Pro Cycling Thread 2023

Big shame as I preferred ITV coverage and that little jingle. When they'd have the full stage on I'd only switch to Eurosport during advert breaks
 
If you don't listen ned boulting and David millar do a good podcast on sort of cycling. Ned got pretty emotional talking about the news! Worth a listen if you haven't heard it before.
 
Absolutely incredible last 30k to Milan san remo, mvdp sprint at the end the icing on the cake. Did not see that domination coming after the brutality over cipressa and poggio.

Shame the crash seemed to split it too much so the group behind were too far back to lead a concerted chase.
 
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Did not see that coming for the last 50-60k, just thought Powless would be blown away! Visma pulling away so simply and then messed it up in the last 200m, the leadout was poor and stunk a little of complacency. Visma would have easily won that by not telegraphing WVA was the dedicated man to win and just letting the wheel go at that last corner.
 

Just ridiculous. You realise just how brutal that climb is when you see everyone is absolutely grinding their way up it. Plenty out of the saddle to put the power down and he just waltzes off.
 
fez said:
Plenty out of the saddle to put the power down and he just waltzes off.
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I was literally just thinking 'Well, tbf, this climb isn't quite as nasty as one or two I did in the Peak District last week' (which I was dying going up...) and then he didn't even get out of the saddle and SHOT up the steep bit :cry:
 
fez said:

Just ridiculous. You realise just how brutal that climb is when you see everyone is absolutely grinding their way up it. Plenty out of the saddle to put the power down and he just waltzes off.
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Press fawning over it is the worst part, how can any one with any modicum of sense watch Pogacar ride across all terrains and just waltz away from people with such ease especially with the team behind him and their known past infractions. Going to turn a lot of people off cycling who know the past and then if it does ever come out will put off a chunk of others.
 
SoliD said:
Press fawning over it is the worst part, how can any one with any modicum of sense watch Pogacar ride across all terrains and just waltz away from people with such ease especially with the team behind him and their known past infractions. Going to turn a lot of people off cycling who know the past and then if it does ever come out will put off a chunk of others.
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I don't see it that way at all. You are essentially saying that Pogacar is doping. You're also saying that his doping is somehow giving him a ridiculous advantage over his peers.

In my view they are either all doping or they aren't. Theres no "well Pogacar and Vingegaard are doping, WVA is doping but the others aren't".

I'm not convinced they are doping personally but perhaps thats just naivety on my part. I cannot believe that in the current age of tech, accountability, testing and how much people love to take down celebrities that someone involved in pro cycling in some capacity hasn't blown the lid off it if its still happening in any proper capacity. A partner, a wife that was cheated on, a disgruntled ex-pro, a soigneur etc. Anyone who was willing to do this would make a small fortune from it.

There are always occasional outliers in sport. People that are simply better than their peers. People that are genetically superior and it shows. Usain Bolt was just better than everyone. Likely a good example as well because sprinting was/is rife with doping so its not like anyone could suggest that he was miles better than them because he was on PEDs and no one else was.
 
I'd say naivety. But I do agree with you it's not just those few riders.

I believe we're currently at a point where some teams are doing stuff that is potentially legal currently as it's so far ahead of wada. But give it 10 years and it'll be illegal. The improvement you see of pretty much every rider going to uae and jumbo but Pog is the supreme outlier. Able to go to every single race and win week after week, month after month on all terrains has never been seen before. If you look at pogs trajectory and the acceleration of him since covid and hear about some of the lax protocols during this period in certain countries. Benefits of doping past will continue to benefit for the rest of their professional life.

Even the outliers haven't done that in the past, bolt would peak for worlds and Olympics because he could afford to. As we've seen in the past if you've got the best doping team you're a massive step ahead of the rest. Ie Lance and us postal.
 
SoliD said:
I'd say naivety. But I do agree with you it's not just those few riders.

I believe we're currently at a point where some teams are doing stuff that is potentially legal currently as it's so far ahead of wada. But give it 10 years and it'll be illegal. The improvement you see of pretty much every rider going to uae and jumbo but Pog is the supreme outlier. Able to go to every single race and win week after week, month after month on all terrains has never been seen before. If you look at pogs trajectory and the acceleration of him since covid and hear about some of the lax protocols during this period in certain countries. Benefits of doping past will continue to benefit for the rest of their professional life.

Even the outliers haven't done that in the past, bolt would peak for worlds and Olympics because he could afford to. As we've seen in the past if you've got the best doping team you're a massive step ahead of the rest. Ie Lance and us postal.
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I think its very hard to look at the outcome and work backwards from there. The best teams attract the best talent and pay the best riders. UAE simply have the best team right now. Visma are/were the best team a few years ago.

I don't see how Pogacar is going to have any better access to drugs than anyone else. Its not like all the teams aren't flush with enough cash to be able to sort out a doping program either. Its like saying "doping gives you a 10% advantage over your peers". Right, OK, thats fine...but all your peers are doping too so it makes close to zero difference to the end result.

This is my problem with all these arguments. They float all over the place and contradict each other. I simply don't agree with the argument that Pogacars domination and performance is due to a better doping protocol than everyone else. Hes just a mutant amongst mutants. I don't really know if or how much they are doping but until some evidence comes out I will try to either not worry about it or assume innocent until proven guilty.

Whatever they are doing, its not going to hold a candle to the doping of the past so regardless of what they are doing, they are still mainly beating old records because of everything else. Tech, training, diet, on bike nutrition and genetics.

As you say, perhaps naivety but I don't know how people can watch cycling with the attitude they have that any amazing performance is the realm of drugs cheating.
 
Cycling might have to introduce a salary cap of some sort because Pogacar is simply the best rider by a distance and UAE are simply the best team by a distance. When I started watching cycling a few years ago at the TdF, Vingegaard with Visma were the best team and that showed over the TdF. Now I don't think anyone else really stands much of a chance in the big multi day events and even the one day events are being dominated by them currently.
 
fez said:
Cycling might have to introduce a salary cap of some sort because Pogacar is simply the best rider by a distance and UAE are simply the best team by a distance. When I started watching cycling a few years ago at the TdF, Vingegaard with Visma were the best team and that showed over the TdF. Now I don't think anyone else really stands much of a chance in the big multi day events and even the one day events are being dominated by them currently.
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Possibly. I do wonder if this would help the teams further down who are reliant on the odd win or podium for sponsorship and remaining financially viable.
 
fez said:
Cycling might have to introduce a salary cap of some sort because Pogacar is simply the best rider by a distance and UAE are simply the best team by a distance. When I started watching cycling a few years ago at the TdF, Vingegaard with Visma were the best team and that showed over the TdF. Now I don't think anyone else really stands much of a chance in the big multi day events and even the one day events are being dominated by them currently.
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Not just in cycling, but so many other team sports, I'd like to see top class players split evenly between the top teams.
 
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