Cycling - Tours, Giros & UCI events

Discussion in 'General Football & Other Sport' started by Moose, Jun 18, 2018.

  1. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Just a couple more weeks to go until Le Tour and it’s looking like a fantastic event. So many top riders ready to compete,

    Froome no doubt chased by a fella in a large blue inhaler suit, Richie Porte, a great supporting cast of Brits with Thomas and at least one Yates bro, Quintana, Landa, Dumoulin, new guys like Soler and Alaphilipe who can light up a stage and then Sagan vs Kittel and the other sprinters. Awesome doesn’t cover it.
     
    RookeryDad likes this.
  2. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

  3. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Sadly, the sport became less of a spectacle to me when the first assumption is that whoever wins is on drugs. It’s maybe unfair on the majority of riders but it’s a stigmatism that I don’t think the Cycling authorities have worked hard enough to rid themselves of.

    The exemptions for certain prescription drugs that can still enhance performance is a joke and undoubtedly is stretched to the limits of the rule by certain teams.
     
    wfc4ever likes this.
  4. WillisWasTheWorst

    WillisWasTheWorst Its making less grammar mistake's thats important

    It's also deadly dull as an armchair sport to the uninitiated.
     
  5. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    To the uninitiated. Fantastic viewing for the rest of us.
     
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  6. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Old news, it’s as clean as it’s been since the 1950’s.

    As for the exemptions, all professional sports are an exercise is pushing the boundaries of the rules in all respects. Football? Tennis? Tell me they aren’t medicated onto the field of play.

    In any case I’m not sure that any amount of blue inhaler will make a cycle champion. Cycling pushes the body to extraordinary levels of performance and only the extraordinary can win these races.
     
  7. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Or the ones on drugs.

    It may be cleaner than in recent years. But in no way is it as clean as it needs to be and controversy is never far away. Wiggins was supposed to be unspeakably clean and that was shown to be iffy and now Froome too. I’m all for innocent until proven guilty but the stench is pretty strong.

    Team Sky was set up to be the most transparent team - that was Brailsford’s whole mantra. Now their years of dominance looks questionable in its morals.

    So no, I appreciate your passion for the sport and your right to enjoy it. But it’s not ‘old news’.
     
  8. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Well this is a thread for anyone who wants to follow what happens in the next weeks, so you are welcome not to check it. :)
     
  9. Keighley

    Keighley First Team

    I take salbutamol and I’d struggle to ride a bike without stabilisers.
     
  10. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Then it should be titled ‘Tour de France’ thread because the title alludes that any cycling discussion is welcome....;)
     
  11. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Yes any cycle biking discussion is welcome, but boring tabloid 'they're all on drugs' talk isn't. It's disrespectful to the majority of good pros and the mostly drug free amateur and youth scene (which is absolutely booming).

    I don't think it would work if every football thread was required to have 100% honesty about footballers and speculation about just how many abuse drugs and medicines to get through the season (as loads do) and how many are cheating, diving, play-acting, overpaid manboys etc. (which would appear to be half the players at the World Cup). Even given the absolute horror professional football is we can still suspend our disbelief and enjoy it.

    I'll leave you with a summary of why football fans might want to think twice about what they think they know about the two sports.

    [​IMG]
     
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  12. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    After this reply, I will bite my tongue as I don’t wish to hijack a thread that will be good once the TDF starts. But my replies aren’t tabloid fodder. I am a keen amateur cyclist myself and am happy to have a discussion with you over DM about any and all things cycling. My replies so far have been from having a knowledge of cycling away from tabloid stories.

    I never once said ‘they’re all on drugs’. I have stated that there is still a fog over cycling regarding drug cheats and sadly, for the wider world who may be less interested 365 days a year, that fog is hard to shift. Whether you like it or not, the winner this year will immediately have a cloud over him due to this, regardless of his cleanliness. This is down to the UCI to address very strongly and thus far, they haven’t been strong enough.
     
  13. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Fair enough, I shouldn’t be defensive. I do think it is doing better and I’m not sure the Sky thing is anything like the Armstrong scandal or those that went before. But the UCI has hardly covered itself in glory then or now.

    It’s a brutal sport, maybe too much so, but fascinating viewing. This year’s Tour promises to be epic.
     
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  14. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Immersing yourself in a grand tour can be an extraordinary experience.

    For me, the hours invested in a sporting pursuit are directly correlated to the satisfaction when the drama happens.

    After 40 years of masochism, I watched almost every ball of the 2010-11 Ashes (from a sofa in SW London through the night) in a state of increasing euphoria.

    Froome’s 80km breakaway on the 3rd last day of this Giro was legendary. Shere force of will to win.

    I fear CF ain’t going to get an appropriate reception at the TdF.

    The locals chucked urine in his face last time & that was before the current hoohah.
     
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  15. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Has anyone won 4 grand tours in a row?

    Without googling it, I suspect not.

    Froome vs France may well be the great subtext of this race.

    The organisers & the nation.
     
  16. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    I did laugh when the bloke dressed as a blue inhaler chased him during the Giro. The breakaway was amazing including that descent on the dirt road.

    I do enjoy how immersed you can get in watching the scenery and speculating on how the race will unfold. Does have that TMS feel sometimes.
     
  17. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Merckx did four consecutive, but not in a row.
     
  18. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    The toughest part of getting into a tour is the hours of Carlton Kirby commentary.

    It’s like living with an excitable Alan Partridge for 3 weeks.

    Oh for the days of Phil Liggett & Paul Sherwen, with Phil artfully slipping in the press release from the local tourist board.

    ‘Built in 1217, the Benedictine monastery of ...’ accompanying a glorious helicopter shot of the French countryside.
     
  19. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    I suspect Froome will come second this time.

    The winner will be the glory that is the countryside of France.

    You get a clear impression of how agricultural France is.

    How many days before the first tableau of a moving bicycle created by the villagers driving tractors around in a field?
     
  20. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

  21. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    And the bonus is that France is a land of a thousand cheeses.

    A boon for our resident fromagistes.
     
    Moose likes this.
  22. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    And for Richie Porte (Salut).
     
  23. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Carlton Kirkby is so Alan Partridge... and they come soon to a tricky right hand turn before the old bridge. The riders will have scouted this turn and they’ll know how important it is to be at the front, there’s AG2R La Mondiale moving their riders up in anticipation like a caterpillar, albeit one travelling at 50km per hour...and in fact we passed that bridge 8km back...
     
  24. Burnsy

    Burnsy First Team

    Seems there won't be anyone chasing him this year as Froome has been banned from taking part according to LeMonde newspaper.

    As you say, just as they may be getting ahead of the drug cheats in the sport, another scandal hits.
     
  25. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Innocent till proven guilty and all that?
     
  26. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Innocent until his explanation is ruled out. It’s not a banned substance Salbutamol, he just had quite a lot of it. The rules are he has to explain it and that appears to be taking a lot of lawyers time.

    Does it deserve the same billing as previous ‘scandals’ though? Certainly awkward and it really does look in doubt now that he can take part.
     
  27. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

  28. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

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  29. wfc4ever

    wfc4ever Administrator Staff Member

    Early setback for Froome - losing a minute or so to some GC contenders but he wasn't the only one.

    Porte and Yates too.
     
  30. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Yep, carnage on the first stage. It looked all very straightforward until then.

    Uphill sprint tomorrow. Sagan or Michael Matthews I reckon.
     
  31. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Which GCers were ahead of the crash?

    Wasn’t Cav a bit short of fire power?

    The missus tells me Carlton had some great chat around Richard 1/Eleanor of Aquitaine.
     
  32. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Tom Dumoulin and ‘Roaming’ Bardet.

    Not sure what happened to Cav, but he hasn’t had a crash yet so an improvement there.

    Generally watching the highlights progs on ITV4 but will catch ‘Kirb’ (Your enthusiasm) now and then.
     
  33. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Just checked & l see also Nibali & Valverde. Landa?

    Could have been worse for Froome.

    Cav was in the sprint shake but didn’t get in the top 10.
     
    Moose likes this.
  34. Moose

    Moose First Team Captain

    Sylvan Chavanel, 18 tours. Tough guy and what a nice bike he’s on.
     
  35. RookeryDad

    RookeryDad Squad Player

    Nice time for the French riders to get a little profile.

    Why & when did French GT cycling become so modest?
     

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