Pro-cycling thread

Just read that - quite a fascinating read.

Some of those numbers seem insane - 5w/kg for 6 hours in the third week of a grand tour...to place 32nd on a stage.

Makes it sound like a brilliantly planned and executed tactical victory.
If Dumoulin had the same meticulously planned and timed nutrition strategy, and 500-1000g of food and water to have to carry up the climbs, then I think he wouldn’t have shed so much time, and would have won the Giro.

Sky have engineered single stage decisive attacks to gain the yellow jersey, smash everyone on a fairly early mountain finish, and defend through the mountains and TT.
They have normally been less time gained, maybe because the contenders have been fresher.

Too true, 5w/kg is basically tempo pace for the likes of Froome and Dumoulin... (325w for Froome)

Puts into perspective my personal horrific suffering to try and hit 4w/kg ftp...

On Sunweb's Youtube channel they had a clip of the morning of that stage on the bus, with Dumoulin being asked how the day will possibly go and how he was feeling that morning. He replied with "I'm fucked". Obviously they won't film and release 'proper' meetings etc, but it did strike me as being a bit weird.

what's weird about an honest answer? maybe it's a cultural thing, but being Dutch and direct, undiplomatic, insensitive, rude etc. it's not something that strikes me as weird ;-)

exactly! I worked with some Dutch people (as well as some British people), and Dutch, especially in such comparison, come across as very direct, or even rude to some.

Playing sport from a young age, my dad always said, "Never show them you're injured". Maybe it's a cultural thing but I find it unusual for a sportsperson to admit weakness mid-event.

@scorch I apologise! ;-) where are you from?

@fizzy.bleach if I recall correctly, he complained every day about having had a hard day and being very tired in the short, daily post race interviews. so feeling 'fucked' in the sense of knackered, I can understand. If he meant 'fucked' as in 'Giro is lost for me', it would surprise me.

@Velocio should there be?

I've been re-ereading the 2012 one, which is pretty entertaining and insightful. Now that there are no seperate threads for the GT's every year, it makes it harder to (find and) re-enjoy the reactions and discussions

There is a distinct and separate TdF thread for every single year, here is the one for this year: https://www.lfgss.com/conversations/312025/

The TdF is special like how the World Cup is special... even those who don't always follow pro cycling are likely to pay attention to it.

check! thanks

Haha no problem! I'm a Ukrainian living and working in Moscow, Russia.

It was in international corporate enviroment, so all communication was very professional of course, however the difference in style (Dutch <-> British) was very striking. Also, I didn't mean for my post to sound negative in any way, fwiw Dutch 'direct' style is so much closer to the way Russian/Ukrainian/Slavic people communicate, as opposed to British, never really saying what they mean :)

Predictions for the TTT zzz?

A pity it's the only thing BMC excel at as it's got to be the fans least favourite discipline... outside BMC/Mitchelton/Sky most teams will be lucky to ship less than a minute.

TTT is entertaining only when something goes horribly wrong like when Bryan Coquard will get dropped by his team in the first 1km

I was surprised even that Froome and Sky were saying mid race that he was suffering from the crash (which was pretty obvious).

Perhaps this was exaggerated a bit, so that he would fly under the radar a bit before his dramatic attack?

No offense taken :)

Top 4 riders in Dauphine GC now team Sky... strong ride from Lotto to limit their losses and come 3rd-I think Benoot will be motivated to have a run at the podium

whoa

"The speed average is really near 54km/h after 95km of race."

some tailwind!

Ridiculous! What is this, 838th win for QS this year?..

Moscon in yellow, hahaha! Forza Gianni!

Great to see Dan Martin up there!

Kwia looks to be suffering a bit but G seems to be in good form.

Gianni or Geraint? We're not all on nickname terms with the pros, you know.

Even Russian Eurosport commentator calls Geraint Thomas 'G'

LOL top-3 GC in Dauphine are Sky riders, rest are 48+ seconds behind.