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The Season of Talking Tough

Posted on 7 December 2009 by cosmo

396010042_79edb64cd5_oOh yes. After weeks of mind-numbing backroom dealing (Will Contador go to Astana? Will Astana get a UCI license?) the trash talking is finally here.

And who better to kick it off than the psychological master himself, Johan Bruyneel, who recently cast Contador as a superstar unable to come to grips with his meteroic fame—in words that seem more suited to Lindsay Lohan than the TdF champ—in an interview with the Belgian magazine Knack.

Thing is, I’m not sure exactly what “changes of character” the newly-appointed RadioShack director was trying to curb. Contador hasn’t succumbed to periodic coke binges. No one’s remixing voicemails to his mistresses on YouTube. And he seems quite a good distance from anything resembling reality TV.

In fact, unless someone out there took special offense when the sharply dressed Spaniard excused Andy Schleck from the stage at the TdF presentation, I don’t think there’s anything you can point to that would indicate the Spaniard has handled his fame with anything but grace and aplomb—except maybe that atrocious hat.

Yes, you’d think Bruyneel would be in a better mood, given that he seems to have snatched away Garmin-Slipstream team “guru” and sometime Versus commentator Allen Lim. Lim, if you’ll recall, formerly worked with Phonak, helping Floyd Landis to his 15 minutes, before brand reinvention of sorts, guiding squeaky-clean Slipstream to better riding through starvation.

Then again, maybe Lim still hasn’t suitably explained this comment (via @SSBike), which seems to cast the oft-cited figure of 6.7 watts-per-kilo—repeatedly confirmed as the power output at lactate threshold attained by a certain Texan—as something that is unequivocally outside the range of human ability. That’ll put a kink in the spine of anyone building a business on Armstrong’s accomplishments.

At any rate, Brad Wiggins, one of Lim’s former charges at Garmin—at least until he isn’t—seems more or less unfazed by Lin’s departure. “I still think I’m a better rider than Lance“, the Brit recently told Cyclingnews, before putting some distance between himself and the quote on Twitter.

I’ve got to say that the spin corrections, meta commentary, and occasional drunken outbursts make Wiggins’ Twitter account one of the most interesting to follow—certainly a step up from Pistolero’s. Maybe that’s the behavior of Contador’s that the Twitter-happy Bruyneel has taken issue with.

thoughts on “The Season of Talking Tough”

  1. James says:
    7 December 2009 at 9:15 pm

    Cosmo, finally your writing again, and its something useful as well. Excellent piece. So tired of advertorial fare that passes for commentary/interviews on other sites – although fat cyclist was a hilarious recent discovery. I know its winter up there, but shouldn’t that mean you’ve more time to pontificate, not less?

    Agree re Bruyneel, but someone was going to have to start it.

    As for the 6.7 w/kg being impossible, it works out to 469 watts at threshold for a 70kg/154pound rider which is huge but doesn’t seem to stretch belief too much in my mind (although varying reports suggest LA only gets down to 72kg in July) for a GC rider. I recall watching Chris Sorenson’s online powermeter figures when Saxobank hit the front at the bottom of Arcalis (or one of those early hilltop finishes) earlier this year to try and break up the field and he was easily in the mid 450s – although he only stayed there for about 3 minutes before blowing up.

    Keep up the analysis and commentary

    Reply

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About the Author

a headshot of Cosmo Catalano

Best known for his How The Race Was Won® video series, Cosmo Catalano began blogging about pro cycling from a bike shop in 2005. Between then and now, he's designed cycling infographics, built cycling web apps, and supplied cycling content to print and broadcast media, all in the name of backing up his near-endless criticism with proof that it can be done better. He complains about cycling on Twitter at @Cyclocosm.

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