+4
15-08-2026 22:05
+3
14-08-2026 12:19
+1
12-08-2026 20:45
+0
31-07-2026 11:58
30-07-2026 12:55
+2
30-07-2026 07:09
30-07-2026 01:00
29-07-2026 15:32
29-07-2026 10:21
29-07-2026 02:07
Loading
+4
OCexile
agree, but EVERYONE knows what carapaz is about, the freedom he needs to choose his own moments, etc. i can’t imagine any team signing him and not flowing with his vibe. at least i hope not. gotta love the pure gunslingers out there.15-08-2026 22:05
+3
OCexile
THANK YOU for saving me the trouble of writing this myself. you didn’t miss a thing. like you, i’m troubled by the selective memory and hypocrisy that’s hard wired into cycling’s collective conscience.14-08-2026 12:19
+1
OCexile
if you believe what landis says about doping, what he saw, what was said, etc., then HE says that he had open conversations about doping with pereiro during that tour, including oscar telling him straight out that he had one more transfusion to do.12-08-2026 20:45
+0
OCexile
yup.31-07-2026 11:58
+1
OCexile
and you as well.30-07-2026 12:55
+2
OCexile
it just strikes me that there’s so much conjecture and speculation in your method that the conclusions — unless i’m misunderstanding you — seem maybe a little sketchy. you acknowledge that vO2 max is just one factor, but then just as quickly toss that aside to conclude that armstrong would finish an hour down to pogacar PURELY due to a foundational disparity in “giftedness” or “talent.” i think most of us would agree that mvdp appears to be a pretty gifted rider. mathieu van der poel’s vO2 max is about 83–85, but there certainly seem to be “other factors” that are doing some pretty heavy lifting. mvdp ALSO has an even lower maximum heart rate than armstrong did, 191 against armstrong’s 200, so there’s nothing magical about that piece of the dutchman’s physiology either. one could reasonably speculate then that van der poel’s secret sauce lies the slowness of his lactate production and the speed with which his body clears it. this may very well have been the case with armstrong as well. you note that pog’s time on plateau de beille a couple years ago is six minutes faster than armstrong’s from twenty years ago, as if that time gap represented an absolute measure of rider physiology rather than twenty years of progress in training and technology. by that reasoning then there are club racers in 2026 posting times that make them “more gifted” than merckx and anquetil. is just EVERYBODY who can get on a bike today and beat a time posted by armstrong (or indurain, lemond, merckx…) MORE GIFTED than all those others by whatever their new margin of victory on the clock is? that means a boatload of guys out there on zwift who are much more “gifted” than bernard hinault ever dreamt of being. and since times are always getting faster that means that competitors (in every single sport) are becoming progressively more and more GIFTED rather than just being the product of the evolution of their sport and all its supporting changes in science, etc? i suspect you don’t actually mean to argue that. but if that’s not the case you’re making then i’m having a hard time understanding what is30-07-2026 07:09
+2
OCexile
yeah, if you live in belgium i don’t know if you’re allowed to say you don’t like wout van aert. (but what kind of monster would you have to be to dislike wout?)30-07-2026 01:00
+0
OCexile
(funny)29-07-2026 15:32
+3
OCexile
i’m kinda curious as to how you’re quantifying armstrong’s relative talent… tenth or fifteenth best… etc. I’m not saying you’re wrong, just wondering what the reasoning is.29-07-2026 10:21
+2
OCexile
if pog wasn’t out there with mathieu we have no idea what would have happened. it would have been a totally different race. van der poel would likely not have just tried to go it alone. he might have tried to get someone else to go with him, or wait and go later, or… or… or… It becomes wild conjecture.29-07-2026 02:07