Not sure if any of you are aware but there is a Tour De France fan park in Canary Wharf for the last week of the tour. Me and the missus will be there on the final Sunday watching it all live on the big screen and drinking large amounts of wine before falling into the Ibis Hotel just over road.
Now I'm a fan of cycling and I want to believe it is clean. However, when you read this analysis of Froome's recent performance, it does make you wonder...
If he is, would you say Brailsford has knowledge of it?
I dont know tbh. Bearing in mind the stance Brailsford has taken with the anti-doping declaration he makes everyone take ownership of, you'd have to say no. Perhaps Froome is just a complete freak of nature. I dont know enough about cycling to make a reasonable judgment so I'll choose to believe he's clean until proven otherwise. He could be just a freak of nature. Look at Contador, since he has come back from his ban, he looks a totally different cyclist now.
I'd say he isn't ,and only because of Brailsfords stance on things. I think it would be almost impossible to do it under his gaze. Unless ,of course,Brailsford is a pathological liar and the whole sky team is doped up to the eyeballs?
Will it ever be clean? They always seem to be one step ahead of doping control. What makes me laugh is the way Bernard Hinault has never come clean. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if it weren't rife in numerous other sports where the testing is far less rigorous.
When Froome broke through at the Vuelta a few years back, Sky themselves couldn't understand themselves his great leap in form.
It would be very ironic if it was Froome who got caught doping, considering the amount of snide inference all over twitter about Wiggins by both punters and journos....
I'm more of an off-road rider, but always follow the tour and have read some of the better literary accounts of doping "gone by". Read JBUK's link, but as that concludes, the tests and comparisons are all flawed in some way and admittedly far from a litmus test.
From reading this thread and those from previous yrs, would be good to get a more educated view on Froomey from the more avid road riders and fans on CL. Gents ( or ladies)?
I have to say that the article was mailed to me by one of my old mates, who used to cycle at a very high level and has suspected Froome has been guilty for the last 2-3 years given his sudden rise from almost nowhere. I still honestly dont know enough about the sport as a whole to make a reasonable judgment. Some people will develop at different stages and rates than others. Given the historical abuse, its no wonder there are always suspicions.
@Davey This is the thing with Froome he did grow up in an environment that benefited him greatly for cycling (Kenya/South Africa). He trained from a young age at altitude which obviously has its advantages (See Quintana). As a result of this he will have the edge over some of his opponents in the mountains and other areas. Also Froome is affected by an illness called bilharzia??? (I think, not to sure) which is some kind of bug that means he is unable to train/race when he gets it. This meant that his true potential may never have been shown in previous years, even in his break through in the 2011 Veulta (finished 2nd by 13 seconds) he was suffering from it. However he appears to have shaken that off now so he can perform at 100%.
Maybe he has always been this good and the illness was holding him back or in contrast he might be doped up to his eye balls. I hope and I believe Froome is clean however due to cycling's history there will always be doubters.
That is all my knowledge on Froome, hope its enough Davey!!! Not sure if its all 100% correct either so others feel free to tear it to pieces.
I am getting bored of hacks who use very dodgy science and even more dubious calculations to throw muck at riders when they perform, it sucks the joy out of watching rides. For example does calculations don't include the head/tail wind, condition of the road, where the attack started, the actual weight of the cyclist, weight of the bike, basically its the back of a fag packet timed with stop watch, and a hope that France 2 keep with the pictures all the way.
I haven't seen half as much about these so called experts about about how Sky collapsed badly on Sunday, especially Porte who's had the same shit thrown at him that he was doping when winning Paris Nice. The comparisons with Armstrongs time are balls too. Froome achieved this time in the first mountain stage, where Armstrong had been up Alp D'huez the day before and had completed a mountain TT the day before that.
I tend to think, is that teams for years used EPO as a short cut to performance, and when Sky and British Cycling came in on a zero tolerance approach, and took the science from the track to the road, they got a performance jump which we're still seeing now, one day soon the others will spend big on coaching, data and obsessive detail (the new TT bike was designed following looking at weather data in France about how wind effects aerodynamics of the bike).
@addickted4life is right about the disease Froome still suffers with, but is now under control, the best I've had it described is it's 'EPO in reverse'.
true athletes in this sport will never be free of slanderous mis givings on their performance and unfortunately rightly so
I don't get it I don't get excited by a group of blokes riding a bike and winning individually like wiggins when it is so obviously a team sport
but the errors of the past will always draw into question the validity of their achievements which is a shame tbh because clean riders will never rise from that shadow
years ago it was 100mtr runners and now people still suspect but its dying down then that young Chinese girl in the Olympics faced the snide comments
I would be surprised that sky would allow it but who knows
As for today's race, I thought Fletcha was very gutsy going it alone when the rest of the breakaway dropped back. I was hoping he'd keep it up, but it was just too much.
Thx gents, appreciate the responses, really helpful. Had no idea about the illness and kinda wondered why no-one really mentioned the benefits of his early life at altitude. Lived in Nairobi as a kid and that place is even too high for some of the Mozzi's!!!
Nice balancing article too, cheers Rothko.
Personally, am really enjoying the Tour this year and seems to my untrained eye a lot more unpredictable than in the dark days. Yes, Froome has build a lead, but in that great stage last w-e you could see how much his team put in to set him up. The indiv. TT and Movistar defence on the other hand....chapeau Mr Froome!!!
Comments
(He was a wee bit defensive last night - No pun intended)
I never made it home without somebody texting me the details anyway.
How does he know what p**s tastes like?
However, when you read this analysis of Froome's recent performance, it does make you wonder...
It wouldn't surprise me in the least if it weren't rife in numerous other sports where the testing is far less rigorous.
It would be very ironic if it was Froome who got caught doping, considering the amount of snide inference all over twitter about Wiggins by both punters and journos....
From reading this thread and those from previous yrs, would be good to get a more educated view on Froomey from the more avid road riders and fans on CL. Gents ( or ladies)?
Maybe he has always been this good and the illness was holding him back or in contrast he might be doped up to his eye balls. I hope and I believe Froome is clean however due to cycling's history there will always be doubters.
That is all my knowledge on Froome, hope its enough Davey!!! Not sure if its all 100% correct either so others feel free to tear it to pieces.
I haven't seen half as much about these so called experts about about how Sky collapsed badly on Sunday, especially Porte who's had the same shit thrown at him that he was doping when winning Paris Nice. The comparisons with Armstrongs time are balls too. Froome achieved this time in the first mountain stage, where Armstrong had been up Alp D'huez the day before and had completed a mountain TT the day before that.
I tend to think, is that teams for years used EPO as a short cut to performance, and when Sky and British Cycling came in on a zero tolerance approach, and took the science from the track to the road, they got a performance jump which we're still seeing now, one day soon the others will spend big on coaching, data and obsessive detail (the new TT bike was designed following looking at weather data in France about how wind effects aerodynamics of the bike).
@addickted4life is right about the disease Froome still suffers with, but is now under control, the best I've had it described is it's 'EPO in reverse'.
This is a far more reasoned piece including quotes from Sky's head of performance Tim Kerrison http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/07/can-performance-be-used-as-an-indicator-of-doping/
I don't get it I don't get excited by a group of blokes riding a bike and winning individually like wiggins when it is so obviously a team sport
but the errors of the past will always draw into question the validity of their achievements which is a shame tbh because clean riders will never rise from that shadow
years ago it was 100mtr runners and now people still suspect but its dying down then that young Chinese girl in the Olympics faced the snide comments
I would be surprised that sky would allow it but who knows
As for today's race, I thought Fletcha was very gutsy going it alone when the rest of the breakaway dropped back. I was hoping he'd keep it up, but it was just too much.
Nice balancing article too, cheers Rothko.
Personally, am really enjoying the Tour this year and seems to my untrained eye a lot more unpredictable than in the dark days. Yes, Froome has build a lead, but in that great stage last w-e you could see how much his team put in to set him up. The indiv. TT and Movistar defence on the other hand....chapeau Mr Froome!!!
Contador gained ground though.
Cavendish is due a win after a tricky week.