Tour de France 2016

U wot m8

Don't fuck wit Pippo. Delete it.

.

Why should I delete something from his Wikipedia page which is factually correct?

Homophobia in cycling is as insidious as in any other sport and if he's going to make bad life decisions that's his lookout.

If he is actually gay and wasn't pissing around (which seems very unlikely given the responses to his tweet) then he won't mind the reference to the tweet being there.

What are you on about?

Pippo put a daft picture of himself on Twitter/Instagram - something he's known for - and that's all there is to it. Really.

Ciao.

A lot of chatter about how to change the Tour to make the GC more exciting (see INRNG's latest piece) but absolutely no mention of trying to make the green jersey! Lets face it, it's Sagan's until he retires unless a new talent emerges. Eeven Cav acknowledged he was just keeping it warm for Sagan, and even if Cav had won in Paris he would have been a distant second. I like Sagan, but I do find the prospect of no-one else winning green a trifle depressing.

I definitely see where you're coming from, but Sags animates the thing so much that it's hard to begrudge him the 'boring' feat of winning it every year. And I think for the sprinters, stage wins are more of a prize anyway.

Suggestions I would implement:

• A team budget and salary cap
  
• A cap on squad size (25 riders per team)
  
• Reduce TDF teams to 7 riders, and the overall size of the peloton
  
• Ban powermeters in racing
  
  

I think the last would be the most interesting.

Also:

• Reform of the calendar
  
• A share of TV revenues to teams
  
• Something to incentives a year long contest at all three grand tours. Get the best riders lining up at the start for each of the GCs, to remove the periodisation advantage.
  

Maybe have race radio only for the road captain too. And delay broadcast by a minute or two.

Also make Chris Froome carry a tray of Champagne flutes on all mountain stages. If he spills a drop he gets a 5 minute time penalty. If he smashes a glass he gets DQ-ed.

And put his doms on unicycles.

Do Sky really rely on power meters as much as people say they do? Froome has claimed it's all exaggerated.

Yes.

From an interview with Sean Yates last week:

VeloNews: Can you explain Sky’s tactics on the climbs?
Sean Yates: On the main climbs or the points where it’s crucial, Sky sits at the front and rides a very high tempo. They’re all riding at threshold, and when you’ve got very good guys riding at threshold, about 450w, or in VAM, they’re climbing 1600 or 1700, so to attack, you’ve got to go 1900 for a short period of time, which means you go over your threshold, which means you pay for it.

VN: So everyone is essentially going as fast as they can; what happens when you ‘pay for it?’
SY: You can only go over your threshold for 30 seconds or 1 minute, and then you have a big dip in power. So consequently, by the time when you attack, and the time you recover from that attack, you’re going slower. And when you have such a strong team, setting such a high tempo, it’s virtually impossible to attack.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2016/07/tour-de-france/power-in-numbers-keeps-froome-in-yellow_415621

Regardless of any possible rule changes (and I can't see them losing the powermeters) it's hard to see past Froome for the next couple of years, as he's just so crazy strong.

Excuse my ignorance, but what do 1600, 1700 and 1900 refer to?

VAM

Race radio/powermeters being stripped would be awesome. Imagine the chaos of riders having to think for themselves, and god forbid, look at other riders instead of staring stem-wards for 5 hours...

If the argument for race radio is safety, have a neutral race radio from a service provider like Mavic to update of hazards or changes to conditions on the road.

I totally agree, Sagan frequently makes the Tour, certainly in the last edition. But even it you were to take a hatful of stages his climbing and the fect he gets into breaks, and the fact he goes all in for intermediate sprints when the peloton are together, while the pure sprinters save themselves, just means green is a foregone conclusion. They've tweaked the rules before, when Cav was winning 4-5 stages a Tour but Hushvod was winning the green. And yes, ask Cav if he'd take 4 stage victories over green he'd say stage wins, but he'd also love to win green if he could.

And it's not so much it's boring, it's just that it's given at the start every Tour Sagan will win green if he finishes. Just a contrast to the reaction to the dominance of Froome that no-one seems to be talking about it.

What rule changes would you make to skew it away from Sagan? The only ones possible would be no intermediate sprints, and disproportionately more points for first in bunch sprints. And sagz would still win anyway.

Problem is, like with all tech, disc brakes for example, the sponsors/bike suppliers want their products in the shop window, so any move to stop the pros using power-meters will be blocked. Race radios are another matter, unless it's the Next Big Thing for the MAMILs, so they can chat to their wife about what they want for lunch while on their Sunday morning 20 miler.

I'm not actually saying they should change the rules for Sagz, just comparing the reaction between Froome's dominance in yellow and Sagan's in green, which is arguably greater. I think changing rules to 'level the playing fields' so to speak is dangerous when a team or rider is dominant. They tinker all the time in F1 and it remains deathly dull.

And Sagz should win green because he's best all-round rider, incredibley consistent finisher and this year took three stages as well. Chapeau

Nothing to stop power meters being used in training or recording ride data, just shouldn't be available to athletes in race as it's getting to a point it completely determines their tactics rather than having to rely and trust their own physical instincts.

It opens up an interesting question as to how many tours would a rider like Froome win if he didn't have that visual, technological feedback staring him in the face? It seems natural that races would be far more open and attacking if riders went on their own legs and the terrain and that would make cycling a far bigger win for sponsors.

I don't think those Sean Yates quotes tell us anything about whether or not they have a heavy reliance on power meters during racing, it just tells us about their tactics.

The pros don't need a power meter to know when they are riding at threshold. Power meters are for gathering data and improving training efficiency. Most people who are experienced at training and racing will have a very good idea what their threshold power feels like.

They tinker all the time in F1 and it remains deathly dull.

Send half the cars round the track one way, the other half the other way - instantly deathly exciting.

Send half the cars round the track one way, the other half the other way - instantly deathly exciting.

Would still be too dull.

Inject them all with stupid amounts of drugs first... oh.