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2018 Pro Cycling: Team Sky Goes Postal, the Chris Froome Saga (Plus TdF)

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G650

G650 14,278

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http://www.liberation.fr/sports/2018/07/29/mystere-et-boule-de-froome_1669644

 

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"Mystère et boule de Froome" By Pierre Carrey — 29 juillet 2018

"Libération" reveals that in three weeks on the 2011 Vuelta, the rider perfomances exploded so much that Sky executives held a secret meeting to discuss the surprise performances.

Mystery and Froome Ball

Chris Froome's last mystery is the first. Even more than a beam of light that would have to be placed on his performances in the Tour de France from 2012 to 2017 or the Tour of Italy 2018, more than the thirst to finally know if he has dug into the forbidden arsenal that lend him rumours and scattered clues, such as the use of a motor, the 33-year-old Briton, third in the Tour this summer and central figure of the event. He was bullied and gave the impression that he didn't hate it. Innocent after his control with salbutamol by the authorities but booed by part of the public. We should understand where he came from. Team Sky's leader, who this year left the yellow jersey to his team-mate Geraint Thomas, is the Grand Tour athlete who has made up the biggest deficit in results in his career. And in record time. From alleged "toquard" (83rd of his first Tour in 2008 more than 2 h 22 late) to revered "champion".

Bloody texting.

A metamorphosis accomplished in a few days in 2011. Froome is 26 years old. On August 6th, he painfully finishes 85th in the Tour of Poland and end up drinking vodka. His manager, Dave Brailsford, is considering transferring him to RadioShack, Lance Armstrong's former home. He sends a spicy text to the rider's agent, Alex Carrera: "What did Chris do this season? Nothing at all!" Then Froome is called in catastrophe on the Tour of Spain which starts on August 20, to replace a sick teammate. Three weeks later, on September 11, he exploded the predictions by finishing second. Thirteen seconds behind Spaniard Juan José Cobo and 1'26'' ahead of his colleague Bradley Wiggins.

This ground-to-air missile ascent shook not only the public but also the Sky, according to information cross-checked by Libération. The team then gathers its trusted men for a special meeting. The question: "What do we do with Froome?" Management is alarmed that his runner may be overmedicated or even doped. Because before becoming the most suspicious formation of the peloton, Sky strives to be seen as the cleanest. One source said, "We had no idea how Froome worked." The complete opposite of Wiggins, who the staff programs to become a Tour winner since 2008. Brailsford also feels that the cohabitation between the two men can turn into conflict, which will be the case in the 2012 Tour: stronger than Wiggins in the mountains, Froome is asked to let him win.

In Madrid, at the end of the Vuelta, witnesses see Froome and his agent in a disco, talking business with the boss of the Saxo Bank team, Bjarne Riis. But Sky's sponsors insist that Brailsford retain this talent. The latter therefore signs a new contract, with an amount multiplied by twelve, around 1.2 million euros. From then on, Sky will take control the preparation of its new hero. And his communication.

Bilharzia.

To explain the asymptotic growth of his performances, Froome puts forward a first explanation: at the end of 2010 he contracted a parasite that attacks red blood cells, bilharziasis, by swimming in a lake in Kenya, his country of birth, and he would have healed just in time for the Vuelta 2011. This information is partly contradicted by the Daily Mail in 2014. Froome has just received an authorization from the International Cycling Union to use a nasal spray corticosteroid. The daily report indicates that the runner suffers from asthma - which could justify the spray - and hives, as well as another tropical condition, blastocystis, which causes gastric pain.

As for the bilharziasis disorders, they would have been stopped in 2013 and not in 2011. This is done by means of five praziquantel treatments, sometimes administered in a single cure. This antiparasite can be dangerous for the organism, to the point that it is sometimes supplemented by corticoids, these drugs well known for their doping power. Did Froome run sick between 2011 and 2013? Did he use corticos? The Briton is not yet ready to give more details on his health.

Pierre Carrey pour Libération

 

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idigTexas

idigTexas 2,293

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12 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

They have money and nobody else does. Other people can't handle that and so adopt a cynical posture. They might be cheating nobody knows.

I don't know the truth but I love the sport and will pay homage to the sacrifice the riders make, regardless of the rest of it. It is a pageant of great beauty and suffering that will forever exceed the Super Bowl in all its gaudiness or the boring World Series or the NBA which is great but goes on forever.

This is pretty close to my stance.  Sky spends the most.  I don't know to what extent they might be cheating, but if they are, I don't think they are alone in doing it.  In short, the playing field is tilted by money, not the cheating.  Cycling rewards the big spenders more so than any sport outside of European football. 

 

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Txzen

Txzen 498

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17 hours ago, Napoleon said:

Interesting discussion on doping, cycling/swimming, and stuff from April of 2018.

Joe Rogan talking to Peter Attia (https://peterattiamd.com/about/😞
 

Lance is a poster boy for the effect of oxygen vector doping - either by blood transfusions or drugs to boost the hematocrit. He started as a junior under Eddie Borsewicz, who is at the genesis of blood doping in US cycling. Armstrong has a lower than normal hematocrit (<40) and as such, the benefit for him in raising it to the maximum allowed (50%) is far, far greater than someone who is normally at a higher value. 

Talented cyclist? Sure. But he became a monster cyclist through oxygen vector doping - and the complexity of his program is something he has never ever really come clean about. The lactate threshold is something he himself floated, ostensibly as a cover for his use of performance enhancing drugs. Maybe part of his performance, but it was not remotely at the root of his success.

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Txzen

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3 hours ago, Bojack said:

I met Lawson Craddock about 6 years ago.  Really nice kid. 

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/633936189/lawson-craddocks-amazing-last-place-finish-in-the-tour-de-france

There was a NYT piece recently lamenting at the lack of American riders at the Tour, and the decline of the sport (road cycling) in the US, while gravel and MTB have had an upswing. That said, the focus always seems to be about winning. The French haven't had a winner in 30 years. There are plenty of good, gritty Americans in the Tour and the pro peloton doing their job. It's not all about the podium, which is what Lawson demonstrated. It was amazing to watch him battle on.

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Thetexashammer

Thetexashammer 1,062

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If you watched The Move, you can skip this post. 

The failing NY Times wrote two pieces about the Tour. One was a hit piece on Froome. The other lamented the use of podium girls. Not one article about the race itself. Keep in mind both these articles were on the sports page. They were talking about podium girls on the cover of the sports page. 

When you've made the sports page all about politics, you deserve to burn in hell. 

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8,708

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1 hour ago, Thetexashammer said:

If you watched The Move, you can skip this post. 

The failing NY Times wrote two pieces about the Tour. One was a hit piece on Froome. The other lamented the use of podium girls. Not one article about the race itself. Keep in mind both these articles were on the sports page. They were talking about podium girls on the cover of the sports page. 

When you've made the sports page all about politics, you deserve to burn in hell. 


I do like to talk about the podium girls as well.

Yum! Yum! Podium Yum!

(I took French 1 four times and I'm fairly certain that that means "I think that podium girls are delicious."... in French.)

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Txzen

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13 hours ago, Thetexashammer said:

The failing NY Times wrote two pieces about the Tour.

I didn't realize anyone said this other than the fat orange guy. Good to know.

Not sure why you'd say something so easily and demonstrably false (and this is coming from someone who just criticized their coverage). I count 20 articles for a three week tour (five by Ian Austen, the rest by the AP). So, you know, more than two I think. 

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/tour-de-france

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Thetexashammer

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2 hours ago, Txzen said:

I didn't realize anyone said this other than the fat orange guy. Good to know.

Not sure why you'd say something so easily and demonstrably false (and this is coming from someone who just criticized their coverage). I count 20 articles for a three week tour (five by Ian Austen, the rest by the AP). So, you know, more than two I think. 

https://www.nytimes.com/topic/subject/tour-de-france

Print.

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Biff Tannen

Biff Tannen 45,751

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On 7/30/2018 at 4:13 PM, Bojack said:

I met Lawson Craddock about 6 years ago.  Really nice kid. 

 

https://www.npr.org/2018/07/30/633936189/lawson-craddocks-amazing-last-place-finish-in-the-tour-de-france

He lives behind me.  Only met him once at an HOA meeting (shudder), but he seemed very nice for sure.  Sorry this happened to him, but glad he is getting some positive press and helping his cause.

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8,708

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49 minutes ago, Thetexashammer said:

My Lawson Craddock shirt has a texas flag printed over France. Can't wait to rock that in Paris.

What would also be cool is to show an outline of the country of France fitting inside an outline of the state of Texas.

Since France is only 80% as big as Texas, it's possible. (though their shapes might not match up that well.)

It might piss off those who understand what it is showing.

Texas-France.png

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8,708

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4 hours ago, 52-80 said:

It's 94.4%

Map shows differently because #Mercator

In French class in high school, we learned that France was 80% the size. According to Wikipedia's "Area" numbers...

Texas: 696,241 km2

France (in Europe): 551,695 km2  (79.24% the size of Texas)

France (including overseas departments): 640,679 km2 (92.02% the size of Texas)


I'll stick to my "80% as big as Texas" rather than rounding down to "79%".

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Napoleon

Napoleon 8,708

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2 hours ago, Braff Zacklin said:

This is more than a little unsettling. Hope he makes a full recovery.

http://www.espn.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/24990887/member-us-cycling-team-found-going-missing-spain


The retired neighbors across the street are going on a cycling tour based out of Girona this month, so this story hits close to home..

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G650

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10 hours ago, idigTexas said:

I'm not sure what more there is to it.  Sounds like he crashed on a training ride, and was unconscious until rescuers found him.

There's definitely a lot more to it, all the details of what happened. Was he run off by a car? Was it something on the road? Health issue? They may never come out, but would be good info to know.

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idigTexas

idigTexas 2,293

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5 hours ago, G650 said:

There's definitely a lot more to it, all the details of what happened. Was he run off by a car? Was it something on the road? Health issue? They may never come out, but would be good info to know.

My guess is a banana peel.  We'll see if he remembers and wants to divulge the details when he's further along in his recovery. 

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Iowa Horn

Iowa Horn 55

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Oh man, bumping this thread because I just learned that tv commentator and former cyclist Paul Sherwen has died.  His analyses were always spot on and really made broadcasts come to life.

https://olympics.nbcsports.com/2018/12/02/paul-sherwen/?utm_tags=nbcsemail1000&amp;mi_u=0D6A6B46-ECEB-4175-A131-0CFD29CEF248

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NBC Sports cyclist analyst Paul Sherwen died Sunday at age 62.

Sherwen, one of the most well-known voices in the sport, was involved in 40 Tours de France, including 33 as a commentator and seven as a competitor. He also covered cycling at five Olympics for NBC in 1996, 2004, 2008, 2012 and 2016.

As a pro cyclist, Sherwen won British national titles in 1986 and 1987 and raced in prestigious one-day classics Paris-Roubaix and Milan-San Remo.

 

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