USA Pro Challenge *spoilers*

Richmond Racer

knedlicky wrote:

FleshTuxedo wrote:

Picture makes me think I've taken acid again for the first time in 20 years...

I was thinking that too.


So Voigt did the necessary to keep up his image in the USA.
He always make it look hard work (I mean compared to others who go in for lone breakaways), but it’s probably too late now for him to try and attain a smoother, more economical style.

Sagan kept up his image too – in fact he was so quick he crossed the line 300 m before the stage finish (if you believed how far the screen showed they still had to ride – the sprint took me by surprise anyway).

Highlight of the sprint was actually that Team Columbia had a rider finish in the top 10 of the sprint! He was 6th, I think. That must be a novum outside of Columbia.

One of those guys on the ground after the crash 5 km out looked in a bad way, but apparently he was able to carry on and finished.

FleshTuxedo wrote:

sagan wins easily

Perhaps not quite; had it been 5-10 m farther to the line, Mezgec would have taken the win; he was going faster than Sagan.

Michael 'Meatball' Friedman. Quite a character, and according to one of my US cycling buddies, very popular on the US domestic scene. Rode for Garmin in its early incarnations. Pleased to see that he finished.

ocdupalais

'Meatball' Friedman... Displaying one of the few instances where carrying a bit "extra" is a benefit. Had it been someone of the stature of, say, Schleck or Lachlan Morton, etc they'd have hit the deck like a dropped tool bag...

ocdupalais

That Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) will find himself in a bigger team before long, if he keeps riding like that.
What is it about growing up at altitude on 5000m mountain ranges that make these Colombians such damn good climbers!?!

LutherB

OCDuPalais wrote:

.....What is it about growing up at altitude on 5000m mountain ranges that make these Colombians such damn good climbers!?!

The coffee. Not plain old regular coffee, damn fine coffee.

Mad_Malx

OCDuPalais wrote:

That Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) will find himself in a bigger team before long, if he keeps riding like that.
What is it about growing up at altitude on 5000m mountain ranges that make these Colombians such damn good climbers!?!

More likely their genetics than where they grew up. Even if I spent all my life at altitude I would never get the same advantage they gain from short periods of altitude training or return to their homelands.
Most Colombians have some (and commonly 50% plus) indigenous ancestors. Genetic studies have demonstrated increased response to hypoxia in descendants of the indigenous peoples (eg more EPO, faster; as well as changes in muscle metabolism), almost certainly a survival advantage in their ancestors. People with these genes will respond better and faster to altitude and altitude training.

frenchfighter

Schleck is riding and getting pumped. Froome I dont know wtf he is here for. Dombro out and Sky are nowhere. Sutherland doing ok. Frank and TJ on it as usual. Frank being going very well this year - hope its all kosher.

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

Froome I dont know wtf he is here for.

Some altitude training and an appearance fee.

deejay

Mad_Malx wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

That Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) will find himself in a bigger team before long, if he keeps riding like that.
What is it about growing up at altitude on 5000m mountain ranges that make these Colombians such damn good climbers!?!

More likely their genetics than where they grew up. Even if I spent all my life at altitude I would never get the same advantage they gain from short periods of altitude training or return to their homelands.
Most Colombians have some (and commonly 50% plus) indigenous ancestors. Genetic studies have demonstrated increased response to hypoxia in descendants of the indigenous peoples (eg more EPO, faster; as well as changes in muscle metabolism), almost certainly a survival advantage in their ancestors. People with these genes will respond better and faster to altitude and altitude training.

East African Athletes the same. :?:

Mad_Malx

deejay wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

OCDuPalais wrote:

That Janier Acevedo (Jamis-Hagens Berman) will find himself in a bigger team before long, if he keeps riding like that.
What is it about growing up at altitude on 5000m mountain ranges that make these Colombians such damn good climbers!?!

More likely their genetics than where they grew up. Even if I spent all my life at altitude I would never get the same advantage they gain from short periods of altitude training or return to their homelands.
Most Colombians have some (and commonly 50% plus) indigenous ancestors. Genetic studies have demonstrated increased response to hypoxia in descendants of the indigenous peoples (eg more EPO, faster; as well as changes in muscle metabolism), almost certainly a survival advantage in their ancestors. People with these genes will respond better and faster to altitude and altitude training.

East African Athletes the same. :?:

Interesting - highland Ethiopians also demonstrate increased frequency of gene variants for some hypoxia regulated genes, but these are different gene variants than those found in Andean populations. This points to independent evolutionary adaptation to living at altitude between the two groups. Tibetans have similar profiles to Andeans, and so likely have more recent common ancestors than the Ethiopians. American indigenous peoples (including the Andeans) are believed to have migrated via the Bearing sea from central asia, hence several common features.
Link to abstract if you are interested: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22264333
The full article http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3334582/ is quite informative in the introduction, but it all gets a bit technical after that.

I can pretend to myself I'm working while I'm writing this.

Mad_Malx

^^This doesn't exclude the possibility that similar variants are found in British Kenyans of European descent, although it is much less likely.

ocdupalais

Mad_Malx wrote:

I can pretend to myself I'm working while I'm writing this.

I hope you're not a bus or train driver.

Pilot's OK - them things fly themselves these days...

ocdupalais

Mad_Malx wrote:

More likely their genetics than where they grew up. Even if I spent all my life at altitude I would never get the same advantage they gain from short periods of altitude training or return to their homelands.
Most Colombians have some (and commonly 50% plus) indigenous ancestors. Genetic studies have demonstrated increased response to hypoxia in descendants of the indigenous peoples (eg more EPO, faster; as well as changes in muscle metabolism), almost certainly a survival advantage in their ancestors. People with these genes will respond better and faster to altitude and altitude training.

...but the genetics is affected by the environment over successive generations: the two things go hand-in-hand, no?
The Natural Selection process will dictate that those individuals who represent the current generation are the manifestation of successful unions from the previous (simple speaking, genetically): my understanding is that in Colombia, if you can't get your sorry arse up to where the honies are without wheezing and having a seizure, forget it...
In other words, it's taken millions of failures to arrive at a population who are better evolved at coping with the mountains...

Thanks for the link, btw - as you can probably tell, it's a fascinating subject that I could do with more education on...

Mad_Malx

OCDuPalais wrote:

Mad_Malx wrote:

More likely their genetics than where they grew up. Even if I spent all my life at altitude I would never get the same advantage they gain from short periods of altitude training or return to their homelands.
Most Colombians have some (and commonly 50% plus) indigenous ancestors. Genetic studies have demonstrated increased response to hypoxia in descendants of the indigenous peoples (eg more EPO, faster; as well as changes in muscle metabolism), almost certainly a survival advantage in their ancestors. People with these genes will respond better and faster to altitude and altitude training.

...but the genetics is affected by the environment over successive generations: the two things go hand-in-hand, no?
The Natural Selection process will dictate that those individuals who represent the current generation are the manifestation of successful unions from the previous (simple speaking, genetically): my understanding is that in Colombia, if you can't get your sorry ars* up to where the honies are without wheezing and having a seizure, forget it...
In other words, it's taken millions of failures to arrive at a population who are better evolved at coping with the mountains...

Thanks for the link, btw - as you can probably tell, it's a fascinating subject that I could do with more education on...

Well put, but my point was that it matters little where you grow up, because you will revert to your lowland levels a few weeks after coming down (which will be different for different genetic groups too). Commentators (well, P&P) suggested that Froome (and Quintana) being born at 2000m was relevant, which it isn't, although their fathers' ability to perform at altitude likely is. As you say, the genetic changes happen over generations, rather than because someone lives even for years at altitude.

deejay

ON Topic ?

Stage 5 Time Trial

15:02:12 MDT =10 02pm BST
The top three times at the moment are:
Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp) 25:05
Stephen Cummings (BMC) 26:05
Lawrence Warbasse (BMC) 26:13

deejay

Last Starters with last man started at 22.22 BST

84 14:40:00 CHALAPUD Robinson Eduardo COL COL
26 14:42:00 MACHADO Tiago RLT POR
43 14:44:00 PIRES Bruno TST POR
126 14:46:00 ORAM James BLS NZL
74 14:48:00 BUTLER Christopher CSS USAtarted
128 14:50:00 WILSON Nathan BLS USA
92 14:52:00 MEGIAS LEAL Javier TNN ESP
122 14:54:00 CRADDOCK Lawson BLS USA
116 14:56:00 JONES Carter BPC USA
23 14:58:00 BENNETT George RLT NZL
105 15:00:00 DEIGNAN Philip UHC IRL
34 15:02:00 SCHÄR Michael BMC SUI
101 15:04:00 EUSER Lucas UHC USA
46 15:06:00 SUTHERLAND Rory TST AUS
52 15:08:00 CARUSO Damiano CAN ITA
81 15:10:00 ATAPUMA Darwin COL COL
6 15:12:00 MORTON Lachlan David GRS AUS
73 15:14:00 BRENES OBANDO Gregory CSS CRC
2 15:16:00 DANIELSON Tom GRS USA
33 15:18:00 FRANK Mathias BMC SUI
131 15:20:00 ACEVEDO Janier Alexis JSH COL
31 15:22:00 VAN GARDEREN Tejay BMC USA

blazing_saddles

Somebody had better tell them that it might be handy to have a
clock to hand, when they hold a time trial.

deejay

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Somebody had better tell them that it might be handy to have a
clock to hand, when they hold a time trial.

For show purposes maybe.
Would not make much difference as the TT result seemed to have been pre programed.

I did say third rate.

frenchfighter

Mad_Malx

frenchfighter wrote:

The red on his glasses needs to be a little darker to match properly.

Crampeur

frenchfighter wrote:

Team Sky aren't robots, they're zombies! :shock:

frenchfighter

frenchfighter