Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
I think it's too hilly - some of the climbs are savage, albeit not too long. The Mur de Huy is a beast and they do it a few times - seems pure Pog territory tbh.
Cycling thread
- Thread starter Bruce Wayne
- Start date
You'll never guess who has just won Fleche Wallone? Second thoughts, you probably can guess very easily.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
He looked almost human there.
Great effort by the break today - almost caught at one stage then drove it to the final climb.
Great effort by the break today - almost caught at one stage then drove it to the final climb.
I wonder what the odds are that we've just seen a record time up the Mur?
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
See Mark Hirschi looking busy today - I hadn't realised he was let go from DSM in unusual circumstances, not disclosed. He's won this race before but then his form completely evaporated.
Well, Pog isn't going to win today. Hope he's not badly hurt.
I was just going to say it's looking great for Pidcock, and then Remco dropped him.
thirdmantackle
Player Valuation: £35m
Race #6 today
6th in a sprint
That's 5 top 10 finishes for me and I'm now promoted up a division.
6th in a sprint
That's 5 top 10 finishes for me and I'm now promoted up a division.
sbbefc
Player Valuation: £30m
I find the way he's dominating the sport ruins it. But at the same time it would be fascinating to see if he could win everying.
Was he planning on doing the Giro? I suppose that would be out of the question now.
Black Belt Jones
Player Valuation: £25m
Believe it was just the Tour for Pog this year in terms of GTs - tour of Slovenia as warm up. Hopefully not a complicated fracture and recovery can be fast - scaphoid is naggy ime but an athlete of Pog's stature should shake it off no prob.
Took a spin round West Lancs today, including the mighty Parbold Hill. Kind of an odd part of the world imho, like a little bit of Norfolk transplanted to the NW, but some nice quiet lanes if you're after a flat ride - only caught the last hour of LBL. Forgot how aero Remco looks when he's off the front, really has an outstanding position on a road bike, must make quite a difference.
As soon as he was out it felt almost guaranteed that Remco would win. It does make me uneasy just how much better a handful of riders are than the rest, to the point that it almost makes the also rans look like amateurs. That they do this all year long is something I can't recall in all my years watching the sport.
Rita_Poon
Player Valuation: £90m
Induráin did similar. That opening TT and then a three week holiday in yellow still raises a smile.
I suppose that's the thing. Firstly, Indurain's best result in a classic was 4th in LBL the year he won the Tour, after which he never bothered. He also didn't win a single week long stage race until his 95 and 96 wins at the Dauphine. Pogacar is winning both classics and stage races all year, as is Remco. They're also winning climbs and TTs in GTs quite comfortably, whereas bar the likes of La Plagne, Indurain never rode away from climbers, and was notoriously given a working over in the mountains by Pantani. No one has worked over Pogacar except the entire JV team last year.
The nearest comparison is Hinault, and if you take a random year of his dominance, 1982, he was 8th in the Criterium International, 15th in Fleche Wallonne, 9th in Roubaix, and 4th in Romandie before he won the Giro and Tour In 1985 when he also did the double, he was 23rd at Fleche, 18th at LBL, and 16th at Romandie. You sense with Pog that he'd have either won or podiumed at all of those and still done the double.
At the moment the likes of Ineos, for all their budget, are scrabbling around trying to pick up results where Pog, WvA, MvdP, Remco, and Vingegaard aren't racing (possibly even Roglic). Those 5(6) hoover up pretty much every race they enter. It's pretty insane.
Rita_Poon
Player Valuation: £90m
I believe because of much more stringent testing that those who can excel will do, and the margin to catch up has been lessened somewhat. Every generation produces their equivalent super athletes, (side note re rugby) sometimes we get lucky and a couple are there simultaneously, then there's the historic comparisons. Science technology and medicine (nutrition & recovery) have advanced so much that we're effectively watching the evolution of a sport akin to amateurs becoming professional. (that's the best way I had to describe the transition in terms of successful performance).
(There has been a problem* in rugby for a long time where under 18's? can't be tested for chemical enhancements, but the science says steroids given during growth pre 18 have a lasting long term effect. I'd be fascinated to know the selection process and nurturing of the next crop of promising cyclists and whether designer roids dosed out early allow for a sudden explosion of peak performance at previously unheard of earlier years in a career)
[Sadly, until another sport tops the notoriety of cycling for doping then it's always going to be the big question. And yes there are still questions about Big Mig.]
(There has been a problem* in rugby for a long time where under 18's? can't be tested for chemical enhancements, but the science says steroids given during growth pre 18 have a lasting long term effect. I'd be fascinated to know the selection process and nurturing of the next crop of promising cyclists and whether designer roids dosed out early allow for a sudden explosion of peak performance at previously unheard of earlier years in a career)
[Sadly, until another sport tops the notoriety of cycling for doping then it's always going to be the big question. And yes there are still questions about Big Mig.]
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