Giro d'Italia 2017 **spoilers**

[Crackle]

Isn't weird that Landa was so fúcking good at Astana when all of Astana were motoring up the mountains a couple of years back but he's just an average José now he's at Sky...
...or am I being unfair?

He's never reproduced that form and races rather tamely compared to the very aggressive way he raced the Giro with Astana. Perhaps Sky don't feed him enough raw meat.

 

[rich p]

He's never reproduced that form and races rather tamely compared to the very aggressive way he raced the Giro with Astana. Perhaps Sky don't feed him enough raw meat.

Raw summink.
That was the Giro that Tiralongo belted up the high mountains too IIRC but, to be fair, he was only 37 at the time....

 

[ColinJ]

I have just watched the AMAZING highlights show on Eurosport Player ...

Something happening with 100 km to go. Something else a few kms later. Oh, now only about 40 kms to go ... We are getting close to the showdown on the Etna climb. The peloton are chasing the breakaway ... And here we are with 1.2 kms to go when pretty much all the action is over - WTF!!!

I wish they would hire a skilled editor to go through the day's footage and come up with some sensible highlights rather than just hacking chunks out randomly to get the overall length down to one hour including adverts!

 

[smutchin]

Isn't weird that Landa was so fúcking good at Astana when all of Astana were motoring up the mountains a couple of years back but he's just an average José now he's at Sky...
...or am I being unfair?

They're obviously not giving him the same grade of "beetroot juice" and "fluffy pillows" as they're giving Geraint Thomas.

 

[brommers]

The Brit Boys are looking good

 

[User33236]

I think Kelly has it right - they misjudged how sharp the corner was and went straight on to avoid going off the road.

He's right in the fact some riders arrived as the corner too quickly but wrong to discount poor marshalling as a contributing factor.

 

[roadrash]

Isn't weird that Landa was so fúcking good at Astana when all of Astana were motoring up the mountains a couple of years back but he's just an average José now he's at Sky...
...or am I being unfair?

perhaps he would be better if he had...( cough) asthma

 

[mjr]

I have just watched the AMAZING highlights show on Eurosport Player ... I wish they would hire a skilled editor to go through the day's footage and come up with some sensible highlights rather than just hacking chunks out randomly to get the overall length down to one hour including adverts!

Even just bringing back the old fast forward symbol they used to use would make them less confusing!

Eurosport - making viewers realise how good itv4's editing is.

 

[mjr]

They're obviously not giving him the same grade of "beetroot juice" and "fluffy pillows" as they're giving Geraint Thomas.

I think it was the Cycling Podcast or it might have been VeloNews that commented that lots of Sky's signings go backwards in their first year there and that Sky's training methods are very different. In particular, Landa is a rider who "freaks out" if his legs start hurting not on steep high mountains and Sky's training methods maybe tax Landa like that more often than Astana's did - which is a statement open to many interpretations!

 

[smutchin]

I think it was the Cycling Podcast or it might have been VeloNews that commented that lots of Sky's signings go backwards in their first year there and that Sky's training methods are very different.

Hmmm. I do wonder how different they can possibly be. It's all ultimately just riding a bike. All the marginal gains stuff is just gloss.

Not that I'm suggesting this is evidence that he was doping at Astana. The real problem with analysing rider performance for signs of doping is that it's easy to pick and choose the evidence to invent patterns that fit whatever agenda you want to push. Look at Nico Roche, for example - I'm sure it's mere coincidence that his best two seasons were the ones he spent under Bjarne Riis's management. Suddenly, all that form disappeared when he joined Sky and he never managed to adapt to their "training methods"...

 

[Pro Tour Punditry]

I have just watched the AMAZING highlights show on Eurosport Player ...

Something happening with 100 km to go. Something else a few kms later. Oh, now only about 40 kms to go ... We are getting close to the showdown on the Etna climb. The peloton are chasing the breakaway ... And here we are with 1.2 kms to go when pretty much all the action is over - WTF!!!

I wish they would hire a skilled editor to go through the day's footage and come up with some sensible highlights rather than just hacking chunks out randomly to get the overall length down to one hour including adverts!

Utterly bizarre editing. I'm all for showing earlier bits if of relevance but yesterday's edited early bits were pointless.

 

[mjr]

Hmmm. I do wonder how different they can possibly be. It's all ultimately just riding a bike. All the marginal gains stuff is just gloss.

I agree that it's probably not marginal gains directly but the caricature was of old-fashioned do-what-I-say go-hurt-yourself training methods at some of the older teams and measurement-based agreed-with-rider training plans with psychological elements at Team Sky. I wonder whether a bit of bravado and arrogance is inadvertently rewarded at old-fashioned teams but can lead to talking oneself into overtraining at Sky.

Not that I'm suggesting this is evidence that he was doping at Astana. The real problem with analysing rider performance for signs of doping is that it's easy to pick and choose the evidence to invent patterns that fit whatever agenda you want to push. Look at Nico Roche, for example - I'm sure it's mere coincidence that his best two seasons were the ones he spent under Bjarne Riis's management. Suddenly, all that form disappeared when he joined Sky and he never managed to adapt to their "training methods"...

I wonder if we'll hear much from Roche about Sky's training methods now that he's gone to join Porte at BMC. There isn't much yet, but https://cyclingtips.com/2017/02/rig...-to-putting-porte-into-tour-de-france-yellow/ suggests that he doesn't think much of Sky's tactics, plus that Sky puts people in one particular type of role and leaves them there.

Looking at the early-but-not-startup transfers to Sky, there do seem to be several that either don't feature much (usually no wins, but sometimes one early) and then start winning more in their second season or near the end of their first. The exception was Cav but I'd say that was unusual with him being a favourite rider and Sky signing three or four of his former team at the same time, which may have insulated him from however Sky differs.

I don't speculate about reasons, but there does appear to be a Sky signing hangover effect.

 

[Crackle]

Panini have a sticker album for the 100th Giro

View attachment 350666

You can buy the full collection for £130 on ebay.

http://road.cc/content/news/222357-...iders-over-panini-giro-ditalia-album-stickers

 

[smutchin]

Luka Pibernik, you wally!

 

[roadrash]

Pibernick , no you haven't won one lap to go yet you plonker