It's getting close! TdFrance picks!

Well, let's see how tomorrow's stage plays out. Too bad for the long descent to end the stage, kind of a buzzkill for all the climbing that there'll be tomorrow. But, yes Team Sky was just absolutely ridiculous today.

 

I think Froome will chill tomorrow. He got his time today, given the lack of a mountain top finish, I'd bet he will ride at the front and only cover attacking riders who are a legit GC threat. I'm hoping one of the GC contenders feels well enough tomorrow to really go at him and see if he can maintain his level of riding for another day.

 

Karma is a fickle Beatch...the 6 month off season suspension for VdV was a joke.

 

I'm embarrassed to say that doping never occurred to me today, not really. Of course it's always there but i never thought that was why he won. At least he didnt gift the stage to another rider to avoid being tested like Lance used to.

 

Heh. On the other hand, yesterday was the first time in years I thought Contador might actually be riding clean.

If Sky is doping, they're making everyone else look clean by comparison, because no ones matching that output. Lance at least always had a handful of other junkies to ride with to keep things interesting.

I'm trying to stop being so jaded about my sport here, so I'll avoid making premature unfounded judgements, but I do wish they'd just pull everyone finishing ahead of the peloton into testing immediately upon crossing the line, and then test them again later at rest on for comparisons sake. In every stage.

...and announce that they'll be handing out random lifetime bans among those that fail a test. Doesn't matter if its your first time doping, you want to play games with the rules, so can the UCI. ...that is, if the UCI actually gave a damn at all... Oop, there I go...

 

Well, well, well... Look what happened today. And we thought it was going to be a boring stage. My fantasy team took a hit though.

 

Anyone else notice this... it appears that mooning the riders and/or cameras is very popular this year. In both stage 9 and 10, it's clearly visible in the video feed. Stage 10 was quite funny because the guy is right there on top of an RV mooning the helicopter.

 

Cav is a dick? Frome should have won last year. Hated last years race because of Wiggins. Waiting to get into the Alps...Tour fun to watch when they are there.

 

Cav will be curling up with his stuffed bunny and crying himself to sleep for the next several nights. I'm betting he would like to be anywhere else right now than in the Tour de France heading into the Alps without the green jersey on his shoulders. He'd be on a plane home right now if that wouldn't pretty much signal the end of his career. He's really got no choice but to soldier-on and hope for better luck on the Champs Elysee.

Aside from Froome, it's amazing how mortal and closely matched all these guys are when they're not on the sauce. If it wasn't for Froome being so far out front, this race would be a complete crap shoot.

 

I sure hope Froome is clean. It would be nice to watch the race without those sort of thoughts.

 

Cav IS a dick... the way he crashed out that dude for no reason should get him tossed.

 

no reason? He might not needed to do that but its pretty obvious that the guy slowed big time right in front of him and if you think he didn't know what he was doing by doing so I got some land to sell you.

 

End of his career? Sure, he'll be hating the Alps and he's got some stiff competition now with Griepel, Kittel, and Sagan, but I don't see any of those guys being physically faster than him yet. And he's 3 stage wins from #2 all-time, 9 wins from #1. With the right leadout, he's still got a shot, but it seems like the team's strategy and discipline has broken down a few times this year. Oh yeah, that and he is sort of a dick, but he's also been good about giving credit to the guys who've beat him. And I don't think his career is over yet by any means.

Yeah, I've been getting a good laugh out of that. Too bad it seems to be guys only.

 

On the road and track... if you're going to come in contact with another rider, you lean in and meet the impact. If you don't, you're going down. Given an impact, it's always best to be shoulder to shoulder, but you're not always dead-even with the other rider. When you're not even, the rider slightly behind meets or fends off an impact with his head (remember, you can't take your hands off the bars during the sprint)... this is why you sometimes see head-butting during a sprint. These actions are not an assault, just good skills.

My interpretation of the Cav/Veelers contact is that it's the 'fault' of both of them equally... the guy did appear to impede Cav just a little (and probably on purpose), and Cav met the contact by leaning into him, but yeah... Cav does appear to give him a little something extra.

 

Yep. I think Cavendish has been impeded several times this year and it was a little frustration/payback.

 

Good Gawd folks, read the testing protocols then comment on whether they're drugging or not. It's virtually impossible to dope today with the way they have it set up. The UCI knew Lance was drugging as well as 90%+ of the rest of the peloton. Today the culture has changed, once again doping is considered cheating not like it was in the early 2000's. The test samples are sent to 6 independent testing labs and there can be no difference in any test from one lab to the next. There will always be those who will try to cheat but there is not enough reward behind it at this time right now and the drug companies know they won't walk away from prosecution like they did last time.

Froome really is that good. He's not a flash in the pan, he's been winning consistently now for over 2 years, his climbing ability is well known in the racing community and Team Sky fought hard to sign him.

And lastly if you think it's phony (professional wrestling type) then just don't watch.

 

Even if you assume the controls are adequate, which many doubt, I think the suspicion is that Froome is on some new 'secret sauce' that's not on the WADA banned list, so he can look everyone in the eye (like Lance) and say I'm not cheating even though he's taking some thyroid medication or some sort of other performance enhancer. Technically, he'd be telling the truth.

It is awfully hard to believe that Froome is faster than not only the entire modern peloton but also doped-to-the-gills athletes from yesteryear like Armstrong. That is where the doubt is coming from. He seems sincere and honest, but so did Lance--albeit to a lesser extent...

You don't win a grand tour by being a well balance human being, you win by being a singleminded, obsessive, aggressive SOB who will do just about anything to win that one bike race.

I'm not sure he doped, and I hope he is innocent, I just find it hard to believe that he didn't. That might be sad, for me or for the sport, but it is what it is.

 

On one hand, Froome's riding like a doper. On the other, he's riding like a doper that thinks he can't be caught. ...which is weird, because I think by now everyone knows it's a short time before testing catches up with even the most sophisticated doping methods, and your victories are voided out & worse.

With the level of scrutiny his blood samples are going to receive from now til forever, if he were doping, you'd think he'd try to play it off a little more subtly. Instead, he's just out there obliterating the race like Eddy Merckx, like he's got nothing to hide. I can't imagine he & his manager would be that reckless in todays racing climate.

Buuut, I found myself wondering if as a team manager, it'd make sense to dump all the $ you'd spend doping an entire team on your best rider only. Turn him into a superhuman, w/ the fanciest state of the art doping tech you'd otherwise not be able to afford, and let the rest of your team train clean & normally. This would minimize the risks of exposure & bans, while ensuring you have a star rider and a capable support staff (which only has to ride as fast as the peloton). BUT, only for 1 year. Then demote the cap'n, take him off the sauce at the end of the season, say he's having an off year after health issues, and let him fade to the background, while you promote someone new. Don't keep anyone in the hot seat too long. ...instead of, you know, getting greedy and having the whole team doping and then just keep racking up victories like there's no end in sight. Lest time sic the wolves upon you.

 

Here is an interesting article that takes a look at Froome's Tour performance. Obviously this is not any definitive answer to any doping questions but is still very interesting to see the analysis.

http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/biking/Analysing-Froomes-Performance.html

 

It has been proven for years years years and more years that no matter how good the testing there is always a smarter person designing a way to beat the tests. He may be just that good but to say that he can't be cheating is naive.

If I was a doctor and found a way to beat the tests I would pay big bucks to anyone who would test them for me. Then I would have a gold mine if he doesn't get caught. I would be going to any athlete in any sport to sell it at that point or hell sell it china, they would use if for the Olympics.