HTC did a great job leading out Cavendish today!
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Iâm an Alaphillipe and DQS fan, but didnât it almost seem like things slowed down when he went to the front and then sped back up once he pulled off? Was it just my eyes tricking me?
heh, he was only up there for like 5 seconds it seemed and I think thatâs when some a couple other teams kind of collapsed onto the DQS train and it looked kind of argy bargy there for a second. He probably wasnât used to that and said âscrew thisâ and dropped out of there.
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The fact that the stage doesnât end at the 2nd summit of Ventoux is criminal, change my mind.
(Both in terms of excitement and mystique as well as rider safety)
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100% agree. In fact, it could be quite dangerous as a result. Iâm thinking of Martin/Porte.
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donât forget Thomas
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Thought UCI banned it but WADA wouldnât do itâŚyet. Global DRO shows Not Prohibited for a US cyclist still at least.
Fairly low rate of use by this article although cyclists are a high percent of many athletes.
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It was very clearly his last match and that match didnât have much left in it. More important was how hard he drilled it in the cross winds to keep the pace up. That was invaluable imo.
Also, can we just give Morkov some huge kudos? Seems nearly impossible to lose if youâre on his wheel in the last 300 meters. Iâd love to see a statistic of how high his sprinters place after he drops them off. I bet itâs outrageous.
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It also shows up in drinking water in places with higher incidences of opoid use / abuse:
https://cen.acs.org/environment/water/opioids-down-drain-scientists-tracking/97/i16
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I wouldnât doubt that itâs showing up like that. Iâd imagine thereâs a threshold like a bunch of drugs.
well nanogram levels in drinking water is a bit low to be used as excuse, if you´d get caught with miligram levels in your blood. 
If we want to speculate what was in his bottle (which kinda starts to belong into the other thread) I´m wondering if his team is one of the teams using ketones. (Which are not banned)
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As an editor covering the B2B industry, pharmaceuticals in wastewater is becoming a growing trend. This is due not only to more ingestion from folks and therefore release into sewers through urine and stool, but also from folks flushing pharmaceuticals down the toilet. Studies of effluent in sewers and of drinking water sources can also help track the spread of disease. In fact, study of sewage helped to find new coronavirus outbreaks last year during the pandemic.
The water and wastewater industry is an incredibly fascinating one, and the folks who work in it do not get enough credit for the shit they put up with (pun intended) nor do they get enough credit for how much they protect the environment on a daily basis, regardless of holidays.
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I think youâre right in terms of noticing the two best sprinters in the world right now not being there (Bennet and Ewan), and as above the speed of the race/climbers means that the climbing stages are brutal for the sprinters and the cut-off.
Thereâs still world class sprinters in the race, and Cav beat Merlier already.
I think you create your own luck, and Cav and DQS are riding a positive wave right now. I think the field is still fast and motivated though.
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He doesnât pick who makes it to the finish line. Winning sprints at the tour is winning sprints at the tour. Period.
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He must be doping thatâs the only real explanation, not a combination of skill and luck of the competition
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I didnât mean to come off as someone would use that as an excuse, just that I would guess theyâd (UCI, WADA, etc.) have some threshold in case a low level did show up for someone. threshold vs mg could certainly be a bit of a differenceâŚbigger discrepancy when the pills are 50-300 mg doses.
Ketones for a sprinter doesnât make any sense.
Strange bottle conversation can be continued here: https://www.trainerroad.com/forum/t/tour-de-france-2021-speculation-and-gossip
Not to be pedantic, but Merlier was the leadout man for Philpsen when Cav won his first stage. When Merlier was the designated sprinter for Alpecin, he won the stage.
Iâm just talking about the quality of the field. Cav finished in front of Merlier.
Alpecin playing the happy families, role sharing game and fluffing their order is on them.
But if Merlier was not trying to win the stage, it isnât much of a comparison.
I could also say Merlier finished ahead of Cav on Stage 3âŚbut Cav wasnât there because of mechanical issues, so again not much of a comparison.