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leviramsey

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tarjei Newbie

tarjei

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Who's the pick for L-B-L?

Not to invested with any rider really, but I'm hoping Valverde get's another win, although I have a feeling it will be a fight between Gilbert and Martin.

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tarjei Newbie

tarjei

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“It’s one thing, if you make a mistake, or you know what you’ve done. But I just fell out of a tree, basically,” Martin said. “You look at the road, I think there’s a batch of oil or something. Yeah, I think I pretty much had tears in my eyes before I hit the floor.

“It’s hard — there’s not really words. To race seven hours like that and just for it to happen on the last corner? Yeah. It’s poetry.”

For Martin, it’s the bad kind, with neither rhyme nor reason.

“I didn’t know what was going on behind, I didn’t know how close the group was. All I know is that I was feeling pretty good still and I was very relaxed. I was 250 meters. Podium was definitely on the card. I don’t know if maybe Gerro would have caught me. I don’t know. There’s no way of knowing, you know?”

When Martin was on the ground, the first thing he thought wasn’t what if, or why, but simply, “Ow. Pretty much, like, what happened? I was just — I knew straightaway. I’ll say there’s not really words.”

“The team rode unbelievably well all day. Everybody was so relaxed going into La Redoute. I rode a perfect race. I suffered a bit on [Côte de la Roche-aux]-Faucons, and had a bit of a difficult moment there and just really stayed relaxed and let the other guys attack and saved everything for one last effort in the last kilometer. And it nearly paid off. That’s the way it goes,” he said.

Asked if it was the most let down he’d ever been in a bike race, Martin made light of the fall, somewhat.

“It’s only a bike race, really. It’s still only a bike race. After Lombardia last year — I need to start getting used to falling off on the last corner, it appears. Hopefully that’s the last time. I don’t want to make a habit of it. But yeah. It just sucks. But that’s life.”

His shoulder, he said, was “fine,” and his hip was swollen, but there are no serious injuries to speak of. Just the curse of what if.

“Everybody was gutted, you know?” he said of the team. “It’s like … as I say, we stand by, whatever the results were, we were going to stand together. They know we came so close. And it’s — we’ll just have to come back next year and do the same thing again and hopefully we’ll have a better outcome.

“Obviously we’ve still got Tom [Jelte Slagter] sixth. Still had Tom in sixth place, you know? It’s not a bad day for the team, and on another day it would have been, we would have been pretty happy with the result.

“But yeah, it’s a bit hard to take.”

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veloman Proficient

veloman

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A Cervelo !! Very nice; carbon ?

Interesting article in The Times, in fact the main story on the back page, about the use of the opiate pain-killer Tramadol in the peloton and Team Sky in particular. Not against the rules it seems but the hospital gave me those when I fell of and broke my hip. Made me feel very 'odd' but doesn't seem to have made me any faster !!!

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tarjei Newbie

tarjei

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That sounds somewhat different than what is said in this article published last year

 

Team Sky calls for Tramadol ban in peloton

By:

Daniel Benson

Published:

October 29, 2013, 13:04,

Updated:

October 29, 2013, 13:05

"We've prescribed it minimally" says team doctor

Team Sky has given its backing to the MPCC’s (Movement for Credible Cycling) call for the pain killer Tramadol to be added to WADA’s list of prohibited substances.

Earlier this month Garmin-Sharp’s chief medical officer Prentice Steffen told Cyclingnews that the substance was being abused within the peloton.

The potentially addictive opioid remains on WADA’s Monitoring List, meaning that it could be banned in the future, while the anti-doping agency confirmed in a private letter to the MPCC earlier this year that “the number of samples containing Tramadol is significant and the very large majority of them originate from cyclists.”

Team Sky, who are not a member of the MPCC, has backed a call for the substance to be regulated through the TUE system but added that as a team it has prescribed Tramadol throughout the season, but only in what it calls "appropriate scenarios".

Allan Farrell, a full-time doctor with Team Sky since 2012, told Cyclingnews that Tramadol is, “an effective pain killer when it’s used in the clinically appropriate scenario. Certainly in our team we would have used it in the past but only when justified.”

“We would have prescribed it, very minimally but sometimes if someone had an injury that justified pain killing medication.”

Farrell pointed to the side-effects as one of the major issues with the drug. He also called for WADA to add Tramadol to their prohibited list in order to safeguard against potential abuse.

“There are side effects with the medication that are under reported. For me it’s not just about it being banned as a performance enhancing drug, it’s more an issue over rider safety. People react differently to different medication but some of the side effects can include nausea and dizziness so all of those issues, if they were to effect someone, could lead to other problems and potentially pose a danger.”

One high profile WorldTour rider, who did not want to be named told Cyclingnews that “some teams won’t give it out while some do. Some riders are out there training on it though.” There have also been rumours of riders using Tramadol in conjunction with caffeine in order to counter the effects of drowsiness.

“That very anecdotal,” Farrell told Cyclingnews.

“In terms of the evidence, there’s real evidence in the US that people taking Tramadol have an increased chance of a road accident so it stands to reason that if you have that sort evidence, and in an environment such as cycling, I’d be happy to see it banned. Then it could be used if necessary through the TUE system but putting it on the prohibited list would ensure that it wasn’t used in an inappropriate way.”

“With regards to it’s use, and I’ve seen that Prentice Steffen had called for the ban of its use, well that’s something that I’d be happy to see on the WADA prohibited list, both in and out of competition.”

Farrell confirmed that Team Sky has used Tramadol in the past and would do in the future if the situation called for it but stated that the team would not use the drug in a training scenario.

“We would never have used it in training. It’s only a medication that we would have used very minimally and in a supervised environment. I just can’t believe people would use it in a training environment.”

“It’s definitely something that we would have as medication within the team but it would only be something that we’d use in the appropriate scenario.”

Asked if Team Sky used Tramadol during this year’s Tour de France, Farrell said that he could not disclose the medical histories of his riders but he would say that, “if we used it for an injury it would have always been with the riders’ health and safety paramount. Any time we used it, it would have been with the best clinical guidelines and thinking of the riders’ safety."

“I can’t say who it would have been used with but we would have used it throughout the year for any moderate to severe injury if pain warranted it. It’s certainly something that we would have used in the past but very minimally. It’s something that we’d want to use in the future in order to provide adequate pain relief. But again, we would be very happy to see it on a list so that it was more regulated.”

Tramadol certainly is not in the leagues of blood doping or EPO in terms of performance boosting, but it has been used within the peloton for a number of years. One rider who raced throughout most of the 2000s told Cyclingnews that they had used the drug to help with inflammations and injury.

Farrell believes that riders prescribed Tramadol in the future via a TUE should not be in competition. Such a move would put Tramadol within the same bracket at cortico-steroids with riders in MPCC teams expected not to race for an eight-day window after taking the substance.

“If you need to apply for a TUE medication used as a pain killer, the reality is that someone should be removed from competition. I don’t think there should be a scenario where someone should compete with such a strong pain killer,” he said.

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andyjsg Collaborator

andyjsg

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Not as nice as dan martin's r5, but have a 2013 r3 with full sram red and 3T carbon so weighs less than a pro bike. I'm on the heavier side (13st ish) so helps with climbing. Looks like I'm gonna be using it for racing a half ironman in Mallorca next week as my TT bike (specialized shiv - also carbon but nowhere near as light as r3) hurts my hip so need to get it sorted for my next race in July.

I'm not sure what's going on with Team Sky at the moment - they don't seem as fluid this year for some unknown reason. Guess we will fin out in Romandie this week.

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andyjsg Collaborator

andyjsg

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Anybody watching the Giro today? made me laugh when the cameraman zoomed on to a group of topless ladies for a few secs and the commentators just sort of pauses then carries on with what they were saying.

If Wiggo does go to tour lets hope he puts in more effort than he did in the world champs!!

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tarjei Newbie

tarjei

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Damn, missed that, I only saw the finish today. It's shaping up to be a really nice Giro to watch. No overpowered GC candidate with too strong a team. I think Quintana will win it when the real climbing begins, but it's great to see Ulissi, Aru and Pozzo keeping up so far. Also, I noticed the last individual time trial is a tough mountain climb, which will probably be in Quintana's favor.

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Jon Proficient

Jon

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Well done, Cav and Wiggins today.

 

Open question to our cycling afficianados: does Wiggins get on the tour team and, if so, will that be because of or in spite of Froome's say?

My guess would that he will definitely be on the tour. He's in form, clearly, and has a superb engine. He will be a great domestique for The Froome Dog. He'll be the engine of the team, and he and Porte (if fit) will be Froome's key men. Plus Thomas.

 

I think he'll behave, too. He'll hopefully ride for Froome in the same way Froome rode for him 2 years ago. I think he 'owes' him that. Plus it gives Sky options should Froome injure himself/crash etc.

 

He has to be there IMO.

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KHV Newbie

KHV

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Sounds like he's off to Orica next season . . . sensible step for both parties IMO. 

 

Anyone watching the Criterium this week?

I'm watching it. It will be between Froome and Contador. Froome did a great TT

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Jon Proficient

Jon

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Latest stuff is that Wiggins won't be there:

Beeb link

Sir Bradley Wiggins says he will not be competing in this year's Tour de France "as things stand".

 

Yeah, from what I've read recently, the relationship between Froome Dog and Wiggo has completely broken down, and as such, with Froome leading Team Sky, Wiggo's got no chance of being there.

 

Sad state of affairs. Orica Greenedge it is for Wiggo then I guess, for him to have 1 last stab at the TDF next year.

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