Plan B Forum

Le Tour de France wins are like buses, wait for ages then two come along at once.

Well done Chris Froome! Allez Allez Allez!!!

Congrats to the winner of Le Tour de Juice....

I hope that the shameful history of professional road cycling is behind us.

The sport has to be squeakier than squeaky clean now. Froome made a point of saying in his speech on the podium that his yellow jersey will last the test of time (in other words he's clean).

Was a lovely moment that he dropped back and crossed the line arm in arm with his team mates, who'd worked so hard to keep that jersey on his back for 14 stages.

also...

I hope that the shameful history of professional road cycling is behind us.

Yes, well if that is the case, then I would expect Mr. Froome's time to be somewhat slower than the times recorded during The Jucing Era....

Is that the case?

it isn't that kind of race.

yrs,
rubato

The race route is different every year, so you can't ever compare "times." There are lots of other variables as well.

Froome and Sky rode a fabulous race and this tour was, stage for stage, one of the most exciting I've watched in years. And that's even though the favorite won, and the green jersey (for sprinters) went to the same winner as last year. But there were flashes of brilliance from many new(ish) young riders. I'm hopeful for the sport!

One discordant note: Le Tour always takes its history seriously. This year was the 100th edition, and there were huge gaps of history - no mention of Lance or this rivalries of those eras. Not from the broadcasters, not from Le Tour itself, not from most commentators I've read. Not even from Lance himself. It was rather painful and quite stilted.

It really was great teamwork that won the GC for Froome.

One of the great things about the race is that no two years are the same, they may re-use stage routes from different year and the final day is as always Versailles to Champs Elysée, but the road conditions and the weather can change any stage.

Team Sky are forthright in their views on doping.

The team has a zero-tolerance approach to doping. All team members (including staff) must sign an agreement that they have no past or present involvement in taking illegal substances. Anyone breaching the agreement at any time must leave the squad. Previous team members such as team doctor Geert Leinders, sports director Steven de Jongh and coach Bobby Julich have all left the team when their involvement in doping prior to working with Sky became known.

No cover-ups, no "oh it was in the past", nothing. If you've done it or doing it you're out.

The race route is different every year, so you can't ever compare "times."

How convenient...

Then how exactly are we supposed to expect that there was no juicing going on in a competition where it has been demonstrably pandemic?

I personally don't care if professional cyclists juice, so long as they all do so and there's a level playing field...(which apparently has been the case for a number of years)

Obviously this is a "sport" where a person who doesn't cheat places themselves at a great disadvantage...

No cover-ups, no "oh it was in the past", nothing. If you've done it or doing it you're out.

Daze, in a sport where cheating was the norm, do you really think they've achieved that?

They've already booted people out. The very best endeavours from Sky and the other teams to get the dopers and their enablers out of the game has to be a good thing, right??

I would guess that these competitors are, like virtually all other top-professional athletes, always looking for SOMETHING that will give them an edge, whether it is a specialized diet, nutritional supplements, vitamins, shots, or whatever. I personally take B12 shots which have a definite effect on my physical performance (lifting weights, biking), but would be perfectly "legal" for a TdF competitor, eh?

I wouldn't be surprised if the major teams employ chemists to ensure that whatever they are using is permissible. Wouldn't want to be DQ'd for having a poppy-seed bagel, would you?

Congrats to the winners. This is possibly the most masochistic true-sporting contest in the world.

Riding Le Tour - not to mention being competitive - is one of the most physically grueling sporting events that exists. So yes, every team and every rider are going to be looking for every advantage. Froome's 5 minute win -- after 2,100+ miles of cycling -- was a huge victory. I know my cycling friends and I have asked the question -- how can he be so consistently good (don't forget, Froome was second last year to Wiggins, and may have been the better cyclist, just not the *star* of the team). We've all heard cyclists and their teams decry doping, swearing to be clean -- before god, family, the courts, and the world -- and we all know how that has turned out . . .

I'd like to believe in Sky, but I don't know that it's possible.

Lord Jim wrote:

No cover-ups, no "oh it was in the past", nothing. If you've done it or doing it you're out.

Daze, in a sport where cheating was the norm, do you really think they've achieved that?

Doping is the norm but it has only been "cheating" relatively recently. Doping in cycling goes back to the 1800s.


yrs,
rubato