Dale
Posts:1767
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| 09/15/2020 12:28 PM |
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Gotta admire Bernal for manning up and saying he just doesn't have it rather than trotting out a bunch of whiny excuses but to your point, no way could anyone have predicted his implosion.
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 01:06 PM |
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From his smile to camera and overall body language, Bernal was where he wanted to be today. He had said he wanted to carry water bottles for team one day. Perhaps today was that day. But yes to your point, he certainly was on shortlist of favorites so him cracking like he did was not on many scenarios.
Bit of a yawner aside from Kuss touching wheels with Roglic and almost crashing Pogacar in the process.
Kamna is real deal. He was part of winning Sunweb Worlds TTT team back in 2017 alongside Dumoulin and apparently made quite the impression. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/15/2020 01:58 PM |
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A (clean) German star could be good for the sport. Seems like Germans turned away after Ulrich’s fall.
As for is the peloton clean??, the race is at EPO speeds this year. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 03:05 PM |
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Interesting comments on Bernal's predicament here, from Lefevre:
https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/egan-bernal-im-screwed-up-on-all-sides/
Too much hard riding on a soft foundation caused by COVID period leading to back problems etc. It seems to be a bit of a recurring theme with a number of riders. There were several with complaints in Dauphine. The lack of a proper training foundation could also explain JA's lackluster performance. The way he got dropped today.
Of course for Bernal a lot of other things changed too, broke up with his long-term girlfriend, broke up with his long-term mentor, new manager, moved residence...the things that come with sudden stardom. |
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Cosmic Kid
Posts:4209
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| 09/15/2020 03:18 PM |
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Hmmm....It isn't like Bernal sat on a couch for 2 months and then jumped out the door to do 8-10 hour training rides. (Honestly, I don't know if Colombia was ever on the type of lockdown that much of Europe was. he may have been training outside the whole time).
My guess is that it is exactly as it seems...he was overtrained. That by itself could have led to the back problems....tired legs so you start trying to find ways to keep them going, straining the muscles in your back to the point of injury.
I think Occam has a razor he'd like to give Patrick....
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| Just say "NO!" to WCP!!!!
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 04:57 PM |
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| Hmmm. I personally strain my back when I am undertrained. I.e. when I go for a stupid hard climbing ride that I am insufficiently prepared for; the week following is typically full of back pain and needing to take it easy. When I am over-trained I just end up going slow and feel empty but it doesn't lead to injury. Apparently Bernal had a 2 months lock down (from the original interview with Lefevre on Sporza). Afterwards he went on some stupid long rides (as a lot of pros did) but those are also not best for training intensity. I think he lost the training plot and then suddenly was faced with a really hard Dauphine (much tougher than usual), which led to injury. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 08:06 PM |
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| Actually minor correction, old memory is slow to come back. I do remember an injury after being wound too tight. This was immediately after Haute Route. Stumbled over a minor surface unevenness and leg shot in cramp that took weeks to recover from. So yes either over or under training scenario is plausible but give his personal situation I’d still guess at under. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/15/2020 08:34 PM |
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| The human lumbar spine is a woeful failure of evolution. Never intended to bear weight as it does, rather evolved for walking on all fours, or short of that hanging by arms. As a pain generator in modern humans, who prefer to walk on two legs and have jobs that result in sitting for hours, not to mention lifting objects or just bad luck, it has few or no rivals. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/15/2020 08:38 PM |
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PS: this Tour has become a snooze fest.
Makes my back hurt just trying to get interested. |
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 09/15/2020 08:48 PM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 09/15/2020 08:34 PM
The human lumbar spine is a woeful failure of evolution. Never intended to bear weight as it does, rather evolved for walking on all fours, or short of that hanging by arms. As a pain generator in modern humans, who prefer to walk on two legs and have jobs that result in sitting for hours, not to mention lifting objects or just bad luck, it has few or no rivals.
lsd - rather off topic - I said roughly the same to my PT after my most painful bike crash 20 years ago, not knowing she was a fundamentalist Christian. (Wrecked shoulder, broken ribs, collapsed lung.) She took great offense. It was a stone cold session. She was, by far, the best that has ever worked on me. The only person who could manipulate my shoulder without excruciating pain. Her hands were God's gift. I kept my mouth solidly shut after that and went out of my way to give her very high recommendations.
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79pmooney
Posts:3180
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| 09/15/2020 08:55 PM |
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Posted By Frederick Jones on 09/15/2020 08:38 PM
PS: this Tour has become a snooze fest.
Makes my back hurt just trying to get interested.
The green jersey run is kind of fun. Bennett was up to the task today. (Barely that one time when Sagan almost caught him daydreaming.)
Looks like Rolland is going to take the mountain jersey to Paris. I was hoping to see Cosnefroy take it al the way but he's been missing the oppurtunities to pad his lead.
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/15/2020 09:10 PM |
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Just my opinion, but this Tour route is less Sagan friendly than previous. Peter benefits from stages hard enough to shake out the pure bunch sprinters but not the classic specialists. He can hang with both and viola, another maillot vert. This year includes just a few of those stages, and he hasn't capitalized on those limited opportunities.
This fan is disappointed that the green and polka dot jerseys are far more compelling than which rider from a flyspeck sized country will win yellow on a Tour with record setting speed but no doping positives.
This is failing the smell test.
Maybe Peter Sagan is a bit like Greg Lemond in Indurain's first win, simply completely steamrolled by a new doping regime. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 09:11 PM |
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The GC is still relatively tight so from that perspective this Tour has been good.
But the course is crap and hasn't offered much opportunity for adventurists. Definite fail for amount of hype it got.
I do think that tomorrow and Thursday will be excellent.
Go Richie! Uran looked vulnerable at end today. |
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longslowdistance
Posts:2881
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| 09/15/2020 09:13 PM |
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| Thank you for this optimism. |
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Orange Crush
Posts:4499
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| 09/15/2020 09:17 PM |
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LSD - I feel Sagan simply lost motivation. He hasn't been same since his separation. Not in any race. Agreed that with amount of climbing this year his opportunities have been limited.
The polka dot has zero interest from me this year. Just not a compelling competition at any point in time. That one is the biggest snoozer of all the jerseys.
I've been reading about this speed breaking Tour. Its interesting because the amount of riders that finish in JVs wake within a handful of seconds is much bigger than in Ineos year. Which would tend to suggest either the entire top 10 ish is on the sauce or no one is. |
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