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- Wout won CX 3 year’s running, not sure this is that great form (compared to his usual preparation) and let’s not forget 2 things, an hour of CX doesn’t require the ssme preparation as 6-8 hour road races or GCs, BUT building up for a CX in haste could hamper the continued build-up for the road if he didn’t carefully prepare a base before. With all his injuries may e shortcuts were taken along the way that will be paid in the long run. But as long as he’s not sneakily working towards a GC bid (I still won’t put it past him to try), he should be fine.
- Yes, he made a great effort, however, nobody is considering how much more MVDP might have been able to pull out the bag had he been pushed.
- They are doing whatever they can do that is allowed by the current testing. The same as every other sport--except cleaner than the vast majority since cycling has a real testing program. I am not sure why anyone would expect or want anything different.
- I’m sorry, I’ve been around a long time and I am gobsmacked at the speeds ALL half serious cyclists ride at today and for sure none of the amateurs have access to this so-called top secret elusive product or technique, if they had, someone would spill the beans. Can you imagine how much a desperate ex pro like Wiggins or whoever could sell his story to some outlets for if he could provide even half-verifiable information about how top teams evade getting caught? It’s gotten a lot harder and riskier to count on collective omertas, too much money involved in different directions today.
Why should cycling not speed up when running still does, the whole range from 60m to marathon and ultra even though far more is invested in technology for cycling and there is far more to be gained technologically from efficiency, especially aerodynamics. Look qt the speeds or distances today of tennis, golf, base or cricket balls, look at speeds us amateurs reach compared to the historical elite, I’m approaching 60 and when the guys in front push us, we still reach average race speeds over 40, on water and often no food for lack of time or hunger at breakfast. It’s not like the peleton suddenly improved by 5% and it’s not like the top guys are riding the others into the ground my abnormal margins, proportionally everything’s the same with maybe a 1km/h increase above the historical growth in speed over the past decade, that doesn’t sound like a sudden discovery but collective change in approach towards preparation, training racing strategy, lifestyle and hygiene, changed approach to incentivising riders for exciting fans more, etc.
In the past I, having come from a different sport, I was always a bit surprised at how unprofessional cyclists were about training and how unserious the talent promotion seemed to be, many young riders being destroyed prematurely and many being selected more through networking than a form of meritocracy, the sad side effect of it being considered more a team than individual sport even though ironically we’re only interested in that one top performer of a team. If cycling didn’t have such a heavy doping burden to carry around, we wouldn’t even be having this discussion in this era.
- Not 20 years ago, we had Lance Armstrong, Ulrich, and before that Anquetil, Merckx and Hinault. Whatever they claim, all were dopers (before stricter control). The Tour has only gotten harder. A lot. And you think superhumans like Pogacar (and, for that matter, the entire UAE team) and Vingegaard (to name just 2) tapdance through 21 days of this as if it's a flat parking lot?
- Tough break for Wout. If you rip your shorts open in cyclocross, you went down hard. He showed a lot of character pushing through that and back to the front.
I was surprised not to see any friendly smiles between him and MVDP, who shared a bit of friendly banter with Nys. All 3 had amazing days, in their different ways.
- wout van aert is a class act, a true sportsman, a pure gentleman…
- Yeah.. Vanthourenhout is known for slowing down other riders especially when Iserbyt is in front.
- Correct but I’d say it’s hard work for all of them and only worth it for a select few. And in the public eye, none of the others exist, neither do the coaches, staff, clubs, volunteers, etc who pour endless hours of often unpaid work into youngsters only to be mostly forgotten as the level evolves.
- Maybe you should have discussed it with Toon beforehand?
Barney02-02-2025