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Wout van Aert

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People be acting like a 75kg guy being able to climb at 5.7 W/kg is more ridiculous than a 58kg being the best TTer in a 51kph TT.
At least Jonas had days where he sat in and conserved. Wout has done what he wants, where he wants, when he wants. This tops 2008 Schumacher easily, at least he wasn't dropping climbers and winning bunch sprints as well.
 
At least Jonas had days where he sat in and conserved. Wout has done what he wants, where he wants, when he wants. This tops 2008 Schumacher easily, at least he wasn't dropping climbers and winning bunch sprints as well.
Except today Jonas might have beaten Wout in the TT had Jonas not celebrated early. This was more unbelievable than Contador beating Cancellara at Annecy in 2009. Jonas looks way worse.
 
I've been prepared to reserve judgement on Wout. But I've been watching GT's since the early 90's, and I've never witnessed anything even remotely as impressive.

Because normally the super-mutant freakshows are over one climb, or even one bit of one climb. The really stand out ones might go for a whole stage, a'la Landis, or Chiappucci '92 or the Dawg's Giro.

But this was the whole friggin tour, from start to (nearly) finish. Basically riding the peloton off his back wheel, at will, day after day, and paying zero for energy. Seemingly even gaining energy. I have never, ever seen this before. It defies everything we know about riding GT's.
 
I've been prepared to reserve judgement on Wout. But I've been watching GT's since the early 90's, and I've never witnessed anything even remotely as impressive.

Because normally the super-mutant freakshows are over one climb, or even one bit of one climb. The really stand out ones might go for a whole stage, a'la Landis, or Chiappucci '92 or the Dawg's Giro.

But this was the whole friggin tour, from start to (nearly) finish. Basically riding the peloton off his back wheel, at will, day after day, and paying zero for energy. Seemingly even gaining energy. I have never, ever seen this before. It defies everything we know about riding GT's.

Yep. All of this.
 
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1249563617--Candido_Barbosa_Prologo.jpg
Nothing to see here. Just a good ol' boy working hard
 
I've been prepared to reserve judgement on Wout. But I've been watching GT's since the early 90's, and I've never witnessed anything even remotely as impressive.

Because normally the super-mutant freakshows are over one climb, or even one bit of one climb. The really stand out ones might go for a whole stage, a'la Landis, or Chiappucci '92 or the Dawg's Giro.

But this was the whole friggin tour, from start to (nearly) finish. Basically riding the peloton off his back wheel, at will, day after day, and paying zero for energy. Seemingly even gaining energy. I have never, ever seen this before. It defies everything we know about riding GT's.
Close, although I still think Big Mig just obliterating people in TTs (especially at first) and still setting or close to climbing records we still have.
 
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Just a quick note to say I'm glad "The Clinic" still exists, despite those who still claim that doping has gone the way of the dodo.
I don't watch cycling anymore. The daily highlights are enough to remind me that nothing has changed. Seeing Wout van Aert and his teammates boss the entire race defied credulity.
"Not normal" is still the normal in cycling. I understand why, and I just wish other pro sports leagues had a forum for people to point out the obvious without being told to shut up.
 
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Close, although I still think Big Mig just obliterating people in TTs (especially at first) and still setting or close to climbing records we still have.

His TT's were something else, for sure. But he bascially rode conservatively almost all of the other time. He would be like number 7 in a long line of Banesto riders on the flats; on climbs I don't ever remember him attacking in his tour winning years.
 
Except today Jonas might have beaten Wout in the TT had Jonas not celebrated early. This was more unbelievable than Contador beating Cancellara at Annecy in 2009. Jonas looks way worse.
If anyone else tried riding the Tour the way Wout did they would be in an exhausted heap by that TT, yet he went and won it. Ganna sat up for most of the Pyrenees and got well beaten by Wout, when you would normally give a slight edge to Ganna.

Both Wout and Jonas' performances reek like a week dead fish, as does Pogacar but Wout is another level. He's unbelievable.
 
I've been prepared to reserve judgement on Wout. But I've been watching GT's since the early 90's, and I've never witnessed anything even remotely as impressive.

Because normally the super-mutant freakshows are over one climb, or even one bit of one climb. The really stand out ones might go for a whole stage, a'la Landis, or Chiappucci '92 or the Dawg's Giro.

But this was the whole friggin tour, from start to (nearly) finish. Basically riding the peloton off his back wheel, at will, day after day, and paying zero for energy. Seemingly even gaining energy. I have never, ever seen this before. It defies everything we know about riding GT's.

yeah. usually I enjoy the dope runs, but Wout made it legitimately difficult to look at the TV, especially with everyone on the broadcast constantly praising him.
 
Big Mig was 5 minutes faster than Van Aert up Hautacam. 35 minutes vs. 40 minutes. Personally I think the current top guys are less doped than the past.

But did Big Mig attack from km zero in his Hautacam stage, ride 10km solo, attack a thousand times, drag his group up l'Aubisque, attack again on Hautacam, do a monster pull for another rider & then still finish 3rd? i.e. in what was just another insane stage among 20 others which WvA has raced full gas almost every day?

It's crazy. But it's the new normal. I can't wait for the next bionic man to arrive in a year or so (we need a lot more Paduns) to give WvA some competition he deserves.

Either these guys like WvA get busted or total mutant warfare brings them down a peg or two because other radioactive riders show-up & spoil their dominance. It's how it used to work in the 1990's.
 
But did Big Mig attack from km zero in his Hautacam stage, ride 10km solo, attack a thousand times, drag his group up l'Aubisque, attack again on Hautacam, do a monster pull for another rider & then still finish 3rd? i.e. in what was just another insane stage among 20 others which WvA has raced full gas almost every day?

It's crazy. But it's the new normal. I can't wait for the next bionic man to arrive in a year or so (we need a lot more Paduns) to give WvA some competition he deserves.

Either these guys like WvA get busted or total mutant warfare brings them down a peg or two because other radioactive riders show-up & spoil their dominance. It's how it used to work in the 1990's.
You're doping talk is just sh*t talk man!!!! ;)

Big Mig did some crazy ***. But not in a roid rage crazy Wout way.
 
Big Mig was 5 minutes faster than Van Aert up Hautacam. 35 minutes vs. 40 minutes. Personally I think the current top guys are less doped than the past.


They are indeed less doped because those were the years where there were no limits on any of your blood values. (RIIS was called Mr 60% for a reason). Now you can't pass a hematocrite of 50 without multiple tests and passes.
The fact we are still getting close to that is.... disturbing.
 
His TT's were something else, for sure. But he bascially rode conservatively almost all of the other time. He would be like number 7 in a long line of Banesto riders on the flats; on climbs I don't ever remember him attacking in his tour winning years.
'95 La Plagne is probably the most famous, but that was a '97 Ullrich Arcalis attack, he just got on the front and rode a tempo that ground everybody else into dust. I picked that version of him #1 in the Fantasy Doping Draft.
 
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I don’t know what everyone is going on about. Wout was 19th in the Tour last year and 20th in 2020. This year he is on track to finish only 22nd; clearly he is washed up.

He changed his focus a bit this year as no one cares about the top-20 really.

He seems to have dropped a bit his GC capacity in order to improve his climbing, his TT, his sprinting and his endurance capacity.
 
96 looked like this:
hautacam.jpg


If this year's stage was also unipuerto, the times would have been scarly closer to 96.
I tend to agree with Hugh. Today we are eager to think the peloton are always one step ahead of the testers but the reality is stuff like testing and the passport has put the brakes on. EPO test wasn’t until 2000. Passport not until about 2008.​

The most curious thing this year was how 36 year old Thomas was significantly quicker on the Alpe than the 32 year old Thomas who won there in 2018. So obviously something is going on.​

But before the tour many predicted Pog would threaten the times of the 90s. Didn’t happen.​
 
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I tend to agree with Hugh. Today we are eager to think the peloton are always one step ahead of the testers but the reality is stuff like testing and the passport has put the brakes on. EPO test wasn’t until 2000. Passport not until about 2008. The most curious thing this year was how 36 year old Thomas was significantly quicker on the Alpe than the 32 year old Thomas who won there in 2018. Many predicted Pog would threaten the times of the 90s. Didn’t happen.​

It was a really hard Tour, though, apart from stage 2 and 3 they were ridden quite hard. The fights for the break were mostly long and tough. The average speed of the Tour after 19 stages was shown as fastest ever on PCS. And if we compare to the 90s, in those times there were often 7-12 flat stages.
Also, the heat was pretty extreme on some days, which will have taken something out of some riders.

I think overall the climbing times can only be taken as a hint, that is in that case, for me, that the superior rides of some riders don't come from everyone else being so weak.

How they beat the tests and the passport I have no idea. But I'm sure they have found a way.
 
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