I was hoping this was going to be a thread about IDEAS for trash talking on rides...
*Rides up to someone going uphill at their limit... "My front deraileur isn't working... looks like I'll have to finish this climb off in the big ring." Sigh and pedal away...*

In cycling if you stand up and say "I'm the strongest rider here, and I plan on winning this thing." the following happens:

1. The press calls you arrogant.

2. Everyone feels that they have to try to bring you back every time you try to go up the road.

3. If someone else goes up the road, everyone will look to you to pace them back up.

In cycling, being a marked man sucks (google "curse of the rainbow jersey"), nobody wants to paint a bullseye on themselves, even the top GC contenders.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

^ +1. this. Plus, there are lot's of politics in the peloton. The dynamics of cycling are unique in the fact that you sometimes will have to work with or ask for favours from the people you're competing against, and yet you've got to beat them later. no one wants to be known as an arrogant douchebag in the peloton. Remember these guys race each other day in, day out, and their livelihoods depend on it, so really, it doesn't do to piss people off with pointless smack talk . especially when the same person could easily put you into the barriers in a sprint at 60kph.

An example:
"But breaking one of the informal rules of the peloton can spell a rider's doom. "You do not want to be the guy nobody likes," Mr. Sulzberger says. "I've seen four teams chase down a rider and make his life hard because he did something wrong."" - wall street journal

x2 with this...

unless ur name is Fabian... ;)

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The entire event (IM) is like "death by 1000 cuts" and the best race is minimizing all those cuts and losing less blood than the other guy. - Dev

is fabian on the peletons hit list?

Anyway, i hear Voeckler isnt well loved amongst cyclists, is this true? In the TDF where Rogers won a stage, he mentioned tommy said he had support not too far behind (another europcar rider) and to basically forget about attacking him. Rogers told him that he wasnt gonna buy into his shit basically and rode away for the stage win

Luis was referring to the fact that Fabian puts a target on his own back and like this spring and on the cobbled stage of the TdF often he's in a prisoner's dilemma situation where he either has to chase and drag everyone with him or not do anything and have nobody chase at all.