2013 Tour de France

[yarravalleyplodder]

anyway the fact so many struggled either up the hill or to back up tells me they are clean, well I hope so anyway

Poor performance is no proof of cleanliness as any one can do it. But unbelievable performance is smoking gun for uncleanness. That's all.

I will continue to enjoy the Tour. Dope or not, as long as riders attack and ride with guts, it's exciting. It only gets boring when the yellow jersey continues to ride behind others, stage after stage. Last year's Tour was boring.

you think porte chose to blow up and not be in a position to help froome

I agree with your second paragraph

[warthog1]

Yeah, that's what Lance kept saying.

There was evidence against Lance, it was out there but denied.

Has Froome had people testify under oath that he doped or confessed to doping ? Has he had samples tested retrospectively that are positive for EPO ? Has a TUE been backdated to cover for a doping positive ?

[warthog1]

Admin note - happy to split the thread and give doping its own thread - let me get a few votes and I will do this.

+1

I don't believe doping speculation in the absence of any evidence is in any way helpful for the sport.
If we must have it, as it appears we must, it would be great for it to be confined to its own thread rather than choking this one.

[warthog1]

My eyes are on the little Columbian guy from Movistar. He was mixing it up and forcing reactions. We need more of that.

He is a fantastic rider to watch, and beat Porte in a tt earlier in the year, I thought I heard a commentator say?

[sogood]

you think porte chose to blow up and not be in a position to help froome

I didn't suggest that but certainly a possibility to dispel and over confident claims. So just staying with first principle, that poor performance is no proof of being clean.

[sogood]

My eyes are on the little Columbian guy from Movistar. He was mixing it up and forcing reactions. We need more of that.

He is a fantastic rider to watch, and beat Porte in a tt earlier in the year, I thought I heard a commentator say?

Where did he come from? Enjoyed watching his poker face and his willingness to give it a go. He certainly had fun dancing around Froome in St 9.

[warthog1]

Where did he come from? Enjoyed watching his poker face and his willingness to give it a go. He certainly had fun dancing around Froome in St 9.

Columbia
Apart from that I don't know sorry.
He's certainly livening things up though.
Awesome effort if he did beat Porte in a tt, I can't find it though. According to Wikipedia he's only just over 57 kg.

[sogood]

Columbia
Apart from that I don't know sorry.
He's certainly livening things up though.
Awesome effort if he did beat Porte in a tt, I can't find it though. According to Wikipedia he's only just over 57 kg.

Columbia! I also know he is called Nairo Quintana.
He may not beat Porte in the TT but I would love to see him winning a mountain stage. He deserves it.

[RobM]

57kg! Man, the strava hill segments I could win if I was that light


Enough doping talk. What about the green jersey? Think Sagan has that wrapped up?? Cav certainly would be disappointed with his tour so far. He brought his brand new signature bike and everything.

Re the polka dot jersey - how good is it to see Clarke giving the mountains a decent nudge. Makes me wonder how Matty Lloyd is going....been off the radar for awhile now.

[liamb]

I wonder if Porte wishes he was riding for Green Edge. Despite everything they all seem to smile much more than any others and especially Sky. Sky seem to be a emotionless machine tuned for one thing only. Full credit to them for doing it but in the past it has been like watching paint dry. I hate wishing an Aussie to fail but watching Sky fail was heart warming.

Bill

[Shpox]

Agree about Cav. If you've composed an entire team to help your win the sprints and you don't, seems a bit like a lost cause. Would like to see him at least challenge Griepel for the intermediates. Still a long tour left, but it looks like Sagan will keep it with the Pyrenees coming. Maybe we'll see something from him tonight.

[MarkG]

I think he'd rather be on a winning team..

[warthog1]

57kg! Man, the strava hill segments I could win if I was that light


Enough doping talk. What about the green jersey? Think Sagan has that wrapped up?? Cav certainly would be disappointed with his tour so far. He brought his brand new signature bike and everything.

I dropped 6 kg earlier this year and that made a massive difference on the climbs It's not hard to see how he flies up the hills at that weight.

Sagan has the green jersey for good again this year. The others might as well concentrate on stage wins.

[bigfriendlyvegan]

57kg! Man, the strava hill segments I could win if I was that light

Hey, I know you said no more doping talk, but if you're interested in winning strava segments, have a look here (digital epo).

[RobM]

Hahaha we need to break the omertà of silence on strava doping.

I admit it. One time, I forgot to turn off my garmin on the drive home. The team made me do it.

[AUbicycles]

Agree about Cav. If you've composed an entire team to help your win the sprints and you don't, seems a bit like a lost cause. Would like to see him at least challenge Griepel for the intermediates.

Greipel just got it... and thats how I like it. Still like to see the challenge though.

[MarkG]

Lol who just saw the bloke pull his pants down when the tele chopper went past?

[warthog1]

That didn't look good Cav

[warthog1]

There might be one very angry Dutch cyclist after Cavendish following that.

[MREJ]

Cav definitely gave him a nudge. It looked at least careless, if not deliberate.

[jamesn184]

Veelers dropped back and swayed to the right... If you watch it properly you'd see cav trying to swing away with no luck

[find_bruce]

I don't understand OGE tactics in coming to the front with 5 km to go & then burning out before the finish, with Goss sprinting for 11th

Edit: it seems I missed the fact that Goss was nearly a victim of Tom Veelers crash

[btothec]

Apparently TJ was affected by the heat ... isn't it like only 20 something degrees over there?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013/07/ ... age_293998" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

No it's pretty hot over here at the moment. Both mountain stages it was in the low 30's on the climbs so warmer down in the valley. Today my garmin was showing 40+ deg while we were climbing Port de Bales.

[g-boaf]

57kg! Man, the strava hill segments I could win if I was that light


Enough doping talk. What about the green jersey? Think Sagan has that wrapped up?? Cav certainly would be disappointed with his tour so far. He brought his brand new signature bike and everything.

Re the polka dot jersey - how good is it to see Clarke giving the mountains a decent nudge. Makes me wonder how Matty Lloyd is going....been off the radar for awhile now.

Damn, 4kg lighter than me.

Shame I missed the end of the stage, only saw some poor videos of the Cav incident.

[michael_w]

Agree about Cav. If you've composed an entire team to help your win the sprints and you don't, seems a bit like a lost cause. Would like to see him at least challenge Griepel for the intermediates. Still a long tour left, but it looks like Sagan will keep it with the Pyrenees coming. Maybe we'll see something from him tonight.

3rd team in three years. Is there any cohesion among the team members? Does the train have all the kinks ironed out?

It's a forgone conclusion now since he's stated he's only aiming for stage wins - he's given up on the green. It's not out of reach, but it would require a lot of hard work. Maybe some in the team are afraid of that.