Pro Cycling Discussion 2018

Soldato
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Well lets kick this off again!

TDU has started, have to admit I've only watched the first stage highlights so far but will be catching up over the weekend. :cool:

Anyone else want to flesh out team details/info and I'll dump it/link it here.

Similar to what xdcx and Jonny did for 2017.
 
Soldato
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UCI World Tour calendar:
Jan-28 Cadel Evans Great Ocean Road Race AUS
Feb-24 Omloop Het Nieuwsblad Elite BEL
Mar-03 Strade Bianche ITA
Mar-17 Milano-Sanremo ITA
Mar-23 Record Bank E3 Harelbeke BEL
Mar-25 Gent-Wevelgem in Flanders Fields BEL
Mar-28 Dwars door Vlaanderen - A travers la Flandre BEL
Apr-01 Ronde van Vlaanderen - Tour des Flandres BEL
Apr-08 Paris-Roubaix FRA
Apr-15 Amstel Gold Race NED
Apr-18 La Flèche Wallonne BEL
Apr-22 Liège-Bastogne-Liège BEL
May-01 Eschborn-Frankfurt - Rund um den Finanzplatz GER
Jul-29 Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic GBR
Aug-04 Clasica Ciclista San Sebastian ESP
Aug-19 EuroEyes Cyclassics Hamburg GER
Aug-26 Bretagne Classic - Ouest-France FRA
Sep-07 Grand Prix Cycliste de Québec CAN
Sep-09 Grand Prix Cycliste de Montréal CAN
Oct-13 Il Lombardia ITA
 
Soldato
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Good start but missing a few... No GT's in there! ;)

Have to say I'm loving the look of the Movistar colours this year even though I don't rate them as a team.

I'll always be a British rider & team follower but have to admit if Bora don't turn some good results (not just from Sagan) this year I'll be disappointed. I was last year!
 
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Not really as he's not racing...

When he does, without any decisions being made then there really will be a cloud. I'd like to think he wouldn't as he's quite a genuine guy and I don't think he'd want to put others, or himself through fiasco's like Nibali, Contador and all the others who had titles retrospectively stripped from them as they continued riding when being investigated after failed tests. Equally not many people really understand him and what drives him, so I would fully expect him to have made a race schedule and stick to it regardless of what decisions are being deliberated over. He's incredibly strong willed and I think if he had any doubts about what went on we'd have known about them by now. I think Sky should officially 'remove him from competition' until a decision is made, but not without a definitive date, or ruining any chances of the double.

Without much further info, all we have are the 'smokescreens' from Sky (dehydration & current 'kidney failure' one). The UCI seem to have firmly left it up to Sky to prove or come up with excuses, but it's hard to tell which way it'll go as I genuinely think they don't know what happened. If they did we'd have seen more excuses or reasoning why to deflect from Chris.
 
Soldato
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Not really as he's not racing...

When he does, without any decisions being made then there really will be a cloud. I'd like to think he wouldn't as he's quite a genuine guy and I don't think he'd want to put others, or himself through fiasco's like Nibali, Contador and all the others who had titles retrospectively stripped from them as they continued riding when being investigated after failed tests. Equally not many people really understand him and what drives him, so I would fully expect him to have made a race schedule and stick to it regardless of what decisions are being deliberated over. He's incredibly strong willed and I think if he had any doubts about what went on we'd have known about them by now. I think Sky should officially 'remove him from competition' until a decision is made, but not without a definitive date, or ruining any chances of the double.

Without much further info, all we have are the 'smokescreens' from Sky (dehydration & current 'kidney failure' one). The UCI seem to have firmly left it up to Sky to prove or come up with excuses, but it's hard to tell which way it'll go as I genuinely think they don't know what happened. If they did we'd have seen more excuses or reasoning why to deflect from Chris.

It’s the way he announced his girl entry despite knowing that irks me and that both he and sky haven’t said he won’t race until cleared which goes against the anti drug stance of both. No idea what went on with the test it is certainly odd but cycling needs to be cleaner than clean and sky and froome in particular
 
Soldato
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It’s the way he announced his girl entry despite knowing that irks me and that both he and sky haven’t said he won’t race until cleared which goes against the anti drug stance of both. No idea what went on with the test it is certainly odd but cycling needs to be cleaner than clean and sky and froome in particular

I really dont see what the problem is, the UCI rules allows the rider to compete while the investigation is ongoing. If you apply the rules there is no issue, the only issue is if he did cheat then hit him with the relevant punishment.
 
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I really dont see what the problem is, the UCI rules allows the rider to compete while the investigation is ongoing. If you apply the rules there is no issue, the only issue is if he did cheat then hit him with the relevant punishment.

I think the uncertainty damages the sport, the rules may say he can compete but given the stance both he and SKY have taken on drugs in the past then both should withdraw him from cycling until proven innocent, nothing wrong with him training and preparing but I just feel he should take the morally correct decision to withdraw from competition.
 
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I think the uncertainty damages the sport, the rules may say he can compete but given the stance both he and SKY have taken on drugs in the past then both should withdraw him from cycling until proven innocent, nothing wrong with him training and preparing but I just feel he should take the morally correct decision to withdraw from competition.

I can see where you are coming from, but Froome hasn't even competed yet since it all came out. Also if you take a rider out until they are proven innocent, then you are punishing someone and assuming guilt before making the ruling, even murderers have the chance to be stated innocent till proven guilty.
 
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I can see where you are coming from, but Froome hasn't even competed yet since it all came out. Also if you take a rider out until they are proven innocent, then you are punishing someone and assuming guilt before making the ruling, even murderers have the chance to be stated innocent till proven guilty.
Most murderers are remanded in custody just in case. His attitude has been very bullish the announcement of his giro entry and his tone in statements I guess everyonecwill differ in there opinion. I stil hope he proves his innocence I think him being banned would be a massive blow to the sport.
 
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Me too, it also makes the British look even worse after all the Wiggins and British cycling debacle
Bit of a rubbish time alround for British cycling, it's such a shame as it taints everyone even those you don't think would ever consider cheating. Wiggins is forever going to be suspect the TUE's were certainly dodgy and the 'package' fiasco was just embarrassing.

Fingers crossed for a bit less controversy this year no drugs tests and suspect disqualifications please!
 
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Soldato
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His attitude has been very bullish the announcement of his giro entry and his tone in statements I guess everyonecwill differ in there opinion. I stil hope he proves his innocence I think him being banned would be a massive blow to the sport.
Bullish? He's said he'll work with them to understand where it came from. Let's not forget - he didn't use a 'banned' substance, or even a substance which usually requires a TUE, just if over a certain level. It's a substance he'll be using consistently when training and racing for many years. As are many others. The fact he had an 'adverse' result from a test, is down to the medical teams and testers to investigate as I very much doubt his dosing really changes from stage to stage & race to race.
 
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Bullish? He's said he'll work with them to understand where it came from. Let's not forget - he didn't use a 'banned' substance, or even a substance which usually requires a TUE, just if over a certain level. It's a substance he'll be using consistently when training and racing for many years. As are many others. The fact he had an 'adverse' result from a test, is down to the medical teams and testers to investigate as I very much doubt his dosing really changes from stage to stage & race to race.
Something went badly wrong given that he didn't test over the limit on any other day of the vuelta and on that day he managed to not just exceed the limit but blow it out of the water. I simply hoped he would be more conciliatory it just feels like the same old same old, cyclists fails drugs test protests innocence as long as possible and eventually sucks up the ban. Still enough talk of Mr Froome hopefully he will manage to put this behind him with a satisfactory medical explanation I fear a white washing as the Cycling world really don't want another cheating champ.
 
Soldato
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What is interesting is that these sort of AAF are often kept quiet - we only know about this one due to the Guardian leak. There’s a theory that he is back on twitter doing some Big mileage to try and simulate a Vuelta level of fatigue to prompt a similar reading

Given the current Defence seems to be that his kidneys stored up the salbutamol and he gets tested daily in the leaders jersey, maybe he is so confident because he knows he has data to prove that it was a one day peak with a commensurate drop around it?
 
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What is interesting is that these sort of AAF are often kept quiet - we only know about this one due to the Guardian leak. There’s a theory that he is back on twitter doing some Big mileage to try and simulate a Vuelta level of fatigue to prompt a similar reading

Given the current Defence seems to be that his kidneys stored up the salbutamol and he gets tested daily in the leaders jersey, maybe he is so confident because he knows he has data to prove that it was a one day peak with a commensurate drop around it?

I've read its a pretty simple test to see if someone thats taken salbutamol either by injection, orally by pill (they are both banned IIRC) or a nebuliser (needs a TUE). So if the test discounts all of those then it can only leave the inhaler. Seeing as the dose equates to about 20 puffs or more which seems unrealistic then something is not right.

I guess if he hasn't taken it via a banned or TUE method, then he has reason to be confident as puffing an inhaler in that sort of quantity is ridiculous, all he needs to do is find out how it happened.
 
Soldato
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Something went badly wrong given that he didn't test over the limit on any other day of the vuelta and on that day he managed to not just exceed the limit but blow it out of the water. I simply hoped he would be more conciliatory it just feels like the same old same old, cyclists fails drugs test protests innocence as long as possible and eventually sucks up the ban. Still enough talk of Mr Froome hopefully he will manage to put this behind him with a satisfactory medical explanation I fear a white washing as the Cycling world really don't want another cheating champ.
Something certainly went wrong but I'm also sure of Froome not knowingly 'breaking the rules' after some of the comments he made around Jiffygate. I recall statements he had to retract/apologise from fear of tarnishing Skys reputation even further?!

Froome being Froome, he was separated from much of the ingrained 'bad' dealings around cycling of the 90's and 00's. He was geographically separated and professionally separated from the teams, riders, coaches and doctors which dominated much of the doping stories. I wouldn't say he was ignorant to it, but he was certainly an 'outsider' to it and the things which went on. I recall a mention in one of his books (The Climb?) where he recounts a story of speaking to one of his Barloworld teammates where he commented "that guy's quick, who's he?" when seeing Nibali and his teammates being flabbergasted. So much of the cycling culture, training methods and coaching was foreign to him! :D

There’s a theory that he is back on twitter doing some Big mileage to try and simulate a Vuelta level of fatigue to prompt a similar reading
No theory, the data is up on Strava on a verified account he's used before. 2300+ miles so far this year! :o

I'm fairly sure it's a PR exercise, possibly initiated by him as he's always been fairly open about his training, routes and riding. He's very active on Twitter. I think it's Sky that have generally kept things very secretive. Even Pete Kennaugh is back posting up rides now, he did loads before joining Sky, then none when riding for them.

I guess if he hasn't taken it via a banned or TUE method, then he has reason to be confident as puffing an inhaler in that sort of quantity is ridiculous, all he needs to do is find out how it happened.
Unless they can prove it I'm betting we'll find out they used a nebuliser or some other way to administer it, as they've discounted the tablet idea I was originally sure of and are trying to hide/cover over it (as the doctor who administered it wasn't aware of the TUE requirement or something).
 
Soldato
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Something certainly went wrong but I'm also sure of Froome not knowingly 'breaking the rules' after some of the comments he made around Jiffygate. I recall statements he had to retract/apologise from fear of tarnishing Skys reputation even further?!

Froome being Froome, he was separated from much of the ingrained 'bad' dealings around cycling of the 90's and 00's. He was geographically separated and professionally separated from the teams, riders, coaches and doctors which dominated much of the doping stories. I wouldn't say he was ignorant to it, but he was certainly an 'outsider' to it and the things which went on. I recall a mention in one of his books (The Climb?) where he recounts a story of speaking to one of his Barloworld teammates where he commented "that guy's quick, who's he?" when seeing Nibali and his teammates being flabbergasted. So much of the cycling culture, training methods and coaching was foreign to him! :D

No theory, the data is up on Strava on a verified account he's used before. 2300+ miles so far this year! :o

I'm fairly sure it's a PR exercise, possibly initiated by him as he's always been fairly open about his training, routes and riding. He's very active on Twitter. I think it's Sky that have generally kept things very secretive. Even Pete Kennaugh is back posting up rides now, he did loads before joining Sky, then none when riding for them.

Unless they can prove it I'm betting we'll find out they used a nebuliser or some other way to administer it, as they've discounted the tablet idea I was originally sure of and are trying to hide/cover over it (as the doctor who administered it wasn't aware of the TUE requirement or something).
That if true will see him loose the vuelta title and serve a ban.
 
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