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TDF 2021: when pigs fly

scott43

So much better than a pro
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What you don't like grey???
:geek::ogbiggrin:

I agree...Think of all the cool team kit from older years..Look, Mapei, Peugeot, Renault...
 

newfydog

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@newfydog Real dogs in his time were Cippolini, McEwen, Pettachi Of course I can be wrong, but I never considered Zabel as top sprinter.

You might find some disagree, my friend.

Cippo 12 Stage wins, Rated #2 by Peloton magazine all time best sprinter. Started 8 TDF, never finished it once.
McEwen 12 stage wins, Rated #7
Pettachi, 6 stage wins, Rated #5

Zabel 12 stage wins, Rated #3 by Peloton, # 1 by CyclingNews prior to all the Cavendish success. And six consecutive green "sprinters" jerseys.

That looks like a top sprinter dog to me, just he wasn't, as Cav calls himself in his early days, "a prick".
 
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Primoz

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I'm sure many will disagree with that, but personally I would never put Zabel on side with Cippo when it comes to pure sprints. Green jersey are in my opinion, as I wrote earlier, not so much about pure sprinting. I mean springing on finish line where for me things matter, not somewhere in middle of stage. Cippo probably still has record of most victories in pro cycling, and definitely record, which will hold for still quite a bit, even if Cav wins every single stage till end of this year's Tour, for most of victories in GT. If I remember right, he won't more then 40 stages of Giro (plus few in TdF and Vuelta). So for me personally Cippo is and will remain #1 between sprinters for quite a bit, and then there's long time nothing. If we go purely for TdF, then yeah list might be different, but I mean more in general not just TdF related.
But I totally agree Zabel wasn't acting like real sprinter, which on one side is sort of normal, as someone raised in DDR, can't really be acting same way as some hot shot Italian.
 

markojp

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FWIW, years ago I met Robbie McEwen. He was plenty nice, but we were just riding, not racing. He did break our legs though. :roflmao:
 

Primoz

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@markojp I meet Cippo several times when he was still racing and after he quit. He was actually quite nice guy. Italian though, but nice. But on races and infront of media and running tv cameras it's different thing, and they need to show being better then the rest. It's obviously sprinter attitude, regardless what sport it is. Hell even in xc skiing, sprinters wanna be something special even though in real life they are really great and nice people, but once on start you obviously need to act like like some idiot. I would dare to bet Justin Gatlin is really fine guy in real life outside of 100m track, but there, he's like f** monkey (pretty much everyone else on starting line there acts almost exactly same.... always did and probably always will).
 

Tom K.

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And Sepp Kuss goes and wins a stage today! Good job. ogsmile

This is HUGE, and deserving of its own thread!

I'm running out the door right now, but will post something when I get back, if @martyg doesn't beat me to it (hometown kid, for him).
 

martyg

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This is HUGE, and deserving of its own thread!

I'm running out the door right now, but will post something when I get back, if @martyg doesn't beat me to it (hometown kid, for him).

Already done.

Sepp was actually a neighbor, and his parents still live here. His dad was a US Nordic Team coach, and that was Sepp's path. Mtn bike racing took over. And the rest, as they say, is history. He is an amazingly humble guy. Always willing to hang with me for a minute on training rides to chat, when he's back in Durango.

If you look up The Adventure Stash, elite mtn bike athlete Payson MacElveen's podcast, there is a an episode where Sepp was interviewed during Iron Horse registration night at our shop. The list of people there that night was a who's who of cycling.

The Durango crew has been crushing it. Amos just won a UCI XC mtn bike race. Chris Blevins is off to Tokyo. And a slew of medals are coming home from nationals.

I'll post Iron Horse info for 2022, when available. It will be the 50th anniversary. It will be a huge party.
 
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Rudi Riet

AKA songfta AKA randomduck - a USSS coach, as well
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... and Joe Dombrowski (not at TdF but won a stage at the Giro d'Italia this year), Ben King, Sean Bennett, and so many more who are scrapping away in the UCI Pro Tour and Pro Continental levels.
 

Primoz

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There is a guy named Merckx who owns that title. Cippo won 167, but Cav and Andre Greipel still active and very close, at 160 and 163. Merckx won 287.
Ooops :) I wasn't checking, but I had in my memory that at the time he was still racing they were telling he has most pro victories ever. Obviously I got that wrong. Thanks for correction :)
 

Tony Storaro

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Does anyone have any ideas about what new substance has hit the peloton this year? Pogachar dropping the whole peloton in the mountains casually riding a big ring??? Two.days.in.a.row? Really? 36 year old Cavendish who could not do much last few years suddenly "rediscovering" his form and winning TDF stages left and right from guys 10 years younger than him? Well-known breakaway specialists finding that they push their career-high wattage and suddenly cannot get away from anyone? Experienced GC riders finishing mountain stages in the grupetto??? This is just way too many miracles to my taste. This is reminiscent of the start of the EPO era when LeMond won the Tour one year and next suddenly could not keep up with the peloton...

Dunno about Pogi but Cav’s wins are faaar more due to the incredible team Deceuninck has than his own strength.
Cavendish is a legend, no doubt about that but Deceuninck as a team are simply a-ma-zing.
When you have 4 men lead-out and Declerq and Morkov are among them, it is kinda easy…
 

cantunamunch

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For those who haven't seen John Eustice's essay on Pogačar :

 

BTaylor

Nothing left to do but smile, smile, smile
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Sepp was actually a neighbor, and his parents still live here. His dad was a US Nordic Team coach, and that was Sepp's path. Mtn bike racing took over. And the rest, as they say, is history. He is an amazingly humble guy. Always willing to hang with me for a minute on training rides to chat, when he's back in Durango.

The Durango Herald has a nice article on Sepp's TdF stage win:

 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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For those who haven't seen John Eustice's essay on Pogačar :

5'11" - 134lbs. Man.

It's true about that back style. I remember setting up bikes back in the day with people who thought that was the "winning" style. I never liked it..we rode rollers and track bikes to promote cadence, not get rid of it. But I was a hack..I never won anything. If winners are winning with a certain style, people have recency bias and cotton onto those ideas. Like winning a Stanley Cup with skill players and everyone thinks this is the way..until the next year when they get ground into the ice by a tougher team.
 

scott43

So much better than a pro
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I'm getting a Steve Bauer flashback right now.

It was a thing back then. I had a coach (yes, even crap athletes like me have coaches..and the coaches must feel as though they've failed terribly!) and that was the deal. Bauer rode back..Roche..people advocated this..I can remember other riders telling me to push back on the saddle to engage the glutes and hamstrings. And I mean yeah..it does kinda work..if that's your style and strength. But I'm really more 120rpm guy..although I can diesel if need be. My brother still diesels at the back on the saddle..
 

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