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thelawlorfaithful

OT: Tour de France 2020

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16 hours ago, bsu_alum9 said:

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/jumbo-visma-director-merijn-zeeman-kicked-out-of-tour-de-france-for-misconduct/

Director for Jumbo Visma got booted for getting in the face of a UCI inspector.  Apparently they damaged the crankset while inspecting it on Roglic's bike.  The director was not pleased and blew up about it.

Now that’s funny. Always some bs to stir things up. 

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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The Tour de France returned in 1904 after a wild and wildly successful inaugural edition. It’s second running did not go so easy. The race would be marred by rampant violence, sabotage, and cheating. Partisans would attack their favored rider’s competitors, with at least one brawl only being broken up by gunfire from race officials. When it was all said and done the top four finishers and every one of the stage winners would be stripped and disqualified for catching rides on trains and automobiles, vaulting 19 year old Henri Cornet from fifth to first. He remains the youngest Tour champion all these years later. Cornet’s record seemed to be the only thing today that could withstand what can only be described as a Slovenian tornado.

Tadej Pogacar beat the shit out of the Tour de France today, and tomorrow will ride into Paris as the second youngest winner ever. The performance was absolutely stunning. There’s never been a ride quite like it.

In truth, Pogacar has been smashing the race for three weeks. Overshadowed by a heavyweight clash between two super teams and the steady brilliance of today’s tragic loser Primoz Roglic, Pogacar had steadily been carving up the race ever since he and his team had been caught out unawares in the crosswinds, losing more than a minute, in the first week. Roglic and Pogacar crushed the climb record on the Col de Marie-Blanque on stage 9. A day earlier Pogacar obliterated the record for the Peyresourde, a climb almost as old well trodden as the race itself, besting names like Vinokourov, Mayo, Armstrong, Ullrich, and Merckx. Still, the brute power of Jumbo Visma and Roglic’s icy composure never let him get the upper hand. Going into the morning Roglic’s 57 second lead looked like more than enough.

And then before anyone could grasp what was happening, it wasn’t. On the flat first 15 km, where Roglic was expected to build on his lead, Pogacar clawed back a dozen seconds. Over the next 15 km of rolling terrain he pulled back even more. By the foot of Planche de belles filles, when both riders exchanged their specialized tt machines for a climbing bike, the lead was down to a handful of seconds. Roglic was broken, Pogacar about to rampage and set another record.

You can do everything right at the Tour, which Roglic did, and still go home heartbroken. The best team filled with a dutiful former grand tour winner playing thankless teammate, the most dangerous rider in the world, a revelatory tiny climber from Colorado, along with several other hard bitten tour vets; even all of that can’t save you when it’s one on one and the other guy has legendary legs. Only Henri Cornet could survive that storm unscathed. Chappeau Pogacar, tough luck Roglic.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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Sam Bennett wins the final stage on the Champs-Elysees, securing the green jersey and proving he is without a doubt the fastest man in the race. Sagan, great champion that he is, had already conceded the competition to the better man.

Thanks to everyone that humored my ranting these past few weeks. I needed this race and I appreciate it.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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The frogs are fed up with getting their asses kicked and if the UCI won’t act their prosecutors will.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/french-police-open-doping-investigation-after-arkea-samsic-hotel-search-at-tour-de-france/

French police have opened a preliminary investigation with a suspicion of doping in a “small part” of the Arkéa-Samsic team at this year’s Tour de France, according to the French AFP news agency. 

The Marseille prosecutor's office confirmed the formal opening of the investigation to AFP on Monday, as riders and team travelled home from the three-week race, where Tadej Pogačar snatched overall victory from fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič in Saturday’s final time trial stage.  

AFP said the investigation was opened by the police public health department, with prosecutor Dominique Laurens, referring to the "discovery of many health products including drugs (...) and especially a method that could be qualified as doping." 

A further update via AFP said two people have been taken into preliminary custody or “Gardes à vue” on Monday morning. According to the Le Parisien, the two were a team doctor and soigneur, adding that "100ml of saline and injection equipment" were discovered during the searches. Le Parisien also reported that Nairo Quintana and Dayer Quintana were questioned.

Hey guys, maybe stop worrying about the Colombian that came in 17th and go sniffing around the Slovenians.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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8 minutes ago, thelawlorfaithful said:

The frogs are fed up with getting their asses kicked and if the UCI won’t act their prosecutors will.

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/french-police-open-doping-investigation-after-arkea-samsic-hotel-search-at-tour-de-france/

French police have opened a preliminary investigation with a suspicion of doping in a “small part” of the Arkéa-Samsic team at this year’s Tour de France, according to the French AFP news agency. 

The Marseille prosecutor's office confirmed the formal opening of the investigation to AFP on Monday, as riders and team travelled home from the three-week race, where Tadej Pogačar snatched overall victory from fellow Slovenian Primož Roglič in Saturday’s final time trial stage.  

AFP said the investigation was opened by the police public health department, with prosecutor Dominique Laurens, referring to the "discovery of many health products including drugs (...) and especially a method that could be qualified as doping." 

A further update via AFP said two people have been taken into preliminary custody or “Gardes à vue” on Monday morning. According to the Le Parisien, the two were a team doctor and soigneur, adding that "100ml of saline and injection equipment" were discovered during the searches. Le Parisien also reported that Nairo Quintana and Dayer Quintana were questioned.

Hey guys, maybe stop worrying about the Colombian that came in 17th and go sniffing around the Slovenians.

I hate to think it but Tadej Pogacar's time trial domination was very reminiscent of Floyd Landis in Stage 17.

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12 minutes ago, renoskier said:

I hate to think it but Tadej Pogacar's time trial domination was very reminiscent of Floyd Landis in Stage 17.

Kid has been putting in the miles, though.  60,000 miles on a bike (that he's tracked on Strava) going back to 2014.  Seventy mile rides at age 14 (at 20+ mph).  I think that (plus the young legs) can explain most of it.  But this is 2020, so it's hard to believe in a clean sport.

 

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16 minutes ago, renoskier said:

I hate to think it but Tadej Pogacar's time trial domination was very reminiscent of Floyd Landis in Stage 17.

Ah stage 17. I’ll agree that the wow factor in the moment for the time trial was similar. But I think that mostly came from the shocking nature of the upset. Pogacar was so young, such an unknown quantity, and Roglic so damn good at the discipline that his destruction was astonishing. Had the roles been reversed, had Roglic been down and clawed back two minutes nobody would have batted an eye. It would have still been a great all time ride, akin to Cadel Evans stomping Andy Schleck to win the tour on ground that favored him. But it wouldn’t be earth shattering like it was.

Stage 17...there was something else at work. Landis has admitted to doping the entire race. And we can assume pretty much everyone was doing the same thing, especially after Operation Puerto busted the top end of the Peloton right before the tour. What Landis was popped for doesn’t explain what he did that day. There is no amount of synthetic testosterone that anyone could take to do what he did, let alone after the crushing day he had before.  That’s why stage 17 remains stage 17, both a pejorative description of what happened and an unparalleled day that no one who watched it can describe properly.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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24 minutes ago, bsu_alum9 said:

Kid has been putting in the miles, though.  60,000 miles on a bike (that he's tracked on Strava) going back to 2014.  Seventy mile rides at age 14 (at 20+ mph).  I think that (plus the young legs) can explain most of it.  But this is 2020, so it's hard to believe in a clean sport.

 

Nor did the guy completely come out of nowhere. The Vuelta is the red headed step child of the grand tours, but it’s still 3 weeks of pro racing. It’s damn hard and every big name in the sport wants to win it. He was 20 last year when it was held, and he won three mountain stages in the last 10 days of the race, ultimately finishing in 3rd behind the winner Roglic.  I’m a pretty jaded cycling fan when it comes to doping, but nobody can say this kid transformed from a donkey to a thoroughbred overnight. He’s damn good and Jumbo Visma will be ruing not taking him more seriously in the first two weeks as long as they live.

We’re all sitting in the dugout. Thinking we should pitch. How you gonna throw a shutout when all you do is bitch.

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