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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Nov 29, 2017 19:52:43 GMT
Froome has announced he's doing the Giro next year so it looks like he will go head to head with Tom Dumoulin after all. This years race was the best Grand Tour of the year for me, so it's going to be really interesting to see how Froome tackles it and whether he will be capable of retaining the Tour de France. It seems that he could not resist the potential of holding all three titles at the same time Beeb
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2017 21:05:24 GMT
Hopefully he'll be able to maintain form, condition and strength for the duration of both Grand Tours which historically has proven to be a huge ask.
It's promising to be a really good season next year.
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Post by salopstick on Nov 29, 2017 22:07:54 GMT
Tiger slam.
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Post by salopstick on Nov 29, 2017 22:16:56 GMT
Bar doumalin all the othe GCs seem so far behind him
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2017 22:43:06 GMT
Goarne Froome lad! Not a regular in Italy at all - the vast majority of his tours have been France and Spain. Could be very interesting...peaking for the TdF...
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Post by Deleted on Nov 29, 2017 22:48:53 GMT
I just hope he's not being too ambitious as usually riding the Giro takes too much out of a rider's legs to still be competitive in the TDF.
It really would be an awesome achievement if he could win both.
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Post by basingstokie on Nov 30, 2017 20:11:47 GMT
I just hope he's not being too ambitious as usually riding the Giro takes too much out of a rider's legs to still be competitive in the TDF. It really would be an awesome achievement if he could win both. I think the goal is to win the Giro and hence hold all 3 GC titles at the same time. If the Tour was his major priority he wouldn't be doing the Giro.
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Post by Deleted on Nov 30, 2017 20:19:16 GMT
I just hope he's not being too ambitious as usually riding the Giro takes too much out of a rider's legs to still be competitive in the TDF. It really would be an awesome achievement if he could win both. I think the goal is to win the Giro and hence hold all 3 GC titles at the same time. If the Tour was his major priority he wouldn't be doing the Giro. I'm sure you're right that he wants to hold all 3 GC titles at the same time, but he's also got a great chance to join the elite club of 5 time TDF winners next year. He's not getting any younger and 2019 may see one or two of the newer/younger GC contenders possibly beating him in the TDF (please not Quintana though !).
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Nov 30, 2017 20:53:49 GMT
I think the goal is to win the Giro and hence hold all 3 GC titles at the same time. If the Tour was his major priority he wouldn't be doing the Giro. I'm sure you're right that he wants to hold all 3 GC titles at the same time, but he's also got a great chance to join the elite club of 5 time TDF winners next year. He's not getting any younger and 2019 may see one or two of the newer/younger GC contenders possibly beating him in the TDF (please not Quintana though !). Quintana is a busted flush. I hope.
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Post by thepremierbanksy on Dec 1, 2017 17:20:23 GMT
Got to applaud Froome's decision. I actually think that holding the 3 at the same time is a much more prestigious thing to do than getting a 5th TdF, so got to hand it to him for taking the risk. Plus we get to see Froome vs Dum(e) - plus I think Movistar's stated intention is for Landa to do the Giro & Vuelta and Quintana the Tour. Pretty nice 3 way battle that could be.
(Assuming Froome isn't just going to turn up, take a couple of mill participation fee and fuck off home 'ill' after a week's race pace training to prepare him for France).
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Post by salopstick on Dec 1, 2017 19:32:36 GMT
A big if but if he wins giro and the tour there is no way on earth he does not defend la vuelta
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Post by Deleted on Dec 1, 2017 19:45:39 GMT
A big if but if he wins giro and the tour there is no way on earth he does not defend la vuelta It would be fantastic wouldn't it, although it would be an unbelievably hard thing to achieve. No doubt Dumoulin, Nibali, Aru, Landa etc will be hell bent on beating him (probably working together). I just hope the reduction of Grand Tour teams to 8 riders will weaken the opposing teams more than it weakens Team Sky with their roster of top riders.
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Post by salopstick on Dec 1, 2017 20:05:06 GMT
A big if but if he wins giro and the tour there is no way on earth he does not defend la vuelta It would be fantastic wouldn't it, although it would be an unbelievably hard thing to achieve. No doubt Dumoulin, Nibali, Aru, Landa etc will be hell bent on beating him (probably working together). I just hope the reduction of Grand Tour teams to 8 riders will weaken the opposing teams more than it weakens Team Sky with their roster of top riders. You can say what you want about sky and the same applies to us ordinary cyclists. You still have to pedal your legs I think the Grand Tours next year will be brilliant The giro route looks nails. And I moan about horseshoe pass
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Dec 1, 2017 20:06:06 GMT
A big if but if he wins giro and the tour there is no way on earth he does not defend la vuelta It would be fantastic wouldn't it, although it would be an unbelievably hard thing to achieve. No doubt Dumoulin, Nibali, Aru, Landa etc will be hell bent on beating him (probably working together). I just hope the reduction of Grand Tour teams to 8 riders will weaken the opposing teams more than it weakens Team Sky with their roster of top riders. They weren't exactly queuing up to work with Dumoulin this year, I hope he tells the other the riders to piss off. I can actually see Dumoulin and Froome working together to some extent as Tom strategy is likely to stick like glue to Chris on the hills (if he can), and then take time out of him on the TTs.
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Dec 15, 2017 22:17:10 GMT
Are we all having a collective moment of silence over Chris Froome's failed salbutamol test?
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Post by Deleted on Dec 15, 2017 22:30:34 GMT
I'm finding it hard to believe Chris Froome has cheated and knowingly taken excessive amounts of this asthma spray in order to win La Vuelta although the urine sample results do appear to show abnormally high levels of the banned substance.
There is obviously something not quite right and it's up to Froome/Sky to provide sufficient evidence and proof that everything was above board and within the rules. Froome's interview seems to indicate that he's confident he can provide such proof but it's very disappointing and coming after the Wiggins situation does tend to raise serious doubts.
Pat McQuaid former UCI Chief reckons he should be banned and stripped of the title.
I may be being naive but I still believe Froome is genuine and not a cheat. Hope I'm not proved wrong.
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Dec 15, 2017 22:57:20 GMT
I'm finding it hard to believe Chris Froome has cheated and knowingly taken excessive amounts of this asthma spray in order to win La Vuelta although the urine sample results do appear to show abnormally high levels of the banned substance. There is obviously something not quite right and it's up to Froome/Sky to provide sufficient evidence and proof that everything was above board and within the rules. Froome's interview seems to indicate that he's confident he can provide such proof but it's very disappointing and coming after the Wiggins situation does tend to raise serious doubts. Pat McQuaid former UCI Chief reckons he should be banned and stripped of the title. I may be being naive but I still believe Froome is genuine and not a cheat. Hope I'm not proved wrong. We're on the same page here, although I though Wiggins' wife calling Froome a "slithering reptile" was interesting on more than one level.
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MooG
Youth Player
Only the wisest and stupidest of men never change.
Posts: 492
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Post by MooG on Dec 15, 2017 23:35:48 GMT
They've known about this for three months so if they could refute the result with science I think they'd have it ready to roll out rather than hire a loophole lawyer. Which is a stupid move IMO as the worst thing would be "getting off" on a technicality.
For what it's worth I don't think this is a 'proper' drugs case, however I can imagine Froome being somebody who would take the risk of upping his medication rather than risk loosing the race on the road (If I read it right this was the day after he had trouble breathing and lost a chunk of time on the final climb). There's clear precedent so I fear he'll be stripped of the Vuelta and probable miss next years Giro.
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Post by RipRoaringPotter on Dec 16, 2017 1:45:37 GMT
The fact that he was on Twitter yesterday trying claim some sort of poster boy status for asthma sufferers speaks volumes. The Sky response this week has been all PR and no substance.
It's all beginning to look a bit Armstrong and US Postal to me. Sky have got more question marks hanging over them than a confused cartoon character.
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Post by salopstick on Dec 16, 2017 5:20:05 GMT
I'm finding it hard to believe Chris Froome has cheated and knowingly taken excessive amounts of this asthma spray in order to win La Vuelta although the urine sample results do appear to show abnormally high levels of the banned substance. There is obviously something not quite right and it's up to Froome/Sky to provide sufficient evidence and proof that everything was above board and within the rules. Froome's interview seems to indicate that he's confident he can provide such proof but it's very disappointing and coming after the Wiggins situation does tend to raise serious doubts. Pat McQuaid former UCI Chief reckons he should be banned and stripped of the title. I may be being naive but I still believe Froome is genuine and not a cheat. Hope I'm not proved wrong. The asthma drub is not performance enhancing and as such is not on the banned list. I’m sure he’s fucked up his dosage as opposed to cheating. Heads should roll. He gets tested every day as leader so he wouldn’t risk it.
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Post by salopstick on Dec 16, 2017 5:22:13 GMT
I'm finding it hard to believe Chris Froome has cheated and knowingly taken excessive amounts of this asthma spray in order to win La Vuelta although the urine sample results do appear to show abnormally high levels of the banned substance. There is obviously something not quite right and it's up to Froome/Sky to provide sufficient evidence and proof that everything was above board and within the rules. Froome's interview seems to indicate that he's confident he can provide such proof but it's very disappointing and coming after the Wiggins situation does tend to raise serious doubts. Pat McQuaid former UCI Chief reckons he should be banned and stripped of the title. I may be being naive but I still believe Froome is genuine and not a cheat. Hope I'm not proved wrong. We're on the same page here, although I though Wiggins' wife calling Froome a "slithering reptile" was interesting on more than one level. jealously. Froome could have won the tour wiggins won I’m sure wiggins went back on a gentleman agreement after that tour. Wiggins wife is just having her dig after all the history between the two and the “package”
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Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2017 6:24:39 GMT
I'm finding it hard to believe Chris Froome has cheated and knowingly taken excessive amounts of this asthma spray in order to win La Vuelta although the urine sample results do appear to show abnormally high levels of the banned substance. There is obviously something not quite right and it's up to Froome/Sky to provide sufficient evidence and proof that everything was above board and within the rules. Froome's interview seems to indicate that he's confident he can provide such proof but it's very disappointing and coming after the Wiggins situation does tend to raise serious doubts. Pat McQuaid former UCI Chief reckons he should be banned and stripped of the title. I may be being naive but I still believe Froome is genuine and not a cheat. Hope I'm not proved wrong. The asthma drub is not performance enhancing and as such is not on the banned list. I’m sure he’s fucked up his dosage as opposed to cheating. Heads should roll. He gets tested every day as leader so he wouldn’t risk it. Yes I agree - don't know why I implied performance enhancing, my mistake. He said he knows how many "puffs" of the stuff he took and it's all recorded so I agree he's messed up rather than cheated. Sky are renowned for their minute detail and marginal gains but it seems that for stuff like this they're very lacking or "careless" should we say. As you stated, heads should roll for this embarrassing episode which could jeopardise Chris Froome's career.
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Mar 5, 2018 7:35:13 GMT
The news coming out this morning about Wiggins and Team Sky is not going to do Froome any favours in the Giro...
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Post by wagsastokie on Mar 5, 2018 7:42:20 GMT
Its about time cycling came clean stop Pretending about doping Admit it’s rife it’s not really going to shock people let them take what they want in there chase for plastic glory if they harm themselves they knew beforehand
Or the alternative remove money from sport and the incentive to cheat will disappear
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Post by RichieBarkerOut! on Mar 5, 2018 9:24:42 GMT
Whilst cycling is in the spotlight yet again, it's just part of a wider problem that sports science and commercial pressures are taking all elite sport (including football) away from the fans. It's just a business now and lawyers will look at the rules to see where the loopholes are. This kind of thing has been going on with motorsport forever, but in that case it's about engineering ingenuity, I'm far less forgiving about such practices when it involves re-engineering the human body.
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Post by salopstick on Mar 5, 2018 14:05:51 GMT
I’m not naive to the problems of drugs in sport and cycling in particular however
Sky have done nothing illegal. They stretched the ethical boundaries. The problem is there are no set boundaries.
I think it’s a bit rich when MPs are lecturing Sky on ethics.
The main problem is TUEs. they should be banned. No medication on the list, no cortisone injections to play nothing. You are either fit or not fit. Compete or don’t.
On a separate issue. It’s funny how a lot of top sports people are asthmatic. It’s true and I believe it but what are the odds. They are not asthmatic from childhood. They are asthmatic because these athletes and cyclists are pushing their respiratory system beyond normal and need their asthma medication. I’d ban all asthma drugs.
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Post by thepremierbanksy on Mar 5, 2018 14:06:57 GMT
Most of this government report is just hot air really and is pretty devoid of evidence. They accuse Sky of poor medical record keeping. Well, yeah but then again that isn't an offence in itself. They accuse Wiggins of using triamcinolone to gain an edge, rather than being therapeutic. May be true, but the fact is he had a TUE from UKAD/WADA so that is the end of that unless they have any evidence that he had falsified his condition to gain said TUE, which presumably they don't or it would be in the report. They kinda-sorta allege other Sky riders were using triamcinolone, no evidence or even names or numbers of riders involved. They question Sky's use of tramadol. Yes this is dodgy and in keeping with a so-called unethical approach to sports medicine, but again it isn't illegal. Definitely the sort of behaviour which might lead to tramadol being added to the banned substances list though. www.velonews.com/2018/03/news/uk-government-report-skys-anti-doping-was-inexcusable-and-unprofessional_458694Froome's Salbutamol thing is a bigger smoking gun for me, still really not sure how he is going to end up without a ban, and then we are basically back to as many dubious Tour results as the Festina-USPS era which is just really bad for the sport. In reality if these asthma treatments are the extent of doping at the top of the sport then we've come an awfully long way since the 90s. On other matters did anyone watch Strade Bianche on Saturday? Quality bit of racing.
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Post by Deleted on Mar 5, 2018 14:41:21 GMT
Totally agree with you and Salopstick.
I saw Strade Bianche - difficult conditions to say the least !
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Post by felonious on Mar 5, 2018 20:18:50 GMT
It's fantastic how a bunch of asthmatic cyclists can be so successful especially considering just how many of them were having attacks on the eve of competition. Fantastic effort lads
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Post by salopstick on Mar 5, 2018 21:28:33 GMT
It's fantastic how a bunch of asthmatic cyclists can be so successful especially considering just how many of them were having attacks on the eve of competition. Fantastic effort lads Same as asthmatic runners. As I said earlier it’s not childhood asthma. It’s asthma brought on by the extremes they put their respiratory system through.
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