Tour de France 2020

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NodsNeph said:
Can't enjoy things like that as I just don't believe that I'm seeing a fair battle.
There will be genuinely clean riders being robbed of their rightful place in the spotlight.
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Same here. No expert mind. Was he favourite for todays stage?
Thurston said:
This.

I’d love to give the benefit of the doubt, but based on everything we’ve seen prior to this, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that Pogacar could put nearly 2 minutes into Roglic, all while blowing away top performers like Dumoulin in the process.

Then when you consider that there’s very, very fine margins separating elite athletes in any given sport, it’s just not realistic.
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This for me.
 
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Thurston said:
This.

I’d love to give the benefit of the doubt, but based on everything we’ve seen prior to this, there’s absolutely nothing to suggest that Pogacar could put nearly 2 minutes into Roglic, all while blowing away top performers like Dumoulin in the process.

Then when you consider that there’s very, very fine margins separating elite athletes in any given sport, it’s just not realistic.
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Pogacar’s only 21 and this is his first GT as leader. There has to be a chance he’s genuinely this good. Dumoulin certainly isn’t the rider he was two years ago and he and LRP put 30 seconds into Roglic. Is Richie on the gear as well; if so, how far down are the clean riders?
 
dixonsafc said:
There's always going to be scepticism around cycling given it's past but I just try to take it at face value and enjoy it for what it is.

For what it's worth you are probably right but i'm happy to be ignorant and enjoy the spectacle.
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Agreed. I don’t think I’d be able to get any enjoyment from watching if I thought everyone was juicing. That’s not to I don’t think it goes on to some degree but if you believe all the top guys are at it it must kill any spectacle.
 
dixonsafc said:
There's always going to be scepticism around cycling given it's past but I just try to take it at face value and enjoy it for what it is.

For what it's worth you are probably right but i'm happy to be ignorant and enjoy the spectacle.
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Considering how long I’ve been following cycling, I think, like a lot of people, I try and take it at face value just out of love for the sport.

Obviously like yourself, I enjoy it or I wouldn’t watch it at all, but at the same time, I think the longer you watch, the harder it is to not compare things like today against an entire catalogue of past “winners.” And days like today, it would take a kind of suspension of belief similar to imagining Coronation Street is a solid representation of how the real world works. :lol:
 
Hammer said:
Pogacar’s only 21 and this is his first GT as leader. There has to be a chance he’s genuinely this good. Dumoulin certainly isn’t the rider he was two years ago and he and LRP put 30 seconds into Roglic. Is Richie on the gear as well; if so, how far down are the clean riders?
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While it’s theoretically possible, when you start factoring in things like VO2 maxes and power/weight ratios (and I’d love to have this data to hand), he’d have to be some sort of genetic mutant to justify the kind of advantage he displayed over Roglic et al. Also, worth keeping in mind, GC riders don’t tend to peak until they’re 28!

As for whether the likes of Richie Porte are doping, I don’t think doping is anywhere near the level of the early 90’s but are most of the top riders clean? Strictly speaking, I would say no. If I was being extremely generous, the best I would give them is “over the counter,” by which I mean, the majority at the very least, have doctors liberally handing out therapeutic use exemptions like sweets. And I think you’d have to go pretty far down the GC to find a rider who isn’t At the very least abusing TUE’s. This is a bit of a grey area because even if it’s “legal” it’s certainly not within the spirit of the rules.
Captain Slackbladder said:
The kiss of death...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1307357755880083457
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That tweet just oozes sarcasm. :lol:
 
Thurston said:
While it’s theoretically possible, when you start factoring in things like VO2 maxes and power/weight ratios (and I’d love to have this data to hand), he’d have to be some sort of genetic mutant to justify the kind of advantage he displayed over Roglic et al. Also, worth keeping in mind, GC riders don’t tend to peak until they’re 28!

As for whether the likes of Richie Porte are doping, I don’t think doping is anywhere near the level of the early 90’s but are most of the top riders clean? Strictly speaking, I would say no. If I was being extremely generous, the best I would give them is “over the counter,” by which I mean, the majority at the very least, have doctors liberally handing out therapeutic use exemptions like sweets. And I think you’d have to go pretty far down the GC to find a rider who isn’t At the very least abusing TUE’s. This is a bit of a grey area because even if it’s “legal” it’s certainly not within the spirit of the rules.

That tweet just oozes sarcasm. :lol:
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"Unbelievable" :lol:
 
Sorry I’m late to this chat but I’ve been catching up. How come the Sky dominance has been broken? I thought they were the Barca of cycling?
 
He did beat him in the Slovenian TT championship earlier this year, only by 9 seconds though, so maybe if he took 40 seconds I could somewhat believe it but considering I've thought JV have been juicing all tour that ride looks very unbelievable. Either ITV podcast or The Cycling Podcast predicted today though, was a few days ago so they were thinking he could get the 40 seconds.
 
I thought Roglic looked really uncomfortable on the bike today, so do think he was on a really bad day. Been a tremendous race
 
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