[mrconners]

Great vuelta at the moment, some brilliant days in the mountains. But I can't help feeling a little bit dissapointed every time Chris Froome gawps at his power meter as ( I'm sure) the DS calmly gives him very detailed instructions through his earpiece as what cadence/wattage to hold, all calculated on a P.C.

Better than the riders of the past ripping each others legs off whilst juiced up to the eyeballs. But I'm not a sky fan and not a fan of soulless automata. At least Bertie is holding his own and making the race interesting.

Wait till murdoch decides to launder his money through some other avenue. Or they ban power meters.

[tomtom]

Just ban the radios...   

[mrconners]

It has been talked about a lot in the past. Lots of resistance from riders and teams on safety grounds.
Plus they would have to think as well as pedal. Nightmare.

[tomtom]

Didnt they ban them on the tour a few years back?

[mrconners]

http://inrng.com/2011/03/race-radios-and-the-tour-de-france-data-from-365-stages/

They were banned, and there has been plenty of cod science to back up nothing.

Funny how sky can't hold there own on the one day classics though. Where the racing is less of a tactical war and more like a  brawl in a pub car park.

[Stubbs]

Wiggins came 7th at Roubaix this year, that's pretty good right? If Sky had winning classics as a goal I'm sure they would win their fair share, as it is their season is built around the grand tours. As boring as he may be personality wise Froome is a fucking beast and at the moment Bertie is looking surprisingly good for someone recovering from a broken leg.

[mrconners]

Good point.  Sky did put a good show in at roubaix. I just think their grand tour antics are sterile, however they are effective and probably a strategy other teams will have to develop to remain competitive.
Bertie must have been on the contaminated meat again,  but that is another debate.

[Johnny Brown]

Monday reminded me of that Ebdon vs O'Sullivan final a few years back when Ebdon bored O'Sullivan off the table. Yesterday was better though, Contador was all over him.

[mr__j5]

I'm fairly sure that Froome is using his own brain on the climbs and measuring his efforts to what he knows he can maintain, as Wiggins did when he won the Tour in 2012.

Yes, they are trained by Tim Kerrison to know what these limits are, but this is one of the first times that I've actually seen Froome work like this instead of getting involved with the stop/start riding of the Spaniards. I quite enjoyed it on Saturday when he just let them all ride up the road playing games and then caught them all later on and rode past them.


Saying that. I do find Froome dull.

[mrconners]

It could all be taken down to a final sprint in the last 100m, even on these monster climbs. Hold wheel, hold wheel, hold wheel, hold wheel, sprint. It's a waiting game, but that is what Indurain and many other GT winners did so its nothing new. Gain time on the TT then watch in the mountains.

Its all very British to want a winner then moan when he wins, I should just shut up and enjoy it I know. But I do find it all a bit insipid in its execution.