2012 Pro-cycling season thread

Sagan. jeebus! Whips Cancellara in his own back yard... impressive.

^^man has a point. Closest I can get by train is Montreux which is still a 50km ride to Thonon, albeit very flat. Maybe I should just HTFU.

or just get astoundingly drunk and sleep in a bush until the next day when you can get a ride back.

having lived in Switz for a while I realise you're more likely to wake up in a cell and be treated to a chorus of disapproval for the privilege.

L'Equipe has reported Sky are on Specialized next season, and Bert has re-signed with Saxo Bank.

Not 100%. Personally I'd like to see Sky on Specialized
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pinarello-were-still-negotiating-with-team-sky-for-2013

Come on Cadel, come on Wiggo (who's pretty much half aussie!)... These two fellas are looking in top form for the tour. Can't wait.

Sagan. jeebus! Whips Cancellara in his own back yard... impressive.

Fabian's been out for a while of course, but Sagan... great. certainly one to watch & enjoy for the next couple of years, eager to see him perform among the big guys in big races

Sorry for.asking daft question but did Wiggo retain lead today?

yes.

Good. Ta Will.One day the foundation will be doing great things and I'm a big supporter

I am sure Brian Smith is a lovely man but I wish he would shut up. His sentences last five minutes. Well, the same sentence rephrased four times and segued together in a breathless monotone.
Maybe he's been hired to make Sean Kelly's detractors quieten down.

Good. One day the foundation will be doing great things and I'm his biggest supporter

Mmm, who else unexpectedly became a great grand tour rider and was surrounded by a miraculously strong team and ended up with a foundation named after him?

l.a

Mmm, who else unexpectedly became a great grand tour rider and was surrounded by a miraculously strong team and ended up with a foundation named after him?

Yawn

I am sure Wiggins is clean. I really don't doubt it at all and now that Cadel Evans has won a Tour I would, despite his sponsor, like Wiggins to win.
But it's curious how his and Sky's performances fit the too-good-to-be-true model that we've all learned to be suspicious of. Time triallists leading the bunch at incredible speeds up climbs, the leader disappearing to a remote location for training and doing very few race days all under the guide of a coach with no experience in cycling, the unexpected results of people like Froome and so on.

Yawn

The internet's most unimpressive comeback.
Had you waited a minute longer....

Yawn is something to do with disc wheels, isn't it?

Depends who's talking about them.

I still can't get over the sponsor. I'll support the riders, but not the team. But then, isn't that how it's always been? Were people passionate about Peugot?

triallists leading the bunch at incredible speeds up climbs

It is common at alot of stage races to see strong all rounders and even rouleurs drilling it on climbs, with heads of state only getting clear on decisive climbs. I wouldn't say that was peculiar to USPS in the past or Sky now. Have the speeds been remarkable in the Dauphine? I havent seen any analysis of VAM or watts/kg, but would be interested if they are out of the ordinary.

the leader disappearing to a remote location for training and doing very few race days

I don't think the location is peculiar. If you professionally assessed where the optimal place to train was in Europe you would probably include the Sky base on the short list. As for racing, is Wiggo's calendar any less busy than other top stage racers? Algarve, Paris-Nice, Romandie and Dauphine so far this year. I'm sure there is a resource for number if days raced (as inner ring has blogged on it before), but I can't be bothered to find it.

under the guide of a coach with no experience in cycling

Who are you talking about?

the unexpected results of people like Froome and so on

Agree that Froome's results are unexpected, but everyone else on the team is performing how you might expect them too in a fully professional environment focused on marginal gains.

I still can't get over the sponsor. I'll support the riders, but not the team. But then, isn't that how it's always been? Were people passionate about Peugot?

No-one supports a team in cycling do they? I'm a cycling 'glory supporter' - so I am supporting Wiggins this year.

People been googling the stats on the climb today and Sky and the other 5 riders were still at least 10% slower than Pantani /Ullrich on that climb who were at the end of a longer stage and in third week of a GT. So not unbelievable at all.

Porte laughing as they caught Evans after his attack wasn't classy but maybe understandable.

It looks to me like Sky are benefitting from a period of wholesale disarray amongst other teams. It's like a fucking exhibition race. Boring. Liquigas might be saving their onslaught for the Tour, fingers crossed. Even US Postal weren't this pedestrian about their controlling ways.

Bradley Wiggins = Steve Davis. I might start calling him Bradley 'Interesting' Wiggins.

It strikes me that the level of professionalism in cycling, even at pro tour level, isn't massively high. Doping aside, I think you probably can rise head and shoulders above a lot of teams if you are professionally organised and I think that is what we are seeing with Sky this year.

Or, speaking of boring Tour specialists, 'Big Wig'.