ultraman6970

OK guys anybody saw how those suckers were climbing? and worse how they were going down hill?? Wonder how everybody will climb for the tour...

Doubt AS will finish this one if they continue going this way, contador attacking down hill and stuff.

Ferrous Bueller

Haven't been watching it, but a bask country tour sounds incredibly relaxing.

ultraman6970

Relaxing?? 1st stage that is not even the mountain stage had 5 climbs (1 cat 1)... i would not call it relaxed at all

Ferrous Bueller

I assumed it was some unik event where riders were allowed to bask in a picturesk setting.
Did you mean the Basque Country Tour? Yes, those suckers are throwing down the shizzle.

ultraman6970

Sorry, i see my mistake

cthenn

Shock another Sky Team win! LOL Postal reborn...in 15 years will there be as much venom toward Sky as there is toward Postal? I have little doubt they are also systematically doping.

ultraman6970

They did a great job today. AS loss 18 minutes And after that he recogized he was not going to be ready... No s....t!!!!

We need a thread asking for opinions about what radio shack will do in the TdF now

Caretaker

Quintana (Movistar) comes second to Tony Martin in the TT and wins the Tour de Pay Basque.

Smaller teams giving Sky a run for their money.

Got to be good.

Ken Brown

I knew Quintana was a great climber but didn't know he was an excellent time trialest. A star in the making!

cthenn

Did anyone listen to the post race wrap up on Universal Sports? After Quintana's "surprising" win, those two dirtbag announcers basically said Quintana had to be doping. They went on and on about how shocking the result was, and that "in this era" one has to "assume" something is being used. WTF?! Who the hell are these turds to call out riders out of the blue as dopers? Just because it didn't go the way they had scripted in their tiny pea brains, they must assume he must be doping? These are early season races, where it is generally wide open, as most of the "name" riders are still coming on form, rather than peaking. So no result should be shocking. Quintana has already shown to be in great climbing form, and he did very well on a HILLY TT, and still lost to Tony Martin. No one said a word when Wiggins beats the entire field of the TdF last year by over 2 minutes on a TT course, but Quintana LOSES a TT, but beats the other GC guys, and he is probably doping? Universal Sports should be ashamed...

Zinger

A great Colombian climber ? Why whoever heard of such a thing ?

The Escarabajos are back! And they are going to tear the legs off of guys in the Alps.

Fabio Parra was good out of the mountains as well. Nothing unusual here....no coca leaves.

Zinger

Carlos Betancur (Ag2r La Mondiale) is another Colombian that's more than just a climber

And he has this to say:

(excerpted)

On Wednesday, Betancur echoed a growing sentiment for why Colombian riders are suddenly doing well again in the peloton. One rationale for the recent Colombian boom is that the abuse of the blood-booster EPO has been greatly reduced in the peloton. With less EPO, the natural benefits of living 10,000 feet above sea level are once again becoming an advantage.



“With so many anti-doping controls and the biological passport, it’s helping us because we live and train at altitude,” he said. “So when we come down, it’s a bit of an advantage for us.”


That’s not to say Colombians were not on the fast gas back in the EPO era, but it means that as the average hematocrit level drops, the higher hematocrit that typically comes with living and training at high altitude gives them the same edge as the first wave of Colombians in the 1980s, years before EPO became rampant in the peloton.


Betancur said he’s not losing sleep over what happened in the past and is focused on making a name for himself now.