2018 PRO thread

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wingguy
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by wingguy

AJS914 wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 9:01 pm
I've been rewatching since Froome attacked. Really, today was Dumoulin vs Froome. Dumoulin got hardly any help. The FDJ guys did a little bit but everybody else mostly sat on his wheel.

Froome also smoked them on the descents. Is there a drug that makes you the best decender?
Right at the beginning Dumoulin waited for Pinot after his mechanical, then Pinot convinced him to wait for Reichenbach on the descent from Finestre... and gained absolutely nothing for it because with those two contributing, Carapaz and Lopez decided they could just sit in and give nothing. In the world of ifs, buts and maybes Dumoulin could have pushed on, left the FdJ guys behind and possibly still had a working group of three to chase, but ~1.15 closer to Froome when they hit the first valley.

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HammerTime2
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by HammerTime2

tymon_tm wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:31 pm
geez some people just cant withstand the tension...
I can't stand the tension!!

I'm going to be on pins and needles for up to a year waiting to see who will win today's stage. Heck, maybe even longer. It took over 13 years to find out who won, or didn't win, certain stages of the 1999 TdF.

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Mr.Gib
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by Mr.Gib

seaneT1 wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:03 pm
Because I have grown tired of all the doping bullshit, I only have to say this: In the western civilized world, everyone is INNOCENT until proven guilty, not the other way around.... so the problem I have with all of you that so easily, not only accuse, but have gone all the way to convict so many athletes, so many people that day in-day out put everything they got to do what they do, I can only say that you disgust me as human beigns, and you should seriously consider going to live in a cave away from the rest of us, and most importantlly, away from the internet.....
To clarify, everybody is entitled to have an opinion on any matter, and that opinion might be informed or not, but only a few have the right to judge and condemn people, for example wada is in charge of finding and persecuting the dopers, not someone sitting on a couch watching the Giro who happens to have a connection to the internet....understood??? You have every right to believe that "because those times up that climb are impossible" or whatever excuse you have, that they are all dopers, criminals or whatever, but you do not have any right to condemn people, so SHUT UP!!!!...
If I am not mistaken, this thread is supposed to be free of doping speculation, only dopind that has been OFFICIALLY proven is allowed to be talked about,correct? that is why I wrote all this...if I am mistaken, please inform me and I will leave.
haha - nice rant. Reminds of the reaction I would get from Lance's fans when I would simply assume it was common knowledge that he was on the juice and would never entertain the possibility that he wasn't. People come here to talk shit about pro racing. Not sure what you were expecting. Love your high standards and the defence of the "innocent", but the posters here are the public, they can have opinions, make wild claims and even launch prosecutions either here on the internet, or even in court if they wish (don't use the Italian courts though - the civil justice system in Italy not so good). Like I say, for some of us, this stuff is just common knowledge. Not even that controversial.
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tymon_tm
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by tymon_tm

HammerTime2 wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:51 pm
tymon_tm wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:31 pm
geez some people just cant withstand the tension...
I can't stand the tension!!

I'm going to be on pins and needles for up to a year waiting to see who will win today's stage. Heck, maybe even longer. It took over 13 years to find out who won, or didn't win, certain stages of the 1999 TdF.
funny, I was thinkig about Hautacam today, the way Lance DID NOT put like 5 mins on Pantani and co., NOT getting both the yellow and the stage. so familiar, yet so freakin exciting in a way
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themidge
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by themidge

Multebear wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 10:41 pm
@seaneT1;

The thing with Froome is, that he had two weeks in the giro where he got dropped in the mountains or barely made it. And now in week three, he is the fastest?? Riding solo for 80 k with some of the best climbers in the world chasing him with no success?? Distancing the rest of the GC with between 3:30 and 9 minutes??

That is very suspicious.

SKY has a history of pushing those marginal gaines a bit too far, and that inludes Froome....
Froome has clearly been riding himself into form in this race. Look at the path he's taken through the year:
- quiet early season compared to previous, tour-only years
- attacking but ultimately mediocre result at the tour of the alps and other races
- crashes right before Giro start (bit of a setback)
- is mostly consistent but loses chunks of time here and there throughout first two weeks of giro
- wins on the Zoncolan, but not by much
- pretty good in the TT, but not on top form
- Makes a daring attack on the queen stage so far out nobody initially chases too hard (TD waits for Pinot even though he's four mins down) and through a great descent, tactical mess behind, and well paced riding on the climbs, gains 3 mins.
Sounds pretty believable to me, especially when everyone else is also probably on the edge of the rules and he will be the most tested rider in the bunch.

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by Vagabond

This was nothing at all like Landis’s romp through the countryside. There are some great climbers in this race but not on the same level as Froome in the real mountains. And the real mountains didn’t start until today. While I find it believable I too can’t help but wonder.

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glepore
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by glepore

Its not unbelievable. TD lost more than a minute waiting for help that wasn’t.
Froome had 3 helpers at base of Finestere. I thonk he’s playing the system, but this wasn’t Floyd and Jack Daniels.


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wingguy
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by wingguy

To be fair, before worrying about that I wonder if he isn't going to blow up again tomorrow. Looking back at the old days like Hinault/LeMond there were huge swings back and forth from stage to stage as the long range efforts took their toll. Giro isn't over yet, IMO.

nemeseri
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by nemeseri

When quintana and contador handed 2:43 on a super short stage to a hard chasing sky train that was panache. When Nibali gave 3 minutes to Chaves in two stages that's courage (and luck). When it comes to sky and froome it's always about doping.

In reality he has the most experience in three week races by far among the contenders. He has the strongest team. The whole team rested for days before today. Based on the interview with DB, they had a plan that they executed to the perfection. And they got lucky with the groups behind Froome.

On the other hand we had Yates, peaking too early, blowing up completely. With a team that was ordered to chase down EVERY break attempts for two and half weeks. I'm sure they are all cooked, not just Yates.

With Domoulin, I just can't get my head around how he let Froome take about 1:30+ out of him on descends. The other half came from the climbs, but everybody knows that Froome in top form is a better climber. That shouldn't be a surprise to anyone. Also being isolated at the end of every single stage must be hard. He simply doesn't have a strong enough team around him. Nobody was there for him to pull or help for 80kms to go.

So the strongest rider in the third week, with the strongest team, most experience, a well prepared plan AND luck pulled off an impressive ride. Was he on something? It would account for probably 30 seconds out of that 3 minutes. So IMHO the talk about his win should probably focus on other things too.

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mrgray
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by mrgray

I loved it. Best thing I ever saw. The giro is amaze balls and froome is awesome. Can’t wait to see how it goes from here. Loved Brian on Eurosport backing Yates versus Sean thinking it might be rough. 2 mins into commentary poor Yates was struggling. Brian when froome took off agreeing with Carlton. “Yes it is extraordinary” with the tiniest addition of salt.

Sign me up for more. This is fantastic.
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spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

tried watch the post race interview... couldn't do it.. He's painful to watch
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sychen
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by sychen

Froome only really went all out on the Finestre.. Was only about 40s in front going over the top. His balls out decent gained him minute and a half.

His consistent Tt over the two valleys and almost 40kms of descending was what made the difference.

Last climb was same speed as TD.

TD screwed the pooch waiting on FDJ but he probably didn't have enough legs or belief in his form to do it alone. FDJ was inconsistent and tired quickly could see the time yoyo around that 2min40 to 3min mark.

As usual he'll complain about others on rival teams not helping him. He needs to learn what rival means and get on with it like froome.



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TonyM
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by TonyM

sychen wrote:Froome only really went all out on the Finestre.. Was only about 40s in front going over the top. His balls out decent gained him minute and a half.

His consistent Tt over the two valleys and almost 40kms of descending was what made the difference.

(...)

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Yepp what if he would have really gone all out on the full 80km???

Maybe he would have made 10 min instead of only 3 minutes on Dumoulin, Lopez, Carabaz and Pinot. And 20 minutes instead of 9 minutes on Pozzovivo etc....

Yepp Froome is really far above all others...


glam2deaf
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by glam2deaf

themidge wrote:
Fri May 25, 2018 11:06 pm

- Makes a daring attack on the queen stage so far out nobody initially chases too hard (TD waits for Pinot even though he's four mins down) and through a great descent, tactical mess behind, and well paced riding on the climbs, gains 3 mins.
This is a pretty solid summary.

Tt was an incredible ride, frustratingly all of the pearl clutching I've seen online so far seems to forget that Froome has previously won 5 grant tours. He's not a shit kicker who's loaded up and pulled a once in a lifetime ride off.


Also that cycling tips essay was pure trash.

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AJS914
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by AJS914

Minus the time made up on the descents and the time bonuses Froome earned, he and Dumoulin practically road the same time over 80km - maybe a minute difference. Dumoulin got very little help from FDJ and did most of the pulling. If you follow that logic, Dumoulin must be doping too if he could essentially ride the same effort as Froome.

And, Yates must have been doped for the first two weeks the way he rode. Yates served a suspension for an asthma drug violation and tried the 'oops, we forgot to get the TUE' defense. How come nobody talks about that? If Froome had dominated the first two weeks the comments would have been "unbelieveable" and "pas normal".

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