Het Volk picks



Gilbert wins in style.

1 Philippe Gilbert (Bel) Française des Jeux 4.55.25 (40,417 km/h)
2 Nick Nuyens (Bel) Cofidis 0.58
3 Thor Hushovd (Nor) Crédit Agricole 1.06
4 Yuriy Krivtsov (Ukr) Ag2r-La Mondiale
5 Aleksandr Kuschynski (Blr) Liquigas 1.12
6 Nicolas Jalabert (Fra) Agritubel 1.13
7 Leif Hoste (Bel) Silence-Lotto
8 Allan Johansen (Den) Team CSC 1.16
9 Jan Kuyckx (Bel) Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner 1.53
10 Arnaud Gerard (Fra) Française des Jeux
11 Sébastien Minard (Fra) Cofidis
12 Michael Friedman (USA) Slipstream Chipotle - H30 1.58
13 Fabian Cancellara (Swi) Team CSC 2.07
14 Markus Eichler (Ger) Team Milram 4.26
 
Anti doping effects?
Where are the superhuman riders of the precedent years?:D
 
poulidor said:
Anti doping effects?
Where are the superhuman riders of the precedent years?:D
Of the top 13 riders who made the race, there are seven riders from French teams and one from Slipstream. Gilbert is an avowed antidope rider. Maybe the makeup of the top riders can be explained by a good variety of many of the teams, but there was no Quickstep, Rabobank, or Astana in those thirteen. Are those three teams saving their blood for April?

Astana, the best team in the world :rolleyes:, managed a highest placing of 31st. Gusev is out with a broken collar bone though.
 
Bro Deal said:
Of the top 13 riders who made the race, there are seven riders from French teams and one from Slipstream. Gilbert is an avowed antidope rider. Maybe the makeup of the top riders can be explained by a good variety of many of the teams, but there was no Quickstep, Rabobank, or Astana in those thirteen. Are those three teams saving their blood for April?

Astana, the best team in the world :rolleyes:, managed a highest placing of 31st. Gusev is out with a broken collar bone though.
So Gilbert's a confirmed anti-doper. What has happened to this clean can't beat doped argument?

Microdoses of EPO don't need to be only at peak season do they? Steroids in the off-season? Is the whole cycling world going clean??? Is it really happening???
 
Crankyfeet said:
So Gilbert's a confirmed anti-doper. What has happened to this clean can't beat doped argument?

Microdoses of EPO don't need to be only at peak season do they? Steroids in the off-season? Is the whole cycling world going clean??? Is it really happening???
It's encouraging, atleast.

But doping is a risky business, and why risk anything for a semi-classic...

Seemed like it was a good race, though. Fun to see Thor back in form :).
 
Crankyfeet said:
So Gilbert's a confirmed anti-doper. What has happened to this clean can't beat doped argument?

Microdoses of EPO don't need to be only at peak season do they? Steroids in the off-season? Is the whole cycling world going clean??? Is it really happening???
Gilbert has been spoken out against doping before it was the in thing to do. He is one of the riders who I might bet on not being on the juice. I wouldn't be surprised by anyone, but if I had to bet on a rider not to be doping then he would be one of those at the top of the list.

I snagged this post from Maya on DP:

"phillipe gilbert has always been outspoken against drugs and despite being considered one of the very top prospects rarely wins outside early and late season racing. (see the very sad article written by kimmage a few years back when gilbert realized that the riders he had been competitive with or beating earlier in the season suddenly were on a whole different level come the dauphine, a level he knew he would never attain). in the blood doped era a clean rider (and a very talented one at that) could only hope to win in the early or late parts of the season when the blood dopers were not yet roaring on their "ferrari twin engines"...check out HWMNBN's prologue placement at paris-nice in 2005 (135th or so and way behind...nothing that a quick sejour to tenerife and a visit from his favorite hematologist didn't cure
wink.gif
)."

I think the sport is cleaning up to a degree. The UCI study and the separate Swiss study show that blood manipulation is down to 25% of the peloton. It's also clear that when a DiLuca or Basso or Leipheimer get on the really good stuff, they can take giant step up in performance; so when the heavy duty dopers come strapped then they will blow away the competition. They really stick out though.
 
Where is Hincapie for Het Volk and KBK? He seemed to be in great form during the ToC and was aggressive. He might have had a good shot at winning.
 
Bro Deal said:
Where is Hincapie for Het Volk and KBK? He seemed to be in great form during the ToC and was aggressive. He might have had a good shot at winning.
Cycling news stated he is saving himself for paris-nice.
 
Bro Deal said:
Gilbert has been spoken out against doping before it was the in thing to do. He is one of the riders who I might bet on not being on the juice. I wouldn't be surprised by anyone, but if I had to bet on a rider not to be doping then he would be one of those at the top of the list.

I snagged this post from Maya on DP:

"phillipe gilbert has always been outspoken against drugs and despite being considered one of the very top prospects rarely wins outside early and late season racing. (see the very sad article written by kimmage a few years back when gilbert realized that the riders he had been competitive with or beating earlier in the season suddenly were on a whole different level come the dauphine, a level he knew he would never attain). in the blood doped era a clean rider (and a very talented one at that) could only hope to win in the early or late parts of the season when the blood dopers were not yet roaring on their "ferrari twin engines"...check out HWMNBN's prologue placement at paris-nice in 2005 (135th or so and way behind...nothing that a quick sejour to tenerife and a visit from his favorite hematologist didn't cure
wink.gif
)."

I think the sport is cleaning up to a degree. The UCI study and the separate Swiss study show that blood manipulation is down to 25% of the peloton. It's also clear that when a DiLuca or Basso or Leipheimer get on the really good stuff, they can take giant step up in performance; so when the heavy duty dopers come strapped then they will blow away the competition. They really stick out though.
I dont like Leipheimer, but in his defense, he races a long season, longer than anyone else.

Usually from Cali/Paris-Nice to Tour of Germany, and usually pretty competitive in every race he is in.

Ofcourse, with a good doctor and blood banked, you can be topping up every month. More difficult when he resides in Cali tho.

Leipheimer is the best GC rider in the last 5 years I would say, in terms of results. Multiple podiums. No one else has the same degree of results. No GT win tho.

If the tt is before the first mtn stage, he might just beat Contador in this years Vuelta.
 
Bro Deal said:
Old interview with Gilbert. I remember reading this when it came out. CFA posted the link to give some background info on Gilbert.

http://www.ergogenics.org/012.html
Thanks Bro. Great article. Though there may be some misunderstanding on what I meant. I was agreeing that Gilbert is a non-doper, and questioning the thesis that a non-doper can't beat a doper. If we asume that there were dopers in the Het Volk field, he beat them all.

But I suspect, as thunder has alluded to, that non-dopers stand a chance in February and March, but come May-August, and it is probably a different story. Gilbert probably peaks for the early season races knowing he doesn't stand a chance in the summer races for climbers and TT'ers.
 
Hey. Other than picking a rider that has been banned for the past three years, I did pretty good. Picked one and two.