Boxes, Contador, TdF bike, conspiracy, Giro Rosa, polemica, Thuringen Rundfahrt, coverage, muscling, https://www.hammernutrition.com, UCI anti-doping procedures, communication, dope on the table, hearts and minds, bio passport details, marketing, dots.
Top of the class Cosmo.
Hey Cosmo – Is that the Maltese Falcon lurking in the BG? Priceless…
Focusing on Abbott’s earlier missed opportunities to pass, and on Rabo’s earlier tactics of isolating and wearing Abbott down seems like a way of implicitly recognizing that the later tactics were pretty negative. It’s like saying, “sure, Pauline Ferrand-Prevot is constantly looking over her shoulder and then charges across the road (followed by her teammates) to box in Abbott, but let’s just focus on earlier, when we were racing smart instead of the stuff we wish hadn’t been captured on camera.” Racing well as a team earlier in the race doesn’t mean this part doesn’t look really ugly. Also, the contact happening between Poulidor and Anquetil seems more acceptable to me: they’re side-by-side and one-on-one. It’s possible that what Rabo did is a perfectly acceptable part of bike racing; I just wish the responses didn’t seem like such blatant deflections.
Also, thanks very much for all your excellent commentary. I look forward to it every weekend & every race!
Cosmo,
Great catch on the marketing position opening w/the UCI. Those are the bits and pieces that give us a look behind the curtain to show organizational culture. Although possibly not overtly corrupt as the previous administration, it shows the new boss is very much the same as the old boss – The ‘us against them’ where anyone not writing on UCI letterhead is ‘them’