TDF Stage 17:St Gaudens-St Lary-Soulan Pla d'Adet *spoilers*

bobmcstuff

dang100 wrote:

Kiryienka finished the stage 76th

Boo! That sucks. Still, he made it interesting.

RichN95.

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

The_Boy

RichN95 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

He's not as strong as last year, IMO. Although difficult to tell for obvious reasons. Possibly also with bearing in mind he's only been a road racer for for seasons.

Crozza

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Valverde? His eyebrows are now part of his hair, so can't be raised any higher

*guffaw*

above_the_cows

Salsiccia1 wrote:

Valverde? His eyebrows are now part of his hair, so can't be raised any higher

OUTSTANDING!

the article don

Rick Chasey wrote:So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

Horner anyone?


PS I feel quite ggod that there's no major skulduggery going on and all performances are within sensible expectations

salsiccia1

the article don wrote:

I feel quite ggod that there's no major skulduggery going on and all performances are within sensible expectations

I'd go along with that.

Coachb

Valverde , MAGNIFICENT,I thought he would be off the podium by now. Really hope he hangs on.
Saxo showing just how strong they are this year. 3 big stage wins and don't forget the work Roach put in.
Brilliant. Contador would be proud of his team mates.
Kiryienka having a go and It would have been great to see him hang on, hope he can get a stage win for his efforts.
Schleck getting in the mix was good to see. Peraud looking super.

Nibs rocking it at ease.

Come on Valverde ,,,,,,, you can do it

smithy21

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

Raised mine on stage 14. Raised them a little higher now.

r0bh

RichN95 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

He was set for a possible top-10 finish last year don't forget, before crashing out in the stage 17 TT

nevman

smithy21 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

Raised mine on stage 14. Raised them a little higher now.

Agree.That ras a must seen performance.

RichN95.

r0bh wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

He was set for a possible top-10 finish last year don't forget, before crashing out in the stage 17 TT

He's never been this good though. But it's hard to tell as I don't think Nibali has often got into top gear often.

But as I said I don't think he's dodgy.

But I assume that Rick was referring to Majka. But he's just picked his moments well. He's had two firsts and a second, but for the rest of the Tour he's been in the autobus. (I hope he got some KOM points deductions for that handsling, though)

Coachb

RichN95 wrote:

r0bh wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

So who is raising eyebrows?

If I had to pick one, Peraud. I don't think he is up to no good, but I having the form of your life at 37 is interesting.

He was set for a possible top-10 finish last year don't forget, before crashing out in the stage 17 TT

He's never been this good though. But it's hard to tell as I don't think Nibali has often got into top gear often.

But as I said I don't think he's dodgy.

But I assume that Rick was referring to Majka. But he's just picked his moments well. He's had two firsts and a second, but for the rest of the Tour he's been in the autobus. (I hope he got some KOM points deductions for that handsling, though)

Yeah , that hand sling made all the difference...

frenchfighter

Tinkoff and theoretically Sky Tour teams are built up with super strong riders in their own right. If their leader goes out they should then conserve and direct their energies and talents at winning stages or the KOM.

Tinkoff have Sky haven't, but it shouldn't surprise you when very strong riders in breakaways who are racing purely for themselves win stages.

Additionally they have climbed the mountains significantly slower than the GC riders.

Majka on 149 points, Nibali on 118 and JRod on 112.

Porte lost 7mins and G (who wants to go GC racing rather than one day racing) binned 14 mins.

GShim at bottom of team tables and AG2R have an almost unassailable lead.

frenchfighter

Majka 31.50
Nibs/Peraud 30.32
Armstrong/Basso (2005) 30.34
Ton of other well known dopers finishing several mins down on those two.
1993
Jaskula/Romimger 29.35
Indurain 29.35
Roche 30
Millar 30.41
1982 33.32
...Hinault 34.12
1974 Poulidor 33.20
...Merckx 35.09

The 90s were so dirty its unreal.

RichN95.

frenchfighter wrote:

Tinkoff and theoretically Sky Tour teams are built up with super strong riders in their own right. If their leader goes out they should then conserve and direct their energies and talents at winning stages or the KOM.

Tinkoff have Sky haven't, but it shouldn't surprise you when very strong riders in breakaways who are racing purely for themselves win stages.

Additionally they have climbed the mountains significantly slower than the GC riders.

Majka on 149 points, Nibali on 118 and JRod on 112.

Porte lost 7mins and G (who wants to go GC racing rather than one day racing) binned 14 mins.

GShim at bottom of team tables and AG2R have an almost unassailable lead.

Majka spent the first half of the race riding about in the autobus giving no support to his leader. Just riding for his own selfish goals. If he hadn't maybe Contador wouldn't have crashed.

frenchfighter

I voiced my displeasure with him on numerous occasions. Not sure what it has to do with my post though. He had an easy start to the race before the mountains where he would have been useful. He is a super rider so instead of having to race for a team leader totally he rode for himself. You could argue that him coming straight from the Giro as a young ridee and having short notice for the Tour are genuine reasons for not doing well early...I suspect so but also suspect he was sulking a little. Like I said I am not a fan but he has talent.

frenchfighter

Milton50 wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

Majka didnt even challenge for that?!

Doesn't seem much point sprinting for an extra couple of points when the last climb is worth 50.

Well you called that right. Majka even said after that Riis had told him not to challenge and save it for the win.

Mad_Malx

frenchfighter wrote:

The 90s were so dirty its unreal.

I don't for a moment doubt this, but surely it's not unreasonable that current clean performances (whoever is doing them) will be better than those of the past - powermeters, HRM, bikes that are 2kg lighter, scientific approach to nutrition, training etc.

frenchfighter

Mad_Malx wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

The 90s were so dirty its unreal.

I don't for a moment doubt this, but surely it's not unreasonable that current clean performances (whoever is doing them) will be better than those of the past - powermeters, HRM, bikes that are 2kg lighter, scientific approach to nutrition, training etc.

Yeah I appreciate all this and there is only so much you can read into a time...personally I find it interesting which is why I post it but wouldn't draw conclusions unless it was ridiculous.

There are quite a lot of times the climb has been done over the decades. See how it is high before the 90s drops down sub 30 then back up again.

RichN95.

Mad_Malx wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

The 90s were so dirty its unreal.

I don't for a moment doubt this, but surely it's not unreasonable that current clean performances (whoever is doing them) will be better than those of the past - powermeters, HRM, bikes that are 2kg lighter, scientific approach to nutrition, training etc.

Some performances now will match or beat some performances from back then, but that's as much down to the context of the race as anything. The super performances of those days (e.g. Pantani on Alpe d'Huez) won't be matched clean for a long time. You'll probably have to wait until riders start emerging from Africa for that (and I don't mean white guys like Froome).

knedlicky

RonB wrote:

frenchfighter wrote:

dish_dash wrote:

See that Konig had a bad day and is out of the Top 10. That's a shame...

+1

Still provisional results. Think he's 9th ....

König said he had cramp on the last ascent – although he might have meant the next-to-last because I think he lost contact with the Nibali group there.

specialgueststar

frenchfighter wrote:

The Pyrenees are so much better and attractive than the Alps.

I was thinking that today. When I started going to watch the tour , for 12 years I alternated between the two - but somehow gravitated to the Alps - just because every one I knew was going there. I remember going once and the whole valley was full of phArmstrong supporters - it can be claustrophobic ( and a bit dismal at times if I'm honest) Wish I had gone to the Pyreenees this year - will do next . Ventoux , Nimes , Camargue, coast( Perpignan) Pyrennees is my ideal route

OPQS

Just watched the highlights. Have been unable to suspend my disbelief at Majka's performance :roll:

What was the winking about? "Hey Mr Doping Control - you can't catch me!"

blazing_saddles

What made me raise my eyebrow was Majka winking at the camera, half way up the climb, with half a job done.
He'd jumped away from Purito, having attacked him several times and was with Rolland, but still had to bridge a +30" gap to Visconti.
No apparent stress or effort, while others were chewing the handlebars.
It seemed so..................knowing.

Then we get the hand sling off the motorbike, (imagine the reaction elsewhere to Froome or Porte doing that)
and a "fizzing" at the finish that would do Floyd Landis proud

The final wtf moment was his DS saying he'd had a just one week rest between the Tour and the Giro and that he'd been on the startlist since November.
Did anyone tell Kreuziger of Tinkoff's master deception plan to throw him under the doping bus, so as to bring in a guy who had no domestique duties until the 3rd week?
Something smells iffy in the state of Denmark.

inseine

Contador would be proud of his team mates.

He's not dead!

OPQS

Blazing Saddles wrote:

What made me raise my eyebrow was Majka winking at the camera, half way up the climb, with half a job done.
He'd jumped away from Purito, having attacked him several times and was with Rolland, but still had to bridge a +30" gap to Visconti.
No apparent stress or effort, while others were chewing the handlebars.
It seemed so..................knowing.

Yes, same for me. What was that conversation that Greg LeMond had with a French guy while watching LA climb in the TdF? The French guy said something about 'Look at him, no suffering' and LA was having a good old gas on his comms etc.

It's dodgy.

blazing_saddles

The plot thickens.
Check out the Tinkoff lineup:

http://www.procyclingstats.com/race/Cla ... -Startlist

RichN95.

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Something smells iffy in the state of Denmark.

It's been a long time since I read Hamlet, but I don't think that's quite the quote

Macaloon

The thing about Majka's relative performance is that he missed the tough competition to fight for position on classics terrain. Holding off a fatigued second-tier GC battle, twice, isn't so surprising. And today he shadowed J-Rod then had Roche on inspired form to beat the break. I don't think you can deduce too much from these performances.

That said, it's worth seeking out the Cycling podcast mention of his early days in the team. It's possibly in the episode of his 1st win.