2024 Pro thread

[CrankAddictsRich]

this discussion is getting ridiculous - Pog's a bad person becuase he wins too much and wears sponsors' gear... get a grip people

apparently "race jury" (basically Preudhomme?) has decided, despite less votes from fans, that it's Carapaz instead of Abrahamsen who's getting the combativity award..

Abrahamsen is a worthy candidate for sure, but I have to agree that Carapaz is the winner... Carapaz attacked on day 2 and took yellow, he was in numerous breaks that were always dangerous and if the GC guys hadn't been racing for every possible bonus second, I think a few of them would have stayed away.

[mike]

pogacar should go for the triple and the worlds. why not? he has a great chance to win.

[spokenwords]

I think I would have much preferred Abrahamsen for the combativity award. It makes a lot of sense considering the size of the team and the fact that Carapaz got the dots. It would have been a good bone to throw that few would have objected to.
Abrahamsen, Girmay, Jonas, Remco, Carapaz, the french winning stages, fans controlling other fans, Pogi doing Pogi things and never once paying for it, and a fairly low number of crashes, were all great subplot stories for me. Last year it seemed like guys were sliding out on every descent.

[petal666]

I was thinking, Pogi has won more than a 1/4 of all grand tour stanges this year.

[howaboutme]

New generation!

Is that you Hincapie? One is the biggest cheat that ruined a single sport, and lasted for decades.

The other is an exciting star trading blows with a similar level of talent with Vingo (and MAYBE Remco will get there) (CLEAN!) Take that cheaters.

The sport was and is fine. The only ones that were surprised were non cyclists of which Lance brought a ton.

[EtoDemerzel]

I firmly believe that anyone that knows anything about racing a grand tour, or any stage race, would have thought that Pogi was racing too aggressive in the first half. He even has a history of doing that to himself. Just because he proved to everyone, including himself, that he can do it doesnt make the observation wrong. He has proven to be the only person, in all my memory, that could race the tour like that. No one that I have ever watched in a grand tour raced the whole thing that aggressive.
We witnessed an insane level of human performance. period.
Also, if Pogi wasnt there the media would all be talking about how amazing Jonas raced and how insane his numbers are. The microscope would be firmly placed in his direction.

Yeah there were plenty that disagreed with that, including me. Pog kicked ass week 1, 2 and 3.
Proved wrong, you're right about that.
It's all fan chat. I put my opinions out there before the stages because that's the only fun way to do it for me. That's why there's a fantasy league. Hindsight punditry is boring, possibly as boring as people trying to bring dbag armstrong into the conversation... no, I changed my mind- dopestrong is more boring.

[ome rodriguez]

pogacar should go for the triple and the worlds. why not? he has a great chance to win.

Uae team manager mauro gianetti was interviewed after the itt and said he didn't want to risk sending pogacar to vuelta, the preparation and stress of a grand tour he already did two. He didn't want to use pogacar as a tool and eventually breaking him. He's thinking long term for this generational talent.
In another interview pogacar said he wants to get mvdp's rainbow jersey.

[EtoDemerzel]

pogacar should go for the triple and the worlds. why not? he has a great chance to win.

Uae team manager mauro gianetti was interviewed after the itt and said he didn't want to risk sending pogacar to vuelta, the preparation and stress of a grand tour he already did two. He didn't want to use pogacar as a tool and eventually breaking him. He's thinking long term for this generational talent.
In another interview pogacar said he wants to get mvdp's rainbow jersey.

Kigali looks like a classics course like Liege. Looks like a great course for Pog and MVP.

[tymon_tm]

One is the biggest cheat that ruined a single sport, and lasted for decades.

are you 15 or smth? Lance introduced masses to cycling (myself included), brought international stardom and million dollar contracts to otheriwse piss poor and sort of neglected discipline, made his campaign known to pretty much every, even remotely interested in sport individual across the globe - and he didn't even have an instagram account. Pantani? Indurain? they were big, huge as far as pro cycling goes. but Lance was a giant in the entire sports world.

why? he's won SEVEN tours in a row; not 3 or 5. I don't know if it's even possible to imagine today the hype and all if you haven't actually witnessed it first hand. sure, he's fallen since then, his results were officially stripped etc. but anyone claiming he did harm to cycling has a very one-dimensional view and basically no clue what he's talking about.

what does Pog have in common with Lance? absolutely nothing in my view. neither personally, nore professionally. two different blokes, two completely different bike racers, who happened to smash their rivals in the Tour. but so did others, for instance Nibali... (7.40 advantage over 2nd place)

[CJosephB]

One is the biggest cheat that ruined a single sport, and lasted for decades.

are you 15 or smth? Lance introduced masses to cycling (myself included), brought international stardom and million dollar contracts to otheriwse piss poor and sort of neglected discipline, made his campaign known to pretty much every, even remotely interested in sport individual across the globe - and he didn't even have an instagram account. Pantani? Indurain? they were big, huge as far as pro cycling goes. but Lance was a giant in the entire sports world.

why? he's won SEVEN tours in a row; not 3 or 5. I don't know if it's even possible to imagine today the hype and all if you haven't actually witnessed it first hand. sure, he's fallen since then, his results were officially stripped etc. but anyone claiming he did harm to cycling has a very one-dimensional view and basically no clue what he's talking about.

what does Pog have in common with Lance? absolutely nothing in my view. neither personally, nore professionally. two different blokes, two completely different bike racers, who happened to smash their rivals in the Tour. but so did others, for instance Nibali... (7.40 advantage over 2nd place)

Good for you that you idolized the man. Are you a cheater! If so, can relate! SMH. Doping is acceptable.

He didn't win anything in the Tour De France. Check it out.

[Jaisen]

One is the biggest cheat that ruined a single sport, and lasted for decades.

are you 15 or smth? Lance introduced masses to cycling (myself included), brought international stardom and million dollar contracts to otheriwse piss poor and sort of neglected discipline, made his campaign known to pretty much every, even remotely interested in sport individual across the globe - and he didn't even have an instagram account. Pantani? Indurain? they were big, huge as far as pro cycling goes. but Lance was a giant in the entire sports world.

why? he's won SEVEN tours in a row; not 3 or 5. I don't know if it's even possible to imagine today the hype and all if you haven't actually witnessed it first hand. sure, he's fallen since then, his results were officially stripped etc. but anyone claiming he did harm to cycling has a very one-dimensional view and basically no clue what he's talking about.

what does Pog have in common with Lance? absolutely nothing in my view. neither personally, nore professionally. two different blokes, two completely different bike racers, who happened to smash their rivals in the Tour. but so did others, for instance Nibali... (7.40 advantage over 2nd place)

Good for you that you idolized the man. Are you a cheater! If so, can relate! SMH. Doping is acceptable.

He didn't win anything in the Tour De France. Check it out.

Give me a break. Merckx, Indurain, Riis, Ulrich, Pantani, Contador, all dopers who didn't have all their titles stripped. Love or hate Armstrong, he won 7 tours and his being stripped of those titles was a political backlash against the person. Yes he was a horrible person, but he still won those tours and if there was any consistency either all dopers would be stripped of their titles or Lance's should be reinstated. We don't award victories based on whether the person is nice or not. They should be awarded based on who crossed the finish line first, and pretty much everyone in Lance's era was doping.

[CJosephB]

One is the biggest cheat that ruined a single sport, and lasted for decades.

are you 15 or smth? Lance introduced masses to cycling (myself included), brought international stardom and million dollar contracts to otheriwse piss poor and sort of neglected discipline, made his campaign known to pretty much every, even remotely interested in sport individual across the globe - and he didn't even have an instagram account. Pantani? Indurain? they were big, huge as far as pro cycling goes. but Lance was a giant in the entire sports world.

why? he's won SEVEN tours in a row; not 3 or 5. I don't know if it's even possible to imagine today the hype and all if you haven't actually witnessed it first hand. sure, he's fallen since then, his results were officially stripped etc. but anyone claiming he did harm to cycling has a very one-dimensional view and basically no clue what he's talking about.

what does Pog have in common with Lance? absolutely nothing in my view. neither personally, nore professionally. two different blokes, two completely different bike racers, who happened to smash their rivals in the Tour. but so did others, for instance Nibali... (7.40 advantage over 2nd place)

Good for you that you idolized the man. Are you a cheater! If so, can relate! SMH. Doping is acceptable.

He didn't win anything in the Tour De France. Check it out.

Give me a break. Merckx, Indurain, Riis, Ulrich, Pantani, Contador, all dopers who didn't have all their titles stripped. Love or hate Armstrong, he won 7 tours and his being stripped of those titles was a political backlash against the person. Yes he was a horrible person, but he still won those tours and if there was any consistency either all dopers would be stripped of their titles or Lance's should be reinstated. We don't award victories based on whether the person is nice or not. They should be awarded based on who crossed the finish line first, and pretty much everyone in Lance's era was doping.

Food for thought, (in cycling) it might be good to research and read on Greg Lemond for you. Better role model for cyclist and taking the challenges, and difficult decisions. And winning at the highest of his profession (Twice)

It seems like you are enfattuated with (some) cheaters. That might be telling of your character (or not)


Looking forward to as healthy of Vingo v Pogi showdown next year, and Remco might have a say.

[TobinHatesYou]

Lance and other American dopers did, in fact, deeply affect the development of talent during the era. They demanded the full support of USA Cycling and the US Olympic Committee. Money was siphoned into their training programs at the expense of the women’s programs, junior development and track for three Olympic cycles.

[UpFromOne]

Anyone proven to dope should simply be permanently de-listed of UCI, AND transferred over to the jurisdiction of the doped up Enhanced Games.
Even if they stop doping.
That'd clean it up for sure.

And every time I see LA's mug I think of that old punk song "White Kids On Dope".

[Karvalo]

pogacar should go for the triple and the worlds. why not? he has a great chance to win.

Uae team manager mauro gianetti was interviewed after the itt and said he didn't want to risk sending pogacar to vuelta, the preparation and stress of a grand tour he already did two. He didn't want to use pogacar as a tool and eventually breaking him. He's thinking long term for this generational talent.
In another interview pogacar said he wants to get mvdp's rainbow jersey.

Kigali looks like a classics course like Liege. Looks like a great course for Pog and MVP.

That's cool and all, but Worlds is in Zurich this year

Hopefully Kigali will be an amazing event when we get to it in 2025.