2016 'PRO' cycling discussion.

[tymon_tm]

ps. try dealing with a guy like Oleg on a regular basis, it can make you wanna kill yourself. I'd rather ride at Cannondale than put up with one of those nouvo riche self-made (err.. I mean state made) zillionaires. they literally are the worst kind of people (OK, I only met like low seven figures millionaires, but still) to have as a boss... with few exceptions perhaps, but def not east from Vistula river...

[rma]

It's the silver bike curse...

[micky]

Few sources reports that the peloton is quite tired from the past (supposed to be) flat stages and the heat.
Did the Vuelta organiser exagerate with the demanding route?
There's already some decent gaps on GC.

[tymon_tm]

Bartosz Huzarski (Bora) says the tempo is crazy fast too, so if you add the weather conditions and a few months of racing in legs, no wonder they're tired.

[KWalker]

Sagan seems to be doing pretty damn fine to me- Flanders, Gent-Wevelgem, 2 stages ToC, 2 stages TdS, 3 Tour stages, a few days in Yellow and the Green Jersey.

[dj97223]

I thought Contador had cracked or given up, but he really fought back. Chapeau.

[seaneT1]

Todays stage was amazing!!! the last kilometres were so brutal,all hell broke loose!!! Quintana et Contador return to form as it seems and Valverde is still up there, even though he is on his 3d grand tour this year! Also very good performance from Konig, is he going for GC as well? Just perfect, Vuelta really starts to become my favourite Grand tour...

[xena]

Just watched todays race "well the last 8km". Great stuff from Quintana, he looks so much better than at the tour. If he was in that form in July we would have had a whole different race. Timing/form is everything. Froome again riding smart and at one point he was spinning and everyone else was grinding. He really plays to his strength but maybe the tour caught up with him a bit today but he knows how to recover so IMO still a major threat in this race. Bertie seemed to take a leaf out of the Froome book of tactics and rode very smart. He did exceptionally well considering his injuries but tomorrow he may hurt more from the injury's. The second day can sometimes be worse with bruising etc Bertie he needs a lot of time back and if Quintana carry's on like that and I expect more from Froome it will need something special to win this.
Valverde still looking mean just 19 or so seconds behind. How are movie going to play that one out. I hope they let them both race and not resort to their sometimes awful tactics.

This is the kind of action we desperately needed at the Tour. The Giro and the Vuelta are just more exciting aggressive races. The Tour has become a victim to its own commercialism. There seems a lot less pressure outside of the tour and the riders seem a bit more freed up. I salute them all.

[petepeterson]

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[xena]

Such a arty pic. Very nice .

[tymon_tm]

some interesting news from Norway - Sundby was banned and striped from all his 2014/15 wins due to asthma meds overusage. apparently there was some "whistleblower" guy who admitted the vast majority of nordic skiers were offered asthma drugs even if they were perfectly healthy. so now an inquiry is set to take place... does anyone have any details?

I wonder if it will cause the end of asthma drugs in pro sport?

[TurboKoo]

If I recall correctly that is the picture where he is adjusting his nosepiece Turbine.

[maquisard]

No it isn't, it is the picture of him using an inhaler in the 2014 Criterium Dauphine :- http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... deo-125751

Have said it before, will say it again. Abuse of grey area performance enhancers (not on banned list) like cortisone and asthma medication is pervasive throughout pro-cycling and other sports. Free cortisol and thyroid hormones such as TSH, TT4 and FT4 need added to the bio-passport, I'm sure the trends would be interesting!

[Rondje]

Just as Meldonium was in the grey area until this year, you seen what a mess it gave when they added it to the blacklist.

About Froome, he really seemed to be lacking power today. Increasing his cadence even more in the last km but didn't seem to get the speed he usually gets by doing so. This time Contador and 1 or 2 others even passed him while trying to go fast, seemed more like he was barely moving for his style of riding.

[maquisard]

Froome looked tired today, not surprising given the last couple of months. When he got up out of the saddle he didn't have his usual pedalling style, more like he was pedalling squares. I suspect he will fade over the next two weeks.