The rooster crows...

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 11:41 AM EDT

and has alot of armchair DS's eating crow. The Chicken's clean. All that's happened is we've seen what happens when you take EPO out of the Tour. Suddenly the muscular guys can't climb mountains. Not much of a surprise. You've got to be a starve-yourself-skeleton like the Chicken to kick ass up the steep parts.

And kick ass he has. Suddenly its not enough to be a great TT'er and a good climber. What an awesome sight, to see a pure climber nullify the flat-landers and carve out minute after minute in the hills.

Rasmussen's awesome. It's a joy to see somebody come along and force us all to rewrite what seemed to be accepted strategy. It's a new era.

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WHich era?

The Chicken is 33, so I don't see multiple wins coming.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 22, 2007 12:23 PM EDT reply actions

A new strategic era

If he wins, the climbers will believe they can win solely by dominating in the mountains. DSs are going to reformulate strategy. The Tour committee is going to meet and change course strategy. It'll change everything.

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 1:40 PM EDT up reply actions

It's been tried

Lucho Herrera? Bahamontes? Robert(a) Millar? Pantani*? Every era has its pure climber, sometimes they break through, but only when they're not getting burned in the time trials, and there's nobody else strong enough to stay with them. Nothing novel here; this is just a rare year when it works.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 22, 2007 6:01 PM EDT up reply actions

I can't see him losing now.

I commented a couple days ago that he can ride with the big boys in the Mountains, but the long flat TT's may be a problem. Then I saw Rasmussen pass Valverde yesterday. His goal today was to put time into Evans, which he has done. I would not be surprised if he extends his overall lead in the next couple days, making the final TT, merely a Simoni-esque-2003-Giro-Victory-Lap. I have to hand this one to Tiki. Watching the Chicken today, I couldn't get over how easy he made it look. Also, having a unified Rabo team behind him might be all he needs.

..watch out for Levi though. I think he's getting stronger and he's burned very few matches so far.

Vlaenderen die Leu

by Peter Fontecchio on Jul 22, 2007 12:35 PM EDT reply actions

BioPure made from cow's blood!

Would the new name be the Chicken RasMOOssen?

Racing for Victory and Free Beer!

by DemonCats on Jul 22, 2007 12:39 PM EDT reply actions

clap clap clap

by Sui Juris on Jul 22, 2007 12:41 PM EDT up reply actions

shorthand...

~8> + 3:8)

-Greg

by gregm on Jul 22, 2007 1:13 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe we were wrong about ~8>

but so were all the DSs who, on stage 8, let the chicken put 2.30+ into the entire field. This is looking more and more like their Pereiro moment, and more and more like history will judge this batch of contenders as guys who were too tepid and foolish to win. I get to underestimate people, they don't.

Got a problem? Va fa Napoli!

by Chris Fontecchio on Jul 22, 2007 1:16 PM EDT reply actions

When are you going to give this argument a rest?

Nobody "let him go" in the hills. They just can't stay with him. Short and simple. Everybody knew the Chicken was Rabo's real shot at success, and they let him go anyway because they could not hang.

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 1:42 PM EDT up reply actions

Why do you think he's clean?

He missed four out of competition tests this season, and we have a credible report that he used blood products five years ago. What am I missing?

by hughw on Jul 22, 2007 1:24 PM EDT reply actions

Everybody doped 5 years ago

And the Chicken is getting mass tested after every stage. If he flunks a test now, I'll believe he doped.

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 1:43 PM EDT up reply actions

We could at least

presume innocence. It was 5 years ago that the alleged cow blood incident took place. Can't read too much into the missed controls. Could be entirely reasonable explanations. I still can't bring myself to like the guy, but he's riding very impressively.

by ghisallo on Jul 22, 2007 1:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Last year I watched him...

cross the summit of Col de la Croix-de-Fer after he'd taken off on Galibier before he won Stage 16. He came over that summit looking like a lost demon. Eyes fixed, sweat pouring down, chugging like a train over the top of an Alp with his closest pursuer more than two minutes behind. It was awe inspiring. Hard NOT to like that performance.

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 5:40 PM EDT up reply actions

same thought here

I still get caught up in the excitement of watching the stages. But it's almost impossible to believe anything I'm seeing. There's just too much information out there.

If Ras was willing to use the cow extract five years ago--that's the stuff Jaksche wouldn't touch--then I think he's probably pretty adventuresome when it comes to dopage.

-K-

by KevinK on Jul 22, 2007 1:50 PM EDT up reply actions

Maybe...

and when the test comes back positive, I'll be right there with you. He's tested everyday now. Until he earns a positive that says he's doping NOW, he's done nothing wrong in my eyes.

by Tiki on Jul 22, 2007 5:41 PM EDT up reply actions

It's possible he's clean

It's also possible everyone else is a doper, too. I'm not gonna worry about that any more in the Tour.

No doubt Ras starves himself. But he's no lighter than the other guys, like Mayo, or Sastre, or any of the Eu/Eu guys. Weight alone doesn't mean too much. It's all the power to weight ratio.

Undoubtedly, chicken is a strong guy. Really, his past TT results didn't make much sense. So, it's possible he worked on technique, and his TT.

His descending seemed much better this year than last year.

-K-

by KevinK on Jul 22, 2007 6:44 PM EDT up reply actions