Pro Cycling Discussion 2016

Simply a class above this year both Froome and the team they were so strong through out. Nice not to have had to waste three weeks talking about doping for a change as well maybe the forign media are finally accepting that Froome and team Sky are a phenomenal match up be interesting to see how he takes things from here will he continue to target le Tour or does he want the full set of grand tours?
 
I'd quite like to see Froome target the Giro and the Vuelta.

Next year is the 100th Giro! A pretty prestigious Giro to own! He could target the Giro-Vuelta double. But I doubt it. I think Froome will always target the Tour. Which is a shame.

He is going to the Vuelta this year I think?
 
Giro and Vuelta would be good as he could have a big rest in between. I don't expect it to happen, though. They'll probably just keep battering the tour in the hope they can break some records. If - massive if - he won the next three he'd take the record for most wins and equal the record for most consecutive wins. Legit wins anyway...

Has he ever even ridden the giro? I didn't think he had. Weather can be a huge factor in the giro, and it's earlier in the year so can be much colder. It might be it wouldn't suit him.

Edit: he came 34th in 2009 and was disqualified in 2010.
 
Good result for both Boonen and Renshaw.

On paper Matthews should have them both, and should have good form after TDF.

Whose going to get the nod at worlds for Aus, Renshaw 1-0 Matthews now! I think Ewan is too young still and will get out muscled or blown away in the crosswinds.
 
Matthews said on twitter he was feeling terrible, one of the worst days he's had on the bike. Impressive that he still managed to get a podium finish after the frantic chase in the last 40km.

Transfer announcement day! Kreuziger to OBE is an interesting one. Roche to BMC confirmed, Astana picking up Oscar Gatto, Jesper Hansen, Moreno Moser and Michael Valgren. Going to be interesting now that they only really have Aru for GC, although Fuglsang could probably ride for top ten if it came to it. They're going to be riding Argon 18 bikes funnily enough.

Hesjedal retiring. Probably the biggest news is Merida dropping sponsorship of Lampre in favour of Bahrain, which looks like it'll mean Lampre are moving down to PCT next year, if they can't find another sponsor. Which would be a bit ironic considering Meintjes's move to the team when MTN were still PCT.
 
Any thoughts on the Armitstead case? I don't think there's really enough info to start jumping to conclusions either way, but it does not look good. And to me, it does not look good in a way which probably justifies not sending her to the Olympics until it's properly investigated. I think I'd probably find it hard to celebrate if she did go on to win at this point.
 
PermaBanned said:
Any thoughts on the Armitstead case? I don't think there's really enough info to start jumping to conclusions either way, but it does not look good. And to me, it does not look good in a way which probably justifies not sending her to the Olympics until it's properly investigated. I think I'd probably find it hard to celebrate if she did go on to win at this point.
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I really hope she isn't a doper but it does look very fishy to me. Why wouldn't you contest the first violation straight away if you thought yourself innocent instead of waiting till you got your third?

Also knowing it is so important to your career, how on earth do you let it get to three infractions anyway when they system is designed to make it so easy for you as much of a pain in the backside it may be.

As you say, it doesn't look good at all.
 
PermaBanned said:
Any thoughts on the Armitstead case? I don't think there's really enough info to start jumping to conclusions either way, but it does not look good. And to me, it does not look good in a way which probably justifies not sending her to the Olympics until it's properly investigated. I think I'd probably find it hard to celebrate if she did go on to win at this point.
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I know that she and Nicole Cooke have a bit of a history but the latter made a point that I'd not been aware of before - apparently you can cancel/reschedule the testing window by a text or phone call even a minute before the one hour window is due to start.

I do hope she is clean but feel that she should a) have contested the first violation at the time or even if waiting until after the Worlds to have done it straight after that and b) shouldn't have let it get to three missed tests. I appreciate it might be difficult and annoying as an intrusion but given there has been so much cheating by athletes in her sport it's also something that it's almost impossible to argue isn't warranted so if you want to compete at the highest level it's something you deal with.

I'd probably still celebrate the win but with slightly more expectation of a later challenge to the validity of the win than otherwise.
 
It raises serious questions IMO that 6 British athletes out of 300ish are on 2 strikes according to The Times. If my livelihood depended on it then missing 2 tests seems inexcusable. You can use the "but I tested clean" argument but it's a bit irrelevant if 2 months out of the year you are doped to the gills to train harder etc. You have to be objective and say if this was an athlete from another nation then you'd be disappointed and suspicious. It's not like this is a back marker we're talking about, she's been dominant the last 12 months.
 
PermaBanned said:
Any thoughts on the Armitstead case? I don't think there's really enough info to start jumping to conclusions either way, but it does not look good. And to me, it does not look good in a way which probably justifies not sending her to the Olympics until it's properly investigated. I think I'd probably find it hard to celebrate if she did go on to win at this point.
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Similar sentiment. I WAS a big fan but she is tainted now. Her excuses are weak and show a lack of respect for clean sport. 3 times in a year for a professional athlete is unacceptable. She's got off on a technicality.
Simon Yates just took a ban for arguably a lesser offence of the Team not submitting the correct TUE paperwork. Personally I actually think she should consider not racing the Olympics. She has painted herself into a corner and I foresee the pressure building - that will affect her performance.
 
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