Weight Weenies

>Is anyone happy the Valverde won? He seems to have zero fans in the media or public outside spain.

That is certainly not true. I know some fans of his. Altough I'm not a fan, I'm also pretty happy with his win. He was stronger than the others.

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Leviathan wrote:Name me any of the Spanish or Italian riders who get a lot of fans outside of their countries. Exclude Purito, hes catalan!

In Italy everybody was cheering for Swift to win Amstel after his good performance at Tour of Basque Country.
Just kidding, but couldn't resist.

Anyway you got a point but for example Valverde got some fans in Italy as well despite his past case with Coni.

of course there are national heros... But I think the anglosaxons view Southern European cyclists as "dirty cheats" wheras British, German, US cyclists who are caught doping have to be "just a misunderstanding".
Except Lance, but hes a Southerner as well.

I don't know if he deserves it, but after the Worlds Championship in Florence last year, I really started to dislike Valverde. Regarding his past... Well, he did his time and I just hope he (and others) are clean. "Let's hope his emotions are real"...

Valverde seems to polarize opinions, I know a few die hard fans but it seems most dont like his unrepentant attitude. I wish he showed a little more remorse about his dirty past but I do love to watch the man ride uphill, hes such a racer!

On another note anyone see the tour of alberta course?

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/tour-of ... ish-cities

Really odd to me that they are avoiding the Banff area; seems like a huge missed opportunity for some epic racing and scenery.

I like Valverde. I like the way he rides and I don't see why he should talk about his doping past. Plenty of other riders are racing and managing teams who have done the same and seem to be quite popular. Garmin come to mind as an example.
Regards his WC performance, he stated quite clearly that he just did not have the legs. It easy for us sitting at home shouting "attack" but those guys have been on their bikes for most of the day and can't respond how we and they might want to.
I was surprised about Rodgers getting off. He has had a few dodgy connections in the past but good for him and I hope he gets in to shape to help Bertie beat those pesky Sky boys.
Great to see Dan Martin up getting in the mix today. I do like Dan. I like aggressive riders.

RE: ToA
It makes zero sense as to why they aren't using Banff/Canmore/Kananaskis/Jasper areas for at least one stage. It's Gov't funded to promote the province, so why exclude the epic heli shots of the rockies? Nobody comes to Alberta to visit Red Deer.... Last year's route and TV coverage was a ton of stereotypically prairie boring terrain on big roads. Not that engaging for me. The only explanation I can come up with is that the municipalities themselves pay big $ to have the stages like the Tour etc.

Leviathan wrote:Name me any of the Spanish or Italian riders who get a lot of fans outside of their countries. Exclude Purito, hes catalan!

I'll give it a shot:

Nibali
Sanchez
Purito
Contador
Paolini
Pozzato

@petepeterson, the Banff Park is the jurisdiction of the Federal Crown, so that is going to be part of it. I do agree, though, that there are lots of more 'interesting' areas and terrain around here. In the end, it always comes down to logistics and $.

All of the old pros seem to be doing well this spring

Valverde,
Boonen,
Cancellara,
Contador,
Wiggins,
Evans

hmmm

Yes, but not the ancient pros, such as Horner. Or the nouveau old pros, such as A. Schleck.

In Norway Luca Paolini got a rather large fanbase these days. His work at MSR was noticed.

stella-azzurra wrote:All of the old pros seem to be doing well this spring

Valverde,
Boonen,
Cancellara,
Contador,
Wiggins,
Evans

hmmm

Funny you mention this, I actually have a theory that I started to post a few weeks ago concerning this, so I'll use your post as a springboard.

I would add Purito for sure and drop Wiggo as he wasn't a relevant road rider pre-2009, I wouldn't put Horner in there, he was good, but not in the league of these guys

I think that these old boys are hanging around more and doing well because on some level they are actually really happy that things have been cleaned up a bit and they can show everyone who they are and how great they really were regardless of the juice that they were most likely forced or at least coerced to take. All of those names mentioned above have been winners in a dirtier era and a cleaner era and I can only hope that they are relatively clean now. I believe that clean or not, all of those guys are incredible bike riders and are successful now because of this drive and the wealth of experience that they have over the rest of the peloton.

I can take or leave Valverde, but he is an amazing bike rider and don't forget was very open w/ his SRM data last TdF.

We all hope of cleaner era but ...
I dont know ...

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYF5DnPpJQ4

Giant Shimano doing TdF stage 2 recce up Jenkins Road, which comes around 5km from the end.... ouch!