Do we think that the whole adverse analytical findings case with just evaporate into thin air. CF will win the Giro on Sunday. The UCI is so disorganised and full of contradicting statements. They are never going to ban CF. By the way I think he has not done anything wrong.

Anybody got any links were I can watch highlights of yesterday's stage?

Cracked me up.

Do you think that the test results were wrong, or that he took the legal amount but excreted double the legal amount? Or do you think he should be allowed to puff as much salbutamol as he wants?

Do you have any other examples of people testing way over the limit for salbutamol, who haven't been banned?

Seen this all before. I can’t suspend disbelief yet again. Guy drops the field at 80k out and sticks it. Then cycling fan physicists explain why, so we rationalize what we’ve witnessed and can breathe easy knowing our heroes are heroes.

If UCI had their shit together he wouldn’t be riding at all. Brailsford is a hypocrit.. Sky is dirty and they’re not alone.

Can’t wait to see another Hejedal spinning bike and have it explained away as perfectly normal. Another clean guy unfairly maligned.

Corticosteroids for weight loss and body comp changes are still there. Tramadol, micro dosing, it’s all still there. I applaud and respect the majority of the peloton trying to do this clean.

If you’re looking for clean, look down the mountain. If you’re not, happy viewing.

Jimmy out.

this topic has probably been discussed to death anyway. There was a scientific paper published last month claiming that the current test to detect levels of salbutamol in urine is inadequate. Coincidence or not the Sky lawyers will use it in his defence.
Still though the stage yesterday was amazing to watch.

How long have you been a professional road cycling fan?

I still feel like when Sky started up they had genuine intentions of riding clean, maybe I'm naive on that. But I think the pursuit of marginal gains gradually led them down the road of exploiting every possible opportunity to "legally" dope, and then to bending the rules and finding loopholes to squeeze out even more gains, incrementally becoming dirtier and dirtier. I wonder what Brailsford circa 2010 would think of Brailsford now.

If you think Sky is dirty then what makes you think that the majority of the peloton is trying to do it clean? Plenty of riders have left Sky and gone to other teams - Landa, Porte, Cavendish, Kennaugh, Boassen Hagen, Nieve, Viviani for example. You think they were dirty for Sky and then suddenly cleaned up their act when they moved teams? If they are advocates for clean riding and knew that Sky were dirty why not say something?

Based on past history it seems highly likely that if there's doping going on amongst the top teams then most of the riders will be doing it to a greater or lesser degree.

I saw that but everytime they showed Dumoulin's power on the climbs it was 350W!!!! So that would be "only" 5W per kilo. I did not see any 420W (6W per kilo) readings on the flobikes feed, but I may have missed them. Don't know how accurate those numbers are.

Pinot has blown and is way off the back today. Can barely turn the pedals and has teammates trying to nurse him through to the finish line. Still a lot of climbing to go with 35k or so left.

I am using flobikes.com in Canada. It is available in the US. Cost was $30 for one month.

Dev

Just to pull today's profile up again. One last chance for Tom D on Cervinia

 Am I the only one rooting for Lopez ?

There is one more person in Ottawa in your camp! When am I going to see you next time at the pool before you head to the TdF with team Astana?

I have made myself obsolete by training the coaches on how to use the device. They don't need me anymore.

As a matter of fact they tested Lopez a few weeks ago. Last weekend they were testing Valgren and Cataldo on various positions for break aways and descents. This weekend they are testing Fuglsang on the TT bike.

All I get are test results and pictures :-( The riders love this shit.

Froome maintained his lead across all the flat valley kilometers over three guys trading pulls, then went up last climb faster than any of them. As I said before, Froome is a complete GC guy but that really shows the extent of his effort.

maybe you guys can help me with this, because i haven't really followed it. i think there's every possibility froome did a landis yesterday. but not with salbutamol. there is no way you can puff your way to victory. oral salbutamol? yeah. that's a performance enhancer. but that would show up in a blood test and probably a urine test and maybe that's the hubbub, that his levels were too high for it to be inhaled? it's not a strong enough beta-2-agonist to provide an androgenic effect.

i don't see froome's giving a pink jersey to glaxo for his ride yesterday. are we basically saying the peloton is on a relative level clean, even the top guys, except that they're abusing the TUE system with the need for corticosteroids and beta-2-agonists? because, if so, flay me if you want, but if that's where we are then that would be a huge anti-doping victory.

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Dan Empfield
aka Slowman

I don't believe that any of your post was a contention.

Nonetheless I do agree with your conclusion: I do not believe there is any eveidence to suggest that anything has changed since the Festina affair, except the methods.

Good point Carl, but I watched a lot of it and it looked like TD doing the majority of the pulling. They attacked TD on occasion, and TD also had to shepherd them down the hills as they can’t descend like Froome and TD.

TD admitted it might have been a mistake to wait for Reichenbach because he “descends like an old lady,” but even if TD was doing 70% of work on flats it would be more likely to see Froome slow from the additional effort.

But whatever, is what it was, which was certainly entertaining. The Giro is a no-win deal for Froome wrt to public opinion. If vindicated of adverse finding he’ll still be scrutinized for stage 18 effort. If not he’ll be hammered much worse, and rightfully so. At end of the day the sport can’t seem to move beyond past mistakes.

I’ve never been a big fan of Froome, but he’s impressive. Three GT wins in succession and looking good for a Giro/Tour double. Not to mention that would make it a Tour/Vuelta/Giro/Tour quad. Throw in the back from the dead aspect of the Giro win and you have to give him some props.

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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.

I think he is the favourite for the Quad. His Giro was more like a 2 week loss limting training camp followed by a one week serious stage race with 3 really hard stages with extended efforts (Zoncolan, ITT and Finistre) plus 2 stages with short surges (today and Prato Nevoso). With the extra time to the TdF, I would imagine he will be ready. Maybe he won't be on full form in the first 10 days if he takes a large chunk of easy days/time off immediately after the Giro, but I would imagine that Sky would have him ready for the back half of the race when everyone is tired and the top end of most of the peloton is diminished....then he can out diesel everyone. Froome just needs to sit on Richie Porte, Quintana, Simon Yates, Barguil, Bardet, Uran, Landa and limit losses the first 10 days while these guys overcook it....then a few hard stages and solid TT and these guys can't beat him. The thing about Froome is the guy really knows how to use his resources over 3 weeks and largely saves any crazy attacks. There were stages early in the Giro when Pinot was attacking all the time. That guy was the strongest on multiple stages. Same with Yates. Froome and Dumoulin, these guys save their matches. i'd love to see a rematch between the two guys at the TdF.

Last year Quintana over raced before the Giro and was done by the TdF. Froome seems to have followed a more sensible early season scheudule compatively.

I am new to watching cyling so perhaps this is a very dumb question. But why has Froome already won? Tommorow is the last stage right? It seems to be a formality for some, not for others. I'd really don't understand.

The last stage of a Grand Tour is generally seen as a procession and one for the sprinters to contend. The stage into Rome will be no different.