Having read Roche's book I bet he comes to Sky with promise of leadership roles in important races (not Froome's race anyhow). There's no point coming here playing second fiddle which seems to be the common case for Sky newcomers. Having said that Tinkoff already has Contador and Majka.
Sky's best signing was definitely Nieve. The guy was easily the last guy on the mountain for Froome on every important races they entered together this year. I hope he gets some opportunities next season.
"PRO" Cycling Discussion
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petepeterson
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Hard to believe I am praising a cyclingnews article but I've gotta say they nailed it regarding the season Wiggo had.
Yet physical attributes aside, it’s Wiggins’ ability to flip between disciplines and targets that’s most impressive. Much of this stems from Sky’s willingness – and at times it seems they don’t have much choice – or allowance in letting the rider pick and chose his objectives, but in a matter of weeks, Wiggins morphed from track rider at the Commonwealth Games, to week-long stage rider at the Tour of Britain, to time trial world champion at Ponferrada, Spain. He may have missed out on the first two targets but he scored the most important and arguably most difficult, just at the right time.
Yet physical attributes aside, it’s Wiggins’ ability to flip between disciplines and targets that’s most impressive. Much of this stems from Sky’s willingness – and at times it seems they don’t have much choice – or allowance in letting the rider pick and chose his objectives, but in a matter of weeks, Wiggins morphed from track rider at the Commonwealth Games, to week-long stage rider at the Tour of Britain, to time trial world champion at Ponferrada, Spain. He may have missed out on the first two targets but he scored the most important and arguably most difficult, just at the right time.
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Not to take away from Wiggo, who I think is pretty rad, but is the playing field more level than during the days of Hinault or Kelly? Surely Merckx did not have as much competition and won almost everything, but it seemed that things were stepped up (for whatever reason) in the 80's and the gap narrowed yet some riders still managed to transcend specialties. My guess would be that the entire peloton as a whole is now better (for whatever reason, lets not try to get into a doping argument) with more guys at the top in each specialty which makes this feat even more impressive.
It's more likely that the guys have far more reasonable racing programs.
BITD it wouldn't be hugely unusual for a top rider to have a 200 or more day race program.
There are guys around now who are only racing <100 days a year, so much more time to train, recover, specialise.
Plus the riders are better paid (even allowing for inflation) so the teams treat the riders as valuable commodities, as opposed to fuel. So even the domestiques have a reasonable level of care taken of them, rather than being battered and sacrificed (and completely destroyed before the season is half way done) to get the leader to the line.
It'd be interesting to see the ratios of Neo pros/first two years who make it to the "proper" pro ranks today compared to the 70s or 80s. I'd imagine the drop out rate is significantly lower.
BITD it wouldn't be hugely unusual for a top rider to have a 200 or more day race program.
There are guys around now who are only racing <100 days a year, so much more time to train, recover, specialise.
Plus the riders are better paid (even allowing for inflation) so the teams treat the riders as valuable commodities, as opposed to fuel. So even the domestiques have a reasonable level of care taken of them, rather than being battered and sacrificed (and completely destroyed before the season is half way done) to get the leader to the line.
It'd be interesting to see the ratios of Neo pros/first two years who make it to the "proper" pro ranks today compared to the 70s or 80s. I'd imagine the drop out rate is significantly lower.
mattr wrote:It's more likely that the guys have far more reasonable racing programs.
Agree. Most domestiques rode February at the races in the South of France to October and the Lombardy. Little bit different with the star GT riders. Even in the 60's Anquetil picked certain targets as did Hinault and those after him. Merckx of course was a one off.
My own view is that the general standard in GT's has risen, but a little below the top tier. The number of riders capable of winning has hardly changed; something like 5 or 6, a couple more and some less.
As for the classics, I think the general standard has gone down because whereas nearly everyone rode 'all' the classics, nowadays most target particular races. So, someone who rides MSR, Flanders and Roubaix will likely miss Amstel and the Ardennes classics. The other thing I've noticed is that it appears to me the riders are less brave at making an earlier move. Not saying the riders were better, it just seemed more enjoyable. Maybe race radios have a lot to do with that.
Watching Sunday's race in Spain was largely a borefest apart from the finale. The courses should be made far more competitive.
Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez wrote:Swift?!!!!!! You must have thought about Geraint Thomas
If I remember correctly when Swift podium in Milan Sanremo (or when he won a stage in Tour of Basque County), Fran Millar -who is one of the Team Sky's staff- tweeted that Swift will develop to become a GC contender. I was quite surprised too.
KB wrote:The other thing I've noticed is that it appears to me the riders are less brave at making an earlier move. Not saying the riders were better, it just seemed more enjoyable. Maybe race radios have a lot to do with that.
Watching Sunday's race in Spain was largely a borefest apart from the finale. The courses should be made far more competitive.
the other explanation is: money. the increase in salaries doesn't require all the small fishes to throw everything into e.g. winning a sprint or a stage and securing some food on the table for the next season. Pro Tour guys earn really good money nowadays, there are more sponsorship opportunities ( not only for the champs) etc. plus their accomodation within teams is really top notch.
all in all, if the bellies are full, the pursuit over success takes a completely different course, and the willingness to take risks drops accordingly
kkibbler wrote: WW remembers.
Tymon. Agree regarding money. It's made a huge difference. The salaries they earned back then were awful. Consequently, the real money was earned in the post Tour criteriums where some of the riders rode two per day and involved a huge amount of travelling. So, appearance money was the big thing.
What we have now is much better. The strain of riding all those crits was I think one of the main reasons for the amphetamines intake.
What we have now is much better. The strain of riding all those crits was I think one of the main reasons for the amphetamines intake.
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xnavalav8r
- Posts: 2594
- Joined: Mon Jan 21, 2008 12:09 pm
Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez wrote:Zitter wrote:Samuel Sanchez Gonzalez wrote:xnavalav8r wrote:On to cyclocross...
Has the Lefty had a travel reduction or can you really ride with 100mm of travel?!
modified down to 35mm
That's a huge add of weight for that travel
I read on the comments on Instagram that he only did the training
Lefty is one of the lightest suspension forks on the market. A (very) few more details here.
http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/09/news/cyclocross/tim-johnson-testing-cyclocross-suspension-fork_347760
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Donkey
Those dissing the looks of the Lefty, you're looking at top level innovation in that SuperX.
A great example to show what's possible from a technical standpoint.
Although, my conern is if all that hardware is actually really necessary for CX?
It incorporates front Disc too.
A great example to show what's possible from a technical standpoint.
Although, my conern is if all that hardware is actually really necessary for CX?
It incorporates front Disc too.
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