You're an ejit....you need to use your brain a lot better. All you are doing are comparing times...Fuck it then, Bolt is doped, as is TGay, as was Radcliffe and every one else that has broken a WR recently and run faster than known doped times like Ben Johnson's, Carl Lewis' (yes he was) and the Chinese athletes. You notice the flags at the summit on the HC climb today...wicked tailwind for the last stretch (most important stretch as the summit is where the wind will be the strongest often and most exposed). That is one variable you have overlooked...wind direction and strength, humidity, sunny or overcast (it maybe 30C both times but 30C and shady is not the same as 30C and bluebird). Another is the fact this is the first mountain stage of the TdF...I know for a fact, that LA did his on the 3rd day of mountains (albeit with a rest day). On podium cafe, it was mentioned that LA did AX3 at the beginning of the stage...if you watch any cycling you know that GC guys do not bang it out on the first climb of the day (believe he had another 2 major climbs to come)....and he looked like he was out for a sunday cycle. Now I know CF looks awful on a bike anyway, but even he looked like he was on the rivet for that final climb. So that is another variable conveniently overlooked by the denser among you...context of the climb (first mountain of the day, summit finish, day # of mountain stage sequence, when it falls in the Tour i.e. some years they hit the Alps first then the Pyrenees, other years (like this one) it is the opposite, etc, etc). Also, length of time riding solo...so much of Sky's success is loading a team with expensive domestiques pounding out a metronomic pace, eventually leaving the GC guy alone for the last couple km. Tell me which is easier to run a 5k in 'xx'min...Fartlek or even pace running? Guys like Contador basically did/do Farltek up a mountain, and people like Wiggo can't do it, same as most can't do it like the Kenyans did back in the 80s during steeplechase races. However, they can still climb a mountain at the same speed (or faster) otherwise. Plus, there is still a drafting effect at their speeds. Plus, speed & difficulty of stage prior to climb (and stages beforehand)...today there was only one big climb (admittedly done at a decent pace) and a lot of flat beforehand, but with a very long descent before final climb (good recovery time). Road surface...anyone who spends time in the mountains knows that mountain roads get destroyed quickly...so was the climb done on freshly laid tarmac, or was it a couple years old and thus likely rougher and cracked more, etc, (weather also comes) or is/was it a different surface altogether e.g. concrete, chipseal, etc. Another variable is weight of rider...guys like Wiggo dropped a lot of weight so this has to be taken into account when comparing the results and using them...this is also the case for including their focus i.e. so and so is concentrating on the track this year for the Olympics or the WC TT or the Giro, thus his performance at the Tour on Ventoux will be expected to be x amount slower, etc, etc. Finally, as in EVERY single athletic sport, we have seen advances due to better training (as well as nurturing from younger ages), diet, equipment, etc. There really wasn't too much special about today except that Conta was shit, Andy was rubbish as most suspected he would be, Cadel continuing where he left off last year (with a minor hiccup with a good Giro...but he has a Giro in his legs), JRod was crap as he always is on big mountains. However, guys like Valverde, Ten Dam, Talansky, Mollema, Kreuziger (a domestique beating his GC leader Conta says it all about how bad Conta was and not so special Froome was) and co were where you would expect them to be with respect to time. This is another variable that should be included in any analysis...performance relative to other riders (and 'your') norm (i.e. you would need to profile each ride throughout a racer's career (e.g. on an average day with 30C temps, headwind, 3rd day of mountains, etc, etc (injuries need to be noted and most recent races/climbs giving a higher weighting), we could expect him to do this climb in 45 min average) and thus be able to generate an expected performance for any given race and relative to others). That is what is so shit about the 'Not Normal? An insight into doping and the 21 biggest riders from LeMond to Armstrong to Evans'' book/article thing and all the 'The Science of Sport' stuff...completely rubbish science that would be rejected (or require heavy revisions) if it went to a decent/OK (e.g. 'impact factor' above 5 at min) peer reviewed journal. It is fine to just blog about it and say this and that but don't try to present it as anything but an opinion based on bad data (even if it is the best you can hope for with the resources available (data/money/time)) i.e. not what the Science of Sport guys do...almost all of their arguments end with 'but it is still worthwhile to have a look' and the whole site is trying to pass it off as good scientific analysis. Who cares about all those variables you are omitting, with these 3 they are cheating mofos. I wish my industry worked like that...might have a lot of dead people but hey it looked good at the time after my few experiments done and ignoring 80% of the data/variables....what do you mean I need to use the same dose/weight, genetic strain of mice, vehicle, age of mice, sex, etc, etc, to make a robust scientific conclusion from my results...oh and I can't omit those ones, but they don't fit in, it's not significant otherwise? I can't believe that, can you?...well, of course you can, it seems.
Who is the idiot as well that said these Sky guys (domestiques) came into the TdF having done nothing before the Tour this year...Richie Porte has basically come second to CF in every 'one week' stage race prior to TdF this year as well as winning a couple, who was heavily headhunted to become a GC guy at other teams but he chose to stay at Sky, in return he will get to lead next year, probably at the Giro. He was amazing last year as well. Kennaugh has an excellent track background as a pursuiter, Olympic and World Champion, and that is basically what he did today...short stint, massive effort then blow up. Not only that, he also has a decent road background for a young rider...4th at U23 World Road Race Championships, 5th overall at Tour of Pologne (a UCI ProTour race), 3rd overall at Route du Sud (won by Quintano last year...the dude that everyone rightly salivates over as the future, at least as a climber) and won by Kiryienka (Movistar) the year Kennaugh was 3rd...oh, where have we heard that name recently, yep that's it, he was the dude that is now banging out the tempo for sky before Kennaugh takes over (like today) who also has an excellent palmares for a domestique...2nd overall Criterium Internationale, top 10s overall at prestigious races like Dauphine, Murcia, Basque Country, Austria, etc, as well as 3rd overall last year at the World TT Championships and a 6th prior to that, plus a couple of Giro stage wins. Then you have the more well known names like Geraint Thomas (crocked at mo with fractured pelvis, still riding, crazy), Eddy BH and Stannard...all power and more suited towards the Classics but good for short bursts. Can't believe anyone can think Team Sky just shows up for the TdF.