Giro d'Italia / Tour de France

[thehistorymakers]

Now Nibali goes for it.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

And Quintana. They need to close the gap today or sky will just neutralise the alpe tomorrow.

 

[nimrod]

hey pad. can't see any significant time today. i'm sure quintana will have a go tomorrow but i'll be surprised if he gets away unless its with froomey.

on sky, they chose to release some info for a reason but it looks incomplete and inconsistent. i'm not sure we can expect anybody to just say, well that's ok then. personally I think froome himself makes a big difference (ie his physiology) simply from watching his attacks, but the figures don't prove that. if they did then that's easy for sky to demonstrate without giving anything away, unless you think someone might clone him. of course, that would lead onto the questions about his history but c'est la vie. i think they're just playing a press game and it hasn't really worked.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Probably right. By the way the Laces De Montvernier are absolutely stunning

 

[nimrod]

incredible views yesterday too.

 

[Donegal Wolf]

Afternoon all. I am back from the naughty step and have been trying to keep up from the furnace otherwise known as the algarve. As I see it Sky are damn ed if they do and damn ed if they don't. Firstly, it can be pretty much taken as read that proving a negative is going to be virtually impossible. The nearest they could get would be to release all their information but that then gives all the stuff that they allege has made the difference to all the other teams. It would be like Mercedes giving all their engine and aerodynamic info to ferrari. Therefore there will always be doubts and insinuations.

To a certain extent I agree with you, the proving a negative is an unfortunate fact of life and they are damned if they do and damned if they dont.

But they did the worst possible thing, they tried to bluff it. They muddied the waters with their figures and variables, then the killer was when asked by the media when trying to put some logic to the figures, "what was Froome's weight?" Brailsford answered "I dont know." The most basic thing even the lowest level of a team does is weigh the riders before and after a stage, Sky themselves have said several times in trying to prove their marginal gains and attention to detail that that they do this, Nico Roche has said some days he weighs himself 5 times. They sell their success on their marginal gains and attention to detail and then they produce this, they were hung by their own petard.

Stupid thing is its no big secret what people were after, its retrospective, plenty of people issue the same data freely.

As for today, normal service is resumed, I agree Sky will neutralise tomorrow as well.

Edit: Just seen Nimrod's post, says it better and with less words.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Bardet has been epic today. Can he hold on in the last kilometre? I hope so.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Great win for Bardet.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Well done son. 24 years of age, came 15th on his first tour on 2013. A fantastic effort.
Business as usual for the Sky machine.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

No doubt who the heir to froome is either.

 

[thehistorymakers]

No doubt who the heir to froome is either.

Hasn't been for ages, Paddy. Thomas does so much work and doesn't get the credit he deserves. The other main contenders have to do their own dirty work. Froome and Sky are one and the same thing. They work together, all with the same objective, defending the yellow jersey for Froome.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

And Porte. And before them Konstantin Siutsu and Rigoberto Uran. Sky is a very rich machine. The trouble is the obvious parallels with US Postal / Discovery

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Mikel Landa coming in from Astana as well (3rd in the Giro working for Aru). As for Thomas, an incredible rider for GC but I'm not sure he could ever win the Tour, it would really have to be set-up for him in a controlled way (ala Wiggins 2012) as he just doesn't have those accelerations in the mountains. Think he's more likely to win a monument like Roubaix or Flanders (which would be cooler anyway!).

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Thomas is perfect for Roubaix. Course suits him down to the ground. He is good enough to win a Dauphinee or a Paris-Nice but a three week grand tour might be just beyond him.

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

Another thought. If Sky get through tomorrow unscathed maybe they would let Thomas go for the Alpe to see if he can pinch a podium?

 

[Pompey Wolf]

Would be great but Valverde has looked strong and I can't see G dropping him to be honest. Reckon he'll have his hands full holding off Contador!

 

[Paddingtonwolf]

He would have to lose them over the telegraphe and hold on. If he blew contador Quintana and valved on the alpe it just opens up more shit for sky.

 

[thehistorymakers]

Would be great but Valverde has looked strong and I can't see G dropping him to be honest. Reckon he'll have his hands full holding off Contador!

I don't think Contador has much more to offer. Will be worth watching tomorrow.

 

[Pompey Wolf]

He would have to lose them over the telegraphe and hold on. If he blew contador Quintana and valved on the alpe it just opens up more shit for sky.

And to be fair if he did ride away from Quintana I'd be feeling somewhat uneasy. Won't happen though.

 

[Donegal Wolf]

And to be fair if he did ride away from Quintana I'd be feeling somewhat uneasy. Won't happen though.

No you will find that apparently he has been suffering from a vicious Welsh parasite boyohazia all these years......