2024 Pro thread

[RDY]

Sounds like a lot of ill thought hopium / copium to me. Systems have been around since the 1990s, of which a number have now been leaked into the public realm. All of them worked. None of them were particularly complicated or required large budgets or engineering teams / numbers of personnel - certainly not when compared to cutting edge doping programmes. Also there is the huge bonus of this not being a criminal enterprise unlike much of the stuff re: doping.

Pretty easy rule of thumb. If in competition you don't police the rules, the rules won't be followed. Even in the GTs and Classics in 2023 - not just the smaller races I was alluding to - the UCI didn't follow its (supposed) own code. The Giro having no inspections at all for either TT is laughable. And if you believe the teams didn't know in advance about many of these 'oversights', I think you're extremely naive. See below:

https://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/new ... or-doping/

Can you imagine if motorsport didn't have parc fermé with stringent supervision and inspection? The rule book would be about as useful as used toilet paper. Why anyone believes otherwise for cycling is beyond me.

[maquisard]

Also there is the huge bonus of this not being a criminal enterprise unlike much of the stuff re: doping.

The damage to a rider's reputation and that of the bike brand they were caught on while motor doping would be unrecoverable. Much worse that that arising from pharmaceutical doping.

[RDY]

Also there is the huge bonus of this not being a criminal enterprise unlike much of the stuff re: doping.

The damage to a rider's reputation and that of the bike brand they were caught on while motor doping would be unrecoverable. Much worse that that arising from pharmaceutical doping.

There's no damage to a rider or team's reputation if nobody is caught and sanctioned. Per the previous post, there's not much likelihood of being caught if you're careful, and there's also the fact that a sum total of one rider has been sanctioned; zero in the men's tour, where omertà rules (unlike women and particularly CX where she was reported by many of her comptetitors).

Also, far more injurious to reputation than having soigneurs wake you up 3 or 4 times a night to pace like zombies in the corridors of hotels so that you don't have a stroke because your blood is so thick? Pretty much every single one of the boys from that ~15 year period were welcomed back into the peloton or team jobs, UCI / other if they wanted back in, LA excepted

[BudhaNL]

So how about the E3 Saxo Classic! Would WvA have kept up with MvdP if he hadn't crashed at such an ill moment?

[spokenwords]

It was going to be a two man race and who knows what coulda been. A lot of time was gained by MVP when WVA was trying to force Trek to pull him back. Looked like the slowest point of the race for a while. So many attacks and counters it was a fun watch. MVP attacked so many times it was nuts.

[tymon_tm]

MVDP totally owned that race. that's how I like a World Champ to roll - animating the race, whether he does for the team or for himself. and despite the weather keeping that outfit shiny white. hats off!

[LouisN]

So how about the E3 Saxo Classic! Would WvA have kept up with MvdP if he hadn't crashed at such an ill moment?

The crash looked odd. He went kind of wide, corrected his trajectory and pushed hard on the pedals to gain the momentum back, but the (Vittoria Control ?) tires slipped under him...
Louis

[maquisard]

WvA seemed to run on adrenaline after the crash and recovered strongly. But I also noticed he didn't eat or drink much during this time. He looks like he suffered a hypo episode aim the closing km, rare to see nowadays.

MvdP had an exceptional race - hard to see WvA troubling him in PR or Flanders unless he has an incident.

[spud]

Kung came down into his line, WVAs body went right a little and when he tried to get the bike back underneath him, the front tire washed out on a wet sea, between gutter and road. Just bad luck.

[TobinHatesYou]

Kung came down into his line, WVAs body went right a little and when he tried to get the bike back underneath him, the front tire washed out on a wet sea, between gutter and road. Just bad luck.

Kung did nothing of the sort.

Wout intentionally popped out of the gutter to get around Kung, he even said it in the post-race interview.

[eins4eins]

100% his own fault, Like he said himself after the race. He tried to get out of the gutter but caught his front wheel on the edge of the cobbles.

Wouldn't have changed anything though. MvdP was on another level once again. It didn't even matter that Trek, UAE and Visma had several riders in the group.

[BdaGhisallo]

Kung came down into his line, WVAs body went right a little and when he tried to get the bike back underneath him, the front tire washed out on a wet sea, between gutter and road. Just bad luck.

Kung did nothing of the sort.

Wout intentionally popped out of the gutter to get around Kung, he even said it in the post-race interview.

I went back and watched the footage. Kung entered the Paterberg ahead of WVA but popped out of the gutter and onto the cobbles for a moment. Kung then veered over to the left to get back in the gutter, and that seemed to trigger WVA having to take avoiding action.

Even Adam Blythe commented in real time on Eurosport that Kung swung in, in front of WVA.

Wout not saying anything about it was probably him being classy and not wishing to set off any polemics, since there was nothing that could be done about it.

[tymon_tm]

But I also noticed he didn't eat or drink much during this time. He looks like he suffered a hypo episode aim the closing km, rare to see nowadays.

that's what Blythe suggested but i'm not so sure - appeard more like he just exploded. first he chased on Patteberg, then attacked and "almost" caught MVDP. it must have costed him too much, probably just emptied his tank with ~30 km to go.

re: his crash - whatever he though he had to do and did it, it's another argument for fencing that gutter. what's the point of a cobbled hill if riders just take a narrow patch of concrete?

[spud]

Kung came down into his line, WVAs body went right a little and when he tried to get the bike back underneath him, the front tire washed out on a wet sea, between gutter and road. Just bad luck.

Kung did nothing of the sort.

Wout intentionally popped out of the gutter to get around Kung, he even said it in the post-race interview.

easy there fella. Nothing nefarious, Kung isn't a bad guy, it's just racing. The crash was due to trying to steer up that heavy camber in the wet and hitting that seam.

[Karvalo]

Kung then veered over to the left to get back in the gutter, and that seemed to trigger WVA having to take avoiding action.
Even Adam Blythe commented in real time on Eurosport that Kung swung in, in front of WVA.

Just because they say it in commentary doesn't mean it's right. From the front on camera on first viewing it looks like Kung might be overlapping Wout's wheel and causing him to swerve... but he's not. There is space between them. He does nothing that directly causes Wout's crash, it was his entirely optional decision to try and go around that caused his crash. Just an everyday risk/reward part of bike racing.