le grimpeur

Climb like… George Hincapie (yes, really)3
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Classic Climbs, Classic Stages, Climbing Skills on April 27th, 2007

It was the toughest mountain stage of the 2005 Tour de France: starting at Lézat-sur-Lèze then 205.5 kilometres to St-Lary Soulan up the Pla d’Adet climb. Before this 8.3%, 10.3 kilometre final ascent, one cat.2 climb and 4(!) cat.1 monsters for over 5,000 metres of climbing. (more…)

Climb faster now..!2
Guy WR posted in Climbing Skills on April 18th, 2007

A popular magazine title is always some variation of ‘climb faster now’. While there is a plethora of good climbing advice, which le grimpeur is planning to explore, at the most basic physical level it all comes down to two options. (more…)

Doping and climbing - conclusions - Jan Ullrich1
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Doping on April 9th, 2007

There is much more that can be written on doping and climbing. Of particular interest is the apparent disappearance of the ‘pure climber’ in the peloton, the gifted grimpeur that can blow a major race apart with specialized climbing skills. This disappearance is probably overstated, and many grimpeurs have shone in races other than the Tour de France in recent years.

The broader point is made, however, that faster average speeds on flatter stages such as in the Tour have made it difficult for pure climbers to hold on to the peloton and conserve their energy for the mountains. Whether this is a Tour phenomena, or due to doping or better training for all riders, is another issue.

In a series of posts, I’ve covered some of the implications on climbing of doping in professional cycling, including a two-part discussion of Marco Pantani (part 1 and part 2). It seems timely to take a break from this particular series and focus more on some of the positive aspects of great climbers and climbs. Still, it seems impossible to move on without making some comment on recent revelations on doping by Jan Ullrich, a constant presence in the mountains over the last decade, particularly in the Tour de France. (more…)

Doping and climbing: Marco Pantani - part 22
Guy WR posted in Climbers, Doping on April 2nd, 2007

…continued from part 1

Although it was never proven, observers often speculated that the first race to be won by EPO was the 1994 edition of the Ardennes classic Fleche Wallonne. Both Greg LeMond and Laurent Fignon have dated the appearance of EPO to the early 1990s, with Lemond pointing to 1991 as the year where the peloton’s speed started to noticeably increase, but 1994 was something else. (more…)