Of course, it's just his word, like it's Armstrong's, but I've read enough to believe these are very different people with very different agendas in life. Your opinion is as valid as any, but where do you draw the line? For the doubter, no proof will suffice, for the believer, none is necessary etc.
Personally I don't think there is any mystery other than them winning a genetic lottery for lung capacity and training massively for it, with the funding to permit the best coaches to push them. I ride a bit but I could not contemplate this kind of work. F*ck that for a game of darts :
From April 1 this year to the day I line up for the Tour de France prologue on June 30, I will have done 100,000???metres of high-quality climbing. If I had trained this hard when I was riding track at the Olympics, God only knows what I might have done. I have no idea how I ever finished fourth in the 2009 Tour de France. I used to think I worked hard but this is a different level.
???There is no other environment that can beat Mount Teide. We ride our bikes, get a massage, eat and then sleep. The we get up and do it again. And again. We have altitude, heat and virtually empty roads most days.
???There are no distractions. There is nowhere I fancy walking to ??? and cyclists don???t walk anyway. There is no internet. Well, about an hour every night if you are lucky. It???s very extreme but I like extreme. Everything is geared to one thing, achieving the fitness and form required to win the Tour de France.
This story gets more and more fascinating every day, and I don't even follow this stupid sport. Doping, money laundering, shady Italian doctors, an international conspiracy, tattooed dudes...will the sport ever recover? Who cares? The more important question is whether Matthew McConaughey can overcome the cheekiness and summon the gravitas needed to play the lead role in the eventual Hollywood blockbuster, "Dopeballs."
So, what about Wiggins and Froome and the Sky team? Their dominating in the last TDF was some crazy shit as ridiculous, worse actually, than Armstrong and US Postal's ever was.
I'm sure I read that the race times were slower. Wiggins was competing against a field that was used to racing with EPO, and was suddenly forced to compete without. Wiggins' background was Olympics (he certainly didn't 'come from nowhere') where testing was regular, and while he could set Olympic records, he couldn't compete on the Tour before it cleaned-up.
How about Chris Horner at last year's Vuelta? Oldest dude to ever win a grand tour and seemingly off the back of only a few wins between 2000-2011. I had forgotten about it till this thread popped up but I was getting some serious butthurt watching that guy completely destroy riders like Nibali and Valverde with his nasty style. Plus on a team who don't have the cleanest record, plus he did it (as far as I can remember) without any real help from team mates. Obviously the main GC contenders are going to be ones left at the end but the fact that Sky have such a strong team and could get 2 or 3 riders at the top consistently says to me they just have their team prep on lock. Dunno, I want to believe.
Sorry if I've just missed Horner chat earlier in the thread but that was seriously
Comments
Personally I don't think there is any mystery other than them winning a genetic lottery for lung capacity and training massively for it, with the funding to permit the best coaches to push them. I ride a bit but I could not contemplate this kind of work. F*ck that for a game of darts :
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/9283386/Bradley-Wiggins-reveals-Team-Skys-explosive-secret-that-has-put-him-in-contention-for-Tour-de-France.html
there was a time when I didn't think Matty Mac could handle such a serious role.
but given his recent output (Mud, Killer Joe, Paperboy, Buyers Club, True Detective), I now have no doubt.
I'm sure I read that the race times were slower. Wiggins was competing against a field that was used to racing with EPO, and was suddenly forced to compete without. Wiggins' background was Olympics (he certainly didn't 'come from nowhere') where testing was regular, and while he could set Olympic records, he couldn't compete on the Tour before it cleaned-up.
Sorry if I've just missed Horner chat earlier in the thread but that was seriously