg will fight for about 100 km to keep up with Henderson at the back of the group before DNF.

his previous world championship perfmrances proves that Dawg is nothing without the drugs.

The Dawg can ride as fast as the EPO era cleans. Except in WC races, whereby he becomes Christopher Froome in sandshoes.

Even Thomas has forgotten about him.

 

[the sceptic]

Dawg to win the first MTF by 1 minute.

Thomas to become the new Porte and finish on the podium.

Froome to contest for a bunch sprint somewhere for fun.

 

[BYOP88]

Only 1 minute?

 

[djpbaltimore]

Re:

Dawg to win the first MTF by 1 minute.

Thomas to become the new Porte and finish on the podium.

Froome to contest for a bunch sprint somewhere for fun.

Thomas mostly freewheeled home on Saturday. I don't see him climbing for a GC spot after his final pull.

I seriously doubt quintana loses a min to Froome. I bet they finish ST. SKY haven't been that ridiculous this tour. They have raced smartly and benefited from having the strongest rider in the race in the first week.

 

[SeriousSam]

Re:

Only 1 minute?

It's very rare. The gap in sustainable power necessary to get a minute on a MTF is immense. At Ax3, Dawg didn't manage to do that, because Richie Porte was climbing so strongly.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Re: Re:

Only 1 minute?

It's very rare. The gap in sustainable power necessary to get a minute on a MTF is immense. At Ax3, Dawg didn't manage to do that, because Richie Porte was climbing so strongly.

difference for making up 1min is 6.67w/kg w.r.t 6.2 w/kg over a 8% gradient on 6 km climb
but considering all the summit finishes maybe totaling 36 km it will come down to 6.27 w/kg
So basically only Contador and TJ are in reach but Nibali and Quintana have to put some serious effort. Also a bad day by Froome will work as well which should happen in the 3rd week. So everybody is waiting for that .

 

[meat puppet]

Bad day for froome? Come on, only UCI policy change might amount to that. Froome will go full schäuble for the rest of the race.

 

[Dalakhani]

Thomas cracks Contador... and pretty much every other rider except Quintana and TJ.

Move along, nothing to see...

 

[the sceptic]

Re:

Dawg to win the first MTF by 1 minute.

Thomas to become the new Porte and finish on the podium.

Froome to contest for a bunch sprint somewhere for fun.

great post the sceptic.

 

[danielovichdk2]

Porte catches little quin'.

Hahahaha...

 

[ebandit]

...........it's so shocking ya gotta watch...........................

..........a surprisingly lost for words
Mark L

 

[Lyon]

Not even the old Gewiss could do this...

 

[BYOP88]

HAHAHAHAHAHA

Not even US Postal took the pi$$ that much.

 

[zlev11]

that was absolutely sickening.

 

[Amsterhammer]

Utterly beyond any credibility. The Tour is done for me. A ****ing stick insect on turbo dope destroys the field, while his main domestique sprints past Quintana for second. Are you ****ing kidding me?

 

[LaFlorecita]

Doubt it can get more ridiculous than this. Maybe Thomas in 3rd place.

 

[doperhopper]

New era of SKY BANESTO GEWISS POSTAL just arrived!