I really love your interviews, Arthur. You ask all the right questions and any prominent figure in pro cycling should be happy to speak with you on our behalf. I think you should try to get interviews with figures like Jens Voigt or Jonathan Vaughters or Patrick Lefevere! OH, maybe Christian Pruhomme (If he speaks English) 🙂 At any rate, thank you for all you do! We all support your efforts and look forward to your excellent content!
Vande Velde said in an affidavit he had doped from 1999 through 2005, regularly using testosterone and the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), both banned substances. He also said he had received injections of human growth hormone (hGH), another banned substance, and of a banned corticosteroid
Very insightful interview, Christian certainly has been there and done that...! I had the good fortune to have lunch with Greg Lemond at a trade show in Toronto, late 90's, to thereabouts .. There were a few industry types, around 5-6 of us.. The discussion over around various aspects of racing in Europe came up and Greg said the same, that whatever hotel or even a bar tabac he stayed at, a chef or owner would show off his menu or steaks or chops, and that was what you got. Breakfast was almost always pasta and steak or muesli, and the musettes were full panini stuffed with cream cheese and jam or ham and a water bottle was supposed to last 80-100 km. At least someone did his wash...!
Let's not forget the fame and fortune if that level if cycling. Financial reward can never be under valued and plays a huge part in a professional cyclists staying power. Taking risks when you have a family wouldn't happen for 100k a year no way today.
Highly the case with a lot of the Euro riders who do not have as many wide options outside of cycling. i.e. they weren't heading to be doctors or scientists. Hence they just see cycling as a way to earn a solid life of earnings as that's what they are gifted with, so they just go with it.
Great interview, so well done. You asked some great questions and got Christian to really give some interesting perspective. I always liked him, being a fellow American and all. It's too bad that cycling is still generally hated by a lot of the U.S. Anyhow, my hats off to anyone that can start one tour, much less eleven.
i wasn’t a major racer but did race a couple years 16 to 19 , and i had friends who kept racing into their 30s that and they always tell me we were way over training back then.
I raced as an amateur and a 3-day stage race was a death march for us even though it would be a walk in the park for a pro. . So given that pro cycling is the hardest sport there is and the TDF is the hardest event in pro cycling, it’s got to be much worse than a death march.
I have raced in the Race Across America, a 3200 mile non-stop time trial. But I have not raced in a grand tour or the grandest tour, the TDF. I would suspect when trained specifically for stage racing, I would not survive the TDF. Race Across America is a 20 hour a day race averaging about 400 miles a day, but I ride every minute at my pace, not someone else's. Training for RAAM was not all that different from road/stage racing; One sprint day, maximum efforts x10. One interval day, one mile at max effortsx10. One long steady distance day 75 mile at 75% effort. One rest day. One easy on the bike day, 30 miles. Only the weekend was different with a 24 hour ride on Saturday and a 100 mile ride on Sunday.
Great interview… I hope he put to bed those weekend warrior tales of “I could easily be a pro cyclist” or that “I could race the TdF” nonsense… yeah no… 😆🍻
Giro and Vuelta usually are filled with out of shape or young riders. In the tour, there are only the best riders in every category and they are in their top form. Everything is faster.
Is there a reason why the top teams can't have two or three team buses (properly modified for overnight sleeping, of course) for their riders to sleep on at night to guarantee good sleeping and recovery conditions? That seems to be an obvious solution to the hotel crap shoot that they currently take.
Are riders still heavily reliant on drugs to compete at this level ? I ask this as earnestly as possible because I realize the firestorm such inquiries can create. Also, I wonder which drugs are allowed, since he mentioned ailments like inflammation. Can teams provide anti inflammatory prescriptions like Toradol or analgesics that are classified as opiates? I understand that these drugs are commonly used in other professional sports for their superior therapeutic value but cycling always seems a bit of a mystery.
To compete at this level you have to be on drugs, it’s a shame but as someone who had a cycling group of youngsters you find this out, I was not prepared to give my young members steroids, and I was taking these young kids to events and the fourteen year olds in our club were being absolutely thrashed by eleven year olds in others, it was so demoralising for the lads and lasses that I had to give it up, some of them went to other clubs and got what they needed. So sad.
I think they are very clean these days with all the testing. Also your seeing younger riders going for GC. When you see one rider only race the TDF as lance did and win every year it was so obvious. Todays kids look at this much differently. I’m sure there is always someone trying to get ahead.
Love this dude....but did anybody else notice how fluidly Christian speaks here, despite struggling when on TV? His brain is clearly not aligned with his mouth on TV LOL!
I love how he mentions that young riders today have so much more 'technology' at an earlier age. I think what he means is that the kids today have better drugs sooner, so that they enter the biological passport with an already doped baseline.
@@SurpriseMeJT what he means is training to power, training zones, recovery, diet. Before Team Sky revolutionised these things, French Teams used to eat steak and suffer the next day…
Your average citizen has no idea how difficult cycling is. These racers ride 120 miles in 4 hours on a flat stage. Then they do that for 21 days straight basically going up the biggest mountains in the world as well. Oh and they are wearing basically their underwear.
Can never trust a person still involved in pro cycling after being corrupt himself. I love the fact most riders that have doped in the past still gain a platform to chat their bullshit opinions 😂
Great interview from a well knowledgeable ex pro. Keep these types of interviews coming David. Thanks.
This was a very interesting interview. It was a good balance of unique questions and letting VDV talk and tell stories. Good job.
I really love your interviews, Arthur. You ask all the right questions and any prominent figure in pro cycling should be happy to speak with you on our behalf. I think you should try to get interviews with figures like Jens Voigt or Jonathan Vaughters or Patrick Lefevere! OH, maybe Christian Pruhomme (If he speaks English) 🙂 At any rate, thank you for all you do! We all support your efforts and look forward to your excellent content!
That means so much DE Cook you're too kind :)
David, this was a great interview, great topic, great interviewee. This format works well for you. MORE PLEASE!
Thanks Jim glad you enjoyed it
Thank you both, really enjoyed the interview!!
Fantastic insight from Christian, thanks so much for a well thought out & conducted interview.
Enjoyed this interview. Great insights to the Tour. It's impossible to get your head around what these guys go through. The Giro is even more insane.
I'm watching it now, after the TDF is over, and daaammm the guy just nailed the podium
How cool is this! Chris was my first favorite cyclist. Thanks.
Vande Velde said in an affidavit he had doped from 1999 through 2005, regularly using testosterone and the blood booster erythropoietin (EPO), both banned substances. He also said he had received injections of human growth hormone (hGH), another banned substance, and of a banned corticosteroid
and.......?
Loving these interviews David 👍👍😊
Thanks Mark
Super interesting discussion. Thanks for making it.
Glad you enjoyed it!
Very insightful interview, Christian certainly has been there and done that...! I had the good fortune to have lunch with Greg Lemond at a trade show in Toronto, late 90's, to thereabouts .. There were a few industry types, around 5-6 of us.. The discussion over around various aspects of racing in Europe came up and Greg said the same, that whatever hotel or even a bar tabac he stayed at, a chef or owner would show off his menu or steaks or chops, and that was what you got. Breakfast was almost always pasta and steak or muesli, and the musettes were full panini stuffed with cream cheese and jam or ham and a water bottle was supposed to last 80-100 km. At least someone did his wash...!
Well done on this one. Good personal touches……
A wonderful interview...thank you
As a dane, I am proud the way he mentions the danish ambitious audience. It was one of the best tour's I have witnessed during the last 20 years 😊
Great interview David!!!!
You really interview well, good questions that engage
Thanks William
Great background on the Tour, David. Well done.
What a great interview and in hindsight Christian called the top 3 on the button.
Christian can you do some more peloton classes please!
Let's not forget the fame and fortune if that level if cycling. Financial reward can never be under valued and plays a huge part in a professional cyclists staying power. Taking risks when you have a family wouldn't happen for 100k a year no way today.
I know an ex US postal domestique. Never had a real job and bought a house in one of the best neighborhoods of an expensive city.
Highly the case with a lot of the Euro riders who do not have as many wide options outside of cycling. i.e. they weren't heading to be doctors or scientists. Hence they just see cycling as a way to earn a solid life of earnings as that's what they are gifted with, so they just go with it.
he called the podium almost perfectl!!
almost? nailed it!
Great interview, so well done. You asked some great questions and got Christian to really give some interesting perspective. I always liked him, being a fellow American and all. It's too bad that cycling is still generally hated by a lot of the U.S. Anyhow, my hats off to anyone that can start one tour, much less eleven.
Great interview.
Awesome discussion!
i wasn’t a major racer but did race a couple years 16 to 19 , and i had friends who kept racing into their 30s that and they always tell me we were way over training back then.
X helpful insights and info
Grazie
I raced as an amateur and a 3-day stage race was a death march for us even though it would be a walk in the park for a pro. . So given that pro cycling is the hardest sport there is and the TDF is the hardest event in pro cycling, it’s got to be much worse than a death march.
Nice work, great interview.
I have raced in the Race Across America, a 3200 mile non-stop time trial. But I have not raced in a grand tour or the grandest tour, the TDF. I would suspect when trained specifically for stage racing, I would not survive the TDF. Race Across America is a 20 hour a day race averaging about 400 miles a day, but I ride every minute at my pace, not someone else's. Training for RAAM was not all that different from road/stage racing; One sprint day, maximum efforts x10. One interval day, one mile at max effortsx10. One long steady distance day 75 mile at 75% effort. One rest day. One easy on the bike day, 30 miles. Only the weekend was different with a 24 hour ride on Saturday and a 100 mile ride on Sunday.
Great interview… I hope he put to bed those weekend warrior tales of “I could easily be a pro cyclist” or that “I could race the TdF” nonsense… yeah no… 😆🍻
Isn't the Giro thought of as tougher? It seems they put more mountains in than the tour which sticks to the same formula....
Giro and Vuelta usually are filled with out of shape or young riders. In the tour, there are only the best riders in every category and they are in their top form. Everything is faster.
Best interview - or best interview, ever?
Christian is the best, so great to listen to him talk about the tour
great interview!! Love Christian.
Is there a reason why the top teams can't have two or three team buses (properly modified for overnight sleeping, of course) for their riders to sleep on at night to guarantee good sleeping and recovery conditions? That seems to be an obvious solution to the hotel crap shoot that they currently take.
About to watch this while riding my smart trainer. Wondering if that's a good idea?
Wish it was like the old style too my pal:)I might even try it....:()
Shout out to Christian from a fellow Lemonter
I bet an Italian feels the same pressure in the Giro.
Stunning
I'd go out on a limb here and say it is pretty tough. Or so it looks from the couch...:):)
they eleminate use of helicopters
drone would be far less noisier.
Predicted the top3 :P Amazing
Is the Breakaway available for Android?
This guy was doped to the gills. The Tour was easy for him.
They are All doped.
This guy deserve to be in jail with his fellow lance
@@mortenmoicmoigladys1236 True. True criminals. Stole millions!!!
The Tour is never easy.....
@@domestique3954 thanks for that. You know what I mean.
You know how hard you have to work just to stay in the draft?
Are riders still heavily reliant on drugs to compete at this level ? I ask this as earnestly as possible because I realize the firestorm such inquiries can create. Also, I wonder which drugs are allowed, since he mentioned ailments like inflammation. Can teams provide anti inflammatory prescriptions like Toradol or analgesics that are classified as opiates? I understand that these drugs are commonly used in other professional sports for their superior therapeutic value but cycling always seems a bit of a mystery.
To compete at this level you have to be on drugs, it’s a shame but as someone who had a cycling group of youngsters you find this out, I was not prepared to give my young members steroids, and I was taking these young kids to events and the fourteen year olds in our club were being absolutely thrashed by eleven year olds in others, it was so demoralising for the lads and lasses that I had to give it up, some of them went to other clubs and got what they needed. So sad.
I think they are very clean these days with all the testing. Also your seeing younger riders going for GC. When you see one rider only race the TDF as lance did and win every year it was so obvious. Todays kids look at this much differently. I’m sure there is always someone trying to get ahead.
@@fcbarniessoccer8952 It’s in all sports, the unlucky ones get caught the lucky ones go on to win.
Love this dude....but did anybody else notice how fluidly Christian speaks here, despite struggling when on TV? His brain is clearly not aligned with his mouth on TV LOL!
How hard? I wont survive more than 1hr😅
I rode with Christian several years ago, the guy is a class act!
Its why they dope!
Vingo!
Don’t forget the EPO.
I love how he mentions that young riders today have so much more 'technology' at an earlier age. I think what he means is that the kids today have better drugs sooner, so that they enter the biological passport with an already doped baseline.
@@SurpriseMeJT what he means is training to power, training zones, recovery, diet. Before Team Sky revolutionised these things, French Teams used to eat steak and suffer the next day…
@@dominicbritt Sky didn't invent anything. All knowledge is built on previous knowledge. I'm sure Sky learned from Armstrong.
twice
Didn’t Christen get busted for doping ? Maybe interview someone who didn’t , if you can find one !
Your average citizen has no idea how difficult cycling is. These racers ride 120 miles in 4 hours on a flat stage. Then they do that for 21 days straight basically going up the biggest mountains in the world as well. Oh and they are wearing basically their underwear.
Probably easy at 140 lbs
first
Can never trust a person still involved in pro cycling after being corrupt himself. I love the fact most riders that have doped in the past still gain a platform to chat their bullshit opinions 😂