VOS the boss
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Guess who won stage 4?! By 1.26 mins.Contador is the Greatest0
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She had a 25 second deficit at the top of the final climb (to Pooley of course) but caught and passed the breakaways on the other side with an apparently fearless technical 15km descent.
Looking forward to watching the highlights on Youtube later.0 -
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How comes a male rider able to keep form for large parts of the season raises eyebrows but a woman doesn't (I'm not suggesting anything just pointing out the hypocrisy)? Would have been a perfect topic for BB given his opinions on women's cycling!!0
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At the end of the day, there's not enough money bringing people (not just riders, but the whole support structure including media coverage) into the womens' sport. Therefore the range of big and little fish in the female pond is greater, to an extent people who able to survive as semi-amateurs. It also affects the length of stages/races, which to be honest, I feel are possibly too short for the girls at the very top, like Vos.0
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Pross wrote:How comes a male rider able to keep form for large parts of the season raises eyebrows but a woman doesn't (I'm not suggesting anything just pointing out the hypocrisy)? Would have been a perfect topic for BB given his opinions on women's cycling!!
There's virtually no money in women's cycling, so funding a doping programme would be problematic.
The more likely scenario is that Vos is talented, hard working and committed so even when she's doing base training she's still good enough to beat most of her rivals. When she's on top form however, she is nigh on unbeatable.0 -
andyp wrote:Pross wrote:How comes a male rider able to keep form for large parts of the season raises eyebrows but a woman doesn't (I'm not suggesting anything just pointing out the hypocrisy)? Would have been a perfect topic for BB given his opinions on women's cycling!!
There's virtually no money in women's cycling, so funding a doping programme would be problematic.
The more likely scenario is that Vos is talented, hard working and committed so even when she's doing base training she's still good enough to beat most of her rivals. When she's on top form however, she is nigh on unbeatable.
What about Geneviève Jeanson? Didn't she admit to taking EPO since she was 16?0 -
Apparently at the moment she's not quite strong enough to stay with the like of Pooley on the climbs, hence her downhill chasing strategy of the past two days.
I liked this moment from yesterday's stage: Pooley, Luperini and Evelyn Stevens have broken away on the day's big climb and, following a brief descent, they suddenly become aware of guess-who bridging across, so they wait until she is almost with them…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moQ-GxW ... ge#t=2201s0 -
greasedscotsman wrote:andyp wrote:
There's virtually no money in women's cycling, so funding a doping programme would be problematic.
The more likely scenario is that Vos is talented, hard working and committed so even when she's doing base training she's still good enough to beat most of her rivals. When she's on top form however, she is nigh on unbeatable.
What about Geneviève Jeanson? Didn't she admit to taking EPO since she was 16?
She did. And Longo has clearly been on the juice too. I'm not saying it doesn't happen in women's cycling, but Vos is so clearly a talented cyclist (as her road, track and cyclocross success confirms) and has no hint of a scandal around her so maybe she is the real deal.0 -
greasedscotsman wrote:What about Geneviève Jeanson? Didn't she admit to taking EPO since she was 16?
Luperini also got done for doping IIRC and there is the recent Longo EPO controversy...
The Jeanson case, with the Svengali-like coach and parents turning a blind eye, illustrates the danger that comes from an insular survival strategy when faced with under-funded and short-lived trade teams who can't provide proper guidance.0 -
Women aren’t exempt from doping, not even Brits (Emma Silversides and June Edwards, both banned in the last 8 years, each for 3 months for using Ephedrin).
More famous names were American Rebecca Twigg (involved in blood doping but I don’t think ever banned because she’d retired when the news came out), and (more recently) 2007 Road World Champion, Italian Marta Bastianelli (for using Flenfluramin, got 2 years).0 -
This is Evie Stevens winning the other day at the end of your Youtube link (thus managing to stop Vos ‘doing a Sagan’.Le Commentateur wrote:I liked this moment from yesterday's stage: Pooley, Luperini and Evelyn Stevens have broken away on the day's big climb and, following a brief descent, they suddenly become aware of guess-who bridging across, so they wait until she is almost with them…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-moQ-GxW ... ge#t=2201s
But the photo of her which really grabs me is this from earlier in the season.
With fingers that long, it’s no surprise she stole a victory off Vos.0 -
She descended something scary last year. Would beat a good bunch of male pros with that.Contador is the Greatest0
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andyp wrote:Pross wrote:How comes a male rider able to keep form for large parts of the season raises eyebrows but a woman doesn't (I'm not suggesting anything just pointing out the hypocrisy)? Would have been a perfect topic for BB given his opinions on women's cycling!!
There's virtually no money in women's cycling, so funding a doping programme would be problematic.
The more likely scenario is that Vos is talented, hard working and committed so even when she's doing base training she's still good enough to beat most of her rivals. When she's on top form however, she is nigh on unbeatable.
I don't doubt that but I am generally less cynical than many on the subject so I was quite surprised that no-one seems to ever mention it when discussing a rider that dominates all year when you take her 'cross riding into account. I hope the women's peloton improves over the years so that there are more riders out there to compete with her.
One of my clubmates rode for the Welsh women's team a couple of years back. It was her first year cycling but she had made 2nd cat. At the end of the season she rode a stage race in Holland with all the top pros and after losing time in the first few days by the end of the race she was able to stay in the front group which is obviously an excellent performance by her but also a sad sign of the overall quality of women's racing.0 -
Confusing Rai coverage, yesterday.
We appeared to have Pooley and Stevens off the front at one stage, then after an ad break, we have Vos away, with only Pooley chasing.
Emma paid the price and died a bit on the final hill.
The stage before, Vos hadn't been able to repeat the trick. She almost reached the same pair, but came up short, when the road went up for the final ascent.
This edition of the Giro D is very light on major climbs."Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.0 -
They had a stupid ad break to mask a cut in the coverage of the main descent (I think the motorbike camera had stopped to film the crash at the top that involved van vleuten).
IT's only the 4th stage. I actually think that long major climbs would be less interesting than a whole sawtooth profile of half a dozen middling ones, as last year's Mortirolo stage showed that all Vos had to do was hang close to Pooley's wheel then attack on the descent and shed gain big time.
Oddly I'm kind of hoping for some flatter stages now, just so I can see other protagonists have a go, as I want to see who might be a contender in London. I liked the look of US sprinter Olds the other day. No sign of Cooke etc at the moment; caught a brief glimpse of Arndt for the first time yesterday.0 -
Which is why Vos's level is less suspicious than it would be in the mens' league. As I said before, the underlying cause is there's no financial advantage for being a full-time pro compared to having a well-paid job in Geneva, Zurich or where-ever and riding as an amateur.Pross wrote:...by the end of the race she was able to stay in the front group which is obviously an excellent performance by her but also a sad sign of the overall quality of women's racing.0 -
Cooke is riding this race. She is 50 mins down. Not how someone who considers themselves the best UK rider and best shot at Olympic Gold should be riding. Lightweight.Contador is the Greatest0
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Her build up to Beijing was rubbish too, though. If her place in the team is guaranteed (which it is) she only has to focus on cherry-picking the Olympic title. Possibly regardless of who is team leader...frenchfighter wrote:Cooke is riding this race. She is 50 mins down. Not how someone who considers themselves the best UK rider and best shot at Olympic Gold should be riding. Lightweight.0 -
Win one race and get a MBE. Lovely.Contador is the Greatest0
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frenchfighter wrote:Win one race and get a MBE. Lovely.
I think Cooke already has an MBE, possibly as a result of her multiple junior and senior World Titles in 3 different disciplines, an Olympic and Commonwealth gold (the latter being one of the best performances I've ever seen) and winning everything on offer in the pro scene for a number of years."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:frenchfighter wrote:Win one race and get a MBE. Lovely.
I think Cooke already has an MBE, possibly as a result of her multiple junior and senior World Titles in 3 different disciplines, an Olympic and Commonwealth gold (the latter being one of the best performances I've ever seen) and winning everything on offer in the pro scene for a number of years.
Is that the one where she crashed near the finish and got back on to win with no team support at all? Probably lightweight in FF's book.0 -
It was better than that. In the last 20km she crashed, got up, realised she had a slow puncture, changed it, crashed with 5km to go, chased down a gap to the leaders and beat them to win.
It was so good I cited it in my commonwealth games interview."In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"
@gietvangent0 -
disgruntledgoat wrote:It was better than that. In the last 20km she crashed, got up, realised she had a slow puncture, changed it, crashed with 5km to go, chased down a gap to the leaders and beat them to win.
It was so good I cited it in my commonwealth games interview.
I remember being in the in-laws caravan shouting at the TV but couldn't remember the details just that she had crashed when in the lead going around a downhill bend if my memory serves me. Still, the Commonwealth Games is a chipper
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Pross wrote:disgruntledgoat wrote:It was better than that. In the last 20km she crashed, got up, realised she had a slow puncture, changed it, crashed with 5km to go, chased down a gap to the leaders and beat them to win.
It was so good I cited it in my commonwealth games interview.
I remember being in the in-laws caravan shouting at the TV but couldn't remember the details just that she had crashed when in the lead going around a downhill bend if my memory serves me. Still, the Commonwealth Games is a chipper
And how long ago was that again?0 -
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Le Commentateur wrote:2006, I think.
Can't find it on Youtube.
2002. Don't really see how it's relivent to her selection for the Olympics in 2012, even if it was a fantastic race.0 -
frenchfighter wrote:Win one race and get a MBE. Lovely.
Stop trolling.
If Cooke was a male rider you'd be incapable of controlling your excitement. She's a far more complete rider than Contador.0
