Author Topic: Giro 2018  (Read 40027 times)

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #75 on: 26 May, 2018, 02:39:30 pm »
Quote
I'll take the result at face value and let the authorities deal with any doping issues.

But the authorities secretly dealt out the dope, legally all within the rules to the favoured rider(s) of course!

Look, this is simple.  The reputation of professional cycling is shot.  Nobody can do anything special without the spectre of doping hanging over them.

I think it's irretrievably damaged actually.  Other sports just don't dig deep enough into doping* (presumably to stop their sport's reputation ending up the same way).

You either watch it, enjoy the special moments,  and let the authorities deal with the rules, for better or for worse, or don't watch it.  I don't see any point in continually watching it and continually bitching about it.

Or....has "guess the doper" become an intrinsic part of the enjoyment now?

It seems that, for some, enjoyment of pro cycling is inversely proportional to the performance of the top cyclists.  The more special the moment the more cynical, and miserable, the experience of the viewer.


*Jamaican sprint program.  Kenyan/Ethiopian long-distance.  Football, even Snooker FFS, etc etc.  I have a feeling that, if they spot-checked every professional sports person right now, a high percentage would be caught with something dodgy coursing through their veins.


This is part of the circus. Anyone who has followed sport for any length of time may well dislike doping, or perhaps more relevantly hypocrisy, but it has become a part of the ‘game’ in an increasingly relativistic social culture. Let’s face it, over the years the dopers have done some amazing things and there are many records that are probably beyond the range of unassisted elite individuals, even at the edge of the curve.

I suspect your addenda probably understates the prevalence of marginal performance enhancement across all sport.

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #76 on: 26 May, 2018, 05:07:00 pm »
I suspect your addenda probably understates the prevalence of marginal performance enhancement across all sport.

Agreed, I just don't have the time to type every single sport.

Also good to see a Pro like Thibauld Pinot looking like me climbing a steep hill.  A man desperately in need of a pint of Shandy and some Crisps.
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #77 on: 26 May, 2018, 07:57:57 pm »
I enjoyed the Giro. It was a really interesting race. Right up to the unbelievable 80km solo attack across the Alps by Froome. We now wait for a court to decide who's actually won the Giro
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #78 on: 26 May, 2018, 09:26:53 pm »
The Condensed Giro, by P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM®:

C FroomeC me bide mi tiem!
S CummingsOi! That is my line, C Froome! I will tuough u up! I will kill u utterly to DETH 4 that!
Bethany (7+1)Fight! Fight! Yay! (does vigorous soft-shoe shuffle)
Bethany's MumShurrup, you little skank!  I'm tryna watch Eastenders!
S YatesNOT FAIR!!1!
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #79 on: 27 May, 2018, 08:14:55 am »
The Condensed Giro, by P@nd3m1c Pr0duckt10nzTM®:

C FroomeC me bide mi tiem!
S CummingsOi! That is my line, C Froome! I will tuough u up! I will kill u utterly to DETH 4 that!
Bethany (7+1)Fight! Fight! Yay! (does vigorous soft-shoe shuffle)
Bethany's MumShurrup, you little skank!  I'm tryna watch Eastenders!
S YatesNOT FAIR!!1!
For a less serious view - from the other side of the TV screen - you can read the "overly-simplified race reports" of Chad Haga (great name, wot??):

https://twitter.com/ChadHaga
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #80 on: 27 May, 2018, 08:40:04 am »
RichN95 on the BikeRadar forum – dunno who he is but he’s astonishingly knowledgeable about pro cycling – has another silly summary here. (I hope my link works this time!)

Meanwhile, poor Pinot is likely to abandon with only a stage to go. He’s been struck down with dehydration and fever.

Riders who’ve impressed me this year: Sam Oomen, Felix Grossschartner, Jack Haig, Pello Bilbao, George Bennett (who sounds genuinely annoyed social media thinks he accused Froome of doping), and Lopez and Carapaz in their epic ding-dong battle.

It’s been good viewing! I hope ASO is taking notes.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #81 on: 27 May, 2018, 08:48:40 am »
Add Schachmann and Reichenbach to that list!

Samuel D

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #82 on: 27 May, 2018, 09:27:06 am »
Okay – on the condition that Reichenbach promises to do a crash course on descending! He’s as bad as Pinot was a few years ago albeit without Pinot’s emo drama.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #83 on: 27 May, 2018, 10:06:23 am »
I think George Bennett might be my new favourite.

'I'm not saying Froomey's railed a load of gear' had me howling.

Karla

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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #84 on: 27 May, 2018, 03:31:14 pm »
" ... just that he's made a bigger comeback than Easter Sunday"

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #85 on: 27 May, 2018, 03:37:10 pm »
Well I'm giving Froome the botd in the Giro for an amazing performance - anything else is just pure speculation.   :P
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

quixoticgeek

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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #86 on: 27 May, 2018, 03:37:45 pm »
Made the mistake of reading some articles about Froome's efforts at the Giro. One thing that irks me, is that had there not been a information breach, we wouldn't know about the AAF, and so he'd be competing without the big cloud over his head.

I've never really followed a whole grand tour closely before, but this Giro has been amazing. I really feel for Yates, to come so close, and then implode, but the two mountain stages this week where Froome pulled out the stops have been amazing to watch. He's innocent until proving guilty, I hope that the AAF doesn't mean that we have to rewrite GC of this years Giro.

Bring on le tour.

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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #87 on: 27 May, 2018, 04:01:48 pm »
So, Froome learned his cyclecraft riding on gravel roads, riding in the heat.

Then, on gravel roads, in the heat, he rides away from the peloton, and surprises people with his (relatively) fast descending skills on poor surfaces.

He even commented on it, how like the roads were to the ones he rode on when he was a teenager.
<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #88 on: 27 May, 2018, 04:26:24 pm »
He also trains in South Africa. My SA mate says the area he trains in has shite roads.

PaulF

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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #89 on: 27 May, 2018, 06:18:04 pm »
Well he’s done it http://www.giroditalia.it/eng/news/sam-bennett-vince-a-roma-il-giro-e-di-froome/, I’m with the botd camp and think it’s a great comeback.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #90 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:18:46 pm »
First Brit ever to win the Giro...
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #91 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:25:16 pm »
Well I'm giving Froome the botd in the Giro for an amazing performance - anything else is just pure speculation.   :P

No it isn't. He has a doping case hanging over his head.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #92 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:26:56 pm »
So, Froome learned his cyclecraft riding on gravel roads, riding in the heat.

Then, on gravel roads, in the heat, he rides away from the peloton, and surprises people with his (relatively) fast descending skills on poor surfaces.

He even commented on it, how like the roads were to the ones he rode on when he was a teenager.

So why was he so fucking shit at bike handling until recently? He fell off going uphill in this Giro. It's just more PR bullshit.

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #93 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:32:55 pm »
So why was he so fucking shit at bike handling until recently? He fell off going uphill in this Giro. It's just more PR bullshit.

He put 60 seconds into Dumoulin on the stage 19 decent.  That's not drugs (unless it's booze..which helps my own descending)
Some people say I'm self-obsessed but that's enough about them.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #94 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:37:11 pm »
So why was he so fucking shit at bike handling until recently? He fell off going uphill in this Giro. It's just more PR bullshit.

He put 60 seconds into Dumoulin on the stage 19 decent.  That's not drugs (unless it's booze..which helps my own descending)

See bolded. You probably don't remember him zigzagging up the San Luca in a 2009 Giro or crashing into a race official on a time trial. I do.

Until the last year or two he was a shit descenders. He has improved but this stuff about 'roads like in Kenya" is horseshit.

Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #95 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:42:21 pm »
Well I'm giving Froome the botd in the Giro for an amazing performance - anything else is just pure speculation.   :P

No it isn't. He has a doping case hanging over his head.

Yes, it is - this is the Giro now, that was a salbutamol overdose then...
Cycle and recycle.   SS Wilson

LittleWheelsandBig

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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #96 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:46:08 pm »
Froome should never have been able to start the Giro. It'll be interesting to see if results get deleted.
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #97 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:52:12 pm »
Well I'm giving Froome the botd in the Giro for an amazing performance - anything else is just pure speculation.   :P

No it isn't. He has a doping case hanging over his head.

Yes, it is - this is the Giro now, that was a salbutamol overdose then...

Might be the Giro too if he suffers from the same kidney malfunction (which he'd never had before,) that afflicted him for one day only in the Vuelta.  ;D ;D

Seriously, you need to inform yourself before commenting. For those of us who look into the details it's a total farce.

Meanwhile, here's some footage of a young rider who 2 years later would turn into the greatest GT rider of his generation and possibly ever, failing to keep up with Simon Gerrans  on a climb. Something, that a mere 2 years later would become this riders speciality...

https://youtu.be/lEGpv0xn0E8

Zigzagging ha ha ha ha  ;D

LEE

  • "Shut Up Jens" - Legs.
Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #98 on: 27 May, 2018, 07:54:55 pm »
Froome should never have been able to start the Giro. It'll be interesting to see if results get deleted.

I agree that his case should have been resolved before this but it's not his fault, especially if he didn't break any rules*

It just adds pressure upon pressure.    It's the TdF soon and he stands a great chance of winning it.  If they ARE going to ban him then every month they delay means another result being voided.

*Shit rules, open to legal abuse.

Just out of interest which Grand Tour Winners are there who haven't been officially investigated now?  It must be a handful in 20 years.
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Re: Giro 2018
« Reply #99 on: 27 May, 2018, 08:05:59 pm »
Froome should never have been able to start the Giro. It'll be interesting to see if results get deleted.

On the Cycling Podcast last night, Daniel Friebe said the result would stand regardless of the outcome of the salbutamol case. I don't know if that's definitive or where he got his information but he sounded pretty certain. It seems highly likely that he'll lose the Vuelta but beyond that, who knows? And that uncertainty is a real problem. Without making any comment on his guilt or innocence, I agree with you that he really shouldn't have been taking part in the Giro while the case was unresolved. It has proved to be a major distraction from the racing, which has generally been highly entertaining.

It's almost as disappointing as Pinot's capitulation.
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