Cycling 2013

[swinfordfc]

That's was a total farce at yestarday finish - its lucky that no one actually didnt get kill in the accident as they were travelling so fast .....

[Stuttgart88]

Hmm, the Tour de France is on nearby. I think I'll go and watch. I think I'll take the mutt with me as he needs a walk. No need for a lead, sure what could happen?

Anyway, both Irish in the main bunch 1 second off the lead. Roche in 11th and Martin well down on the road, but might make a dash up the GC tomorrow after the team time trial which Garmin is fancied to win. Hesjedal missed both crashes so still no reason for the team to favour Martin.

[swinfordfc]

Fair play to Roche today in the team time trial .... now up to 9th overall but i think it will last until next Monday, then the Tour really starts! Martin doing fine at 19th spot - looking forward seeing him in the mountains ....

[Stuttgart88]

ITV coverage makes no mention of either Martin or Hesjvedal as a GC contender despite a whole series of others being put in the frame. I think Martin, having missed out on any crashes in Corsica, must be seen as a top ten contender at the very least. Maybe the lack of definitive leadership in Garmin is seen as a factor but frankly I just think ITV has overlooked him.

[swinfordfc]

All the better they overlooked him - he should make the top ten i think!

[swinfordfc]

D Martin up to 17th overall after today ..... Roche still 9th

[Stuttgart88]

Irish boys got dropped yesterday along with some other top cyclists but both are still in good shape overall. Froome and Porte put in unreal displays yesterday. Froome certainly has come on a lot since his Barloworld days. Not that I'm saying there's anything suspicious, like.

[the 12 th man]

What a ride by Martin,brilliant tactics in the last Km.

[swinfordfc]

That was class from Martin .... bravo
Great work today from Garmin - put Sky under pressure from the off and Martin now up to 8th overall

[Mr A]

There were some interesting little comments in the cycling news live commentary of stage. Something along the lines of- we haven't seen a climbing display like this since Armstrong and Heras in 2003 and another that described the performance as "eyebrow raising".

Fair play to Martin- that was a great win. The guy really knows how to take his chances.

[Stuttgart88]

Yes, he's got a great tactical / racing brain. Great stuff.

[Mr A]

Philip Lavery getting a chance to win a contract with Cofidis: http://www.stickybottle.com/latest-n...-team-cofidis/

Meanwhile LeMonde believe in Martin, but not in Froome (poorly translated by Google but you'll get the gist): http://translate.google.com/translat...4094_3242.html

[Macy]

I want to believe in Sky, but until they are willing to be transparent, there'll always be a question mark for me. Brailsford uses bs excuses not release the power data, whereas other riders and teams have no fear in doing so. They have to be doubley transparent with Froome, imo, given his rise from no contract renewal going into the 2011 veulta to his subsequent performances.

Bloody brilliant performance by Dan Martin - the guy's just a winner.

Also, a mention for Nico - it kinda got missed as it was right at the start of the itv coverage, but he buried himself for bert through some of the valleys.

[Real ale Madrid]

Froome got DQ'ed from the Giro a few years ago for holding onto a motorbike on a climb he was so knackered.

To go from that to what he was able to do at his ease on Saturday is beyond any reasonable explanation imo.

To see David Walsh following team sky around and not highlight this is strange as well - maybe he has something up his sleeve for after the tour?

[Macy]

Or maybe they do actually have revolutionary training methods, but without the transparency they are leaving themselves wide open.

[Dodge]

Climbers develop too. I'm sure living in Kenya all those years helped aerobically too

As macy said though, as long as Sky and Brailsford are being so dickish about it, they're asking for trouble

[Macy]

There is the argument put forward that because of epo, cycling never properly developed it's training methods as it was easier and cheaper to just dope. Now teams are developing their training and looking more at aerodynamics etc. There's a noticeable increase in the number of skin suits and unvented helmets on the flat stages this year for example, and sky with their mexico 86 airtec jerseys rather than full zip open, top flapping that the traditional riders are doing. So there is some reason to hope they are clean.

ITV did a bit on doping yesterday as part of the highlights package - I still don't get the desire not to release data due to misinterpretation. The social media scientists work out wattage estimates anyway - put the actuals out there with supporting documentation/ intepretation if you have to. I'd have more belief in them if they were willing to put the data out, even if people did interpret them as dodgy - nothing to hide, nothing to fear. The fact they wont really makes me uncomfortable with what they are doing (embedded David Walsh or not!).

[Dodge]

The Walsh cheerleading is pretty annoying too!

For Froome, this is his 3rd year at a top level and he's only 28 so he should be reaching peak now. He was by far the strongest rider in the 2011 Vuelta but Sky fecked it up trying to hand it to Wiggins and Cobo stole it from the pair of them

[Mr A]

Has anybody been watching Paul Kimmage's video diaries from the Tour? They're pretty much awful. No insight, plenty of uninteresting reminiscing. One can only hope the documentary they're putting together is of a massively better standard.

[Macy]

For Froome, this is his 3rd year at a top level and he's only 28 so he should be reaching peak now. He was by far the strongest rider in the 2011 Vuelta but Sky fecked it up trying to hand it to Wiggins and Cobo stole it from the pair of them

Is that the point, though? Froome went into that as a domestique, with no contract on offer from Sky. They had to negotiate whilst that Veulta was going on. For all the talk of "numbers" and data analysis, it seems a remarkable oversight, and is the reason they should be super transparent with him, even in fairness to Froome himself.