Favorites ascending. Photo: Gruber Images.
As many of you know, I write a monthly column for Cyclist Magazine where I answer Dear Abby-esque questions, and the most recent query pertained to whether I consider the Tour the best race of the year, or whether it’s an over-publicized circus. The question made me realize something about myself: I have a weariness around the Tour de France not unlike a romantic whose heart has been broken one too many times.
The fact is, as much as I prefer a race like Paris-Roubaix or the Giro d’Italia to the mid-summer shit show that is the Tour de France, nothing gets my anticipation going quite the way the Tour does, which is undeniably the pinnacle of the season; all the classifications and stages are prestigious enough that racers of all sorts are all arriving at the start in peak form. There is a promise of hard racing from day one, but the first week consists mostly of me worrying about the big favorites crashing out. As soon as we get through that mess, my heart is usually broken on the first day in the mountains, when the favorite takes a decisive lead and the rest of the race is most about stages than the GC.
At least, these are the dreads of a man who lived through the Indurain and Armstrong eras of racing.
Nevertheless, the Tour always manages to seduce me, and this year is no different. Maybe this year, she won’t be such a cruel lover. And, maybe this year, I won’t make horrible picks in the VSP. Just maybe, just maybe. You know the drill; get your picks in by the time the clock goes to zero, and you get some swap options on the rest day. Good luck!
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VSP PICKS:
VSP PICKS:
Why is it that no one eve asks me to take part in studies like this?
@chris
And that is hard to believe !
@Randy C
Hard to believe? Try mind-numbingly unscientific. Is 8 weeks enough to build the cardiovascular efficiency, muscle timing, and the capillary delivery of a pro in someone who starts at some unknown base? What about the notion that the pros are the best of the strongest of the fastest to begin with, and only a handful of those are contenders? Among this VERY select few, a 0.1% advantage is an incredible difference - it's significantly more than the 4 minutes lead Froome had last year at the Tour (4' is 0.075% of 89 hours and 4-odd minutes [running included]). Keep in mind these subjects are amateurs, not pros. And there is usually a good (/obvious) reason you remain an amateur and not a pro. You don't make the cut. But wait, here this is: "Professor John Brewer, an expert in applied sports science at St Mary’s University College [in other words an actual scientist], cautioned that the benefits of improved oxygen uptake might be more pronounced in professional cyclists than in amateurs" (emphasis mine) Duh. BTW, not to The Telegraph editors: including that quick nod to peer review in the very last line of the story doesn't resurrect the "Science" title of this section.
VSP PICKS:
@Randy C
The results of the study are hard to believe or it's hard to believe they didn't ask me?
@chris
An athlete of your caliber would almost certainly skew the results.
VSP PICKS:
VSP PICKS: