Why Team Sky will dominate cycling till 2018

[Jux1893]

thats why they dominate races I'm sure we can all agree on that much.

No we can't, or at least I don't.

 

[Pricey_sky]

thats why they dominate races I'm sure we can all agree on that much.

They dominate the Tour and all the prep stage races that's for sure. Work to do in other areas though.

 

[The Hitch]

Since when is Paris nice or tirreno a tdf prep race? Or Romandie for that matter. Only Wiggins last year invented the idea of having to be already on peak form 4 months before the tdf, saying these were "hoops".to jump through in order to win the tour, but its just skys usual bs and in no way a fact of cycling. Froome managed perfectly fine to be superman in the 2011 vuelta and Wiggins in the 2009 tour for that matter, without showing any gt form whatsoever even a month earlier let alone 4. To say races that take place on the other side of the season are preparation races for which one needs to be on top form for is just another sky myth.

 

[veganrob]

It was like watching ballet crossed with poetry and keira knightley,

LOL Yeah, poetry in motion.

http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11lvw_thomas-dolby-she-blinded-me-with-sc_music

 

[Pentacycle]

Since when is Paris nice or tirreno a tdf prep race? Or Romandie for that matter. Only Evans 2011 invented the idea of having to be already on peak form 4 months before the tdf, saying these were "hoops".to jump through in order to win the tour, but its just skys usual bs and in no way a fact of cycling. Froome managed perfectly fine to be superman in the 2011 vuelta and Wiggins in the 2009 tour for that matter, without showing any gt form whatsoever even a month earlier let alone 4. To say races that take place on the other side of the season are preparation races for which one needs to be on top form for is just another sky myth.

Sorry, had to be noted. And it makes sense; if you have a perfect season build-up without any illnesses, injury or other bad luck like Evans had in 2011(or the two Sky men the last two seasons), it takes less training to perform well in spring races, which also makes the short break in May and the subsequent buildup for the Tour easier to deal with physically.

It's quite the opposite of what for instance Contador had been doing this season. He started without the needed base level, and quickly became ill, which he tried to compensate by racing more. He then started the Dauphiné and Tour too fatigued to compete for the podium.

Concl. if your winter training doesn't work out as planned you'd better not have any aspirations for a podium in the Tour.

 

[Parker]

Since when is Paris nice or tirreno a tdf prep race? Or Romandie for that matter. Only Wiggins last year invented the idea of having to be already on peak form 4 months before the tdf, saying these were "hoops".to jump through in order to win the tour, but its just skys usual bs and in no way a fact of cycling. Froome managed perfectly fine to be superman in the 2011 vuelta and Wiggins in the 2009 tour for that matter, without showing any gt form whatsoever even a month earlier let alone 4. To say races that take place on the other side of the season are preparation races for which one needs to be on top form for is just another sky myth.

It's a pretty established pattern by now for Tour winners (if we include Contador as the 2010 'winner') - although Contador prefers to do Spanish races in April instead of the Romandie. Sky didn't invent it. There's no great mystery to being able to do a one week race with one or two climbs and a TT once a month. Their training's probably harder.

2009 - Contador. 4th Paris-Nice. 1st Castilla y Leon. 3rd Dauphine
2010 - Contador. 1st Paris-Nice. 1st Pais Vasco. 2nd Dauphine
2011 - Evans. 1st Tirreno. 1st Romandie. 2nd Dauphine
2012 - Wiggins. 1st Paris-Nice. 1st Romandie. 1st Dauphine
2013 - Froome. 2nd Tirreno. 1st Romandie. 1st Dauphine

In a similar vein:

2013 - Nibali. 7th Oman. 1st Tirreno. 1st Trentino. 1st Giro.

 

[SKSemtex]

It's a pretty established pattern by now for Tour winners (if we include Contador as the 2010 'winner') - although Contador prefers to do Sapnish races in April instead of the Romandie. Sky didn't invent it. There's no great mystery to being able to do a one week race with one or two climbs and a TT once a month. Their training's probably harder.

2009 - Contador. 4th Paris-Nice. 1st Castilla y Leon. 3rd Dauphine
2010 - Contador. 1st Paris-Nice. 1st Pais Vasco. 2nd Dauphine
2011 - Evans. 1st Tirreno. 1st Romandie. 2nd Dauphine
2012 - Wiggins. 1st Paris-Nice. 1st Romandie. 1st Dauphine
2013 - Froome. 1st Tirreno. 1st Romandie. 1st Dauphine

In a similar vein:

2013 - Nibali. 7th Oman. 1st Tirreno. 1st Trentino. 1st Giro.

Tirreno - do you mean the race when he saw the Nibaliś back? Stage No.6 - one of the best stages of whole year.

 

[Parker]

Tirreno - do you mean the race when he saw the Nibaliś back? Stage No.6 - one of the best stages of whole year.

Yes. It was mistake. Did you not notice the bit about Nibali before you got sarcy?

 

[Jelantik]

I don't buy team sky will dominate until 2018 statement. they proved to be weak on this year tour. Now if we are talking about Froome himself, that's another story. Even though I still believe that it would be hard to see him repeat his form for next year. But we shall see how he starts his season. With him, if he wins a lot on a race that matters leading to TDF, then he is the man to beat. Until that... no, team sky won't dominane. Besides other team will catch up too...

 

[rghysens]

... Even though I still believe that it would be hard to see him repeat his form for next year..

Why?
It happened in the past with people like Indurain or Armstrong. They were able to repeat the same pattern of form for several years in a row. Why would it be impossible to repeat such things nowadays?

 

[BigMac]

Why?
It happened in the past with people like Indurain or Armstrong. They were able to repeat the same pattern of form for several years in a row. Why would it be impossible to repeat such things nowadays?

Fun fella.

 

[The Hitch]

It's a pretty established pattern by now for Tour winners (if we include Contador as the 2010 'winner') - although Contador prefers to do Spanish races in April instead of the Romandie. Sky didn't invent it. There's no great mystery to being able to do a one week race with one or two climbs and a TT once a month. Their training's probably harder.
.

Well done. You have established that apart from wiggins, 1 other person who won the TDF also won Paris Nice in the same year, in the last decade ( 2 if we count landis, which as a wiggins fan im assuming you dont)

And this proves that Paris Nice, which takes place 4 months before the TDF is a TDF preperation race, how exactly?

If we look at Contador we see that both times he won Paris Nice his form then went down afterwards. So clearly unlike wiggins or froome he did not feel he needed to be on form 4 months before the Tour, because a month later at Criterium he sucked.

Sky are the only team who think one needs to be on form half a year before the Tour de France in order to win the Tour de France.

Wiggins and Froome have both at other points in their career proven that this is total BS.

 

[The Hitch]

Concl. if your winter training doesn't work out as planned you'd better not have any aspirations for a podium in the Tour.

lol wut. You cannot be serious. The last few years is littered with examples of riders who podium gts without showing any form whatsoeever beforehand. Schleck, Cobo, Froome, Schleck, Contador, Horner, Contador, Hejsedal, Schleck.


Wiggins himself once "podiumed" the Tour, without climbing in the top 20 of a mountain at any point before hand in the season (or in his career). Didnt seem to stop him smashing out a quick peak in a couple of week after the giro.

 

[Pentacycle]

lol wut. You cannot be serious. The last few years is littered with examples of riders who podium gts without showing any form whatsoeever beforehand. Schleck, Cobo, Froome, Schleck, Contador, Horner, Contador, Hejsedal, Schleck.


Wiggins himself once "podiumed" the Tour, without climbing in the top 20 of a mountain at any point before hand in the season (or in his career). Didnt seem to stop him smashing out a quick peak in a couple of week after the giro.

Normally, the riders on the podium of the Tour are team leaders who didn't fall behind on their careful planning to peak in July. This means performing in the spring classics and tours without too much stress, resting just enough to recover from these races, and then being able to reach full peak in two months.

Wiggins '09 and Froome '12 seem to debunk my post somewhat. Sastre '08 as well. However, all three of them weren't expected to lead their team in the Tour at the start of the season. Wiggins had to help Vandevelde, while Froome and Sastre were both initially aiming to ride for their own chances in the Vuelta in those respective seasons. Domestiques have other training schedules than their leaders, which might have something to do with it.

 

[Netserk]

Normally, the riders on the podium of the Tour are team leaders who didn't fall behind on their careful planning to peak in July. This means performing in the spring classics and tours without too much stress, resting just enough to recover from these races, and then being able to reach full peak in two months.

Wiggins '09 and Froome '12 seem to debunk my post somewhat. Sastre '08 as well. However, all three of them weren't expected to lead their team in the Tour at the start of the season. Wiggins had to help Vandevelde, while Froome and Sastre were both initially aiming to ride for their own chances in the Vuelta in those respective seasons. Domestiques have other training schedules than their leaders, which might have something to do with it.

Nope. The Tour victory was the season aim for Sastre.

 

[Pentacycle]

Nope. The Tour victory was the season aim for Sastre.

Ok, I wasn't such a diehard cycling enthusiastic back then, so I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. However, I thought it'd explain why he did so well after the Tour instead of partying, and cashing at the crits.

 

[Netserk]

I can try to scan and upload a Danish interview from a magazine about that.

Sastre has always been far better in GTs than normal stage races, since his two strongest abilities were recovery and high mountains.

 

[Parker]

Well done. You have established that apart from wiggins, 1 other person who won the TDF also won Paris Nice in the same year, in the last decade ( 2 if we count landis, which as a wiggins fan im assuming you dont)

And this proves that Paris Nice, which takes place 4 months before the TDF is a TDF preperation race, how exactly?

If we look at Contador we see that both times he won Paris Nice his form then went down afterwards. So clearly unlike wiggins or froome he did not feel he needed to be on form 4 months before the Tour, because a month later at Criterium he sucked.

Sky are the only team who think one needs to be on form half a year before the Tour de France in order to win the Tour de France.

Wiggins and Froome have both at other points in their career proven that this is total BS.

I didn't say that they were riding those races as preparation. They're not. They're riding Paris-Nice with the intention of winning Paris-Nice. They are not doing it do because they must do it in preparation for the Tour, but because they can. It's not the only way to prepare, but it's the one the will bring the most success over a season.

I don't know where this idea that a sportsman on a seven figure salary keeping himself in sufficiently good shape to do two or three hard racing efforts once a month is in any way extraordinary comes from. It's not. Riders from Anquetil through to Indurain managed it just fine - usually doing a Vuelta or Giro before the Tour too. It's only people brought up on Armstrong and Ullrich who think there's anything unusual about Sky's (or Evans's or Contador's) season plan. You want to have a look at the schedule someone like LeMond had in the run up to the 1986 Tour. It makes modern riders look like lightweights. And he was always competitive.

This idea of a 'six month peak' is nonsense too. You don't have peak for the whole of May to beat Simon Spilak in the Tour of Romandie. It's just one TT and one mountain stage in a month. (And the better the rider is at TTing the better their results will be). Otherwise it's a simple cycle of training, racing and resting.

 

[roundabout]

Ok, I wasn't such a diehard cycling enthusiastic back then, so I didn't have a clue what I was talking about. However, I thought it'd explain why he did so well after the Tour instead of partying, and cashing at the crits.

Sastre had a habit of doing 2 or even 3 GTs a year at a high level

2 GT top 10's in 2004, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2010

 

[Pulpstar]

Sky won't dominate cycling, but Froome could dominate the Tour...

Dangerous to make predictions outside of that - just look at this avatar

 

[greenedge]

lol wut. You cannot be serious. The last few years is littered with examples of riders who podium gts without showing any form whatsoeever beforehand. Schleck, Cobo, Froome, Schleck, Contador, Horner, Contador, Hejsedal, Schleck.

Hesjedal did well at F-W. Cobo at Burgos. Horner Utah

 

[Ryo Hazuki]

lol wut. You cannot be serious. The last few years is littered with examples of riders who podium gts without showing any form whatsoeever beforehand. Schleck, Cobo, Froome, Schleck, Contador, Horner, Contador, Hejsedal, Schleck.


Wiggins himself once "podiumed" the Tour, without climbing in the top 20 of a mountain at any point before hand in the season (or in his career). Didnt seem to stop him smashing out a quick peak in a couple of week after the giro.

this shows why you know nothing about cycling. all of those riders showed form before the gt they won.

 

[Samson777]

this shows why you know nothing about cycling. all of those riders showed form before the gt they won.

Funny post

 

[Ferminal]

In lead-up races, not at some random point three months earlier.

 

[LaFlorecita]

Funny post

Ryo vs Hitch can be funny but nothing beats Hitch vs El Pistolero