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Post by phred1812 on Dec 6, 2014 19:40:34 GMT
Got tickets for tomorrow afternoon. I have never seen track racing live so am really looking forward to it. Still a Road man at heart though.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 6, 2014 21:23:59 GMT
That was a serious Madison race. Pure mayhem and confusion but properly entertaining.
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Post by RobP on Dec 6, 2014 23:28:47 GMT
That was a serious Madison race. Pure mayhem and confusion but properly entertaining. It was even better to be there watching it. Just got home and still on a high. Excellent Night
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Post by RobP on Dec 6, 2014 23:29:49 GMT
Got tickets for tomorrow afternoon. I have never seen track racing live so am really looking forward to it. Still a Road man at heart though. Hope you enjoy it, the atmosphere tonight was great
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Post by Radchenister on Dec 7, 2014 10:49:57 GMT
Slick!
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Post by Rocket on Dec 7, 2014 12:40:24 GMT
Mechanical shifting. How quaint!
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Post by phred1812 on Dec 8, 2014 11:56:40 GMT
Got tickets for tomorrow afternoon. I have never seen track racing live so am really looking forward to it. Still a Road man at heart though. Hope you enjoy it, the atmosphere tonight was great I certainly did. It was a great atmosphere. The crowd were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable. It can be hard to follow what's happening in a points race especially when its the last event in the Omnium. Its all about tactics and there are lots of possible permutations. British participation was a bit thin yesterday but the roar every time Laura Trott made a move was incredible. The venue is superb but a long way from East Devon so I won't be going too often. We were a bit far from the action to get good pictures but here are few.
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Post by Radchenister on Dec 8, 2014 18:08:37 GMT
What did I say about Astana license? Now Ferrari has shown up again like a panto villain, all bets are off!
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Post by RobP on Dec 8, 2014 21:02:05 GMT
What did I say about Astana license? Now Ferrari has shown up again like a panto villain, all bets are off! I think this just adds even more weight to my suspicions that I voiced earlier......... The facts so far: - Team manager Vinokourov is a convicted doper
- 5 members of the team caught this year for doping including Maxim Iglinskiy a member of the TDF squad who tested positive for EPO on 1st August (5 days after the last stage)
- Astana is where Alberto Contador won, and then lost, the 2010 Tour de France after testing positive for traces of a banned drug, Clenbuterol
- Roman Kreuziger, now on another team, is currently fighting accusations from cyclingβs governing body that his biological passport profile showed, for the 2011 and 2012 seasons he was on Astana, serious abnormalities that could only result from doping.
This can't be passed off as an isolated one off issue anymore surely??
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Post by Radchenister on Dec 8, 2014 21:32:24 GMT
The storm clouds certainly aren't evaporating! I guess the crux of it is how deep it runs, if Nibali is clean (and this seems to be an increasingly weighty 'if' now - although we must give him the benefit for positivity's sake), then it's looking like he's got a half rotten team around him ... but then he also suggests he's got a good support crew in the press (this may be a political standpoint, aiming not to burn bridges, he may well be between a rock and a hard place at present) ... in my mind there's two clear scenarios: a. he's clean and either needs the team purged to continue, or stamped out, so he can move on outside of any contract ties but doesn't want to take the Judas role with his colleagues. b. he's not clean and is flying under the radar, aka doing a Lance. I'm focusing on the leader, as the main objective of the team is to get him on a podium in the GC and because of the wider implications of another scrubbed off maillot jaune winner if this all goes really pear shaped; I'd be surprised if he comes out guns blazing next year whatever way it pans, it can't be all that motivational just when he needs to get his head down and build the base. Edit: Just read this, bears out what I thought ... www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/11279956/Astana-face-further-questions-following-claims-Dr-Michele-Ferrari-met-Alexandre-Vinokourov-and-squad-in-training.html
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Post by Radchenister on Dec 8, 2014 22:16:59 GMT
Better news - Geraint Thomas has been awarded BBC Cymru Wales Sports Personality of the year, pictured here with some bearded supporter I don't recognise !
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Post by Radchenister on Dec 8, 2014 23:21:03 GMT
... although back to the pantomime; Ferrari's website is down abruptly tonight after he responded to the media on it, however, Peleton Magazine have screenshots of the 'waffle'-gate comments on their Facebook page !
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Post by demonkarlos on Dec 9, 2014 9:43:27 GMT
With Astana, I am starting to think that even if Nibali is clean, his win is still tainted. You can't win the Tour by yourself, the top riders need a decent team of domestiques. If Astana's plan was to have a load of doped-up riders pulling their 'clean' team leader to victory, that is almost as bad as the leader doping himself.
If any of Astana's le Tour squad is found guilty of doping, it will seriously discredit Nibali's win.
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Post by demonkarlos on Dec 9, 2014 11:15:47 GMT
Etixx Quick Step:
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Post by r0b1et on Dec 9, 2014 11:41:47 GMT
If any of Astana's le Tour squad is found guilty of doping, it will seriously discredit Nibali's win. They already have been!
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