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Jens Voigt
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Just wrote on twitter:

"back home and back riding - its only 40 degrees celsius less than in Austratlia, we had 35 there and this morning -5 degrees celsius in berlin. Went out with the dog and was of course totally underdressed and actually was a little cold until i told my body to shut up and stop shaking. And lucky for me my body actually stopped shaking around and i could finish my walk without freezing my hands off."



WIN
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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gotta love JV
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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I used to think Jens Voigt was tough. But then I started watching bike racing in April and never saw him, now I know better.
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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my fanboy love for this man knows no bounds.
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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The man is a legend simple as! Not because of what he has done on the bike though it helps, but because of the person he is off it.
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Re: Jens Voigt [ In reply to ]
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Jens Voigt is my Chuck Norris.

Head down, thumbs up, give'r
@barrettdj
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Re: Jens Voigt [eganski] [ In reply to ]
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eganski wrote:
I used to think Jens Voigt was tough. But then I started watching bike racing in April and never saw him, now I know better.


... Started in April!? You must have it all figured out by now!
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Re: Jens Voigt [beston] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah, my grammar fail totally killed my point.

As DaveRoche says, "PUNCTUATION SAVES LIVES!"
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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He probably mistyped and meant to say:

"it was -5 degrees fahrenheit and -40 with the windchill and I was wearing shorts and a tank top" ;-)

He probably went for a 400km ride after too... The man is a beast and a warrior!


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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Jens told the cold air to "F&%K OFF"...

and it did...
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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I like Jens too. But it made me realize how badass the team leaders and GC contenders were, when a strongman like Jens was never in contention in a grand tour time trial and in a different zip code on the mountain top finishes.
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Re: Jens Voigt [eganski] [ In reply to ]
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Chuck Norris holds nothing on Jens.

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Re: Jens Voigt [rufio] [ In reply to ]
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"my fanboy love for this man knows no bounds. "

Fuck yeah!

customerjon @gmail.com is where information happens.
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Re: Jens Voigt [rbar] [ In reply to ]
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I think you completely miss the point about Jens, its the fact that he is not in that very top class but dedicates himself to the cause of such people without any consideration for himself at times which makes him the legend that he is.

For me Jens shows that mere mortals if they have balls big enough to give it a go can have their day every now and again. I love his interview which is part of the Chasing Legends dvd in which he outlines his philosophy. In it he says you go off in a break or on a lone attack and you know you have no chance of staying away. You know it is really going to hurt and the pain will be almost unbearable but just once in a while, maybe a less than a one in a hundred chance, you might have earned a bit of luck and you stay away and its your day. He points out if on the other hand you do not try the impossible you can never win so what is the point in hanging around in the peloton, logic decrees there is no point and so you must go out and race.

The peleton is a culture in which you have to earn the right to even have a go at taking such chances. You earn that right by grafting day in day out pulling on the front, chasing breaks down carrying clothing and food and drinks for your fellow team mates. Jens has built a career on selfless endevour in the great traditions of the sport. Followers of cycling understand that without the peleton there would be no sport and no spectacle. They realise that the sport can not be built and maintained by the very elite alone, as such they can not draw all of their heroes from the pool of the greatest champions though that is important. There must be some which emerge from the core of the peleton itself, not as the aristocrats of the sport but as true working class heroes.
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Re: Jens Voigt [LancsRider] [ In reply to ]
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He seems like a very positive guy. Damned strong rider.
Hail JV!!!

Socks
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Re: Jens Voigt [LancsRider] [ In reply to ]
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Well done post....................Bravo
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Re: Jens Voigt [LancsRider] [ In reply to ]
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Excellent post, well put. JV is the man.
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Re: Jens Voigt [LancsRider] [ In reply to ]
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Jens has been inspiration for me too.

The group I ride with is like most groups. All good friends until the finish line sprint. I have a dodgy ticker so can't partake in such things, so I have become a domestique.

All my riding buddies are better/faster than me. I take my turns at the front, although due to a strong self preservation gene, they might be a little short. And of course, my friends can carry their own damned bottles and jackets! Still, since I can't do the sprints, I take a hit for the team and make myself useful in the last 2km before the sprint as the leadout train. The boys now know EXACTLY where I will sit up and coast. They make their jump at that point and it's Cavendish wannabe's for the last 500-1000m or so.

I'm a domestiqute, but not a super-comestique like Jens. Not sure I ever wanna be a super domestique like Jens, but I sure do admire the dude.

TriDork

"Happiness is a myth. All you can hope for is to get laid once in a while, drunk once in a while and to eat chocolate every day"
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Re: Jens Voigt [rbar] [ In reply to ]
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rbar wrote:
I like Jens too. But it made me realize how badass the team leaders and GC contenders were, when a strongman like Jens was never in contention in a grand tour time trial and in a different zip code on the mountain top finishes.

Jens is not a great time trialler but as for the mountain top finishes the reason he finishes in a different zip code is because he has busted his arse off dragging his team captain up those god damn mountains. The man is a freak.

At the recent tour down under he stated that he wants to keep riding for another 10 years (he's 40!) Not likely but hopefully for as long as possible.
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Re: Jens Voigt [LancsRider] [ In reply to ]
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I appreciate the Jens Voigts and the domestiques in the mountains too. And have been following cycling passionately since 1988. My point was that I cannot imagine how hard the decisive moments in those big races must be. Another example was Jan Ullrich losing 9minutes to Pantani on the climb to Les Deux Alps in the 2008 Tour. I cannot imagine how much time a normal athlete would lose when the beasts take a beating like that. No disrespect was meant to Jens or the other pro riders. I love bike racing when the hammer goes down.
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Re: Jens Voigt [rbar] [ In reply to ]
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Yeah Jens was having a bad day and Pantani was on rocket fuel................................in 98...................Sure you meant that
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Re: Jens Voigt [Kenney] [ In reply to ]
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Everyone was on rocket fuel in 98. It was still fun to watch the big boys battle.
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Re: Jens Voigt [%FTP] [ In reply to ]
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Jens is such a BAMF he even shatters the 140 character limit on twitter.
Nothing is safe around him.


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Re: Jens Voigt [rbar] [ In reply to ]
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I think the interseting fact would be what is the wattage output overall in the day of various riders. If you havn't seen Chasing Legends its a fantastic insight. In one segment Cavendish if I remember is talking to Bernie Eisel at the end of the stage at the team bus. Cav is in absolute awe of Eisel for having brought up 12 or so bottles from the team cars through the whole peleton up a category 2 climb at a key point which enables the whole of HTC to stay at the front and not be dehydrated in the last 30 to 40km and go on a win the stage. Eisel accepts the praise and points out he was putting out between 600 to 800 watts on the climb from memory.

The top riders are protected an awful lot durring the race, this is something they need to be good at. I would say Cadel Evans is the greatest exponent of this and his size helps, Andy Schleck is a very nervous rider who lacks the patience or confident to save as much energy when he can and I believe this is his main weakness. When it coms to key moments either in a race or in the case of a TT stage that is when they spend their energy.

I would suspect that if you added up the power output taking into account rider weight and terrain of all riders over the whole course of a grand tour for instance there would be very little difference between riders across the whole peleton. In last years Tour I would not be surprised if the likes of Chris Froome or Johnny Hoogerland would top out. The podium would be very close to the top places but only be I think 2 or 3% above other riders. Its this small percentage or talent as we call it that enables them to be leaders or have the licence to ride as they do.

I think road cycling is perhaps the most complex sport on the planet and takes some time to understand, I am in the fortunate position to sit in front of the TV and watch 5 and 6 hour transmissions day after day and am able to get the chance of seeing a bigger picture. I think as triathletes we are used to the concept of spending our energy at a constant rate as an idela scenario which is contrary to road racing. I am also fortunate to have talked to a few pro riders from within the ranks of the peleton in the past, and am lucky to bump into a few of the Sky riders from time to time whilst out training here in the UK we tend to use the same road circuits. As a 17 year old I raced to a reasonable level for a top club but realised I was never going to be top class and university in London was not conducive to training and so dropped out of the sport over a year or so. One of my club mates my age went on to turn pro and ride the Tour de France. We always thought of him as a bit better as he had a really good sprint and as such won a lot of races through the junior ranks. When we crossed paths at the end of his first pro season I asken him what the pro peleton was like as a domestique, his answer was I used to sprint once in a race to try and win it, now I have to sprint 20 or 30 times in a day simply to do my job. I am sure that dropping into the highlights or the last hour of a race will for many viewers make general riders in the peleton look crap as they fall off the pace when as you put it the main events starts and this is unfortunate but I guess inevitable.

My personal experience on the road is that there are some talented club riders out there, then there is the national pro scene which is in the main a little bit better but not always often made up of youngsters who would rather ride a bike than get a full time job. When it comes to the top level we are talking a different class here in my experience. I have ridden with some of the Sky riders and come up to pretty solid climbs by British standards over which I have to work really hard these guys can ride them pretty steady on the big chain ring without pushing heart rates at all and to try an keep up with them is suicide and would destroy my session. As Jens says when you get to an event like a major tour or a classic, everyone absoloutly everyone is a top class rider. Some are just a little bit better than that.
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