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Cycling Thread: Bernal wins the TDF


kempus

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1 hour ago, kempus said:

Yeah, Poels could be a GC guy as a team leader. He was Skys backup, had something happened to Froome. Similar to Landa at the TDF. I agree with @kyle21121. I think Froome will want the Tour record, first and foremost.

I think because the Giro is earlier in the season. The Giro is also incredibly hard, it would be the same if the Vuelta was the first GT. Thats speculation, though.

I know the Vuelta changed time of year, but has there been any material change in the Giro or TDF from Indurian's time when he did the Giro-Tour double? It looks like the time of the races are the same as then.

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1 hour ago, mse326 said:

I know the Vuelta changed time of year, but has there been any material change in the Giro or TDF from Indurian's time when he did the Giro-Tour double? It looks like the time of the races are the same as then.

Not that I know of. I'm just not sure it can be done with how fit all the cyclists are now. Also, with how hard the organizers make the Giro and Vuelta. If anyone can do it, it's Froome. I would love to see him try, but I doubt he would do anything that may hamper his chances of winning the TDF. That's his obvious number 1 goal every year. Anything else is a bonus. Hence why he can go all out for the Vuelta with the TDF already in the bag. I think if he rode the Giro too, saving energy for the TDF would always be in the back of his mind.

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9 minutes ago, kempus said:

Has to be. He's achieved significantly more than Sir Bradley Wiggins and Sir Chris Hoy. Should be Sir Mark Cavendish, too.

Can you really say he's achieved more than Wiggins? Certainly road cycling he has, but when you add all that Wiggins achieved in Track Cycling I don't know. There are too separate disciplines so I don't know how to compare given that the world wide the road cycling gets more acclaim in these tours.

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15 minutes ago, mse326 said:

Can you really say he's achieved more than Wiggins? Certainly road cycling he has, but when you add all that Wiggins achieved in Track Cycling I don't know. There are too separate disciplines so I don't know how to compare given that the world wide the road cycling gets more acclaim in these tours.

Unquestionably, Froome has achieved more. Road cycling is the pinnacle of the sport, not the track. Four TDFs and a Vuelta dwarf what Wiggins achieved. Froome had an argument for Britains greatest ever sportsperson. 

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4 hours ago, texans_uk said:

I mean look at the Discovery Team. Guilt by association is common in team sports. Rightly or wrongly. 

I'm not going to say I haven't seen comments on articles that accuse Froome but even those tend to focus on him going from nothing to GC contender overnight. I haven't even seen it brought up by those who avowedly hate Froome to diminish him. And I don't think I read any article by even remotely reputable website or newspaper in away really putting this as a cloud over his head. There may be some out there, but I'd imagine it isn't going to be a bigger deal as the years go on as it would be now and there is very little putting this over Froome even now. So unless evidence actually linking him to it comes out I don't think this has any effect on him. Stuff that he's dealt with previously will be far more prominent in terms of people questioning whether this was all done clean.

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In the wider cycling world, I don't think it will. The British public are unlikely to ever embrace Froome, but that's as much to do with his accent, relative lack of charisma, the publics distrust of cycling as a whole and the fact that he came after Wiggins. However, to cycling fans, I doubt any of those allegations will have any impact, unless he is directly implicated.

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14 hours ago, kempus said:

In the wider cycling world, I don't think it will. The British public are unlikely to ever embrace Froome, but that's as much to do with his accent, relative lack of charisma, the publics distrust of cycling as a whole and the fact that he came after Wiggins. However, to cycling fans, I doubt any of those allegations will have any impact, unless he is directly implicated.

I agree.

I mean look at the way the cycling world still embraces Alberto Contador and with infinitely more evidence of wrong doing. To think this will hang over Froome, at least there, just doesn't seem realistic

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