"PRO" Cycling Discussion

[Liggero]

"He actually never lost a gt since he was caught."

Only if you don't count races for which Contador's result was disqualified (5th TdF 2011).

Also my recollection is that he intended to peak for the Giro, NOT the TdF in 2011. Until his date with the CAS was postponed until after the TdF in June 2011, it wasn't known that he would even be able to ride it. Feel free to correct me, Liggero.

Yes, I was counting races won on the road, not lost in offices due to a weird managament of the situation and a 2 year ban due to 0,00000001 of clembuterol. Schleck ban is one year, from day one. Anyways, this has been discussed already.

Only he knows when he wanted to have the peak, but yes, I guess it was for the Giro. Still, he crashed in that tour also and had pain in the knee, supposedly. Still he won the Giro. Winning Giro and Tour nowadyas is impossible, so that still gives him true world class, after "doped", just as he had before.

Valverde never tested positive... LOL.

[Liggero]

Indeed! In 2009 he was the best... TT, climbing, complete package.
In 2010 not so. He was mached quite well both in TT and climbing too.

Basically what I'm saying is his "decline" did not start AFTER being caught.

decline wining a GT each year, that Giro and the last Vuelta, with no races in his legs.
Such an enormous decline!!!!! Did you really watched that Giro?

Cancellara has never ever been motorpaced, ever... He is not very popular and gendarmes do not want to see hime... LOL

BTW: the fake pro, aka secret pro says Menchov should go to the lions. Cobo should join I think. That's what I would call decline after doped. But hey, he never tested positive, just like LA and Valverde.

[ave]

I wonder if Cancellara will ever attempt the hour record? "Next year, next year, next year, I'm too old for that."

[Tinea Pedis]

You mean the infamous 2009 Annecy TT where Contador was motor paced by the entourage of gendarme motorcycles who kept a maximum distance of 10cm in front of him? Yes, it's pretty easy to beat Cancellara when you are drafting the entire course while riding a time trial bike in an aero position.

First mention I've ever heard of this actually happening.

[Murphs]

You mean the infamous 2009 Annecy TT where Contador was motor paced by the entourage of gendarme motorcycles who kept a maximum distance of 10cm in front of him? Yes, it's pretty easy to beat Cancellara when you are drafting the entire course while riding a time trial bike in an aero position.

First mention I've ever heard of this actually happening.

I vaguely remember some mention of it but as someone else said it was mostly just Cancellara being Cancellara (whinging)

[nathanong87]

I wonder if Cancellara will ever attempt the hour record? "Next year, next year, next year, I'm too old for that."

i wanna know who the last big name pro to attempt the hour record is? ... i feel like it's a very specific type of training, and which pro these days would train for the hour record, having probably little benefit to their wallets or team desire for UCI points. Only thing anyone would get if attempting and getting the record would be hella street cred ....or at least this is my view on it.

[CarlosFerreiro]

I think the athletes hour rules/position make it a particularly "different" event to prepare for. Maybe if they had left the bikes requirements as a UCI legal pursuit bike there would have been a bit more interest. You would have thought that Cancellara could have had a good try at it with his 2009 worlds TT form, if he could have ridden in the same position?

[ave]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/fabian- ... our-record

"I have the hour record on my mind," he told Bicisport magazine in its November issue. "I am certain that sooner or later I will make it happen."

[Kastrup]

What sort of special position rules are there?

[CarlosFerreiro]

As far as I know the athlete's hour position rules are the normal track endurance ones, but the issues seems to come more from just riding a 100% effort on drop bars for an hour on the track, with the g-force in the corners and no let up, no change of position etc.
If you look at Boardman's bike you see that they went with a very long reach, for good aerodynamic reasons, which likely doesn't help after an hour.

[Kastrup]

I see. So the biggest hurdle for Fabs might be getting used to the position and being able to sustain it for a full hour at around 100%. Seems to me that would take a lot of specialized training as already pointed out above.

[airwise]

Wiggins lost 13kgs in 1 year
http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... ation.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Let's say Wiggo was 7% fat at Beijing (high estimate), that's 6kg of fat. At Tour time, he's 4% fat, 2.88 kg of fat. So only around 3kgs at most out of 13 can be explained by fat loss...

I can only go on personal experience and it's perfectly possible to lose large amounts of weight without dropping power.

Firstly my chest measurement has shrunk by over 10% since taking up a daily routine of climbing. I have lost a huge amount of the upper body musculature that I no longer use - I've lost nothing from the muscles responsible for powering the bicycle. I would estimate that I have lost 4kg of muscle mass with no loss of power.

I would also estimate that correct diet has ensured that I'm carrying a lot less weight around in my gut than I was before. Finally, my body fat percentage has probably halved in the past three months.

As a result of all this, which has taken place over two years in my case, my power to weight ratio on climbs has increased by 25% whilst my top end sprint has maybe suffered to the tune of 5%. I look very very different and I now outclimb many people who've given me a tough time for years. I've lost musculature I didn't need, gained a little I did, and lost the body fat I gained whilst being unfocussed.

All of which makes me less cynical as to what could be achieved with a personal scientific coaching and diet programme. Maybe some should try it before casting aspersions. Looks like Nibali has.

[ultyguy]

I'm very happy for your gains, truly I am, it's great! My point had to do more with the transformation of an already world class athlete.

[KWalker]

I would imagine being world class would make it easier? Have you guys seen when Wiggo was 175? He wasn't that lean at all. Losing that much weight in a year is certainly doable. His 2009 weight is also not what he raced at last year. From what I recall he once claimed 73kg was his magic race weight and hit that in 2010, but did so with a more aggressive gain/loss over the winter and after his Tour rebound. The past few years he's stayed in a smaller range and despite what Wikipedia says there is no way I'd believe that he was 150lbs last year. 155 perhaps.

[airwise]

Your point being that all athletic disciplines require identical physical characteristics? You would argue that a track rider develops the same musculature as a road climber through training?