clifftaylor

How will that happen exactly?

RJM

In that reality, unicorns crap gold and gas is 52 cents a gallon.


I think the feed bag thing is absolute cheating. The team should be held accountable.

clifftaylor

Ooops

voltman

What's the big deal? He's been doing this all year. He doesn't even need to peak for big races.

hdog

lol. very funny.

kenji666

Why aren't the journalists jumping all over the Froome/Sky doping scandal?

Caretaker

Too busy with this doping scandal.

https://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013...nned-substance

Giacomo 1 

Quintana is most certainly doping.

Does that guy even breath? Does he ever sweat? Does he ever get out of the saddle? Is he ever in pain? Do his shoulders ever roll? Is his even awake when he rides? I mean give me a break, the guy is riding like he's a machine, not a human. Ohhhhh, thats right, he was born in the mountains, so it's all natural, right? Sorry I forgot.

Froome is showing the pain, he's out of the saddle, he's breathing heavy, and he is racing, not taking the safe way out. He only dropped Quintana at the end, and he showed the pain for doing it.

Froome was the very heavy favorite, with an outside hope that Cadell, Alberto or maybe Valverde could challenge him. Now that he is doing what we expected, we act all indignant and surprised.

I'll accept what I'm seeing and enjoy the greatness of the feat. Innocent until proven guilty, isn't that the way we do it in America?

reef58

He is doing a poor job of doping it appears since he is down by more than 5 minutes to your hero.

You seem enthusiastic which is good but you may not understand why so much suspicion is lobbed towards Froome. One the Columbian is 130 pound climber. That comes as no surprise that he climbs well. He is approximately 60 KG. He has that advantage on the climbs. Now if he also blew everyone away at the ITT then that would be very strange, but he didn't. He proved he climbs well, but is average at best time trialing.

It also seems most on here do not understand doping and its effects. Unless there is a new found substance doping alone cannot explain Froome's performance. Even if he is doping he is likely not the only one. It gives an advantage, but it is not magic.

RJM

Could be, but he isn't dominating everything. He does climb very well though.

I disagree with you though. I think Froome and/or Sky are doping, probably last year too.

What do you say about the feed bag thing?

Bacciagalupe

It isn't. It's not like he single-handedly bridged the gap on stage 13. Nor do I hear anyone blast Quintana as a doper, for taking off early and blowing away everyone except Froome.

This kind of climbing ability isn't out of character for Froome, we saw it several times last year -- often accompanied by a chorus of "Froome should screw Wiggins and win the Tour!" Yes, the fans are fickle indeed...

Nor should it be all that surprising that he blew a bunch of riders out of the water today. Saxo burned up its energy on stage 13; Valverde obviously blew his wad on 13 as well, trying to get back in the break; Cuddles is 36, has always been inconsistent, and didn't do well last year either. Was anyone predicting a podium for Mollema or Ten Dam?


Meaning what, Postal was the only team systemically doping? Surely you jest.

Doping can explain why one rider recovers faster than another. But if everyone is doping, then it doesn't explain why one rider performs better than another.

Giacomo 1 

Big +1.

Even a doped up rider has to put in the miles, the training, the time and the extreme effort to win this race. Drugs are certainly not magic...

chasm54

The numbers seem equivocal, putting Froome in the unusual but not necessarily unnatural category today. I'll be interested to see whatnthe sports science guys have to say, but that climb wasn't nearly as fast as those by Pantani, Armstrong and so on. Let's all keep calm.

As for the musettes, it was too close to the end, true. Bt it wasn't remotely concealed. The commissaires need to take a view, if it's OK for Sky it's OK for everyone.

Giacomo 1 

Outright cheating, no doubt about that!

It was an in-your-face move by Sky for sure, sort of like saying, "go ahead, take some time away, we don't care". But it has nothing to do with drugging as everyone here is accusing Sky of...

longbeachgary

Is that ironic or what?

Bacciagalupe

Contador almost certainly burned through a lot of reserves on Friday, and isn't 28 any more -- as this year's Dauphine should have made clear. He lost his invincibility about 2 years ago, by the way.


Yes, being a younger rider, having a parasite for a few years, and then working for someone else, tends to do that.

And no, just because he hasn't caught public attention doesn't mean he hasn't had the skills until last week.


Here's today's results.

1. Christopher FROOME, Sky, in 5:48:45
2. Nairo Alexander QUINTANA ROJAS, Movistar, at :29
3. Mikel NIEVE ITURALDE, Euskaltel-Euskadi, at 1:23
4. Joaquin RODRIGUEZ OLIVER, Katusha, at 1:23
5. Roman KREUZIGER, Saxo-Tinkoff, at 1:40
6. Alberto CONTADOR VELASCO, Saxo-Tinkoff, at 1:40
7. Jakob FUGLSANG, Astana, at 1:43
8. Bauke MOLLEMA, Belkin, at 1:46
9. Laurens TEN DAM, Belkin, at 1:53

Sorry, but nothing about this screams "inhuman" to me, especially since Contador, Kreuziger, Mollema and Ten Dam were all busting their asses 2 days ago to take back time on a flat stage.

Giacomo 1 

C'mon, stop trying to bring logic into this argument!

It's a lot more fun if we could just whine about PED's!

cincipeddler

He may or may not be doping, but lets not kid ourselves that it is irrational to have question marks.......i have never seen anybody blow away the field with an acceleration like that ever, certainly no clean rider.
Time will tell, and you are right, he should be innocent until proven guilty and if we don't believe it, maybe we shouldn't watch.

chasm54

Suspicion is natural, after all the history. And it may be justified. But today's was a long way short of the most dramatic acceleration ever. Read about Merckx in the Pyrenees in '69. Earlier, Coppi used to win Classics by fifteen minutes. Hinault was, at times, ridiculously dominant. None of these riders were necessarily clean, but they all predate blood doping and epo.

The numbers aren't conclusive, by any means.

Rich Gibson 

I've been following the tour avidly for fifteen years. The size of his victory and the way Phil and Paul raved about Froome's performance reminded me of one particular Landis race. Strangely familiar. They are hanging out their reputation with such unrestrained adulation.

As for the food bags at 10km. Rules are rules. If the judges can bounce the young american from the Tour for a matter of seven seconds outside the time limit on the first stage time trial they should also deal strictly with this infraction. Who knows what was in those three bags? An appropriate alternative to banning all three would be a six minute time penalty for them and probation for ANY subsequent infraction. With this being the 100th Tour I suspect they want a clean 'appearing' race and will overlook the feed bag incident.

I was hoping for a competitive Tour this year.

alongclimb

Amazing performance from Froome, especially given a suboptimal wind direction

vetooo ‏@ammattipyoraily1h
#TDF, Mont Ventoux, last 6.15 km, 8.00 %, 492 m2002 | Lance Armstrong: 17 min 53 sec2013 | Chtris Froome: 17 min 41 sec


vetooo ‏@ammattipyoraily52m
#TDF, Stage 15. Mont Ventoux (last 15.65 km, 8.74 %, 1368 m)Chris Froome: 48 min 35 sec (±5s), 19.33 Kph, VAM 1689 m/h, 5.88 W/kg [DrF]

Just edged out by Armstrong (48min 33sec) for fastest Mont Ventoux(last 15.65 km) in the 21st century

Pantani98

I made the comment in another thread, but the illegal feed zone is cheating. Period! And Sky deserves a time penalty. They can pay the monetary fine, if there is one. But if everyone was bonking or feeling depleated, then it just gave them that much of an advantage. I guess if it's allowed then everyone should do it. Doping comments aside, it's no wonder Froome was able to drop the hammer if he was feeling refreshed/energized after the illegal feed. It's sh*t like this that makes the Tour less enjoyable. I love the Tour but truly hate all the b.s.!

cincipeddler

Anyone seen the power numbers today?

What were lance's/pantani's on this stage in the past?

xfimpg

+1

Bacciagalupe

Sky doesn't release power numbers.