darkness wrote:
the fastest ascents of the Alpe have all been done in the middle of a stage, not just as a pure time trial. See this link for some background on the fastest ever ascents of the Alpe:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpe_d%27Huez
Typo Brian? middle of the tour, not middle of the stage, the ascent of the Alpe is always at the end of a stage.
Anyone who really knows cycling knows enough about the TDF to say, without a doubt, that these time trials cannot be compared to the in-race TDF splits. L'Alpe has never been the prologue, which is the only time the TDF racers mount the bike with fresh legs. For validation, have those same Kenyans ride every stage of the tour up to that 2004 TT and then see how fast they can ride.
Hell, you can even dope them if that is what you believe all TDF riders do. The result will be the same - poor. Those runners do not have anywhere near the muscle mass to arrive at the bottom of that stage, let alone make it to the top in stellar times. Do you want more validation? Check out how the local stud runner fared when they "jumped into" a triathlon or duathlon without some serious bike miles behind them. It has happend where I live and they have always had their ass handed to them when even descent cycling talent was there.
Very scientific "professor". First off, you show how insecure you are right off the bat by calling yourself Prof as if anyone who actually has that title calls themselves that on a thread. Secondly, did you actually read the article? Those guys were not runners. One was a shoe shiner and the other was a bicyclr taxi driver. And how do you know they do not have the muscle mass? You don't even know what they look like. Are you so stupid as to think that all Kenyans look the same? These are generalization you would expect from a junior high student.
Your argument would be minimally more valid if Tour de France winners were hulking bodybuilder types. They are not. Marco Pantoni weighed 130 pounds. He also had a shaved head. Hmm, what country has a lot of 130 pound men with shaved heads?
kenyans will never win the tour. at least not the traditional skinny kenyans we have come to know.
they are just that, too skinny. sure, they can climb, because they weigh nothing. but they would get thrashed on the flats and time trials. they may have a chance at the king of the mountains jersey, but no more.