Pro Cycling Live - will contain spoilers

Smashed him

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There’s a slight uncertainty in this year’s race though - that final day time trial. It’s not an easy one and as we all know, absolutely anything can happen.

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Two mins faster than a who’s who of drug cheats :thinking: must be those carbs

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Well he made it, but he’ll be happy it’s a rest day tomorrow :grimacing:.

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:face_with_monocle:

Mr’s response: yeah but aero technology.

I don’t know. I just don’t know. I want to believe. I wanted to believe with the previous crowd too.

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If it looks too good to be true….

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I believe, maybe naively considering the past, but this new batch, they’ve all been superstars since they were kids, so maybe they really are just good.

I wouldnt be shocked if one got popped though

Saying that the more I see and hear from Wiggins, someone I also believed, the more suspicious I get of jiffy bags, missing laptops, no backups and enough T being ordered by a dodgy doctor on the teams account ā€œbut not for the team, noā€

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He was paced 2/3 of the way up, so it wasn’t a solo effort. More a surprise that Pantani still held the record I would say.

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I am a cynic, however, watching Pogacar yesterday, I am really questioning the integrity of the top teams. I really, really want cycling to be clean, but wonder if the current performances are physiologically possible, even for riders who are in the 99.99999999th percentile

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Dude, replace ā€œtop cycling teamsā€ with your 25 mile TT performances from leaving university to when you were 49.

It’s pretty much an identical 10% improvement over the same period, with the same/similar equipment.

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Wait - @Matthew_Spooner is on drugs?
:flushed:

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No. I’m saying I don’t agree with the logic behind his comment.

He made a 10% improvement over 25 ish years in his TT times.

The pros have pretty much done the same for the KoM on that stage yesterday (the climbing part of it)

It’s equipment, sports science and the sub4 min mile psychological thing - someone else had done it, so I can.

Let’s be honest, Remco is miles ahead in third.
And he’s a bit of a large guy to be a GC contender, so whilst he’s ā€œbest of the restā€ - the rest are just a bit shit for this current crop.

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Pogacar is on another level though isn’t he.

The way he responded to Vingegaard’s attack yesterday and simply dropped him. Childs play. It does seem sus

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You could argue that Ving is suffering from his disrupted build up with the crash etc, and he’s lost that 1% that he needs to keep up.

:man_shrugging:

I dunno. I’ll just watch it with innocence as it’s more enjoyable that way.

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Yeah, if everyone was performing at a higher level then it wouldn’t be so suspicious. Pog is just making it look too easy this year

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Very good point, never considered it in this way. However, I don’t think that anyone disputes the fact that they were on drugs 25 years ago.

My training is totally different to my training 25 years ago, back then, no PM, no Zwift, smash every ride, no idea about base building. Looking at the bike, I had MB cleats, I think I did get Look pedals sometime back then

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The other thing that goes in the ā€œbelievableā€ box is that Pog is consistently good. He is ALWAYS up there. He’s had less than a handful of days where he has completely blown and at his age that’s probably about right - part of the learning curve.

But history sadly taints it all.

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So was Lance :joy::see_no_evil:

But for me, it’s the peloton likes Pog.
Or at least seem to.

It’s not some omerta thing, it’s that they are actually clean. The way riding is now, the whole team is behind one rider. And you train to be a domestique, sprinter, TT, GC etc from the neo-pro days.

Take out them two.and the race is pretty much Remco’s to lose. It’s like being Murray in the Federer/Nadal era.

To me, what’s unbelievable is how slow Ullrich and Lance were up there. With their 19mm 200psi tubular tyres and alloy bikes, with flappy jerseys and cables everywhere. Riding a 53/39 23-11 set up :joy::joy::joy:

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Eh? How on earth is that a surprise? That anyone can come close to the crazy blood doping is astonishing.

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Would you expect a rider to be good all the time, or would it be more natural for them to have off days and to have to build to a peak?