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Cycling thread

The similarities to Floyd Landis are startling.

Such as?

im not saying he is not cheating im open minded and as you say our sport has its history and it is hard not to think of the negative.

For me his time trial was more dodgy then today which is the sort of thing you expected of him.

Interesting that cav now has lined up next year renshaw and petachi as his lead out men and roberto uran will also being leaving sky to go to omega, not wishing this season away but even the vuelta should be interesting with regards the sprints.
 
I've never seen anyone attack in the mountains like this and I watch a stupid amount of cycling. Accelerating away while seated!!

[video=youtube;YhXx-wNEXeg]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhXx-wNEXeg[/video]

Fabian Cancellara did this on the flat in the classics a few years ago and Italian TV accused him of having a motor in his bike ;)
 
he's been described by medical staff as either some kind of mutant or enhanced by some other means.. i know what's more likely.
 
he's been described by medical staff as either some kind of mutant or enhanced by some other means.. i know what's more likely.

The real problem most of the hardcore cycling fans have with him isn't the actual doping. No they're used to that. The problem is that he's so far ahead of everyone else thats it boring. Same with Armstrong and Indurain. At least with the likes of Contador and Pantini it was always exciting, ding dong battles with their rivals. Froome doesnt even have a rival right now.
Theoretically if Froome wasnt there there'd only be a minute and a half between the remaining top 5. Everyone would be drooling about the upcoming battles in one of the hardest weeks ever in the Tour but no its already over.
 
Chris Froome launched a staunch defence of his credibility in the wake of his emphatic win on Mont Ventoux by reiterating that he is not doping.

Speaking on the Tour de France's second rest day, the 28-year-old Briton admitted he was "sad" that his "historic" victory on stage 15 had been tarnished by speculation of cheating.

Sir Dave Brailsford also hit out at the persistent scepticism surrounding Team Sky and said he would be happy to see the biological passport system improved in order to prove the squad's integrity.

Froome, who leads the Tour by 4min 14sec, dropped all of his general classification rivals and then Colombian climber Nairo Quintana on the way to a stunning solo victory on Mont Ventoux, but was quick to shrug off comparisons with Lance Armstrong.

"It is just quite sad that we are sitting here a day after the biggest victory of my life, quite an historic win, talking about doping," he said.
Questions 'not cool'

"My team-mates and I have slept on volcanoes to get ready for this, we have been away from home for months training together, working hard to get here. Here I am being accused of being a cheat and a liar, and that is not cool.

"I don't know about that other stuff [doping]. I know what I have done to get here and I am extremely proud of what I have done. Lance cheated, I'm not cheating. End of story."

Brailsford admitted he was growing tired of answering repeated questions about doping and revealed he is keen to see modifications to the monitoring of riders' performance in order to lay any doubt to rest.

He ruled out the possibility of releasing power data, but said he would like to see the biological passport, which focuses only on blood, expanded in order to take into account other variables.

"We are thinking very hard of the optimum way of proving that we are not doping," he said.

"We have been thinking about the biological passport and how that works, with a panel of experts who get all the blood data from everybody and they evaluate that.

"But, theoretically, the biological passport should be blood value, weight, power - it should be the whole picture of that individual, not just blood values.

"Maybe Wada [the World Anti-Doping Agency] could appoint an expert and they can have everything that we have got. They could come and live with us and have all of our information, they could see all of our data, they could have access to every single training file that we have got."

Meanwhile, Kenya-born Froome also reiterated that he is proud to be British and was not disappointed to see his achievements overshadowed by other British sports stars and teams.

"One hundred per cent, I feel British," he said. "I don't know what else I would be. I am extremely proud of being British and the messages I am receiving from the thousands of British fans and British supporters have been all positive and I really appreciate those messages."
 
Chris Froome took another huge stride towards overall victory at the Tour de France by claiming his third win of the race with a superbly measured display on stage 17's individual time trial.

The Team Sky leader trailed rival Alberto Contador at all three intermediate splits on the 32km course from Embrun to Chorges, but then swapped his road bike for a time trial bike at the top of the second of two categorised climbs and comfortably overturned the deficit on the descent to the finish line.

Contador (Saxo-Tinkoff) paid the penalty for choosing to stay on his road bike and had to be content with second place, nine seconds behind Froome's time of 51min 33sec, and one second ahead of third-placed Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha).

The result means Froome extends his overall lead to 4min 34sec with four stages to go and remains firmly on course to become Britain's second successive Tour winner.
Flawless display

It was another flawless performance from the 28-year-old, who adopted a risk-free approach on a day marred by rain but nevertheless emerged as the stage's superior rider.

Starting six minutes behind Contador, he was two seconds behind the Spaniard at the first split, 20 seconds down at the second and still 11 adrift at the third.

But despite the pressure, he remained calm and stopped to change bikes for the downhill drag to the finish line and duly negotiated the final 12km 20 seconds faster than his adversary.

Contador himself rode superbly, eclipsing outstanding efforts from Rodriguez, team-mate Roman Kreuziger and compatriot Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), but he was ultimately unable to make inroads into Froome's overall lead and now needs a near-miraculous reversal in fortunes in the Alps to claim a third Tour win.
Course drenched by rain

All of the general classification rivals were spared the heavy rain that fell during the middle part of the day, but still had to take caution on the damp and twisting descents off the two climbs.

Tejay van Garderen (BMC) took the lead just before the deluge in 53min 24sec and as the roads became increasingly treacherous and other riders' times soared, it appeared the American was on course for victory.

But when the downpour ceased, the roads quickly began to dry and Valverde surged to the top of the standings in a blistering 52min 3sec.

He was quickly overhauled by Rodriguez, Kreuziger and Contador, but then Froome surged down the final descent to trump them all and tighten his grip on yellow.

Contador was elevated to second overall after Bauke Mollema (Belkin) endured a tough day and fell to fourth, while Jean-Christophe Peraud (Ag2r-La Mondiale), who had been ninth in the general classification, was forced to abandon the race after falling twice and breaking his collarbone.

Stage 17 result

1 Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky, 51:33
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff, +9secs
3 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha, +10
4 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff, +23
5 Alejandro Valverde (Spa) Movistar, +30
6 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, + 1:11
7 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, +1:33
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +1:34
9 Andrew Talansky (USA) Garmin-Sharp, +1:41
10 Tejay van Garderen (USA) BMC, +1:51

General classification

1 Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky, 66:07:09
2 Alberto Contador (Spa) Saxo-Tinkoff, +4:34
3 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Saxo-Tinkoff, +4:51
2 Bauke Mollema (Ned) Belkin, +6:23
5 Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar, +6:58
6 Joaquim Rodriguez (Spa) Katusha, +7:21
7 Laurens ten Dam (Ned) Belkin, +8:23
8 Jakob Fuglsang (Den) Astana, +8:56
9 Michal Kwiatkowski (Pol) Omega Pharma - Quick-Step, +11:10
10 Dan Martin (Irl) Garmin-Sharp, +12:50

Other jerseys

- Green (points classification): Peter Sagan (Svk) Cannondale
- White (best young rider): Nairo Quintana (Col) Movistar
- Polka dot (mountains classification): Chris Froome (GB) Team Sky
 
Brand new race now after monday's rest day. Contador, Rodriguez, Valverde and probably Rui Costa and Kreuziger have gone for their worse case scenario emergency blood bag and look to be climbing much better than before.
Someone will probably break 39 minute up Alpe d'huez tomorrow.
 
I don't think any of them do bb's anymore, the plasticiser test is pretty definitive.

If Contador gets popped again that's his career over, I think he's clean.
 
I don't think any of them do bb's anymore, the plasticiser test is pretty definitive.

If Contador gets popped again that's his career over, I think he's clean.

You dont just wake up the morning after the rest day back in top form all of a sudden.
Contador knows they cant bust him without it heaping more suspicion on Froome. And he knows the last thing the UCI needs is their new growth market in the UK to turn against cycling.
 
I'm pretty sure whatever is happening at the minute doesn't include WADA banned substances or practices so I think they are all "clean".

I just don't see Brailsford cheating, it would put a massive cloud over his Olympic achievements and all of British Cycling, not worth the risk, even for the TDF.
 
I'm pretty sure whatever is happening at the minute doesn't include WADA banned substances or practices so I think they are all "clean".

I just don't see Brailsford cheating, it would put a massive cloud over his Olympic achievements and all of British Cycling, not worth the risk, even for the TDF.

British Cycling is so dominant at the moment they must be under more scrutiny than other nations. Similar to Jamaican sprinting.

I wonder now that Powell has been caught, is it a matter of time until Bolt, Blake et al. fail a test? Similarly, I wonder if a few years down the line a British cyclist will get caught and put a cloud over the whole nations achievements.
 
You dont just wake up the morning after the rest day back in top form all of a sudden.
Contador knows they cant bust him without it heaping more suspicion on Froome. And he knows the last thing the UCI needs is their new growth market in the UK to turn against cycling.

I don't buy this tbh. What cycling really needs is more rigorous and accurate testing. Nobody believes riders are clean and that is what turns a lot of people off the sport.
 
I'll be very very surprised if that happens, I think the main motivation for Team Sky's policy on dopers is to protect the likes of Hoy, Kenny and Pendleton from guilt by association.
 
How can we trust that team sky and froome aren't cheating behind closed doors when they cheat in front of our eyes?
 
That was great cycling to watch today, Froome found that really tough, good riding by Porte to get him over the line, that Quintana is going to be some rider in the future
 
What do you mean by this Modric ???

Froome got hunger knock.
You're not allowed to get anthing from the team car in the last 6k of the race.
Porte dropped back and got a gel for Froome while the Commissaire of the race was shouting at him not to take it.
Froome just about hung on due to the gel. He could have lost 5 minutes if he completely bonked.
 
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