The professional cycling thread

[louiebaby]

JuniorD said:

The 27km TTT on stage 2 will put an immediate end to all but two or three people's GC hopes

To take the opposing view, for the sake of debate rather than being knob:

• The teams have plenty of time to prepare, and tailor their training an team choices accordingly.
• I will potentially give teams which don't have a hope of a yellow jersey any other times to put one in the bag to keep the sponsors happy.

[johnxjsc1985]

it gives them plenty of time to recover and if Sky get the yellow jersey that's a long time to defend.
We might get 4 or 5 contenders next year cant wait.

[anonymous-user]

Will power meters be banned?



https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/10/friday-tech-ti...

[Talksteer]

JPJPJP said:

Will power meters be banned?



https://www.dcrainmaker.com/2018/10/friday-tech-ti...

Maybe but it will make no difference, the method of not blowing yourself is the most effective way to ride.

The power meter helps the rider know what they can do and for how long, once they have learnt this they don't need the power meter. It's kind of like those Asian maths geniuses whose fingers twitch when they calculate because they are operating a long disposed of abacus mentally.

You can't ban the power meter in training.

It seams to me to just be another thing that the old school French and Italian guys who currently run cycling don't get.

Amusingly getting rid of power meters is most likely to help Sky as they will simply focus on replicating the effects of having a power meter through training and procedure. Whereas some of the more old school teams might assume that they can drop it in the bin and go back to "racing on feel".

[Talksteer]

JuniorD said:

The 27km TTT on stage 2 will put an immediate end to all but two or three people's GC hopes

On the cycling podcast Francais Tommaso made the point that in the history of the TDF it is basically won by strong TT guys. When a climber wins it is something of an exception.

Year, TT Pos

2018 3rd
2017 3rd
2016 6th, 2nd, 1st
2015 2nd TTT
2014 4th
2013 2nd, 1st
2012 2nd,1st, 1st
2011 2nd TTT, 2nd
2010 5th
2009 2nd, 1st TTT, 1st
2008 12th

[louiebaby]

Talksteer said:

On the cycling podcast Francais Tommaso made the point that in the history of the TDF it is basically won by strong TT guys.

Interesting stats. I'm a strong proponent of up hill time trials, and the short lumpy day trialled this year was an interesting slant too.

[Talksteer]

louiebaby said:

Talksteer said:

On the cycling podcast Francais Tommaso made the point that in the history of the TDF it is basically won by strong TT guys.

Interesting stats. I'm a strong proponent of up hill time trials, and the short lumpy day trialled this year was an interesting slant too.

Interesting feature of uphill time trials is that they tend to favour the best GC time trialists.

The climbers who don't practice TT efforts are still likely to be less good a pacing and holding the TT position. It's not just FTP/weight.

Generally the worlds best time trialist tends to have a pretty good power to weight anyway, certainly people like Indurian, Wiggins and Dumulain were able to retain their full FTP and loose weight. These guys frequently even have the measure of a Cancellara or Martin who are only actually 5-10% heavier.

Actually the biggest factor holding back a TT specialist who doesn't practice all out efforts up hill is that the biomechanics of where the force is applied in the pedal stroke is different when climbing vs flat TT's.

In short I don't think you can produce a TDF course that doesn't favour Sky, they are the best at grand tours.

[JuniorD]

Talksteer said:

JuniorD said:

The 27km TTT on stage 2 will put an immediate end to all but two or three people's GC hopes

On the cycling podcast Francais Tommaso made the point that in the history of the TDF it is basically won by strong TT guys. When a climber wins it is something of an exception.

Year, TT Pos

2018 3rd
2017 3rd
2016 6th, 2nd, 1st
2015 2nd TTT
2014 4th
2013 2nd, 1st
2012 2nd,1st, 1st
2011 2nd TTT, 2nd
2010 5th
2009 2nd, 1st TTT, 1st
2008 12th

In the years listed 2008-2018 above, the winners were Sastre, Contador, Schleck, Evans, Wiggins, Nibali, Froome, Thomas. They are are all exceptional climbers, maybe Sastre and Evans slightly less so. With the exception of Schleck, they are also top TTers.

It is arguable that that the last non-climber to win the Tour was Indurain, and the last non TTer to win was Schleck.

[johnxjsc1985]

It would be interesting to see the list of riders weights I doubt any of them are more than 70 kg's. I think Wiggins was less than 70kg in 2012 probably a lot less by the end of the TDF

[Barga]

IT would also be enlightening to see how many of them had TUEs for corticosteroids for breathing difficulties which may have benefited their exceptional w/kg?

[johnxjsc1985]

Barga said:

IT would also be enlightening to see how many of them had TUEs for corticosteroids for breathing difficulties which may have benefited their exceptional w/kg?

change the freakin record and start your own thread and leave people to enjoy this one

[Barga]

johnxjsc1985 said:

Barga said:

IT would also be enlightening to see how many of them had TUEs for corticosteroids for breathing difficulties which may have benefited their exceptional w/kg?

change the freakin record and start your own thread and leave people to enjoy this one

I didn't realise you could only contribute if you have blinkers on!

Edited by Barga on Wednesday 31st October 18:40

[johnxjsc1985]

Barga said:

I didn't realise you could only contribute if you have blinkers on!

Edited by Barga on Wednesday 31st October 18:40

well done you must be so proud of yourself. I am out of here another thread ruined by a smartarse

[Talksteer]

Barga said:

johnxjsc1985 said:

Barga said:

IT would also be enlightening to see how many of them had TUEs for corticosteroids for breathing difficulties which may have benefited their exceptional w/kg?

change the freakin record and start your own thread and leave people to enjoy this one

I didn't realise you could only contribute if you have blinkers on!

Edited by Barga on Wednesday 31st October 18:40

Man gest thin in a 5 year period shock

[anonymous-user]

RIP Paul Sherwen

“Voice of the Tour” with Phil Liggett when I was getting into cycling.

[ferrisbueller]

Just seen that buried half way down the BBC sport page. It's going to be a bit odd not hearing him when watching the TV.
RIP

[johnxjsc1985]

Just 62 years old how sad. I loved the Combination of him and Liggett. He was a big local star when I was growing up and went on to ride quite a few TDF.

[DS240]

Sky announce end of team sponsorship at the end of 2019!

That’s bound to shake things up a bit. I’m sure some teams won’t shed a tear.

Whether this will be good or bad for the sport, we’ll have to see. Did it raise the standard across the teams and improve the sport or damage it with budget increases to keep up?

[mooseracer]

Just saw this! There will be some bloody good riders retiring and/or looking for new teams at the end of 2019 as I can't imagine the team will find a title sponsor willing and able to fund like Sky have.

All in all it's a real shame in my view.

[Johnny]

Agreed, it's a massive shame.