Tour de France 2018

[J-hop]

Starting here in a few days, Anyone else planning on watching a bit this year? I think I’ll try to catch some of the climbing stages.

Was reading up on the Chris Froome controversy, he is under the gun for using the same asthma medication I use. So silly though when we all know things like EPO didn’t disappear with lance

[kJUMP]

ya will prolly watch what i can before going to work and catch the highlights after.

this is a good stage preview:

http://road.cc/content/feature/24437...about-cyclings

[Buster]

just let them dope.

[civic_stylez]

Ill definitely take in some of the TV coverage this year.

[jampack]

Gonna be an interesting one. Tom Dumoulin will be there.

[Penguin_Racecar]

Oh snap: https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/to...27/story.shtml

[J-hop]

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Oh snap: https://www.eurosport.com/cycling/to...27/story.shtml

Crazy! I don’t really get it, I use the exact same medication and as workload increases I need to use it more just to breathe like a normal human does. I doubt anyone who has a normal functioning airway would see much if any benefit but ok!

Edit: yea looks like according to a few studies zero performance improvement when non-asthmatics take the drug. Silly...

[Penguin_Racecar]

Not to mention that the levels they found were not ones you could achieve through inhaler use, if I recall correctly.

[buh_buh]

The UCI limit allows for 16 puffs within a 24 hour period, and Froome tested over twice the legal amount. I don't have asthma, so I don't know what's considered a normal amount. Froome has also had asthma his whole life. They also took into account dehydration and recalibrated for that, but he was still over the legal limit.

I'd like to see Froome in the Tour, but I could still see Team Sky competing without Froome. Geraint Thomas and Kwiatkowski both looked good last year before Froome took over. Maybe they can pull a Froome themselves and dethrone him the way Froome took over from Bradley Wiggins.

[kJUMP]

i honestly don't think froome has "asthma" despite what has been said. think about it -- he is the most elite of all the elite cyclists in the entire world. if you even had a hint of asthma (according to a true medical definition of it) there's no way you could reach such a level by controlling symptoms from a drug that is available to the general population. he is using it for some perceived and calculated benefit -- we just don't know what it is yet.

i agree though, team sky will be a contender given the talent they already have.

[Penguin_Racecar]

I was under the impression that this asthma issue was relatively new to the media. I'm also agree that asthma would potentially put a hamper on your performance even with medication. Katie Compton (most decorated female cyclocross racer) has battled with asthma and there are races she has to drop out of because she can't breathe. Other times she seems unaffected indicating the medication is doing its job. It never seems like Froome is really suffering from asthma.

[J-hop]

From what I’ve been reading today all studies show zero performance enhancing for non-asthmatics, so you can puff all you want on that thing and it isn’t going to help. 16 puffs is excessive however if it isn’t performance enhancing then holding him back is about as intelligent as stripping Ross rebagliati of his medal for smoking pot.

Athletic regulators make me laugh, everyone knows all high level sports are plagued with doping. It’s like malware, people doing it are always one step ahead of people trying to stop it. Worrying about asthma medication is so stupid. But I guess they have to string someone up to make a statement

[buh_buh]

This is far from scientific, but I read something like 7% of Olympic athletes have asthma, and they're twice as likely to medal as non-asthmatics.

[buh_buh]

Wouldn’t be shocked if it was a tactic just to stir up more drama, but https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-investigation

[jampack]

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Wouldn’t be shocked if it was a tactic just to stir up more drama, but https://www.theguardian.com/sport/20...-investigation

Yap. Saw the news today. Lots of different reactions around the world as expected.

[jampack]

I was watching the team presentation. LOTS of big names (of course, it’s TDF). I’m just sad Mike Woods is not there. They boo’d Froomey, it’s just kinda awkward to watch for some reason lol

[buh_buh]

Gaviria was someone I was looking out for before the Tour started, but wasn't expecting him to dominate the sprint stages.
Another good sprint finish today, Cav and Kittel nowhere to be seen

[jampack]

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Gaviria was someone I was looking out for before the Tour started, but wasn't expecting him to dominate the sprint stages.
Another good sprint finish today, Cav and Kittel nowhere to be seen

I'm not actually sure what Cav is protesting there at the end. Awkward to see him stopping as he dropped his radio and trying to pick it up in the bushes lol

Yea, Gaviria seems to have been very solid but still hoping Sagan will get the green at the end. They have only 4 points difference from each other. Not sure also what's happening to Kittel. One of the BMC cyclists pulled Sagan in the middle of the peleton but I think it's unintentional.

[buh_buh]

Cav’s got no chance at touching Merycx’s record now. He whines about the S5 being slow, but hasn’t even been near the front to sprint, let alone win a stage. It’s still early days, but the green jersey should be Sagan’s now as long as he can finish the tour.

Kittel just doesn’t look as strong this year. Part of it is making the switch to Katusha, even though it seems like the team is built around Kittel to sprint. Guess they’re just no Quick Step at the end of the day.

The cobbles today lived up to the hype. The split peloton today made for some interesting racing. I’m getting bored of the sprint stages though and looking forward to some mountaintop finishes.

[bigboom]

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Cav’s got no chance at touching Merycx’s record now. He whines about the S5 being slow, but hasn’t even been near the front to sprint, let alone win a stage. It’s still early days, but the green jersey should be Sagan’s now as long as he can finish the tour.

Kittel just doesn’t look as strong this year. Part of it is making the switch to Katusha, even though it seems like the team is built around Kittel to sprint. Guess they’re just no Quick Step at the end of the day.

The cobbles today lived up to the hype. The split peloton today made for some interesting racing. I’m getting bored of the sprint stages though and looking forward to some mountaintop finishes.

I thought it was going to be even more decisive though, especially when Landa crashed and Bardet had a late flat, but they both chased back on and only lost a few seconds. Too bad for Porte though, two years in a row he's been knocked out on stage 9 while in great shape in the GC.

And Cav has always been a huge crybaby when things don't go his way. He's just lost it after those huge crashes in the last couple years, i think that will make many lose their edge. Took Degenkolb a couple years to get back to it as well.