I was saying this about Lance 30 years ago …
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Sorry, but glad to see you’ve all expressed my opinion already so I won’t come across as a total ass. Just mostly.
“I was trying to hold back” - Vinga.
Go fuck yourself.
I think it’s a combo of pog going clean and vinga finding a new dirty. It’s not real, soz.
Another year id maybe say JV stronger team saved Vinga, but UAE have a strong team showing now. You can’t put minutes into WVA and claim clean.
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I may have had a few beers and a glass of wine while watching the highlights and posting last night.
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Can’t wait for today’s stage. Should be another cracker.
This has probably been one of the most entertaining TdF since I’ve been watching/following.
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It is absolutley tipping it down for today’s stage.
Interested in this. Why do ou thik he has gone clean? I don’t think it is unreasonable to assume he is a little off his best due to his wirst injury. With his team’s history, I would be surprised if he is clean.
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Indurain would often dominate the final TT; if he didn’t it was because Rominger beat him. We know about their diet.
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As well as the comments about JV’s performance I think this was a big factor in the gap between those two.
Pog’s face on the last climb didn’t seem to show any extreme effort or pain at all. Not saying he wasn’t trying but I think he’s lost that last 1% (or whatever) and just couldn’t bury himself the way he normally would or the way JV was.
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Big huge powerhouse producing crazy watts you think he would have averaged over 40 kph on a test with 2300 ft of climbing in 20 ish kms?
This is why I wall always hate Lance and co, that young lad put out one of the most impressive displays or endurance athletics I’ve ever seen and we all think “ drugs”
If we are all wrong we owe him a huge sorry if we’re not nothings changed in 50 years.
It was just mind blowing that he could put that much time into pogacar who was over 6/w/kg on the climb
He easily beat WVA on the flat and the KOM on the climb …just “ too good to be true?”
- again we have no evidence he’s recycling his blood or taking sick peoples medication
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Couple of things I did notice on the highlights. One I think the bike swap for Pog cost him a chunk of time. Peter Kenaugh was saying there wasnt much in it and it came down to how comfortable the rider was on a TT bike. I think he lost seconds in the actual swap and didnt really gain anything on the hill.
The other thing about Vin was his descending was masterful. Pog was good but Vin was taking the corners like an F1 driver, he knew when to be on the horns and went to get down on the aeros, was coming out wide and hitting the apex on every corner. Im sure he picked up some decent time there as well as from his engine
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They discussed this on Eurosport. He lost 17 seconds IIRC but then was slower on the climb on a lightweight road bike.
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You see I’ve gone the other way, I see riders actually having bad days now which they didn’t years ago, hence a bad performance from WvA, and these young riders have been very good from a very young age, can actually ride bikes in multiple disciplines rather than being a TT robot. Then again as I’ve aged I’ve mellowed as I’d never watch sport again if I was permanently scrutinising whether they were clean as most , even if legally/technically they are clean, are all pushing boundaries.
Yesterday was odd though. you used to see TT specialists come out for a stage win, but the parcours maybe didn’t help that with a hilly TT and the fact the race has been far from flat from day 1 this year
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Do I just keep Pog again for today?
I’m guessing a ‘lower’ placed rider will try and get away before the HC summit and descend to the win. Schauen wir mal.
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They do, MdvP and Remco definitely have but I don’t remember Pogacar or Vingegaard have one, certainly not on this tour. Slightly less good than the other but not comapred to everyone else.
I suspect we’re now in the realms of Balco and they’re on stuff that the testers are unaware of. I don’t think there is anymore incentive to be clean than there used to be. It’s like the men’s 100m, odds are they’re cheating and it is no one’s interest to catch them, other than clean athletes of course.
ETA: I have seen some suggestions on twitter that motor-doping is the only explination, with the assumption they’re all at PED doping to similar level of expertise. You would think that would be easy to find but again, does anyone involved in the TdF want that?
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I don’t the slightest think drugs here?
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Floyd had a bad day in 2006…
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he certainly didnt have a bad second day though 
it was all for show lol
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Pog said yesterday he was hoping for a wet stage, isn’t it raining today?
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Who? 
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I do…. Ish
Your correct 100%… I’m a cynic.
Virtually Everytime something like this has happened in pro cycling days, weeks, months, years later we find out that it wasn’t clean
I could be stuck in the past I guess, it’s a fact that he is basically going faster than all the guys who did use drugs back in the day I know he has better equpt, training, nutrition. Science etc
I honestly hope your spot on Jim
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The only thing steering me away from the negative thoughts - this has been an incredibly hard tour. Stage after stage has been manic.
WVA has been in no end of breaks and burning matches; Pog doing plenty of attacks and burning through his team most days.
Vin has largely raced smart and defensively - has he been able to save those matches and then lit them up yesterday?
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