The last couple days at the Tour have been pretty great racing. Yesterday, I was watching on NBC Sports and Phil kept saying that this was so unexpected. That it was a flat stage and that it should have been a group sprint. I was thinking that Phil had been watching way too much old Tour de France TV.
One part of the drugs leaving the sport of cycling is that the racing will get more exciting. Top GC contenders will have bad days, which include bad luck in Alejandro Valverde’s case, and the top of the GC order will switch around much more.
When it is flat and windy, then the field should shatter. It shatters, in those conditions, in all the races I’m in, why wouldn’t it shatter in the Tour with a ton of guys with super tired legs. It should. As all the oxygen vector type drugs leave the sport, then the recovery from the previous days efforts is going to be much slower, so there will way more diversity in abilities in the field.
Today was great too. Exciting racing at the front. Talansky moving up 7 minutes in GC isn’t something to be ignored. That should move him close to the top ten in overall GC.
Anyway, the mountains start again tomorrow. I think that there are going to be many unexpected results the next few day. As an informed spectator, that a lot of what makes cycling attractive. It should be great to watch.
Mark Cavendish and his team rode a near picture perfect race. Leaving Sagan in the front with 400 meters to go was beautiful. They deserved the victory.
“I should be great to watch.” You are, but you don’t need to be 😉
The drugs haven’t left the sport.
Analysing Froome’s Performance
By: Michael Puchowicz
http://www.outsideonline.com/fitness/biking/Analysing-Froomes-Performance.html?page=all
Froome hits back: I can go faster than Armstrong without being a drug cheat
Froome’s coach, Tim Kerrison, reacts without alarm to the suggestion that his rider might be performing better than a doped Armstrong.
In fact, it is exactly what he is striving for, as coach to Froome and Bradley Wiggins and head of performance support at Team Sky.
What Kerrison does object to is the idea that performance alone should be presented as evidence an athlete is doping. Partly this is because at some point, he insists, the best clean performances will surpass the doped performances of the past.
‘We’ve had a look at some of those performances,’ says Kerrison of the 1990s and 2000s, when EPO and blood doping disfigured the sport. ‘If you look at last year’s Tour, we know climbing performances were slower than in the past. Chris, for example, is improving all the time as a climber. He lives in Monaco and we use the Col de la Madone in training.’
Famously, this was Armstrong’s regular training climb. Kerrison said: ‘We think we know what time Armstrong and his peers were doing up that climb and we think before long we could be surpassing those times.’
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2362141/Tour-France-2013-Chris-Froome-says-drugs-cheat.html?ico=sport^headlines
Mike Creed just started doing a podcast, “Open Mic with Mike Creed.” He interviews one person each podcast. He has interviewed J. Vaughters, Katie Compton and his latest with Andrew Bajadali is very good. Bajadali is/was anti-doping. They talk about that and a lot of other things. You can get it on iTunes.
Yesterday, when six Saxo Bank riders rolled off the front and caught Froome napping, Phil said something about Saxo doing it to take over the lead in the team competition. Yes, I’m sure they were doing that team time trial so they could wear yellow helmets on today’s stage. I think Phil is well past his sell by date.
I’m a third of the way through reading Hamilton’s book “The Secret Race.” Very interesting read about his progression from a clean rider in the early 90s to realising that in order to be on the A team on the postal team, hard work and effort was not enough.
His point was that after 3 years of racing in Europe he realized either he got on a program or he wouldn’t be able to keep up and his career as a pro rider in the European peloton would be over.
Anybody out there fool enough to think things have changed for the better?
I hope you are right Steve and we see more pressure put on the yellow and perhaps we see some cracks in his armor. But then again, I am a realist and I remain skeptical.
It’s Crazy! Many good riders do good in one stage, but
\are way behind in the overall! What is the casual fan to expect or understand? Yes, Cavendish is awesome, but he is way behind! Tejay was right up there in the lead group today, but not at the finish line? It’s very confusing the someone trying to understand the Tour.
Some of my Tweets today ! But Froome was still slower than MAYO , and we know his Story !
” skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 23m
@inrng Sounds like Sky made a ” Takeover bid “?
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the Inner Ring @inrng 27m
TV replay of Froome’s seated attack. It’s like watching a washing machine begin the spin cycle, his legs start spinning so fast
Retweeted by skippy mc carthy
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 27m
@jaimiefuller and here comes Cuddles , wonder what he has to say about the time gaps created in fantasy land , now schleck arrives !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 31m
@DavidWalshST @inrng From the ” CNF froome thread ” If this guy is clean, then I’m the president of the USA. It’s a fvcking joke. Real time!
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 35m
@DavidWalshST @PaulKimmage @cooksonforuci 25mins faster than the program gives the chaperones plenty of time to apply ALL available tests !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 38m
@DavidWalshST Hope he doesn’t have to carry the bike over the line !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 39m
@DavidWalshST Yeah the UNBELIEVABLE is happening again !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 45m
@letour Love the GUY , but aRE YOU NOT WATCHING QUINTANA ? Oh , of course , HE IS FRENCH ! SHAME ON YOU , for descrimination !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 47m
@jaimiefuller @inrng @PaulKimmage @DavidWalshST remind you of the ” taster ” of Sean Kelly & froome” ? Guess SKY motivated to WIN atanycost?
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 51m
@jaimiefuller @inrng @DavidWalshST @PaulKimmage @steephill Another Rasmussen moment coming tomorrow ? What are we seeing ? Marginal GAINS ?
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 1h
@letour Will the Peloton allow ” Chavs ” the victory to celebrate ” Bastille Day “? Was there when Richard V. did the deed !
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the Inner Ring @inrng 1h
Chavanel takes the hairpin bend in St Estève, the steep climb through the forest starts now
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 1h
HOW come the ” Appeal process works for POMS ? Oz failed to win here !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 2h
@cooksonforuci about an hour ahead of schedule with 46kph, suggests the UCI Tests will reveal results! Wonder if there are enough Chaperons?
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Sean Woodland @sean_woodland 12 Jul
Sex with my wife during lunch in the cricket last night & all I could think about was a boy of 19 with a bat in his hand. #ashes #agar
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SKINS Chairman @jaimiefuller 2h
stuff that up your arse broad. your time wasting tactics didn’t work
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 13 Jul
@jaimiefuller Like father, like SON ! Father NOW a referee, bodes badly for the ” Ethics of this Sport “! reminds me of phat the rat antics!
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 12 Jul
@letour Time ” Le Tour ” locked up some of those MORONS ! When i arrested the Guy that pushed Lance in 2004 , team did not press Charges !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 12 Jul
@MarkCavendish @letour Best smile from YOU in years & French will have loved your moment with Silvain ! Green Jersey still within reach !
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skippy mc carthy @skippydetour 12 Jul
@alejanvalverde @letour Make sure you don’t puncture on TV ! YOU !I recall being at hotel door with you when you won in Alps , repeat o/due!
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A good read as always from Paul Kimmage.
http://www.independent.ie/sport/kimmage/questions-all-the-way-home-29418540.html