Bernal looks very good in Switzerland.

I guess when you ride for Sky/Ineos you will always be doing fine in a TT when it matters. I guess they could even make Bardet look good on a TT bike.

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10k - 30:48 / half - 1:06:40

He looks good, but the overall quality of the GC there seems very lacking. I don't see a single likely top 10 in the TdF. I would have to say GT is likely feeling quite good about his place in Ineos considering how close the TdS is with such a weak field. I could be mistaken, but I can't shake that feeling when I look at the quality in the Dauphine compared to this race.

Jack

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Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I dont think he ever looks good on a TT bike. Can climb like a mother though.

Yeah I was thinking the same thing, while Bernal does indeed look great, when your closest competitor is Rohan Dennis.....
All the real players were at the Duaphne (or maybe the Giro).

Or cheese-gratering their faces across the pavement at 35MPH or getting their knees chewed up by sawblade chainrings. :)

Hahah, well yeah that too, I forgot to mention that :)

It’s not an A-1 field but you can only race who shows up. He didn’t exactly have much supporting cast either.

While it’s too early to hand him the TdF yellow jersey Bernal has shown all the skills to win it. He can obviously climb, ride a solid TT and as he showed winning Paris-Nice, is astute with positioning and race craft. If he can stay out of trouble and be strong(er) in final week like last year I’m not sure who can match him.

Why TF is no one talking about Hugh's epic solo yesterday? One of the greatest mountain solos I can remember lately, even if he was wayyy down on GC and was let go somewhat. Legend.

Time: 3h1’39”
Avg Speed: 33.5km/h
Max Speed: 94.0km/h
Avg Power: 320W
Normalised power: 360W

That was a great ride, he’s putting together a respectable season. So is EF.

I realize 94 kph is something the pro's (and maybe some of you) reach on a fairly regular basis, but that's going fast on a bike. I've never done that even on a long, straight, fairly steep descent, much less on a course where you'd have to negotiate turns along the way.

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"Human existence is based upon two pillars: Compassion and knowledge. Compassion without knowledge is ineffective; Knowledge without compassion is inhuman." Victor Weisskopf.

Yeah, Bernal looked solid. Never in danger and when it came time for him to hit the gas nobody could stay with him. It's not a sign that he will ride away from the GC contenders at the TdF, but shows his form is there for him to be in the mix, needs to be marked, and won't just be considered a lieutenant out there. The road will decide who the team leader is by stage 14 or 15...and whoever is ahead at that point will likely be protected for the onslaught of stages 18-20

So, during the lull, random thoughts on doping...….

1. Amateur masters who dope are whale shit, and that's low. Lower than guys who do it for dough.

2. Euro pros who doped during the era when it was pretty much industry standard: it's kind of like people who constantly travel for work. A very high percentage (I believe) with a few exceptions have had their "moments" of infidelity. This can be a few too many drinks and an awkward grope session that both really regret and is an isolated incident, or they can be full blown philanderers who simply rationalize their choices and decisions and lie and compartmentalize. And there can be some in between. We all have friends who we know cheat or have cheated and we are still friends. As Chris Rock said, "I don't CONDONE it, but I UNDERSTAND it."

3. Pros who dope now: dumb asses who know better but roll the dice anyway to get a stage or race and get paid more. They just suck, but are mostly inconsequential.

4. Current heroes and villains who cheated in the past but are now faithful and toe the line. We know who they are and what they did. I can root for Peto AND I saw him in Cali in 07. I don't like Piti (NEWMAN) but I do appreciate his skillz. Horner, Lance- mildly entertaining peckerheads. Vandevelde- boring peckerhead. Bobke- loveable knucklehead.

I guess, we all pick our spots where and when to be righteous about it.

There's another two categories I think. There are pros who exploit the gray areas, e.g. those who used Tramadol when it was legal, or (use)d corticosteroids legal out of competition as training aids. "Legal" but not healthy. As in if I had a kid who was a promising cyclist, I wouldn't want them entering a sport where powerful drugs like that are a regular part of the training regimen. It's not hard to name guys who almost certainly fall into this category.

And then there are just the plain smart dopers. Not the dumb-ass, poor Columbian or Italian conti pros (or Tyler Hamilton) who idiotically light themselves up until they glow at night. But the guys who systemically exploit gaps in anti-doping, and will almost certainly never be caught.

So it looks like DQS are not taking Gilbert to the Tour. That's a bummer!

I wonder where Phil Gil will end up? If I were him I'd take less money to stay at DQS with a team who can support him, though I understand taking the Derpstra and getting his payday at the end of a career.

You forgot the last kind. Those poor pros (Pantano) who get "contaminated" with EPO or the triathletes who keep getting "contaminated" with ostarine.

Tramadol and corticosteroids. Probably the two most influential. Indeed. Corticoids in off season, Tramadol in finish bottle. Or along those lines. Transformative.

US road championships this weekend, right ? maybe your namesake will podium !

A former pro buddy told me story about how painful the ITT was at TdS. He was telling that to Levi, who replied that he took a finish bottle before rolling out and had phenomenal ride, because he couldn't feel legs. He came in 3rd on that stage and made up a 2 minute advantage to win GC. So yeah, it's a slippery slope. Not admirable by any means but if they don't do it, someone else will. It's messy, I don't know what to think about all that.

However, this is by far the most appalling thing I've seen in quite some time, for a number of reasons.

InstaGone :(

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If drug use was open and visible, how would that impact the way we follow sports? Negatively IMO

I think very few of us want want to see blood transfusions and doping. We like to see training/work. It's such a bummer to think that doping in sports and cheating in business exists. Back to my simple life that hopes that more sh*t doesn't happen.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

This is shaping up as an odd TdeF. What will be the outcome?

In any order:

Team Sky/Ineos will continue to dominate
We will have an interim, one time winner of the TdeF.
A new star will emerge, not from Team Sky/Ineos.

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Indoor Triathlete - I thought I was right, until I realized I was wrong.

Also a pretty tough course with a lot of GC days, which would normally favour a seasoned GC contender who can navigate their way through it without big time losses. Not really any of those left though! Closest is Thomas but prior to last year he always had a bad day and/or a crash somewhere, has very little racing since winning in 2018, and we don't know what impact his crash had.

Do think it's too early for Bernal to win a Tour, huge talent but totally unproven with the pressure of leadership duties at something this big. Think Porte could be a dark horse, similar track record to Thomas, maybe this will be the year he gets the roll of the dice and status upright without bad days. Fuglsang is having the season of his life but think a Tour is another level, he's 34 years old with a best GT result to date of 7th in something like 12 attempts.

Nibali was the first name that came to mind when I read that phrase. He'll get gapped on explosive days, but he seldom cracks badly.

What was the appalling thing? I saw the picture of a black clad CX rider pacing Tejay up a mountain. Did I miss something else?