News in September
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 13-09-2017 10:08
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Tour de France Champion
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Eh, who cares about second best. We won't exactly remember Uran as great stage racer.
Farrar was good, never great. Had a good turn of speed on his day, but then so do numerous other sprinters over the years.
At his best he was still regularly being beaten by Thor Hushovd, Alessandro Pettachi, Andre Greipel and of course Cavendish. At the same time Matty Goss was doing good things in a sprint. Farrar was good, never great.
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Forever the Best |
Posted on 13-09-2017 10:09
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Classics Specialist
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matt17br wrote:
ringo182 wrote:
baseballlover312 wrote:
Kiserlovski01 wrote:
baseballlover312 wrote:
https://www.cyclin...etirement/
Tyler Farrar retires.
It was just a matter of time I guess, but I'll never forget his win in the 2011 TDF on the 4th of July. Never. I'll never understand what happened to his sprinting legs, but at least he had his moments.
Recently picked up that he maybe never really overcame WW's passing. Being a sprinter, couldn't it be that he unknowingly started to evade the risks that come with loads of bunch sprint finishes?
It's definitely possible, although he did still have a quite a few good sprints after that, he was never quite the same.
Was he ever really a top class sprinter? 1 TdF career stage win. Only 6 career Grand Tour stage wins.
I just think he was simply never to great a sprinter. He had a bit of success pre Cavendish, Kittel and Greiple etc nut as soon as the "golden generation" of sprinters came in he never had a chance in major sprints.
He had his peak right when Cav had his own, and Cav at his peak is a top 5 sprinter of all time. Farrar wasn't quite that, and kind of lived in the Brit's shadow imo, and then he simply started getting worse. For a period he was the 2nd best sprinter in the Pro Tour. Petacchi was better than Farrar in 2010 imo.
Greipel and Goss were also very good in 2011. Petacchi was also pretty good in the Giro, betaing Cavendish on stage 2.
The user formerly known as 'The Schleck Fan'
Gracias Alberto.
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df_Trek |
Posted on 13-09-2017 10:57
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Small Tour Specialist
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Petacchi was the best sprinter at his moment
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ivaneurope |
Posted on 13-09-2017 11:25
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Classics Specialist
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Cycling Australia ends all support for the Orica teams - including the women's and U23 branches. Gerry Ryan will partially fund them as the search for new sponsor continues
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Guido Mukk |
Posted on 13-09-2017 17:12
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Tour de France Champion
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roturn wrote:
Farrar was imo a top sprinter. You don`t win 6 GT stages otherwise.
Surely he might have struggled in his prime against prime Kittel but doesn`t matter really imo. There were other sprinters at their prime in this time as well and he still got those wins.
Indeed Farrar was top sprinter. Lack of competiton? No way.
he had some heath problems..Wouter incident took some out of him. |
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 13-09-2017 17:15
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Tour de France Champion
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ivaneurope wrote:
Cycling Australia ends all support for the Orica teams - including the women's and U23 branches. Gerry Ryan will partially fund them as the search for new sponsor continues
On the potential upside, at least CA has been told to look again at sending a proper 7 women selection to the WCRR and not the goddamn mutherfucking stupid 5 they orignally picked.
CA really fucking shit up at the moment, and i guarantee it won't suddenly win them 20medals in Tokyo either making the whole fucking shitstorm a goddamn waste of time
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Riis123 |
Posted on 13-09-2017 22:29
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roturn wrote:
Farrar was imo a top sprinter. You don`t win 6 GT stages otherwise.
Surely he might have struggled in his prime against prime Kittel but doesn`t matter really imo. There were other sprinters at their prime in this time as well and he still got those wins.
You can easily win 6 GT stages not being a top sprinter, Trentin won 4 this Vuelta and some would argue he isn't even an sprinter... more of a classics guy/hardman that a pure sprinter for sure. |
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Riis123 |
Posted on 13-09-2017 22:35
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And I largely agree with TMM, I always felt like Farrar was a pretty overrated sprinter. Sure he had his moments, but I wouldn't exactly categorize him as a great sprinter looking back at his career. Hesjedal wasn't a great GT-rider either. |
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Gustavovskiy |
Posted on 13-09-2017 22:39
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Riis123 wrote:
roturn wrote:
Farrar was imo a top sprinter. You don`t win 6 GT stages otherwise.
Surely he might have struggled in his prime against prime Kittel but doesn`t matter really imo. There were other sprinters at their prime in this time as well and he still got those wins.
You can easily win 6 GT stages not being a top sprinter, Trentin won 4 this Vuelta and some would argue he isn't even an sprinter... more of a classics guy/hardman that a pure sprinter for sure.
Froome has won 12 GT stages as well and some would argue he isn't even a sprinter either... more of a robot
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Posted on 24-11-2024 18:32
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Riis123 |
Posted on 13-09-2017 22:45
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Gustavovskiy wrote:
Riis123 wrote:
roturn wrote:
Farrar was imo a top sprinter. You don`t win 6 GT stages otherwise.
Surely he might have struggled in his prime against prime Kittel but doesn`t matter really imo. There were other sprinters at their prime in this time as well and he still got those wins.
You can easily win 6 GT stages not being a top sprinter, Trentin won 4 this Vuelta and some would argue he isn't even an sprinter... more of a classics guy/hardman that a pure sprinter for sure.
Froome has won 12 GT stages as well and some would argue he isn't even a sprinter either... more of a robot
I certainly don't disagree there.
But you get the point - Trentin won 3 sprinter stages this Vuelta. Recently the Vuelta hasn't come down to who the best sprinter is, more like who the least bad is, lmao. How many Tour stages did Farrar win, 1 or 2?
No, Petacchi was great, Cipo was, Freire and Hushovd were great as harder sprinters, Cav is great. Greipel are Kittel probably are, I don't know, I have a hard time rating sprinters. |
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ianrussell |
Posted on 13-09-2017 22:57
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Here is his own brief take on his career and the switch from sprinter to domestique:
PCMDaily Velogames Has Been 2016 & 2017
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Guido Mukk |
Posted on 14-09-2017 07:21
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Tour de France Champion
Posts: 15830
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Riis123 wrote:
roturn wrote:
Farrar was imo a top sprinter. You don`t win 6 GT stages otherwise.
Surely he might have struggled in his prime against prime Kittel but doesn`t matter really imo. There were other sprinters at their prime in this time as well and he still got those wins.
You can easily win 6 GT stages not being a top sprinter, Trentin won 4 this Vuelta and some would argue he isn't even an sprinter... more of a classics guy/hardman that a pure sprinter for sure.
We all now why Trentin won 4 sprints at Vuelta. |
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Shonak |
Posted on 14-09-2017 07:36
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ianrussell wrote:
Really interesting insight into the effect of doping, evading the authorities and the ethics and philosophy involved. Neal Rogers of Cycling Tips talking to the maker of the Icarus documentary (available exclusively on Netflix):
https://cyclingti...yan-fogel/
It's a long read or you can listen too via links on that page. These bits I found most interesting:
"I’m going to take EPO and testosterone and HGH and all this stuff. And all of the sudden, I’m just going to go out there and wow, I’m going to beat all my Strava times.” That did not happen. It did not happen.
But what did happen, which was the amazingness of it — which again, calls into the philosophical debate — was, I was recovering. The recovery was amazing. And so I would go out and train. All the same pain was there, all the same dying and all those feelings that cyclists feel when they are pushing themselves to the limit at whatever ability they are. All of that was there.
The only difference is that I could suffer and kill myself and literally go to the place that I feel like I’m going to die, but the next day, I was better able to do that.
...at the end of that first Haute Route [in 2014 before doping]...I had just destroyed myself.
...The second year [2015]...had that race gone on another week, I would have been fine. I was like, “Bring on day eight. Bring on day nine. Bring on day 10.” I was literally getting better.
I had a physiotherapist. She was working on me every night. About day four, she goes, “You know, this is kind of extraordinary. Your muscles are not deteriorating. You’re not breaking down. You’re recovering.”
...I stopped thinking that I was doing anything against the rules, because I was not only on the experiment, but just in a weird way, it was like, “Oh, my God. I’m killing myself. I’m training harder than I’ve ever tried.”
I can understand how a professional athlete, having went through this myself, I can understand how also, as a professional athlete, you would stop thinking in some ways…. You’re going, “Wait. What exactly am I doing wrong? I’m just taking something to help my body recover.”
Fascinating and the documentary gets side tracked into Russian state sponsored doping, espionage and a struggle to survive too for the Russian scientist helping him! Also he essentially wouldn't have triggered the anti doping system, including the Biological Passport (other than one questionable value) even using "old school" methods...
Thanks for the link and summary, really interesting. Hope I get a chance to watch the documentary. The benefits of recovery when you dope have always striked as undervalued when you talk about doping and reaffirms the assessment of a DS at Mapei back in the days that you may be able to compete at the classics clean but a Grand Tour is a whole other thing.
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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ianrussell |
Posted on 14-09-2017 08:56
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Classics Specialist
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@Shonak I'd agree that perhaps the one day races are possible, though obviously even then it's challenging to compete against others whose training would've benefited from enhanced recovery. I have some hope for those races - hope springs eternal
By the way Netflix offers a free month trial if you just want access to watch this, though it gets sidetracked into the Russian affair by all accounts.
PCMDaily Velogames Has Been 2016 & 2017
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ianrussell |
Posted on 14-09-2017 16:34
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Just semi skip watched the Icarus documentary now. It's interesting and compelling but much more about the Russian doping machine than the effect of PED's on a cyclist (only the first half hour or so touches on this).
For that info I'd say the interview, particularly the exerts I highlighted, are a lot more revealing but the documentary is worth a watch if you want some insight into the Russian sporting machine - scary stuff!
Netflix trial is easy to set up too and you can cancel anytime within the first 30 days to avoid paying anything in subscription charges.
PCMDaily Velogames Has Been 2016 & 2017
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TheManxMissile |
Posted on 14-09-2017 16:38
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Tour de France Champion
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Who at Netflix is paying you?
btw Amazon Prime has a whole heap of great cycling related documentaries and movies
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ianrussell |
Posted on 14-09-2017 16:54
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TheManxMissile wrote:
Who at Netflix is paying you?
btw Amazon Prime has a whole heap of great cycling related documentaries and movies
Did I mention it's a NETFLIX EXCLUSIVE ?
PCMDaily Velogames Has Been 2016 & 2017
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Shonak |
Posted on 17-09-2017 13:08
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Tour de France Champion
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Uhm so this happened
"It’s a little bit scary when Contador attacks." - Tommy V
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baseballlover312 |
Posted on 17-09-2017 13:11
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Tour de France Champion
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Well, I guess I know what a hairless spider looks like now. Not that this was something I would ever see outside of a nightmare, or want to see. But, yup, I've seen it now. So yeah...
RIP Exxon Duke, David Veilleux, Double Feature, and Monster Energy
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FreitasPCM |
Posted on 17-09-2017 13:11
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Grand Tour Champion
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What a beautiful piece of art. |
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