nochain

Hard to believe that a team like that would struggle to get a new sponsor!!!! One off the strongest units we have had in many years.....what they do on the flat stages is just amazing. 50 Grand tour stage wins and they can't get a sponsor??

Yes Kloden is a bit of a mystery.....he has all the abilities of a 3 week tour GC contender. He has shown he gets stronger in a tour…especially in the 3rd week. He’s TT ability is up there with the other GC guy’s and he climbs with the best when he is on a good day…. I think when he was at he’s best he’s problem was that he never really had the sole team leader role, maybe if he had a whole team behind him and him only 5 years ago he would have been able to grow into a Tour winner.

Love it when he is strong, think he could be a contender because he did not ride the tour this year. So he would have focussed he's training very specific for this tour. Don't think the TDF crash riders like Braco,Wiggens and Kloden will be a factor. I see Kloden is still struggling just to do a ride longer than 3 hours and Wiggens won’t have any racing in he’s legs. Plus peaking twice in 6weeks is not an easy thing to do for anybody…they might not be fatigued but they would have been very close to their best 3 weeks ago and you don’t just keep form like that for 2 months. Ask Frank…he was very close to he’s best before last year’s tdf, crashed and was way off that form 6 weeks later!

Finaly my 3 sprinters all come to the party!!

What the Hell is Petachi doing??Did he forget to train for this small race called the TDF? Did not Pick Hushovd because I was convinced he was going to work for Farrar in the sprints and now he is scoring big time points !!

That’s why I think they should maybe fix it before as part of the race bible .Then everybody knows. But yes there is a huge difference between a finish like that and a mountain top. Any hill that you see Cancelarra sprint up in a 53x16 or something is as good as a sprint finish. Yesterday was more of an uphill and I would think the rule would not apply there. Yesterday's stage was tailor made for the hill "punch" riders. It has no relevance what so ever on form for me.Either you are that type of rider or you are not. 2km at 15% is nothing compared to 12km at 8 or 10%. The way people analyse yesterday's stage you would swear that means Vino,Hushovd and Gilbert are now overall contenders and Mountain goats because they were able to stay with Contador and Evans and Andy,Gesink,Wiggens and Basso could not.

I don't really get this?crashing 10km out and loosing time is nothing new and the 3 km rule has been with us for some time.The 3km rule has been used in the past during a fast short uphill finish so why not now? Maybe they should clearly mark stages beforehand as 3km rule stages. Even if they ended up giving Andy and the other contenders that crashed with 2 km to go the same time as Contador riders Like Frank and Cadel would still be 1min40 up on him.

This I like about the current situation. And as an Andy fan I hate the fact that Conto had to lose time this way. He should be 20 something seconds down now not 1min 40. But this puts Conto in a situation that he has no choice, he has to attack and attack early on the climbs. 10 or 20 sec won’t do the trick here now he needs to go 8 to 10km from the top…like you said, much like the old Armstrong attacks or a Pantani/Rassmussen. I don’t think he has it in him….the Conto fans say I am crazy to think he is not a “long range” climber. So let’s wait and see.. Up to now I have only seen him spend loads of time on Andy’s wheel and Attack within 3 km from the top( at the tour at least where the speed is so much higher it makes it a lot more difficult)…Andy however we have seen more than once go out with 10km to go and pace in front for the whole of the climb. Just one thing that I think is bad for Conto…..How is it that when he crashed with 10km to go that he only had 2 teammates to help him pace back? A team like BMC or Sky has shown what you can do within 5km of chasing if you manage to put 7 teammates on the front!! Where was the rest of he’s team?

PM send!!

Really don't understand LG tactics for this year’s tour?? How did Basso end up so weak and why put together a team like this for what has been there biggest goal of the whole season? I know he crashed but that really should not make that much of a difference to a quality rider like him...yes if you have major problems during the last 2 months build up for the tour, chances are you won't win it but he should have been at least ready to put up a fight for podium. I am disappointed because I gave him a big chance as this was the first time he was focused on the tour exclusively and at last year’s Giro he showed he was still a great tour rider!!

In the end I think Jani Brajkovic will be there top Guy.....maybe Horner. Levi like always will maybe be top 10 but I think he is red hot at the moment and won't be there in 4 weeks time when the main GC guy's go!! Even juiced up he has he's limits and he is riding right at he's limit now and he was strong in the Tour de Cal..

Yes i agree!! Think Hunter has more value than Mcewen as a team man...he is a very strong..Roulour(how do you spel this?) for the gc guy's, should they have someone in yellow and is one of the better TT guy's for the TTT. And maybe in the 3 week when Cav is tired from climbing he's ass off Robbie can take a sprint. Very sad not to see him there!!I take it he will then do the Tour of Spain.

Great event!! Good value for money... Nice hard Bike leg....and the first run I think was a bit longer than 5km(the first 5km times were slow so I think it was long) But really you can't ask more of an event,would love to have more of these in Gauteng!! Just one thing,please can they create a cat for the 30+ or at least a 35 - 39 cat? We don't really want to compete with the Elites anymore....and if you are 35+ and want to race Open then you can just enter Open.

Agree,won't get close to that if you ask me.For starters it does not have a wing on the back for down force!!

Why did they move it back to the middle of winter?? Was much better last year during August Good to see they made it 4 days of racing. I have done this tour 4 or 5 times but this year I will have to give it n skip,just too much on my plate at the moment... Hope people will support it!

I am finding it very hard to believe that he is that bad at the moment.....It might very well be the case I just can't understand it.I mean yes he crashed and lost about 10 days of full training...but he still trained. I don't know, either he is in the worst shape of he's life or they have a structured plan in place to try and get him to the tour ready to perform in the last week. I think that’s the one thing about the TDF is you can be a bit short going in because everything happens in the last 8 or 9 days. But again this is bad....almost so bad that I think they might be bluffing at the moment???I mean how can he be that weak…even out of form he will normally be up there with the GC guy’s…maybe a 2 or 3 minute gap but 6 min??

Would be very nice if they could add a olimpic distance event to the BSG series!!!

R700.00 is double what the Local Tri's ask for an event that in most cases are very well organised and meet all the necessary safety requirements. R500.00 would have been the max that I would be willing to pay; R700.00 is more than just crazy! And that’s for early entries, and then it gets even more expensive if you don't enter like 2 months before.

Think it is just for the race!! Very disappointed...would have loved to do that event but the day will end up costing me R1000.00 for an Olympic distance event!! That’s R700.00 for just over 2 hours of racing!! Don't know how many people will be willing to pay that??

Yes they seem to think that between 28 and 32 is the perfect age for a grand tour rider. Especially in the long TT's most GC riders seem to mature only after the age of 26. I think Basso was last year still as close to he's best ever in the Giro but yes age might have an impact. The big thing is not only the recovery as far as muscles go but also the problem of weight. To win a grand tour the riders have to go down to very dangerous levels of body fat% and by the time they come out of the tour they are at the max of what is possible for any athlete. Now the problem they face is to pick up weight and lose that weight in 6 weeks again is not a very healthy thing to do because no rider can stay at that level for longer than a couple of weeks without completely losing he's power. That is why most guys will time it to perfection and only lose the last 1 to 2 kg a week before the tour. Armstrong had a very interesting take on this as to how long riders can stay at that level. Remember Iban Mayo the guy that nearly killed Armstrong on Mont Vonteux? Still to today one of the most talented climbers ever...he's only problem was that he went into the tour every year to HOT and to Lean so he's body ended up not being able to handle being that lean for that long. But yes I am sure if anybody can do what has not been possible in the modern era of cycling it will be Conto!!

No for sure the power to weight is only an indication of what he is capable of on a perfect day. They train on these figures and know exactly when they push too hard or go into the red because they get tested so many times a year that by the time a riders goes into a tour like this he at least have a very good idea of he's Max ability. All I am saying with this is that he's numbers on that climb seems to be not he's best so the chances are there that he was not riding at full effort(very close but not he's best) or he still has some way to go before he gets to he's peak form. This can mean that he might be fresher after the Giro than expected from a Giro winner. In the last 2 years both Basso(last year) and Menshov(the year before) claimed after the Giro that they were feeling great and they have the perfect recovery planned and will be ready. But in Both cases they ended up failing big time to produce any type of form going into the 3rd week of the tour. In both cases they showed at that time to be 2 of the best tour riders in the bunch but they were nowhere on the tour because of the Giro and even struggled to hang on to the top 10 riders. In Fact if you go and have a look at the top 3 riders in the last 3 year’s Giro you will find that not 1 of them ended up doing anything in the Tour. But all of them would have at some stage at least claimed that he is ready and will be there for the win! It’s because of this that I think if Conto ends up going to the tour and win it this year then in my book at least he will be the best tour rider of all time…Mainly because of what he has been up against.

Yes, Almost all of the stuff I have read about estimated power output for Contador on Mt Etna, suggests that he is either not giving it he's full effort or he is still not in peak condition. He's figures for Him was not that high on the climb and he has produced better power to weight figures at last year’s Tdf. So it really does look like he is not at max at the moment. So does this mean he is that much better?or did the other riders not prepare 100% Would love to see Nibali's figures compared to last year's Tour of Spain.

Eldron, I did not look at those VAM numbers but if you are saying that Horner had a bigger number then to me it could be because of the following. Horner is at he's very peak at the moment in terms of Power to weight and won't be able to replicate that at the tour..... We all know what kind of VAM numbers Contador is capable of at the moment and the only thing that I get from that is he might either not be at he's peak now or he is riding within himself due to the fact that he is not really under pressure in this Giro. Both ways’ that is not good news for he's competitors at the Tdf!! To hit numbers like Andy and Conto did on Mont Vontoux(spelling?) you have to be right on top in terms of power to weight...stepping out onto the racers edge....

Also don't really care about doping discussions, I know the chances are very good that all of the top GC contenders are on something and most probably use the same stuff. So then you either accept it like that or point a finger every time someone has a great day on a bike. To me the playing field is as level as can be as far as doping goes so what is left is training, talent and team/race tactics. The reason I say I would be surprised if he is there on top in the 3rd week is the riders he is going up against will all be 100% prepared and won't have the problems he must face now to recover and get himself back to top form in 6 weeks. If Andy,Frank,Basso,Gesink and Evans goes there with perfect preparation and He still beats them then Yes I will have to agree he probably will the best Tour rider of all time. I think we might have one of the best Tours this year for some time. Basso goes there for the first time really focused on the Tour only. Evans also changed his race plans this year to have fresher legs. Andy and Frank know how to prepare for the Tour and at least one of them will be very very strong. Gesink will be the dark horse and I hope he comes in with good form, this year he will not have to work for Menchov.

I have not read all of this but there is some very good advice here. What is a long ride for you? Your muscles hurt because of intensity, not really the time you ride so maybe just don't ride that hard on the long rides. I would really go for the drop all supplements while trying to lose weight one. It will take longer than 2 weeks for your body to react to the change and sore muscle normally also speeds up your metabolism so it helps with the fat burning. The only reason you should have for taking supplements is if you train so hard that it becomes hard to put back enough energy just by eating normal meals...someone said it here, you will be surprised to see how little your body needs to function. Counting calories really is the way to go and because of the amount of fat stores you have I would think you should be able to handle more than 4000kj per day as a deficit. Every 15000kj should get rid of 500g of pure fat.