Spinopsys

[…] Philip from Spinopsys mentions Landis’ hip and, needless to say, he’s not impressed by the timing of the announcement. He has a point, but I’d rather hear about some dude huffing around France on one good leg than countless stories about who is or isn’t a doper. […]

I’ve had just about enough of your Floyd bashing Mr Gomes!

Maybe Phil Liggett can use this to mix in with some other phrases, just wait until you hear “not a hip joint turned in anger”

You have to admit, it’s nice to have the conversation steer away from the doping stories or speculation as to why Boonen hasn’t won a stage yet (because Robbie is faster this time… duh!).

:-) Mr M, as you’ve probably realised by now I love to go against the prevailing narrative and don’t believe in heroes.

If you read the post just a little more closely you’ll notice that the headline screamers that I dreamed up contain the phrase ‘Floyd wins” - hardly bashing.

However, I don’t like the media circus that Phonak has tried to create with promises to show everyone the x-rays etc.

As I said it smacks of Hamiltonesque collarboneism.

So when Floyd loses he now has a built in excuse, “it was me hip that done me in guv’nor” I think that sucks for just about everyone, and potentially seks to deny a different winner legitimacy, which I think even more reprehensible on Phonak’s part, especially since they are one of the more suspect teams out there morally.

I stand by that view, and as we all know excuses are for losers.

But of course there is a positive here, while everyone is talking about Floyd, the quiet man of cycling, Cadel Evans, will be able to go about his business kicking everyones arse.

I don’t claim to know the man personally, but if you read even just a little about him, you’ll gather that he has no patience for excuses and has no desire to be the center of a media circus. If he continues to do well, the spotlight will be on him, and this was going to come out. Seems sensible to do an interview with the NYT, to get the story right, and break it on the rest day, when it won’t distract from a race day. Folks ought to take some time to read up on the guy before jumping to conclusions.

The “media circus” thing does seem out of character for Floyd.

Does anyone wonder what drugs Floyd has a waiver for to manage the pain? Some good steroids to manage the inflamation, perhaps?

Julie, I don’t know Floyd at all, but I think it’s good to have a high degree of skepticism about all riders right now.

And I disagree with your contention that this will not distract from the race days, it will because it’s now a part of the race narrative. This is a media stunt pure and simple.

I also have to ask, why is the American cycling public so anxious for another ‘hero’ of the Lance mould? Wasn’t seven years of domination enough to satisfy for a while?

And remember the adage - time’s glory is to calm contending kings; to unmask falsehood and bring truth to light - given that, I would think that after the Hamilton fiasco and the less than glowing evolving story of Lance, that American cycling fans would be a bit more circumspect in looking for a saviour/hero.

Now as I mentioned in my short post, most of wht I think would probably be regarded as libellous, but Fritz partly channels my thoughts.

This is not just about winning or losing, it’s also about establishing a viable set of excuses in case another set of circumstances eventuate.

I was raised a skeptic myself, I appreciate the tendency, but I’m just saying, from what I’ve read, he abhors excuses and it would seem that has nothing to do with this. Actually, I don’t know you either of course, but just from a couple of posts, I think you and Floyd may have a bit in common, he doesn’t suffer fools either. I’d recommend the current profiles in Outside and Bicycling magazines to get a taste of Floyd (both available on their websites).

As to the race day, I meant only as opposed to the story breaking on a race day, when he’d want his focus elsewhere. He’s had a chance to sit down and answer a bunch of questions, get the story out in his own words, so he can refer the press gaggle back to his previous comments when they hover about his bus door. If he released it before the Tour, he doesn’t get to prepare in peace. If he released it after, he doesn’t get to process victory or defeat in peace. This way, the race moves on, probably some other interesting stories pop up, and it can just get incorporated into the ongoing hum.

Perhaps you weren’t including me in the “holding out for a hero” category, and I hope not. I don’t drink anyone’s koolaid, I’m just a fan of the sport. My favorites in the peloton are of varying nationalities, and tend to be the ones who are hard-working, no-nonsense, no-bs, and don’t get caught up in silliness. Floyd strikes me as right in that group, but that’s me.

Fair enough Julie, opinion taken on board.

BTW my “hero” statement was a more generalised observation about what I see in current attitudes and not specific to any American in particular.

Hills tonight, the race starts now.

Does this hip go with a yellow jersey ?

The race has just started grasshopper, the alps await those who dare.

This is me, saying nothing…

How come it sounds like you’re shouting?

There are so gonna be a lot of broken hips when folks start jumping off the bandwagon.

Funny… I’ll have to remember that…

Nice ride by Cadel today though. It was nice to see. He just needs a touch more aggression.

Cadel’s biding his time for the pointy bits of the tour. It’s only his second tour, but based on last year’s effort he appears to get stronger as the race wears on and opponents wear down.

Early days yet.

Floyd said all he needed to say on the Joule de Plane. Tell me, how does crow taste?

Crow? Where did I say Floyd would not win the tour Adam?

And just to completely wind you up, nowadays as far as pro cycling is concerned I’m deeply suspicious of miraculous recoveries after a day of absolute failure.

http://www.spinopsys.com/archives/445

Yes, that was pre Puerto, post Puerto was a different matter.

Ipso facto let’s just call it my ex post facto puerto defence.

Geddit?

[…] Now I caught a lot of flack for writing this post prior to the TdF about Landis using his hip as a pretext for not performing up to expectations, of course I was wrong about that - he did win and the hip condition didn’t come into it at all, but maybe there was another reason behind this. […]