Jayco doing Jayco things.
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With Gerry leaving, it feels like the whole place is winding down.
Realistically, Schmid got ill at Romandie and his form has fallen off a cliff. Hard to know where Blingâs form is at the moment. OâConnor is a chance on a medium mountain stage,while I wonder if Plapp has been over-raced. Englehardt is in form but is he good enough to win a stage. I would guess the best chances of stage success are OâConnor and Bling. Finally, could a retired rider re-enter the sport in 2027?
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Ewan?
S.Yates.
Bringing Oâbrien who was under an injury cloud to the TDF backfired. After his crash in Hungary, he missed the altitude camp, Dauphine and Suisse and battled to get to the strat line for the TDF. Then he needlessly crashed in stage two and was banged up. Jayco had to bring Foldager to the TDF.
Jayco needs to get more than one rider in the break. This was such an easy break to get into because you follow the wheels. Englehardt or OâConnor should have been in that break to support Bling. I fail to see what Durbridge adds to the team. He is barely involved in break formation and supporting his team-mates. Anyway today is a sprint stage and Ackermann will navigate the final expertly as usual and may get a top 10. OâBrien was to be his last rider, although Bling can do that job. Finally, Rafferty to be promoted from the Devo team and possibly Wiggins.
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Which team would Simon Yates go to?
Jayco. There is no other team. Even though he won the Giro at Visma, he did not enjoy his time at the team, hence, his sudden retirement. My major focus today is the Tour Of Austria. Its got a good start list with Morgado, C.Rodriguez, Jan Christen etc. Finally, Unibet could be losing riders.
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Bling brought down in the final at TDF. Lost lots of skin but otherwise OK. felt Double was the strongest at Austria but he was impatient and attacked too soon.
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Jayco lose their feeder team.
This is no surprise! In saying that its a merger of two development teams. Itâs well known that Gerry will sell the licence this year or next year. Its a matter of when.
I watched Harry Sweeney on a podcast and was surprised at his lack of knowledge of the peleton as he does not watch cycling. This is unusual because pro cyclists watch their sport more than AFL footballers.
The jayco development team will merge with the Quickstep Devo team. It looks like Merckx has lead the way in this decision and Jayco are wondering whether they should invest in a conti team. Looks like the mens team will promote 4 or 5 riders from the Devo team. Reckon only 2 are worthy of upgrade. Womenâs team will lose paternoster, baker and Anderson so they will need reinforcements. Apparently Gerry will be in france next week for the TDF. More may be revealed.
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I watched the SBS coverage for one stage of the TDF. Its still an ordinary coverage with monotone Matt keenan, Simon Gerrans commentates like he rides, never understood what bridie Oâdonnell brings to the coverage, while Ewan is good value. One problem SBS has is they choose their expert commentators on the basis of their palmares, rather than their ability to impart knowledge.
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Lance armstrong on his podcast saying that Pogacar will
win the tour de france and equal the record 5 wins.
But he knows what the real record is and he will be back.
Well Lance is right. I am certain this is the view from within the peleton. Anyway, jayco rode a brilliant tactical race. to win stage 13 with mauro Schmid. It was an important win for Jayco because the remaining opportunities for them are stage 17/21 and possibly 18. Finally, Iâll never understood why Schmid will move to Q 36.5 as he will be riding for Pidcock, so he would not have the opportunity to win a stage like today.
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There is a bit of controversy surrounding Jonas Vinegarrd crash possibly due to late drug test effecting his sleep and thus concentration race day.
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Yeah, a 2am doping control for Jonas, and 5am for Pogi. As Evenepoel stated, disrespectful.
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Were the drug testers just getting home from a night out?
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Can say i would hate to be a professional sports person who is under the WADA code. You need to send your program to Anti-Doping authorities giving a one hour window for testing 3 months in advance. Of course you can update the app with late changes but â â â â happens like Blingâs training crash, cancelled or delayed flights, getting stuck on teide because of snow storms, everyday like events etc, etc, etc. Usually Anti-doping testers cannot test between midnight and 6am. Something must have changed.
Vingegaard was reportedly tested at around 2.00 a.m., while race leader PogaÄar received a visit approximately three hours later.
LâĂquipe reports that the measures were authorised by a liberty and custody judge at the Paris Judicial Court following an application from the International Testing Agency.
According to the newspaper, the use of these legal provisions is extremely rare. A source within anti-doping told LâĂquipe that this may have been the first application of measures introduced into French law in 2015.
LâĂquipe reported that Article L.232-14-4 of French sports law requires a judge to be satisfied that the statutory conditions for such an order are met, including âserious and consistent suspicionsâ of an anti-doping rule violation and a risk that evidence could otherwise be lost.
The judicial authorisation does not in itself establish that either rider committed an anti-doping rule violation. LâĂquipe did not disclose what specific information the ITA presented in support of its application.
Paris prosecutor confirms ITA request
The Paris public prosecutorâs office confirmed to LâĂquipe that the ITA had formally requested permission to conduct the nighttime controls.
âAs is customary ahead of the Tour de France, the public health departments of the Paris and Marseille courts are in contact with the UCI and the ITA,â the prosecutorâs office told LâĂquipe.
Liberty and custody judges in both jurisdictions have concurrent authority to rule on applications for nighttime anti-doping controls. In this instance, the ITA submitted its request to a liberty and custody judge in Paris under Article L. 232-14-4 of the French Sports Code.
âA liberty and custody judge in Paris was therefore asked by the ITA to authorise the antidoping controls carried out during the night of 18 to 19 July,â the prosecutorâs office added.
The legislation also imposes strict limits on such measures. LâEquipe reports that according to the French Sports Code, testing must take place under conditions that ensure âstrict proportionality between the infringement of the athleteâs rights and the objectives of the fight against dopingâ.
Those objectives include the protection of fair competition and athlete health. The law further states that the procedure must be limited to collecting samples and recording any observations made by the athlete.
I doubt they will find anything. The fact is that professional sports people are all about success, so they will find any substances/equipment/nutrition etc that will give them an edge. This is what professionals should be doing to improve their performance.
I have a question for Barry. I imagine that with the advent of enhanced technology including bikes/skin suits/tyres etc, etc then âbunch ridesâ must be quicker than 5 or 10 years ago.
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Yeah I reckon. People generally donât do bunchies in a skin-suit, but bikes are more aero and just faster.
If I jump on sonâs Scott Foil (RC 20) itâs scary fast compared to my old Trek with 120,000 km on it.
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