Pro-cycling thread

I think the point has disappeared into thin air, much like Pog's chances lol

But anyway, poor Jonas will be constantly badgered by the JV comms team to provide 'personal' content that will make him more likeable (marketable).

All this chat about doping is pretty annoying. JV was clearly way more aggressive on the TT and much of it seemed down to prep; when looking at the side-by-side footage on the descent in particular, it's clear he knew the course very well and was absolutely on the edge. In comparison, Pog looked like it was the first time he'd ever gone down it.

But anyway, poor Jonas will be constantly badgered by the JV comms team to provide 'personal' content that will make him more likeable (marketable).

Will he? What does Wout do to make him more marketable?

Wout is dreamy

[Will he?)

Welcome to sports/business/2023.

WVA is an a dreamy, non-ill-looking guy who is naturally more outgoing. It's easier from a PR perspective.

Erm. WVA is pretty princessy.

He is dreamy, but he's pretty princessy. MVDP is a bit golfist.

Eli Iserbyt is the one.

What does Wout do to make him more marketable?

Win stuff. Smile.

Eli Iserbyt is the unknown one.

ftfy

'cross isn't coming...

All this talk of doping and I then read that Polti are returning to the sport to sponsor EOLO-Kometa, jointly owned, of course, by Alberto Contador and Ivan Basso.

It’s serendipitous.

The progress is to be totally expected. What I find interesting is you take all the people that cycle in the world, and then you find all the ones that are the very best, and then even in that tiny 0.00001 percentile, there is still one guy who can blow those others away.

To be absolutely clear, I in no way think V-man is doping and find that chat boring. I just find it fascinating that at the very pointy end you still have these outliers.

Messi is the better example given the sheer number of people in the world that play football so I’d hypothesise it’s much harder to make it as a footballer. Yet he could still run rings round the very best athletes in the sport.

(Shit just realised the convo has moved on and I hadn’t refreshed)

He cheats like a motherfucker, just with money instead of drugs (although maybe drugs too)

There's fuck all drug testing in football. They're so blase about it they write about getting corto injections to be ready for the next game and shit. Fuck football. Football thread >>>

Weird that no one mentions Annemiek van Vleuten when they get suspicious about doping. A 40 yr old winning one GT, let alone so many in a row, and with such ease, in the men's peloton would provoke a lot more gossip.

Pretty famous for getting 'growth injections' when he was younger.

Are Vingegaard and Pog outliers in professional cycling? They are certainly one of a minority that win (right now) but their lead on the road is literally half a dozen km after 3000 km of racing.

Cycle sport isn’t globally accessible at all and we’ve only just started using technology to find/make champions so there’ll definitely be many more Sags, Berns n Pogs.

Didn’t fucking work.

Annemiek van Vleuten

Women age differently. Not unusual for their endurance to improve at the age when men are retiring.

Good point good point.

But I’d like to see 15 TT stages in next years tour.

Guardian has just put up a big piece about Ving and doping. But there's no info or analysis in it. Apparently L'Equipe described his TT as From Another Planet. https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2023/jul/20/white-noise-of-scepticism-shrouds-jonas-vingegaard-after-dominance-tour-de-france

their lead on the road is literally half a dozen km after 3000 km of racing.

V may win the Tour by 10 minutes.

What I find interesting is you take all the people that cycle in the world, and then you find all the ones that are the very best, and then even in that tiny 0.00001 percentile, there is still one guy who can blow those others away.

Its less suprising if you consider that the Tour peloton isn't a rigorous sample of the best of all the active cyclists in the world but sort of a random jumble of riders with great physiology + access to high quality coaching + access to professional pathways. Perhaps only Vingegaard would actually be in that sample if we had a way to equalise the other variables.

Would be interesting what that might be if everyone was riding for themselves - no protection from domestiques etc. How far off might Kuss be?

Has there been a Tour where someone has been ahead by a significant margin and then stacked it, thus losing the race? Everyone seems to bang on "It could happen!" but does it ever? Only a casual follower so apologies if i've missed some obvious occasion.

Probably the most famous example is Luis Ocana in 1971. He was seven minutes up on Eddy Merckx with a week to go but crashed on the descent of the Col de Mente during a thunderstorm and was unable to continue.

V may win the Tour by 10 minutes.

My mistake. Not 6km but 6.5km (at average race pace) thanks for making me do maths on my lunch break 🙏🏽

Apparently L'Equipe described his TT as From Another Planet.

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