Tour de France 2019 General Thread

c.p.w.g.w

Melodeon wrote: »

Didn't Wiggins say something along the lines of how most of the pro peleton would be getting treated for eating disorders if they were doing what they're doing as ordinary members of the general public?

Yeah said it during the giro coverage on Eurosport on one of the highlights shows. I liked of Kittel & Sagan are the healthiest looking. But those are never going to be GC guys

Dr. Bre

MPFGLB wrote: »

There were alot of GC riders way off the pace at this Tour and a few teams bossing the whole 2 weeks ...the teams on ketones it seems

Adam Yates who was flying at the beginning of the year was very very poor ( Simon though was flying after being poor at the Giro)
Richie Porte was hanging on most days
Enric Mas was no wonder kid
Quintana & Bardet ..the favourites 2 years ago to beat Froome ... apart from the Galibier stage looked very average
Dan Martin, Rui Costa & Henao were poor
Uran only began to show anything towards the end of the race
Calmejane the Direct Energie was dropped by Vivani of a few mountain stages
Barguil although better than last year still looked sluggish on the climbs
G Martin was ok only for Wanty despite much hype a few years ago
Valverde although in the top 10 was pretty anonymous


Seemed to me alot of team got their GC prep very wrong or else a few teams like QS, Lotto Visma & Ineos have better marginal gains

Also add Landa to this. In his sky days it looked as if he was carrying Froome up the climbs at times but at Movistar he has been disappointing.

neris

Melodeon wrote: »

Didn't Wiggins say something along the lines of how most of the pro peleton would be getting treated for eating disorders if they were doing what they're doing as ordinary members of the general public?

Yeah and said that people commented on his weight gain amd were surprised at how far he became after he retired even though he's a normal weight. There must be riders in there who are damaging their bodies to keep to such a low weight which isn't natural for them. Dan's another umhealthy looking one

MPFGLB

neris wrote: »

Yeah and said that people commented on his weight gain amd were surprised at how far he became after he retired even though he's a normal weight. There must be riders in there who are damaging their bodies to keep to such a low weight which isn't natural for them. Dan's another umhealthy looking one

Always been a massive problem for Nicolas Roche over the years as he is broad shouldered and big built..much bigger than Dan Martin ....believe its his main handicap on the climbs even though he has had to practically starve himself ..pushes big power but

harringtonp

Good read

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/pinot-to-forget-all-this-ill-need-to-win-the-tour-de-france/

D9Male

Comments on the riders below. I would have had different expectations of riders than you coming into the Tour, I think.

MPFGLB wrote: »

There were alot of GC riders way off the pace at this Tour and a few teams bossing the whole 2 weeks ...the teams on ketones it seems

Adam Yates who was flying at the beginning of the year was very very poor ( Simon though was flying after being poor at the Giro)
Agreed, not sure what the craic with Adam was
Richie Porte was hanging on most days
I actually thought he was in line with expectations. He is getting older now and he hasn't been on top form for a while. He has only two GT top 10s, so we shouldn't be surprised he came 11th. It's actually his third best GT in his career
Enric Mas was no wonder kid
Disagree with this. He was going great guns until he got sick in the Pyrennees. He was in 4th overall (8s ahead of Bernal) when he got sick. He rode very well in the Alps in service of Alaphilippe
Quintana & Bardet ..the favourites 2 years ago to beat Froome ... apart from the Galibier stage looked very average
Indeed. Quintana seems to have a lot of enemies in Movistar. I actually thought he would get a podium in this. Shows what I know!
Dan Martin, Rui Costa & Henao were poor
Rui Costa is not a GC rider in GT's surely? Sergio Henao is the same type of rider surely. Working for leaders in GT's, maybe going in a break and given a chance to lead in 1 week stage races. Dan Martin was disappointing alright, but I didn't expect much.
Uran only began to show anything towards the end of the race
He was good all the way through, no?
Calmejane the Direct Energie was dropped by Vivani of a few mountain stages
Agreed, he was terrible. Must have been sick
Barguil although better than last year still looked sluggish on the climbs
I thought he looked good. Top 10 for him is an excellent result
G Martin was ok only for Wanty despite much hype a few years ago
I thought he was in line with expectations
Valverde although in the top 10 was pretty anonymous
Agreed. But I think he will ride a big Vuelta

Seemed to me alot of team got their GC prep very wrong or else a few teams like QS, Lotto Visma & Ineos have better marginal gains

D9Male

Dr. Bre wrote: »

Also add Landa to this. In his sky days it looked as if he was carrying Froome up the climbs at times but at Movistar he has been disappointing.

Landa was riding his second GT this year. If he hadn't had the crash on the echelons stage (not his fault) he would have been contesting for a podium.

And this after a great Giro where he came fourth after again losing time in the opening 10 days and where he was hamstrung by his leader being in yellow.

I am a massive Landa fan, and he exceeded my expectations this Tour.

CramCycle

jimbobaloobob wrote: »

The acetone smell should be evident to the podium girls of the ketone users. Let's ask them.

Most athletes at that level are underweight but optimal weight for the performance ethical or not I suppose you could ask.

Surely they would have to drink a fair bit to get concentrations high enough (although I don't know how much they are taking).
Would that not possibly cause Ketoacidosis though, does Ketones taken intentionally rather than through a drink still cause this. I would have thought the body would be able to maintain a better pH stability if ingested rather than made internally. If it does cause Ketoacidosis, there are far more long term potential issues although I doubt with the short timespan they go like this it would be an issue. Interested to see has anyone done blood kinetics on the drink, look at pH levels, other acids (does it affect lactate clearance or even improve it?). There is some interesting questions to be looked at, I sense a research project coming on.

eeeee

neris wrote: »

Yeah and said that people commented on his weight gain amd were surprised at how far he became after he retired even though he's a normal weight. There must be riders in there who are damaging their bodies to keep to such a low weight which isn't natural for them. Dan's another umhealthy looking one

Yeah I think some, like Bardet are over the line.
Reading Maya Abbot's story is really interesting. It's worrying that young riders might see his frankly emaciated state as desirable, although in fairness eating disorders are far, far more complex than just looking up to people.

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/01/mara-abbott-womens-cycling-still-faces-an-uphill-struggle-giro-rosa

harringtonp

In the case of cyclists not sure if the word disorder is quite correct. During the season they will be making big efforts to lose weight for target events. But in general they are quite happy to eat and put on a bit of weight in the off season.

Disorder for me implies a permanent state of emancipation

tuxy

Eating disorders are psychological disorders. I don't believe that's what's going on with pro cyclists as many of them will balloon once retired.
However they should be carefully monitored by doctors to ensure they don't cause any lasting damage from such calorie expenditure and restriction.

hans aus dtschl

CramCycle wrote: »

Surely they would have to drink a fair bit to get concentrations high enough (although I don't know how much they are taking).
Would that not possibly cause Ketoacidosis though, does Ketones taken intentionally rather than through a drink still cause this. I would have thought the body would be able to maintain a better pH stability if ingested rather than made internally. If it does cause Ketoacidosis, there are far more long term potential issues although I doubt with the short timespan they go like this it would be an issue. Interested to see has anyone done blood kinetics on the drink, look at pH levels, other acids (does it affect lactate clearance or even improve it?). There is some interesting questions to be looked at, I sense a research project coming on.

I would say the research project may be completed at this point, given where the funding came from.

I attended a lecture by Dr. Kieran Clarke last year. I believe she said a number of the teams are using the product, that unlike the natural phenomenon where ingestion of carbohydrates will bring you out of ketosis immediately, the drink/jelly isn't affected the same way...and that it tastes absolutely vile.