2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Now we have something / quite-a-lot to discuss and celebrate.
Bonefishblues
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Bonefishblues »

Lance Armstrong finally retired in 2011. Hardly surprising it's a cleaner sport now ;)
Mike Sales
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Mike Sales »

1982john wrote:Well, I'm of the view that the tour is a lot cleaner now than it was say 10 + years ago. And I think the data backs this up. That said, we can never be sure.


Cycling and doping have ridden together for at least a century.
We have been promised before that it has been cleaned up, as after the Festina affair.
I hope you are right, it is my impression too, but I'm sure you can understand a certain suspension of belief.
It's the same the whole world over
It's the poor what gets the blame
It's the rich what gets the pleasure
Isn't it a blooming shame?
reohn2
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by reohn2 »

1982john wrote:While I think it would great for the tour if Ala won should we have any scepticism in our admiration?

He's never finished top 30 in a grand tour and he's been winning events since March. It's an incredible rise in such a short time.

I don't want to believe it's all happening again but a certain Texan had a similar CV.
I hope I'm wrong.
Last edited by reohn2 on 21 Jul 2019, 8:41am, edited 1 time in total.
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reohn2
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by reohn2 »

BTW talking about drugs in cycling,I was a bit taken aback when I saw Richard Virenque advertising Festina watches on Eurosport earlier today during the tour coverage :shock: :?
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100%JR
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by 100%JR »

reohn2 wrote:
1982john wrote:While I think it would great for the tour if Ala won should we have any scepticism in our admiration?

He's never finished top 30 in a grand tour and he's been winning events since March. It's an incredible rise in such a short time.

I don't want to believe it's all happening again but a certain Texan had a similar CF.
I hope I'm wrong.

It’s definitely suspicious :|
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NATURAL ANKLING
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by NATURAL ANKLING »

Hi,
Virenque was the one I thought was superman.
On a TT I remember thinking how can he stand climbing for so long, no one else could.
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1982john
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by 1982john »

Mike Sales wrote:
1982john wrote:Well, I'm of the view that the tour is a lot cleaner now than it was say 10 + years ago. And I think the data backs this up. That said, we can never be sure.


Cycling and doping have ridden together for at least a century.
We have been promised before that it has been cleaned up, as after the Festina affair.
I hope you are right, it is my impression too, but I'm sure you can understand a certain suspension of belief.


I guess we will have to wait and see. On the one hand I don't think it's a strong lineup this year (no froome, dumoulin) some of the other contenders now past their best and Thomas is undercooked from partying for 6 straight months after winning.
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Brucey »

in fairness it is only a few days since G fell so badly he broke his team-mate's bike in half when he landed. He won't have dwelt on the after-effects (to do so would invite being attacked in the race, I think) but it seems completely improbable that there were none.

cheers
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reohn2
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by reohn2 »

NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Virenque was the one I thought was superman.
On a TT I remember thinking how can he stand climbing for so long, no one else could.

The Festina drug tour proved why.
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reohn2
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by reohn2 »

Brucey wrote:in fairness it is only a few days since G fell so badly he broke his team-mate's bike in half when he landed. He won't have dwelt on the after-effects (to do so would invite being attacked in the race, I think) but it seems completely improbable that there were none.

cheers

Seems a reasonable assumption that G may be carrying an injury,and as you rightly say for obvious reasons may not be wanting to let on about it.
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reohn2
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by reohn2 »

100%JR wrote:It’s definitely suspicious :|

It's sad that we think that way,but given his meteoric rise to success and the legacy of the Texan git,one can't help but wonder.
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Brucey
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Brucey »

today's stage has more climbing than yesterday's; G didn't feel good yesterday and (apparently) didn't feel quite right in the TT either. He would have expected to have done better in the TT than he did. Another 'bad day' by his standards could scupper his chances.

For Alaphillipe it may simply be a question of defending now. Today's stage ought to appeal to a breakaway with strong climbers (that are out of GC contention) in it. The mountains jersey is basically up for grabs; Wellens' lead could soon disappear now.

cheers
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Bonefishblues
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Bonefishblues »

Brucey wrote:today's stage has more climbing than yesterday's; G didn't feel good yesterday and (apparently) didn't feel quite right in the TT either. He would have expected to have done better in the TT than he did. Another 'bad day' by his standards could scupper his chances.

For Alaphillipe it may simply be a question of defending now. Today's stage ought to appeal to a breakaway with strong climbers (that are out of GC contention) in it. The mountains jersey is basically up for grabs; Wellens' lead could soon disappear now.

cheers

AIUI he's got little in the way of team support, so that may be difficult (simply defending, that is)
Brucey
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Brucey »

Alaphillipe has fewer specialist climbers in his team than does (say) Ineos. However (outside of protecting a sprinter in a flat stage) the team has two main uses; to affect the structure of a breakaway early in the stage and then to provide support in the mountains.

However there are vested interests with other teams for both these things too; if the yellow jersey's team can't or won't ride then other teams tend to step in and defend their interests, which often align fairly well with those of the yellow jersey too.

Alaphillipe's team weakness will (if it hasn't already) show in the Alps. Until then nothing is really decided; riders can increase their chances of losing the race (by losing time) but they can't definitely win it....

cheers
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Si
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Re: 2019 Tour de France: Spoilers!

Post by Si »

reohn2 wrote:
NATURAL ANKLING wrote:Hi,
Virenque was the one I thought was superman.
On a TT I remember thinking how can he stand climbing for so long, no one else could.

The Festina drug tour proved why.


TBF to Virenque et al. their major crime (in the eyes of the tour) was getting caught rather than doping. So many of the other riders/teams in that tour were also doping just as much as Festina, thus I still regard Virenque as a great rider given that the widespread use made it a fairly level playing field. Of course the way that he behaved after was not great.
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