Tour De France 2018

Also said Frenchman's balls out descending was a significant factor in his win. I don't think being doped makes you descend faster.

I would expect if your heartrate was way low from the juice, you wouldn’t get the adrenaline shakes as you get close to shitting your pants going downhill. But...

Low heart rate = no response to mind altering chemicals.

Great science.

We said the same thing about Froome but he is still Evil personified by anyone without common sense.

:)

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Yeah. A tad simplistic again but whatever.

Out of interest, who was the last French pro done for doping? My impression was that it's rare in France - partly because you can get locked up for it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/R%C3%A9my_Di_Gregorio#Doping

Good news for GVA and his new love of high mountains...

They've been flashing that around for weeks. I'd have one.

They must've done it late, they're normally painted over.

There was one later on in the stage that was painted over in grey paint but just on the outline which defeats the purpose a bit.

They were talking about it the other day. When you see butterflies or similar on the road, it's usually disguising a cock.

I'm going to go on Butterfly watch today.

Is it fair to say the the riders who have GC aspirations need to start doing something today and/or tomorrow for fear of the race escaping them?
Also what is the situation for Thomas/Froome? Will Thomas be allowed to attack him, is there any possibility that they will start attacking each other? If Froome is still behind Thomas on the TT, could he lose more time?

Seems like a pretty interesting tour this year

Froome is a 4x TdF champ and currently champ of all current GTs. Thomas surely has no right to attack, and it would be the death knell in his Sky employment.

When will it be time for someone else to have go then? Gets a bit boring with the same person winning ever year tbh

I don't think being doped makes you descend faster.

"Fun" story:

In the 1960 Tour, Roger Rivière was second to the Italian Gastone Nencini, a rider he planned to beat by tagging along with him in the mountains and then speeding away on the flat. The problem was that Nencini was lighter and a better climber and that he was such a fast descender that, in the view of another French rider, Raphaël Géminiani, "the only reason to follow Nencini downhill is if you've got a death wish."

Rivière was able to stay with Nencini on the climb to the Col de Perjuret, as the pair crossed the summit together. Then came a series of descending zigzags. Nencini took the perfect line and Rivière, trying to match him, overshot a bend, fell into a ravine, and broke his back. There he was found by his teammate, Louis Rostollan.

Rivière quickly passed the blame for his fall and his broken back on the team mechanic, accusing him of leaving oil on the wheels and the brakes for not working. The mechanic was outraged, and the doctors soon found the real reason – that so much painkiller was in Rivière's blood that his hands were too slow to operate the brakes. He had taken a heavy dose of the opioid painkiller dextromoramide (Palfium), to help him stay with Nencini on Col de Perjuret. Rivière later admitted to being a drug addict, telling a newspaper how he had doped to beat the world hour record, and admitted downing thousands of tablets a year.

Depends on the dope. Beta-blockers or even a stiff shot of alcohol would help with any nerves.

I am a demon on the bike after 2-3 pints.

So much science in here right now.

I think I am a demon on the bike after 2-3 pints.

ftfy

Come for the laughs, stay for the education...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-rWnQphPdQ

I've found the secret to descending faster is to kill myself up the climb and once I've crested I'm in too much pain and exhausted to be scared or nervous.

Another discovery I made is that I play pool like a boss if I have some Tramadol first. Kind of like the 2 pints makes you play better effect but x 100.

I miss Thailand.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qZ73KS0uxlY