Has anyone seen this video accusing Cancellara of cheating?
I may have screwed up the link or embed. Anyone know how to do this? The preview shows the clip embedded but not sure it will work.
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I may have screwed up the link or embed. Anyone know how to do this? The preview shows the clip embedded but not sure it will work.
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Yep, lots of discussion on this topeic over in this thread
For the record, it's alleged cheating!!!
Nemo, all I said was accusing him of cheating. Prepostorous I think.
My sentiments exactly! Except I'd need on in a 49.
It is funny at 3:34 of the video Cancellara has to stand to keep up with the breakaway group and grab a wheel THEN he moves left (without any draft) and then suddenly accelerates away while seated at a pace that appears faster than when he was standing just seconds earlier. With the moto so close to help drone out the electric motor in both videos it is crazy to think a guy would cheat like that. If it's true and he were caught he doesn't have plausable deniability like drug cheats. He is DONE. In the second race (Flaunders) he pulls away from a guy who by all accounts is better built for climbing looking at his build. I would think that Cancellara wouldn't have the ability to put a move on a skinny guy like that while climbing.
Makes for interesting thought. The unit is $2400. www.Gruberassist.com
Vince
Might look a little suspicious if your cranks are still spinning in T2 after an hour.....
How hard would it be, and how quiet would it be, to make an electric motor that could add ~20-30w when you wanted it? +30w for an IM bike leg would be HUGE. How long would the battery last? What if you could swap out the battery at BSN? Pick up your bag, roll down the road, swap it out and toss the old battery into the woods? I know there are hub mounted electric motors you could hide within a wheelcover.
Anywhoo...fun to think about. If exposed at an Ironman it would dwarf the FinMan episode of IMFL
However, Sparty did absolutely crush all comers in the Worlds last year and rode very well in the road race when he wasn't expected to. So maybe he is that strong. And maybe he's not cheating in any way. And maybe if I'm really, really, good Santa will bring me a new carbon bike and.....
Vince
P
Just for fun, and 'cause he's been my biking hero ever since he won the TdF prologue for the first time, I'll defend the guy. Unless he's been using this thing for years, how do you explain all his TT victories at the highest level - World's, etc? How do you explain his grand tour stage wins? How do you explain his hours at the front of the peloton in July, pulling them all along in support of Schleck, etc over the years. It's not like he SUDDENLY became superhuman, ala Ric. Ricco or F. Landis or Rasmussen, etc.
Cancellara is a superb athlete. Noting the video though you do have to ask how someone can pull away soooo smoothly. When his is climbing that hill with Boonen (I guess) @ Flaunders he is bouncing with his upper body a bit just like Boonen. We all do it when we are applying lots of torque and are fatiguing to eek out more watts. Then he smooths out in the next few frames while Boonen stands (we all know just by standing you are throwing down 500+ watts easily) and is really torquing the bike (800-1000+ watts?) and then Cancellara just chugs away and makes even more time into the left hand corner (ie: steeper climbing section than he was just on). Boonen was near tossing cookies when they passed thru the zig-zag and Cancellara looks like he's working to the tune of my 250 watt effort.
I read the physics dealio Rich posted on Twitter. The guy figures Cancellara is putting out 1200 watts when he makes his move in the first video (Roubaix?). He also says that Cancellara has put out 1450 watts in a TdF effort. Cavendish in a recent Bike mag states that his sprint wattage is 1250-1280. This dude gets up to 42 mph on the flats with 1200 watts. So, something doesn't add up. 1200 seated without looking like you are ready to blow a gasket?
Even if it does add up it doesn't seem to add up to the "smoothness" that he cranks away from the others considering he had to stand to stay with the breakaway group just seconds earlier. The guy doesn't bob up and down when he applies that much extra effort to pull away yet needed to stand and thrash the bike about to keep from getting dropped? When in your riding experience have you ever ridden with someone that you had to stand to keep up when they made a move and they you were able to just muscle away while seated 3 seconds later?
Finally, who's to say that the field has been pretty level for years with the drugs at the highest levels? It all makes for some great fodder.
Vince
I just think the allegations are a bit much given what has been shown. I can't imagine one of these riders would not had said something if they thought something was amiss. Plus Cancellara is dreamy, doesn't that give him like 100w whenever he needs them? Anyone?
The guy has cheated before, yes? Okay so if he's not dreamy and let's say he looks like, say, FLOYD LANDIS perhaps. Doesn't that immediately erode some of his support here among the ladies as well as, let's be honest, some of the dudes? (I admit it, I'm a Boonen guy. He's clearly my Gus Triandos.) Lance gets a little scrape on his face and bails on his team, and ten minutes later he's flying back to Austin on Air Mellow Johnny, while Tommeke guts it out for several days after a horrific crash where his teammates had to hold him up on his bike to get him a finish in the stage. Lance shmantz. I digress.
Spartacus was riding a moped, and it will be an international scandal of epic proportions, moving the antics of the French president and first lady to page deux.
HA HA HA!!! OK, Guilty as charged Chris- I was never a Floyd fan and it's a lot easier to throw darts his way (even back in the Mennonite days- there was always something just a little smarmy about him).
We may never know but if a mechanic comes forward someday, like Landis did during ToC, we shouldn't be all that surprised.
Vince
As for my past transgressions: I have put them to bed. I just know that good people do desparate things at different points in their lives and if they have a soul, they often regret their decisions.
My new Shiv 3 is now coming in the mail...
But seriously, I would believe anything is possible. Unlikely but possible.
http://cozybeehive.blogspot.com/2010/06/gruber-assist-made-no-sale-to.html
First of all the grabber assit motor won't work with a BB30 crankset (Cancellara's crank). Also, it would require some customization to make it all work with his frames due to Specialized manufacturing with the BB tube not having a hole in it for the gear/motor to drop down into the BB area, etc.
He did say that he could build one though and if he could do it, then anyone can.
@Kitima, Again I see your point and Al's also. It is just interesting to watch and believe such supreme ability over all else.
Vince
It wouldn't suprise me in the least for riders to try something - Boardman knows it can be done.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/boa...ike-doping
"My experience within the sport tells me that to cheat blatantly in such a way would be such a massive step for those concerned - and it would involve so many members of the backup team and staff - that although it is possible it probably hasn't taken place yet for real. Just because you 'can' doesn't mean to say you 'do'."
"Any rider, squad and sponsors involved with a team caught in this way would be dead in the water as far as cycling is concerned. There would be absolutely zero sympathy and no way back into the sport whatsoever. Only desperate people would take that step"
So Saxo Bank (the team, which is looking for another sponsor) and Cancellara are "desperate"?