Pro-cycling thread

Hansen is an entirely different beast to the average modern pro.

He seems to relish hurting himself. Hope he rides himself into the record books with the most consecutive GT finishes. Unless he already has, in which case, my bad.

I realise I have written that using almost solely hackneyed cliches. WAC.

Yeah Hansen in the fucking boss.

Also where is the Grio hype? Going to be a brilliant race.

Plus I'm going.

Good preview: http://inrng.com/2015/05/who-will-win-the-giro-2015/#more-24689

The wiring on inrng is so sporadic ("mullet on a mission"). That article's really good, but some of their stuff looks like the writer never even re-read it. Just full of typos and basic mistakes that even a cursory proof would spot.

Pretty sure English isn't Inrng's first language. I love the way he/she/they writes, wonderful sing song (sngsng) cadence to it.
Also the gravel climb in the Sestriere stage is gonna be so fun.

The wiring on inrng is so sporadic ("mullet on a mission"). That article's really good, but some of their stuff looks like the writer never even re-read it.

Do you mean 'the writing on inrng is so sporadic'? Just wondering because it looks as if you never even re-read the sentence. :)

He is English. I think the errors are due to him not having a lot of time to proofread his posts.

Also:

I often get readers asking where I get the time and this always surprises me. I have a day job and it’s typically just 5-10 minutes to write something, find a photo and then press “publish”. This probably explains the typos, links that don’t work or factual bungles, I’m not “crafting” every piece. Modern technology helps me do this just about anywhere.

http://inrng.com/about/

And his English seems entirely idiomatic to me.

Ah, snap.

I think he/she has had a guest blogger as well recently. Remember seeing a byline with a beardy bloke in it...

Ugh, yeah, but I'm not writing a blog here chap.

And yeah, having read the about it looks as if he doesn't have the time.

I'm not arsed about that, I just wondered more how many writers they have because the quality seems to vary a lot.

IMO inrng's quality is pretty top notch. His puns and turn of phrase are brilliant, and usually has insightful stuff to say. Can't say the odd typo affects my enjoyment of it.

Can't wait for the Giro. I wonder what Zakarin can do in his first GT.

Hansen talking about beating Sella for that stage win in the Giro - "because of his history I didn't want him to beat me". Hope others will take similar motivation re Zakarin

I have no feeling for Zakarin really, but come on - he got busted for taking a completely inappropriate drug for cycling when he was 19. He's not Lance Armstrong.

Anabolic steroids? Anyway, for me, it's the mentality; the willingness to cheat, and the lack of contrition. It could be cultural rather than personality based, but either way there're plenty others I'd rather see doing well.

It's hard to judge a 19 year old - especially one in the Russian system - on a one to one level. I doubt taking those steroids was his decision, was it? That doesn't acquit him from the wrongdoing, but begins to make it a little more understandable. Look at the Russian Athletics doping - would Russian cycling be any different? The surprise is that they don't seem to be all that good at making it work for them, but perhaps thats because in the Pro ranks they've got WADA testing rather than RADA, or whatever Russian anti doping's called.

Maybe "completely inappropriate" is wrong. I just seems, to me, that drugs which result in bigger muskels are not the way forward (or up) in cycling if you're going to cheat.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/van-avermaet-cleared-of-doping-charges

Kittel has been withdrawn from the Tour of California.

The odds on him even starting the Tour must be lengthening by the day.

@Golfwang. was everyone cleared then? Looks like Meeusen was, but what about Sweeck, Wellens etc?

While I'm not one to read 'virus' as code for doping, and I do acknowledge pro's susceptibility to illness due to the conditions they often race in and the extremely low body fat, I am curious as tio the nature of the viruses that manage to lay low riders for months and months. I'm thinking Porte last year, Kittel this year, Cadel in 2012, Hushovd in 2012 (?) . Just wondering exactly what the nature of the viral infections they are suffering and why despite top medical treatment they last for such a blinking long time.

Cav gets another shot at green? How are the points loaded for sprinters these days?

I wonder if virus could be code for mental illness? You don't really hear much about depression in the peloton, yet the way you train and compete could make it pretty hard for sufferers, I imagine.

As for the green, Sagan and Degenkolb have gotta be top picks. And Kristoff maybe? Are they all riding?

Or it could be that the effects are relatively mild, eg normal people would be able to carry on day to day as normal, but significant enough to have effects at the extremes of human exertion a la pro bike racers?