Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:48 pm  

John_D wrote:

800m? Mental. That's quite probably the effect of the extra endurance he's added to his game this year.

Just 5 days to the Olympic road race. Anyone betting against Cav?

Not quite, I think the turn into the Champs Elysees is about 350 out, but to take it up on his own from there is a huge effort. I was watching it on my own at home, but when I saw him go past EBH on the overhead shot, there was an audible "What's he doing?" from me

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 23, 2012 5:56 pm  

GCM1980 wrote:

The Scott Mitchell images throughout the tour have been fantastic.

By the way, has anyone ever cringed quite so much in their life as when Lesley Garrett murdered the national anthem yesterday? There's a superb, and very possibly photoshopped, image of Wiggins reaction on the Telegraph website. But if ever an expression can sum up a nations feelings, then that's it

Re: Cycling : Mon Jul 23, 2012 9:10 pm  

hope that pic is genuine - its priceless

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:10 am  

I'm pretty sure its not photoshopped as I remember saying to.Jo that wiggo doesn't look impressed. As usual it takes a big gormless Yorkshire person to spoil the big party lol.

Oh also just to add my bit. Thank you wiggo, cav, Millar and froomey for making this such a fantastic TDF. Despite going against the cycling formista. I was truly entertained by this parcours. The wy sky bosses the show was stunning to watch. And I don't think they're being given as much credit as they should. Biggest shout going to eddy bo. What that guy did in the mountains to then also be there on the days cav needed him, was for me the ride of the whole race. I really hope that he can get rid of his 200km hoodoo and get one of those classic wins he so much deserves.

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 24, 2012 6:18 am  

GCM1980 wrote:

Not quite, I think the turn into the Champs Elysees is about 350 out, but to take it up on his own from there is a huge effort. I was watching it on my own at home, but when I saw him go past EBH on the overhead shot, there was an audible "What's he doing?" from me

me to! I was saying before the underground pass that sky were one man short and a touch to early. I felt that wiggo should have been tee'd up to peel off at the last corner to give eddy bo the last lead out man job up the champs elleysee.
As they hit that corner eddy was cooked, hence why he over shot the corner. As Cav undertook him and went past him I was screaming at the telly as the side shot showed him grimacing with the effort. I thought he was gonna get pipped. Then his famous second kick came in and BOOM! Fecking get in!

Can we now put to bed all the rumours that the weight loss has affected his power output. He destroyed them all

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 24, 2012 11:50 am  

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

Can we now put to bed all the rumours that the weight loss has affected his power output. He destroyed them all

Even Cav says his top end power has been affected so I don't think we can put that to bed at all.

Looking at this sprint it was completely different to any of his previous 4 sprints to win in Paris. His top end power is down but his threshold power has increased so the new slimmed down Cav can sustain a slightly slower sprint for longer.

Does this mean he will win less sprints? It could just mean he will win slightly different sprints. Maybe we will see a Cav capable of doing real damage in Milan San Remo and Gent Wevelgem.

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 24, 2012 12:21 pm  

Apparently Cav's power output on the stationary bike is the source of much ridicule from team-mates.

Stick him on a bike he can move from side to side to generate some power though...

Re: Cycling : Tue Jul 24, 2012 7:44 pm  

Fungus The Muffin Man wrote:

I'm pretty sure its not photoshopped as I remember saying to.Jo that wiggo doesn't look impressed. As usual it takes a big gormless Yorkshire person to spoil the big party lol.

It must have been one of the brief moments when the TV coverage moved off him then, because I watched him very carefully as soon as she started singing . He did however look more pained than he did in 3 weeks of racing while she was 'singing'!

Re: Cycling : Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:31 am  

Haggis Fax wrote:

Even Cav says his top end power has been affected so I don't think we can put that to bed at all.

Looking at this sprint it was completely different to any of his previous 4 sprints to win in Paris. His top end power is down but his threshold power has increased so the new slimmed down Cav can sustain a slightly slower sprint for longer.

Does this mean he will win less sprints? It could just mean he will win slightly different sprints. Maybe we will see a Cav capable of doing real damage in Milan San Remo and Gent Wevelgem.

Yes he may have said that and I'm sure the figures will show that, but the proof ( as I saw it) is that he still had enough power to maintain his sprint and even deliver his second kick. It was also evident when he pipped LLS only a couple of days previous.

As for a slower sprint. I haven't seen any figures printed that show his sprint was significantly slower in the races he won during the tour. Don't forget Cav's sprint has never been mainly due to his power output. It's due to his aerodynamic profile when in the drops.

Also you can't base his sprints off the kind of sprinting he was doing at HTC. The two are completely different. HTC delivered him to the line in the perfect train. Sky haven't been able to even get close to that. Making him go back to how he learnt to sprint by choosing the right lines and wheels of his competitors in order to jump them at the finish line.

Re: Cycling : Wed Jul 25, 2012 9:34 am  

Andy Gilder wrote:

Apparently Cav's power output on the stationary bike is the source of much ridicule from team-mates.

Stick him on a bike he can move from side to side to generate some power though...

There are some wattage stats somewhere that show cav's output is way down on his rivals. It's his profile that give him and aerodynamic edge