Cycling Thread

[Krazy8]

Another brilliant day at the Vuelta. This tour has been absolutely fascinating. I wasted quite a lot of my annual leave to watch the Giro and the Tour so I haven't managed to see anything like enough of this race, sadly.

We're all Nairo aren't we?

 

[TimeyWimey]

Vuelta proving to be everything the Tour wanted to be. It's become my favourite race over last couple of years, going back out to Spain on Wednesday to watch the last few stages. Still think (okay, hope) the TT will tip this in the balance for stage 20.

 

[lordofthepies]

We're all Nairo aren't we?

Of course we are. I love the little guy.

 

[TimeyWimey]

The embers of Dumoulin dishing it out to Froome on Cumbre Del Sol last year finally ignited...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-37273803
The fires are also pretty much where the first few km of the ITT are, so hopefully not bad enough to effect that.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Back from a cacking few days at the Vuelta. Highlights being grabbing a quick word and pic with Hugh Carthy and watching Orica's tactic unfold yesterday, Howson stopping right in front of us on the final descent to wait for Chaves. Bloody loved Chaves' attack.

 

[Super_horns]

Steve Cummings wins Tour of Britain.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Kinda getting jealous I don't have asthma.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

It is interesting/thorny stuff.

I will say that for a sensational whistle blowing HACK Froome comes out of it rather well. He may have other closets, obviously, but the skellingtons in this one aren't very hair-raising and were already known.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Aye, no reason for there would be any bombshells from hacking WADA. You'd kinda hope they weren't in cahoots with anyone considering their purpose. The gritty stuff on the other hand probably isn't hackable.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Not in cahoots, but I wouldn't have been shocked to have discovered that the TUE use was considerably more extensive than we already knew about.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Decent finish to today's Eneco stage. Big fook up by the break away.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Stevo latest British Cycling asthma sufferer.

Cancellara and Fuglsang also on the list today. This stuff doesn't sit overly easy but whole thing is a little Lance-lite (it wishes). Wiggins on the telebox this weekend to explain all, people to tune in in their hundreds for that one.

 

[Super_horns]

Getting a bit messy for Wiggins it seems now with even a former doctor questioning his usage of the drug..

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-37456623

 

[TimeyWimey]

The only question is if playing the TUE system can be classed as cheating? Answer blatantly yes imo.

And this,

 

[Abertawe]

Oh dear. He's not alone, I've long suspected in the quest for the next level this sort of thing is rife across all sports.

 

[Stagat]

Reckon this might lead to the end of all TUEs in cycling? A system where folk can be prescribed stuff they can't take on their own is always going to have potential to be abused innit.

Why is asthma any different to any other medical reason stopping folk winning a bike race anyway? The people in the middle of the pack who won't win because they don't naturally have the speed or stamina or aerobic capacity or output or whatever to do so. If having asthma means you're also not quite good enough to win the toughest bike races in the world, then isn't that just tough shit?

 

[TimeyWimey]

Team Sky are/have been doing what many suspected, using loopholes to their advantage. Their marginal gains mantra was hardly going to stop at using their own pillows at hotels. Like Lance (in a fucked up way) never thought he was cheating, Sky (and, tbf, most of cycling) are living within the rules & their loopholes (that we know of) and see nothing wrong in it. Morally it's shit and, I'd say, to take advantage of a minor ailment is outright cheating, although that'll remain open to debate due to how hard it is to prove in individual cases. Closing the loopholes and saying, you can't ride a bike whilst any drug is in your system, seems the obvious thing but not personally sure on how feasible it is.

More worrying in my opinion is the British Cycling wide use of TUEs (linked to Brailsford's time?), mainly along the lines of asthma. It doesn't fill you with confidence that there isn't a shit load of skeletons from the past waiting to come out.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Why is asthma any different to any other medical reason stopping folk winning a bike race anyway? The people in the middle of the pack who won't win because they don't naturally have the speed or stamina or aerobic capacity or output or whatever to do so. If having asthma means you're also not quite good enough to win the toughest bike races in the world, then isn't that just tough shit?

Well quite. Everything about doping rests on some of these taken for granted but seldom really examined axioms tho, dunnit. Substance A is a banned and bad Drug, but if someone can invent a Substance B that produces the same effect whilst not fitting that proscribed molecular template then it's a Legal Supplement and fine. You can train at altitude to improve your red blood cell count, but not inject yourself with something that does the same but more effectively. And so on.

Why, ultimately? Cos some opaque bureaucracy decided that's where the line in the sand is for the time being.

(This is not to said to excuse Wiggins, or anyone else - but to observe that shit is complicated, and thorny, and often basically maddeningly arbitrary when one starts to ponder those sort of questions)

On the TUEs specifically I've no idea what you can do. As with all doping I'm not sure that the genie can ever be put back in the bottle. Perhaps making it all transparent/a matter of open record might be a useful start at least, so at least we all know what's actually going on. But presumably there are athletes with legitimate reasons for not wanting all their medical shit in the public domain.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Can't stop watching.

 

[lordofthepies]

That was some win from Gaviria at Paris-Tours. He has to have a great chance in Qatar next week...

 

[Super_horns]

Really is getting a bit messy for Wiggins and Team Sky with even his own ex team-mates trying to stick the knife in!

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/sp...Nicolas-Roche-use-TUEs-Ethically-s-wrong.html

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Tony Martin SMASH

 

[lordofthepies]

So the 2019 Worlds will be in Yorkshire. I suspect a few people will turn up to watch that one.

 

[TimeyWimey]

That week is already booked off. Going to quite the sight when the crowds for the junior women's race put to shame most mens world tour races. Shame on the news channels for trying to do it down with TUEgate.

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

One man and a dog would look like a throbbing mass of humanity compared to these audiences in Doha...

 

[Super_horns]

And they have the athletics WC/Football World Cup to come...

 

[TimeyWimey]

Germans having a proper strop. Debusschere

 

[Martino Knockavelli]

Gonna be reet cheery round the German dinner table tonight innit. Flippin eck.

 

[TimeyWimey]

Sagan, fuck yeah!

 

[TimeyWimey]

Anyone listen to Brailsford on the cycling podcast? Fecking hell.

Does he realise beating around the bush with a ton of bullshit does him no favours?