Sky rode a monster TT yesterday. What I want to know is why the hell G can't keep off the tarmac. For those of you not following he was on pace to win the Prologue a few days back and laid the bike down going around a corner. That guy is on the ground at a Contador-esque clip. Kwiato laid the bike down on stage 2 with about 1k to go, but thankfully he didn't show any ill effects at the TTT.

The next 4 days in the mountains should be exciting to watch. Big fan of the Polish Horse, but I will be looking for Bardet to animate the mountains. Hopefully Barguil shows some good form too as he is stage hunting, though the start of this year has been rough for him,

I am curious to see Barguil's form in the mountains as well as Nibali's (after Milano San Remo). But Nibali being down 2.5 minutes kind of sucks. The mountains should be exciting given the large time gaps everyone has to go on pretty solid attacks and this being a 1 week stage race should allow for some fresher legs and less "long term" pacing vs a 3 week grand tour.

Agreed on Thomas. I had visions of Tyler Hamilton sketchiness.

Well one mountain stage down and the yellow goes from one Sky to another Sky with the third Sky likely to take over later. Who needs Froome?

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808 > NYC > PDX > YVR
2024 Races: Taupo

ah, what?
Impey is 33 so closer to masters than <25
also no chance to hang on in the mountains to come

but yeah, sky monstered the TT (plus prologue) and that has made them incredibly dominant over the whole race. only a couple of non-sky riders within a minute and they're not climbing threats. very much sky's race to lose from here.

in the tour there will be more climbing stages to balance out the TTT and also other teams will have stronger TTT teams but this still illustrates how much a TTT can bias the race GC.

interesting to note that the tour of britain is going to have a TTT for the first time ever. for a race where you have domestic teams vs WT that is going to mean none of the domestic guys have any chance in the GC.

another development that favours strong teams is the tour's starting grid concept for the short stage - sky will likely have multiple riders in the top 20 that start first so potentially gain a big advantage. though i'm not sure it will come to much in reality.

this all plays back into the discussion of how would froome fare if he as on a small team - i'd still like to think that when it comes down to it cycling is a sport that can be won by anyone with the legs but it seems to be more and more team based

ahhh...I had the ages of the South Africans confused....was thinking Louis Meintjes.

In any case, the Froomeless Sky squad doing what they do:



It will be interesting to see what some of the climbers do on the weekend stages: Bardet, Soler, Dan Martin, Zakarin! Barguil and Nibail seem to have gotten gapped today!

The build up to the last climb today has been relatively exciting. Good on Bardet for providing some animation on the descents. I was surprised to see just how quickly he could take time out of Thomas and the other GC boys. Once again Sky had the right answer with Castroviejo. He did a wonderful job closing down Bardet and bringing Thomas and the rest of the leaders back. Sky look unstoppable.

Also, anyone else notice van Baarle's weight? I've followed him for a while and he has had an impressive youth career and start to his professional career. TrainingPeaks had an article a few years ago detailing his normalized power of 351W for almost six hours at Roubaix. He was listed at 78kg then and looked it. Tall strong lad. Yesterday he put in some serious work for team sky and I couldn't believe how lean he is. I think there is every chance he is down to 70-72kg.

It looks like the other Yates is about to move into second on the GC....good to see some other teams other than Sky in the mix.

WRT to your comment on Van Baarle's weight, what's the magic formula? Eddy Merckx style....one banana, one bottle of water and 6 hours per day in the saddle (OK the cannibal had their dope of the day).

Nice shot of Bilbao:

Without the TTT, Yates would be only 37 down on Thomas. Him and Thomas (crash) were dead even on the Prologue.

Great ride by Bilbao!

Anyone see the post race interview with Thomas? He was talking about being on good form, but also that he needs to lose more weight for July. The Sky boys have taken this leanness thing to a whole new level.

Yeah, some Sky riders are incredibly thin. Think Poels, Froome or Wiggins in 2012.

G, however, is never in that camp and more athletically built. Still very lean though of course.

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

I am just getting the text updates from cyclingnews....it seems that Yates and Bardet are clear of Sky with the final climb of the Dauphine remaining and they could scoop the win? But it is unclear from the text updates.

Thomas held on for the GC win. I like what Sky is doing this year. Like USPS/Disco, there is an Evil Empire aspect to them. But they are going into races besides the TdF with the object of winning, and it's not always Froome. Other than Heras winning the Vuelta one year, USPS/Disco seemed to be all about Armstrong, his TdF prep, and the TdF.

I'll go out on a limb and predict that Froome will win this year's TdF.

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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.

Who is Sky's "A" rider at the Vuelta....they just took the Giro, Tour of California and Dauphine. With Thomas and Froome at the TdF, that's like the old days of La Vie Claire stacking the top 10 in the TdF!!! It feels like they want to sweep the grand tours this year!

My question is if some of the taller GC guys are obsessing a bit too much over their weight and lose something in the TT.

I mean Thomas can ride with the climbers most of the time and has an advantage in the TT against anyone than Dumoulin and Froome.
Dumoulin is also doing very well in the mountains.

Of course I am far from a pro but I notice it myself. I am currently at a similar body composition as G and I feel very strong in the flat and haven't lost anything in the climbs. I have been lighter before but always struggled to push the big gears (sometimes even uphill)

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

it seems to me that weight-loss is where sky's big gains have come. i have also experienced the drop in power, performance, poor sleep etc that comes from losing too much weight. sky though seem to have found a way to strip the weight from their riders without any downside. from wiggins to the latest example in moscon - a classics strongman now climbing with all but the best pure climbers! thomas doesn't seem to have gone quite as far down this track as others but might yet.

if sky are doping (technically legal or not) i think this is where it is at with triamcinolone, salbutamol etc all being known to be highly beneficial in weight loss without strength loss