Wigans goes there. Cadence!

[Mellow Velo]

Who? There's Keisse in the Madison, Wigans in the IP and Thomas in the TP and...

Hepburn? Nope, full time road
Meyer? Not any more
Durbridge? Only road now
Phinney? Sorry
Bobridge? Forget it
Kennaugh? He's a climbing dom now
Sargent? Nuh
Mouris? Hasn't touched his track bike in years
Lancaster? Him too
Cav? Sounds 50-50 at best, LeFevere doesn't want him on the track
Viviani? Looks unlikely
Howard? Doesn't look like he's going back to track either...

Want me to keep going?

PS: since track is apparently such a good indication of CLIMBING talent, I suppose we'll be seeing these guys at the pointy end of things towards the end of July?

Really?

Commonwealth Games Track team
The Australian track team contains a mix of experienced and youthful riders who are familiar with success on the velodrome in both sprint and endurance events. Leading the team is triple 2010 Commonwealth gold medallist Anna Meares, who has the opportunity to surpass Watt as Australia's most successful cyclist if she wins a medal.

2010 sprint gold medallist Shane Perkins becomes the eighth Australian male cyclist to have contested three Games, while 2012 Olympian Matthew Glaetzer makes his debut. Fellow debutants Stephanie Morton, Nathan Hart and Peter Lewis complete the track sprint team.

A multi-talented men's track endurance squad features dual reigning world champion Alexander Edmondson, 2014 team pursuit world champions Glenn O'Shea, Luke Davison and Miles Scotson and dual 2010 gold medallists Jack Bobridge and Scott Sunderland.

The women's track endurance squad features reigning points world champion Amy Cure, four-time reigning national and 2014 world championship medallist Annette Edmondson, and Hoskins.

Endurance men: Jack Bobridge, Luke Davison, Alexander Edmondson, Glenn O'Shea, Miles Scotson, and Scott Sunderland.
Endurance women: Amy Cure, Annette Edmondson and Melissa Hoskins.
Sprint men: Matthew Glaetzer, Nathan Hart, Peter Lewis and Shane Perkins.
Sprint women: Anna Meares and Stephanie Morton.

 

[Benotti69]

Really?

Jack Bobridge to win all 3 GTs in 2015

 

[42x16ss]

Really?

I stand corrected! That's one out of how many?

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I stand corrected! That's one out of how many?

After putting 5 seconds into Wiggo's world record time over 4km, Bobridge declined the multi-million dollar GT contracts on offer to go back to the Commonwealth games where he can earn at least $30k riding as a domestique for the rest of the year.

 

[Fagniniwins]

I stand corrected! That's one out of how many?

Mouris does a bit of Six Day racing over the winter; he and Stroetinga were a good watch at the Rotterdam Six in January. Several Pro Tour riders showed well there:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/races/6-daagse-van-rotterdam-2014/day-6/results

Your larger point still stands.

 

[RownhamHill]

Who? There's Keisse in the Madison, Wigans in the IP and Thomas in the TP and...

Hepburn? Nope, full time road
Meyer? Not any more
Durbridge? Only road now
Phinney? Sorry
Bobridge? Forget it
Kennaugh? He's a climbing dom now
Sargent? Nuh
Mouris? Hasn't touched his track bike in years
Lancaster? Him too
Cav? Sounds 50-50 at best, LeFevere doesn't want him on the track
Viviani? Looks unlikely
Howard? Doesn't look like he's going back to track either...

Want me to keep going?

PS: since track is apparently such a good indication of CLIMBING talent, I suppose we'll be seeing these guys at the pointy end of things towards the end of July?

Is listing riders (Kennaugh, Bobridge, Meyer) who have already won gold and silver medals on the track at the last Olympics, a good example of riders who have no interest of winning medals on the track?

 

[42x16ss]

Is listing riders (Kennaugh, Bobridge, Meyer) who have already won gold and silver medals on the track at the last Olympics, a good example of riders who have no interest of winning medals on the track?

It's a good example of riders who no longer have an interest in winning medals on the track wouldn't you think? And why would that be?

 

[Netserk]

It's a good example of riders who no longer have an interest in winning medals on the track wouldn't you think? And why would that be?

They obviously are no longer at their best and wouldn't be able to medal any longer with the fierce competition. Duh.

 

[DirtyWorks]

Yeah. I just didn't want to miss a chance to remind everyone that he beat Lance Armstrong in that famed climb of doping super stars which is kinda sorta suspicious to everyone but Wiggo's most ardent supporters.

Shh! Don't let facts get in the way!

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

It's a good example of riders who no longer have an interest in winning medals on the track wouldn't you think? And why would that be?

There's no secret here - you get paid a lot more in general as a decent roadie than a top trackie, and ultimately, you do need to pay the mortgage and gas bills.

But the amount you get paid from one sport to another is related to the popularity/exposure of the sport rather than the ability level required to succeed at the sport. For example, Steve Redgrave made diddly squat out of rowing until he'd won his 4th Olympic gold, yet 2nd and 3rd tier football players in England got paid decent amounts of cash. I don't think anyone is saying that a journeyman footballer is more talented at their sport than Redgrave was at his.

Bobridge may go for the TP in 2016. Being the dominant squad for a few years and then losing to GB in the Olympics must have hurt quite badly.

 

[The Hitch]

Oh,these Wiggins defenders,i like Wiggins too but now way he's clean.I remember that 2009 TDF,where the race commentators in my country, where so surprised to see Wiggins climbing with the top gt guys.Every mountain stage they were expecting the guy to get dropped,yet Wiggo was always there.

The english commentators too.

I remember Wiggins said he wanted to come top 20 and rob hayles mocked him for it -your not going to come top 20 brad. Not even top 20.

Harmon was shocked as well, describing the surprise of the French commentors -viggins, vut he iz a persut ryder.

But now his fans on here act like there was nothing to be surprised about, when he came, not 20th, but 4th and then 1st a few years later.

Tony Martin is now at a similar age to what Wiggins was when he broke out. He has shown significantly better tt ability than Wiggins ever had pre 2009, and about 50x better climbing ability.

I guarantee you that if tony Martin wins the tdf at any point in his remaining career, his clinic thread will have 50 k posts by the end of August. And his performances will be greeted with suspicion around the cycling world.

From a guy that was a million times closer to gt winning ability than pre 09 Wiggins ever was.

Those arguing that wiggos victories in the 4k pursuit explain his unprescedented late career climbing transformation need to take a look at themselves in the mirror. Whether the intention is honest or found, as an end results those comments are basically trolling.

 

[RownhamHill]

It's a good example of riders who no longer have an interest in winning medals on the track wouldn't you think? And why would that be?

Because there aren't any Olympic medals on offer this year? Probably best to check in with Kennaugh and Bobridge's plans in 2016 I would think.

 

[Hawkwood]

Those arguing that wiggos victories in the 4k pursuit explain his unprescedented late career climbing transformation need to take a look at themselves in the mirror. Whether the intention is honest or found, as an end results those comments are basically trolling.

Is anyone actually arguing this?

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Is anyone actually arguing this?

Most of them.

 

[Hawkwood]

Most of them.

I thought the main argument was that he wasn't a muppet, and this was evidenced by his track results.

 

[Benotti69]

I thought the main argument was that he wasn't a muppet, and this was evidenced by his track results.

He is a muppet, but that he has some talent is not questioned, whether that talent led him to 3rd in 2009 TdF and the 2012 season he had was all on that talent without PEDs is not believable.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

But now his [Wiggo's] fans on here act like there was nothing to be surprised about, when he came, not 20th, but 4th...

I don't think this is quite right. I've never heard a Wiggo fan claim that his performance in 2009 wasn't surprising. If there was nothing surprising in sport then bookmakers wouldn't exist. I was gobsmacked, and I'm a big Wiggo fan. The thought of him being competitive in a GT simply never crossed my mind. The issue, though, is whether it's possible naturally.

If you churn a few numbers based on what power a 6' 3'' guy must generate to ride an IP in 4:15, then you easily conclude that Wiggo was generating a lot of power. One then makes a few assumptions about how much of that power would be retained following weight loss, what proportion of it could be maintained for typical Tour climb duration, what proportion of his IP power is anaerobically generated and how Wiggo might hold up in the third week of a GT etc.

If this adds up to Tour-contending performance levels, then you could conclude Wiggo's 2009 performance was possible naturally.

If it doesn't then you'd logically conclude the opposite.

Because I'm sad, I did this, and concluded that his performance levels in 2009 are theoretically consistent with those in 2008 (or at least not definitely inconsistent) though you need all your assumptions to be at the favourable end of the realistic range, which is somewhat unlikely. As with any estimate, you need to sense-check it against known benchmarks - primarily the sudden increase in performance levels at an athletically advanced age - which confirms the overall assessment of "unlikely".

 

[the sceptic]

climbing with Lance is theoretically consistent with climbing in the gruppetto? amazing.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

climbing with Lance is theoretically consistent with climbing in the gruppetto? amazing.

That's why you always need to sense-check your estimates against known benchmarks. You've missed the point of my explanation though.

A key assumption is the proportion of Wiggo's IP power that was generated anaerobically. I forget the proportions that might apply (it's a while since I did my estimate - 20% to 30% rings a bell) but the point is that a "best estimate" vs a "outer end of plausible estimate" might give a 5% difference, which gives you a 5% difference in the resulting estimate of aerobic power output.

Variability exists on the other components of the estimate, which all compound to give a significant difference (10%-15%) between the central estimate of Wiggo's 2009 GT potential and the "outer end of plausible estimate".

The "outer end of plausible" estimate resulted in GT-contending potential, but it's very unlikely that this potential would actually be realised. Hence the analytical conclusion that 2009 was possible but unlikely.

I guess the ultimate conclusion was that if you take world leading performance levels in one endurance event, the performance level that could be inferred in a different endurance event could lie between "racehorse" and "donkey" given the levels of uncertainty associated with each component of estimate.

 

[deeno1975]

Any word on why Wiggins is going so poorly at the Tour de Suisse?? I would have thought a good result here would put a case for his inclusion at the tour, especially after the Tour of California.

Even the live feed commentary at the CN website had a pop at him.

16:14:44 GMT
Team Sky has 3 riders up front. But not, it seems, Wiggins, who has been sulking at the back of the peloton all day.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

Any word on why Wiggins is going so poorly at the Tour de Suisse?? I would have thought a good result here would put a case for his inclusion at the tour, especially after the Tour of California.

Even the live feed commentary at the CN website had a pop at him.

There were on average 3 news reports / day in UK about Wiggins not being selected for 2014 Tour.

You'd think he'd go for a Swiss showing to prove a point, but uh no.

Spitting the dummy / sulking sounds about right, innit? Lazy, bone-idle, etc, etc.

Whatever happened to the gears and the further distance for the same power from 2012?

 

[deeno1975]

There were on average 3 news reports / day in UK about Wiggins not being selected for 2014 Tour.

You'd think he'd go for a Swiss showing to prove a point, but uh no.

Spitting the dummy / sulking sounds about right, innit? Lazy, bone-idle, etc, etc.

Whatever happened to the gears and the further distance for the same power from 2012?

Agree, the best thing that Wiggins could do is have a very good Swiss tour and then pile on even more pressure on "Froomey" (hate when commentators use that) but look like it's 2 fingers to Sky and where's my next contract...

 

[Tinman]

... and where's my next contract...

Probably in the bag already at OGE. Why bust balls if no more pay.

 

[deeno1975]

Why bust balls if no more pay.

To put heat on a guy who thinks he gifted you the Tour De France...

 

[Tinman]

To put heat on a guy who thinks he gifted you the Tour De France...

2015 (10char).