WorldTour and Pro Cycling Nonsense 2012

TDU is 2 weeks away, we have an interesting season with a really interesting Tour and a less murderous Giro.

Are we excited?

Also I'm doing Road.cc fantasy cycling

http://fantasy.road.cc/

ILX league ID: 75413

I'll be doing this, but can't really get motivated about the Tour Down Under. They shouldn't start it until Paris-Nice, imo.

Are you kidding? The TDU finishes with a crit! A CRIT!!

aussie road race championship yesterday, cracker race despite greenedge having 16 riders in it - they pretty well used everyone up to get rid of the pretenders. matt lloyd had to cover all the greenedge and sky moves himself, had enough in the tank to make the decisive move with gerrans on the last lap and get second, very impressive comeback ride.

TDU also well positioned for bedtime TV watching (EST edition).

Based on the Aussie championships and naff all else I think a Green edge or Sky rider will win this and I'm going to put my money on Boassen Hagen (who is now doomed to go out with broken collarbone in a freak crash caused by a wombat walking into the peloton).

http://cdn4.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net/2012/01/14/1/greeedge_12launch__600.jpg

lol still no major sponsor

so green, so edgy

can I just say that it's a dumb name if they wanna get Aussies hooked onto cycling

they need something like "Robbie's Rumblers" or "Stuey's Strikers" or anything that isn't GreenEDGE

or maybe a native animal that has been used by any other national team like the "Cycleroos" or the "Blue Tongue Lizards"

oooooh, garmin-barracuda!

http://i.imgur.com/EiqBR.jpg

ew ew ew ew ew ew

greenedge dude greenedge

"Old Willunga Hill has TdF atmosphere" by the way, didn't think that would ever happen when I played schoolboy football in Willunga tbqh.

loool

don't you just love on the coverage btw how everything is compared to the TdF, the only other bike race that is held anywhere else in the world all year

except for the "Tour of Italy" and "THE LONDON OLYMPICS ON YOUR OLYMPICS NETWORK"

Holy crap the Belgians were good in the cyclocross worlds. Controlled the race from the start and took the first 7 places.

BUSTED

Insanity

A big hand for Andy Schleck!

It's how he would have wanted to win

dang

I heard CAS is still looking into the battle at Waterloo, rumors are Napoleon has a good chance of winning it after all!

LBI - Contador's the one to blame in all this. It wouldn't have been so protracted if he hadn't kept appealing.

I would keep appealing too if it's about 0,000000000005% clenbuterol or something. The evidence is as thin as paper.

also clenbuterol doesn't seem like it'd even be that useful

It's catabolic isn't it? Used for getting muscle mass down,getting to race weight when there's no more fat to loose.

They found 0,000000000005 gram of clenbuterol in Contador's blood. Contador always claimed it came from contaminated food.

This is from the clenbuterol wiki:

In June 2011, players of the Mexico national football team were found with clenbuterol in their bloodstream but were acquitted by WADA after they claimed the clenbuterol came from contaminated food. FIFA have also claimed that 109 players from the Under 17 World Cup in Mexico tested positive for this drug, claiming that Mexican meat is contaminated.

It's not to say he didn't use it as an enhancement drug, but the amount found in Contador is so very, very tiny that it also isn't any proof that he didn't get it from food poisoning.

To take this long for the ruling with barely any evidence is a travesty no matter what.

Back to Racing -> Boonen is looking in pretty hot form for the spring classics.

if he can keep the form, him vs fabian vs p. gilbert esq could be pretty epic at flanders. boonen was fastest up the finishing straight last year and wasn't that far short of the front three.

Won again today.

Was thinking last night that he may be peaking early because he know he can't beat Gilbert, Cancellara and the rest when they do later on.

@haitch: I wouldn't go that far, before he got busted for blow Qatar was his gig.
@Ed: I think that's more like it, the true classics riders will rip Tommeke's legs off once the Ardennes roll around.

Speaking of... here's a reel of Gilbert's unbelievably dominant 2011.

Attack after attack after attack... from the front, off the front, no matter. What a season.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KjYGuL89vAo

the true classics riders will rip Tommeke's legs off once the Ardennes roll around

Ardennes? He's more of a Roubaix/Flanders/Wevelgem rider.

really the important thing here is that he doesn't have a hole in his ballsack like he did at the vuelta, that really has to bring an improved level of performance.

I completely misunderstood the rules for fantasy.road.cc I thought you couldn't have more than one sprinter but it turns out you can.

I'm still ignoring it until Milan-San Remo

Right Ed, we've had Het Newname, Paris-Nice starts this weekend, the season is pretty much underway, I'm in....

http://www.303cycling.com/us-pro-cycling-challenge-stage-6-finish

i was dreaming of a superflag finish, but going to the amphitheater still sounds pretty good. i will go to this one.

Wiggins into yellow in the Paris-Nice, Boonen picking up the stage win from a leading group of about 20. The whole thing had split up into Echelons and nobody outside of the first group is likely to threaten for the overall now.

Did anyone else see Cancellara winning the Strade Bianche on Saturday? That was cool. Just rode away from them up a hill about 10km from the finish.

I openly read reports seems spartacus is back on form. I did see the Paris Nice Prologue and was astounded by how well Wiggins went. He looked like he was being super cautious in the rain and then ended up top three.

I had two non riders in my starting lineup for Paris Nice and forgot to change my lineup after the TT so you are in the lead.

Echelons today: http://twitpic.com/8sfke4

Wiggins is looking really good at the moment. He would have won the opening TT but for the late rain (and as it was came second by just 1 sec) and was the strongest in the front group today: doing the hardest turns on the front, dropping some BIG names (Schlecks, Basso, Brajkovic, Hushovd, Taaramae...) by more than ten minutes on a flat stage, and even winning the intermediate sprint to pick up some bonus seconds. There's still Leipheimer and Valverde lurking nearby though.

Also, Jon Tiernan-Locke (who I'd never heard of until he picked up the 'mountains' jersey in the Tour of Britain last year) riding for a small domestic British team has hoovered up several fairly big European wins over the last month.

van garderen wants this it's a priority event. interested to see what he can do. the others have bigger fish to fry

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/jonathan-tiernan-locke-illness-doping-rumours-and-his-road-to-the-top

interesting story. "a big team" approached endura to see if they could sort a mid-season transfer; sky have also tried to tap him up illegally, haha.

IS HE THE #LINSANITY OF BIKES OMG

would be awes if they could scrape an invite to one of the ardennes races - tho that stuff's probably all settled already, idk.

There was a good article on Endura before the season started, but I can't remember where. They did a bigger european calendar last year and didn't really get results so they are more focussed on British races, (Halfords Tour, Nocturnes etc.)

The conditions at Haut Var and Mediteranéen were atrocious so it makes the wins that little bit more Epic. (He got 2nd at Vuelta a Murcia as well) .

It's fantastic that britain now has competitive Conti teams that are an option for those who fall off or are outside the British Cycling - Academy - Sky train.

http://www.cyclinginquisition.com/2012/03/braid-spotting-and-glenn-danzing.html

so out of touch, i didnt even know of the pointy sideburn thing

boasson hagen's foot!!!

Sky are looking immense in early season stage races. Maybe the other super teams are keeping they're powder dry or focusing on one days (although they aren't exactly lacking there a 1st and a third in two semi-classics). Only Omega Pharma seem to be showing the same breadth.

BMC seem to have pinned all they're early season hopes on Gilbert and come up short. Radioshack had Cancellara win Strade Bianche but otherwise haven't shown (he does look dangerous for the cobbles).

Sky are really starting to look like a top quality outfit.

Thanks Hunter - an interesting thread (though there are a few nutjobs on there by the look of it)

I'm going to be so gutted if sky turn out to be doping. Not surprised, much, but gutted.

Why wouldn't you be surprised, Surfing? General cynicism as to professional cycling? Suspicion of Sky? Suspicion of cyclists within Sky able to avoid Sky testing? I would be surprised, I think. I was speaking to a friend (and fellow ilxor) earlier this year and said as much when he asked what I thought.

Just with regard to some of what is being said on that forum - there are some parts of Millar's book that make me feel uneasy. something like... hmm, how to put it? an impression of intense, pathological self-justification perhaps warping things into a narrative that suits where he is now? Is that too runic? I'm not sure it's even relevant or useful (i've written this bit and deleted it several times).

After winning my heart for the last three weeks, Bert goes and ruins it all with this:

http://cdn3.media.cyclingnews.futurecdn.net//2012/09/09/2/pic307648864_600.jpg

Betsy Andreu live on tourchats.com in 5 minutes

All of the above, Fizzles. 30 years of following the sport. Sky not sticking to their manifesto, hiring Leinders. Sky's results bordering on unbelievable. Kimmage's stint with them cancelled. Wiggo changing his tune.

Even so, I'm taking my sister and one of my nephews to Knowsley today to watch the guys ride in, and I'm thrilled to be going. Still a fan!

remember how all the breaks stayed away in the high mountain stages this year? they would've been caught and blown away on the last climb back in the old days. even at the dauphine, that one stage to morzine which had everyone start up with the 'UK postal' stuff, quintana from movistar rode away from them. i think sky's results are about as beliveable as they can be in the current climate. at least they actually take responsibility for training their riders, rather than leaving it to the riders themselves to organise a program (or 'program'). look at how rabo are reconfiguring themselves along these lines:http://inrng.com/2012/09/rabobank-revolution/

the TTT world championship is tomorrow!

tony martin just caught his two-minute man in the TT ...contador

chriiiiiist

I wish I wasn't in this all day meeting

Looks like it was an exciting race. I like all the riders who made the podium... and I've never been able to warm to Contador for some reason. Shame about Pinotti's collarbone.

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02348/Philippe_Gilbert_2348418b.jpg

Momentum still building behind the Paul Kimmage Defense campaign http://nyvelocity.com/content/features/2012/paul-kimmage-defense-fund

Kimmage may not be the most likeable, but what McQuaid and Verbruggen are doing is out of order.

I'm assuming anyone interested in the case already knows about it, btw. I wouldn't know where to start trying to unravel the cover-ups / conspiracy theories at this point. The most interesting stuff is about to happen.

I donated yesterday. I'm not Kimmage's greatest fan, but Kimmage >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> McQuaid/Verbruggen.

I donated on Saturday, when the chipin wasn't working very reliably. I think it went through, though. I think a lot of people appreciate the chance to spit in Verbruggen's soup.

I feel the same as NBS, happy to spit in the UCI soup

I haven' got the book yet, but this Hamilton interview already makes for uncomfortable reading.

http://www.scotsman.com/sport/interview-tyler-hamilton-cyclist-1-2555924

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/swiss-court-finds-in-ucis-favour-in-landis-defamation-case

Article two of the verdict goes into quite specific detail as to what Landis is not allowed to say about the UCI in the future, noting that it is forbidden for him to say that the UCI, McQuaid and Verbruggen “have concealed cases of doping, received money for doing so, have accepted money from Lance Armstrong to conceal a doping case, have protected certain racing cyclists, concealed cases of doping, have engaged in manipulation, particularly of tests and races, have hesitated and delayed publishing the results of a positive test on Alberto Contador, have accepted bribes, are corrupt, are terrorists, have no regard for the rules, load the dice, are fools, do not have a genuine desire to restore discipline to cycling, are full of shit, are clowns, their words are worthless, are liars, are no different to Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, or to make any similar other allegations of that kind.”

I haven't been paying close attention - has Armstrong said anything dumber than this yet?

Armstrong said that people need to “move on.”

“Some people don’t do that. They sit around and talk about the past,” said Armstrong. “You always get high-school friends who sit around and talk about ‘hey remember that time…’ and I’m like ‘Why are you asking me about that?’"

http://www.cyclingtips.com.au/2012/10/humpday-news-shorts-5/

For someone who no longer cares and thinks it's time to move on, he spends an incredible amount of time and money trying to discredit USADA
http://www.sacbee.com/2012/10/09/4895768/armstrong-renews-criticism-of.html

Because he knew this was coming:

David Walsh ‏@DavidWalshST
USADA statement: Armstrong's team "ran the most sophisticaed, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen."

contains "direct documentary evidence including financial payments, emails, scientific data and laboratory test results that further prove the use, possession and distribution of performance enhancing drugs by Lance Armstrong and confirm the disappointing truth about the deceptive activities of the USPS Team, a team that received tens of millions of American taxpayer dollars in funding".
the team's doping conspiracy "was professionally designed to groom and pressure athletes to use dangerous drugs, to evade detection, to ensure its secrecy and ultimately gain an unfair competitive advantage through superior doping practices".
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/19903716

I guess I can see Lance's point now. You've got David Walsh sitting on your couch, drinking beer, when suddenly he's all like: "hey Lance, remember that time in high school when you were at the center of the most sophisticaed, professionalised and successful doping programme that sport has ever seen?" So annoying.

202 page Reasoned Decision case file :

http://www.scribd.com/doc/109619079/Reasoned-Decision

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/danielson-vande-velde-and-zabriskie-accept-usada-bans

This is a pretty sobering take on all the back-patting going on:

http://stevetilford.com/?p=22105

Rabobank are no more :(
"We are no longer convinced that the international professional world of cycling can make this a clean and fair sport"

Very Sad news

team will go on next year highroad-style, at least

finally dl'ed the hamilton book. lols all around. armstrong even slightly more assholey than expected, doping about where i expected, maybe slightly more egregious. disliked the "up close and personal" style intro a bit (over the corny limit), but it's a fun superfast read from there.

http://inrng.com/2012/10/lemond-letter-uci/

Bobby julich confessed today and was given the boot by sky (rider 4 for those keeping score)

Can't believe that Sky hasn't sacked Mick Rogers yet...

http://inrng.com/2012/10/lemond-letter-uci/

cue everyone acting slightly embarrassed, pretending that it didn't happen, "wish he were more statesmanlike", etc

i didn't hear that but i was thinking last week that damn he's like the last of that generation of usa europros left w/out an admission.

sky's and quicksack's policies are bad imo. otoh at least quicksack freed up some scratch for cavendish with that move.

Sean Yates has gone. Not sure what this will mean for Sky: their zero tolerance approach, while commendable, will leave them with a huge problem when it comes to recruiting DSs given that probably >90% of riders of that age group doped. Garmin's approach seems more realistic.

Sky haven't exactly been that hot in the on the road tactics department. A change might be beneficial in that respect. Got to go to the continental teams or to women's racing to find an untainted DS.

I feel a bit sorry for Yates, he is apparently retiring from the sport entirely.

why feel sorry for him, sky says this is entirely a personal decision unrelated to anything? i guess he just wanted a change.

He looked kind of glum when I beat him the other week in the Catford Hill Climb. Perhaps I contributed to his demise.

why you gotta break a man like that

no gifts

Get 'em Kimmo, raaargh.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/nov/01/paul-kimmage-pat-mcquaid-criminal-complaint

Strictly speaking this is 2013 but I just volunteered for the UCI Cross Worlds in Louisville.

Anyone else fancy coming down to join in the fun?

i remember riding my road bike in team kit in 1993 in louisville for a week. it was like i just crashed my spaceship. i have never been mocked/harrassed/threatened for lycra like that in my life- not even in northern idaho in the late 80s. blows my mind they are hosting worlds. that said, fuck no.

yikes

ha, that's progress! don't hate, celebrate. i'm sure you'll have a grand time, truly-- sorry to be a churl.

times done changed

i know a bunch of ppl that will be going down for worlds, i will not likely be one of them

michael rogers to saxo/tinkoff - wasn't too keen on sky's scorched earth policy perhaps?

It looks like the Tour de France is coming through Epping Forest in 2014 and possibly within a mile of my flat