tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564958057737541664.post7854963509275340847..comments2024-02-14T17:11:22.168-08:00Comments on On Bicycles, and.... what else is there?: changing trends in cycling and the ever-present doping questiondjconnelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01484858820878605035noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564958057737541664.post-4810983664988014162012-09-23T06:17:19.237-07:002012-09-23T06:17:19.237-07:00Good comments, but I'd respond by saying there...Good comments, but I'd respond by saying there's big, big difference between 32 ands late 30's. It's ironic that Purito cracked so soon after my blog post: perhaps riders who fail to crack during stage races should be disqualified under evidence of doping :).djconnelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01484858820878605035noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564958057737541664.post-29914384621204772142012-09-20T04:25:08.046-07:002012-09-20T04:25:08.046-07:00Hmm, I am with you on some bits here but I think y...Hmm, I am with you on some bits here but I think you're bending the truth a little. The greats (looking pre-EPO) have always been able to compete to around the ages we've seen from GT winners this year - see Hinault in 86 (a couple of months off 32 years old), Sean Kelly winning his first and only grand tour at the Vuelta aged 32, Lemond was 29 in 1990 & maintained that he was putting out exactly the same numbers in his subsequent tours, despite now being dropped on every climb (hello Edgar). So the contention that pre-Epo top cyclists couldn't compete at an older age is wrong. Also slightly bemused at your dismissal of specialization - have you ever actually looked through Mercxx's race schedule? It was ludicrous - in season, between classics and the grand tours he'd ride crits & track meets any days he wasn't sat in a car jumping from one B & B to the next. It was incomparable to today's top racer's schedules and burn out was really inevitable.<br /><br />All cards on the table, let me start by saying I believe Wiggins, Froome & Hesjedal were clean this year. The giro as a spectacle was, I believe, the cleanest grand tour in the last 20 years (at least within it!) which I believe gave Hesjedal the chance to win, along with a series of other fortunate events (such as no other GC contender with outstanding ability against the clock). Italy's Olympic committee has popped virtually all of their top cyclists in the past 7 years and I think the risks of carrying round fridged blood are too great during the giro for them to risk it. The same applies to France to a certain extent but the stakes at the tour are now so much higher that the gain still outweighs the risk there, I think.<br /><br />I'm sure we could disscuss the tour in length but lets save it as it's one thats been played out for months & months online.<br /><br />So, the Vuelta - have you seen this article? http://inrng.com/2012/09/vuelta-power-analysis/<br />For me the nail in the coffin of the Vuelta is our 'Proto' rider referred to here. In the Giro, he would've had to put out 400watts to stay with Hesjedal. These were mostly steady climbs with Liquigas at the front tapping out a steady pace for Basso, which suited all the big diesels up there on GC (bar Rodriguez) fine. Same at the tour with Team Sky, proto rider needs 415 watts to stay with Wiggins. Again, seems reasonable to me - the Sky train tapping a constant rhythm at threshold with some of the best riders in the world peaking for one event equated to a 3-4% increase in Watts from the Giro.<br /><br />Now - Vuelta. Proto rider suddenly needs 445 Watts to stay with the front boys. 10% increase from the Giro, which, funnily enough, is directly comparable because Rodriguez finished second in both! TEN PERCENT. Ahem. And the style of racing was absurdly different - we have generally isolated GC contenders attacking the fuck out of each other at every opportunity. Anyone who knows cycling knows that racing like that kills times & overrall watts - its the least efficient form of racing. See the (oft referenced as very slow) group behind Sastre on AlpeD'Huez in 2008 - no organisation, attacks coming, Schlecks covering, they crawled up it relative to the years around it.<br /><br />All that in a country where the judicial actively protect their doping athletes & out of competition testing from the national feds is non existent. I think we're now seeing the true impact of the Bio Passport & disparity between testing and policing country to country - big jumps in performance depending on where you are, with more calculated risks being taken by the dopers. I enjoyed it but the Vuelta was a joke really, as you said - Valverde looks like a better cyclist now than he did pre-ban, which isn't possible when he'd been taking transfusions and EPO unless he was.....still taking them. You can bet your boots Garmin riders will never win one.<br /><br />Interested to hear your comments,<br />Cheers<br />Chrischrishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05494305100903698373noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1564958057737541664.post-49859536833930780972012-09-04T17:38:33.701-07:002012-09-04T17:38:33.701-07:00Absolutely hit the nail on the head. I've been...Absolutely hit the nail on the head. I've been talking about this for years, how in the amateur ranks there seems to be a fountain of youth found in no other sport except cycling, where aging yuppies hit an athletic "Renascence" in their late 30's and early 40's and get better as they get older.<br /><br />I called BS on it and get hammered relentlessly, because the offended parties want everyone to believe that it's their dedication and hard work that enable these feats. Berzinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13584575495763261088noreply@blogger.com