2015 'PRO' cycling discussion

[gravity]

No interviews at all on Zakarin after he bagged Romandie. If it's Froome, Pinot or Bardet, all the major cycling news websites will be flooded with the stories. Any news on the press conference after the race?

There must be an interesting stories for a relatively unknown rider to win such a big race. I remember CyclingTips did a story on Kristoff and his rise over the years and it was an enjoyable read.

[djconnel]

Earlier, I wrote:

if Sky is the team of emaciated "marginal gains" riders, Katusha is the team of lumber-jacks

I've written some stupid stuff before, but my, did I get that wrong:


(VeloNews photo)

[MisterNoChain]

No interviews at all on Zakarin after he bagged Romandie. If it's Froome, Pinot or Bardet, all the major cycling news websites will be flooded with the stories.

Ну может быть, если он говорил что-то еще тогда русский они будут

[djconnel]

on the 2012 wiggo scale of leanness , i'd rate zakarin at 9/10 wiggos.

No -- he makes Wiggo look like a porker. You've just gotten more used to the look now. In 2012 it still looked unsustainable. Riders have just gotten more adept at "marginal gains". (wink, wink; nudge, nudge)

[nathanong87]

THOSE PRO ARM AND LEG TENDONS DOEEEEEE , HOW I GET THOSE MAYNEEEEE

[gravity]

Ну может быть, если он говорил что-то еще тогда русский они будут

Google Translate says "Well, maybe if he had said something back then they will be Russian"

Sorry but I don't get this. Nothing against Zakarin or yourself -- there is a little media coverage, stories or interviews on lesser known Russian riders in Katusha, or Astana for that matter (which is understandable given their current situation). I'm just saying there are a whole other world beyond Froome, Contador, Brailsford, Vaughters et al out there and they are not given enough attention. Even there is a very limited coverage on Valverde who seem to be winning since the start of the season.

[Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez]

No interviews at all on Zakarin after he bagged Romandie. If it's Froome, Pinot or Bardet, all the major cycling news websites will be flooded with the stories. Any news on the press conference after the race?
.

I saw some words. Can't remember where. Basically he said he had lost 10 kilos from the time he was targetting the ITTs. But as we saw yesterday, looks like he's just exploding his Watts numbers, way beyond a simple power to weight ratio. He also said he will ride the Giro but that Romandie was his main target as required by the team. He said he wasn't interested by palmares but just doing his work. He added that the chain drop was his fault for hammering the pedals and going from small-big to big-big.

As I said, he can tell whatever he wants, suspicion is there. You don't win watts magically. Improving this fast? Not a chance to be clean. Having tested positive in his youth is just icing on the cake.

[rma]

Only time will tell. He has dark history, Katusha has a dark history (remember two years ago, they were where Astana is today), and this guy simply looks quimically manipulated. But I can be wrong, no problems and if so, congratulations to him. As a famous commentator said: "Let's hope his emotions are real..."

[KWalker]

Hah he got busted for d-bol, the steroid most high school football players take and it has the side of making you retain a lot of water and look bloated so that's probably where those 10kg went.

Y'all need to really stop mistaking the word tendon for muscle- you can't see tendons on either of those pictures above.

Not surprised by the micro-doping test results, people have been doing that stuff on the track and field and nordic skiing side of things for years now. Even in strength sports a lot of the old East German protocols would be considered microdroping and many could avoid positive test results of employed today. More does not necessarily equal better after a point

[djconnel]

Problem with the "study" appears to have been no controls. So saline injections may have also improved performance due to combination of placebo and normal benefit of training during the study. Obviously there exists SOME undetectable dose, and hopefully that dose is also below the effectiveness threshold. But assuming doses were nontrivial, the efficacy of these drugs no longer needs proof, so the results are just consistent with what was expected, that performance improved.

[djcharlou]

One guy in the study was running @16km/h ,way above his normal tempo and was talking very easily, just 3 days after the injection.
But again yes no control group, but it prove that biological passport does nothing

[IchDien]

on the 2012 wiggo scale of leanness , i'd rate zakarin at 9/10 wiggos.

No -- he makes Wiggo look like a porker. You've just gotten more used to the look now. In 2012 it still looked unsustainable. Riders have just gotten more adept at "marginal gains". (wink, wink; nudge, nudge)

[nathanong87]

10/10 wiggos right there

[HillRPete]

it prove that biological passport does nothing

Nonsense. It's still the best anti-doping measure there is, and cycling is better off for using it. Other disciplines that don't have it, don't even ask what's going on there.

THOSE PRO ARM AND LEG TENDONS DOEEEEEE , HOW I GET THOSE MAYNEEEEE

Lots of beetroot, according to the man himself
Skin also gets a bit thinner with age, you're young, chill.

[lippythelion]

Saw all 3 stages of the Tour de Yorkshire at the road side, with the 3rd stage passing through the village where I grew up. So many people of all shapes & sizes watching the race pass by and loving it. Pubs had it on the big screens and the finish line was a 2 minute walk from my old high school. Looked like Wiggo was enjoying life in the gruppetto. Just about every pub had graffiti on the road outside with an arrow pointing towards it saying <beer and another arrow pointing toward the route saying ^pain