Saw this article on the Guardian's sport pages. Thought it worth passing on. Makes for interesting reading especially when you consider that both of these riders haven't had any specialised training or equipment and yet still posted hugely impressive times on ascending Alpe D'Huez. What with Ethiopians and Kenyans monopolizing the track endurance events, it doesn't seem like such a leap of thought to think they could do well in the tour, though I bow to the training knowledge of hippy, dogs, fatboyralph, et al in terms of power outputs, vmax???, and training submaximally????

anyway it was interesting reading so I thought I'd share...

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog...rance.cycling1

I've read it too and it was very interesting. I see no physiological reason as to why any rider from Africa can't do well in the Tour providing they can get a contract with a professional team. If you consider how Colombian riders have done since the mid-eighties then it's definitely possible to come from a poorer country, although the Colombians have had to overcome prejudice on the way. Mainly due to their bike handling skills, or lack thereof, in a large bunch. Which may be an issue for riders from Kenya or Ethiopia too.

Have you ever read about the bike racing scene in Eritrea? I read an article on it online and there is a very active scene there.

I think a black rider will win the tour , but he's more likely to be born in europe as the tradition and training is already in place.

when/if the african nations begin to get into cycling, then yes, why not a kenyan?

many african runners seem to be born naturals, centuries of distance running are in their genes, with cycling muscles I guess it's different. Is anyone really a born cyclist?

No, but a lot are born with the genes to become one.

I agree, RPM. I can see no reason why an african wouldn't win the tour de france. If they make natural born runners, then they will make natural born road cyclists. Kenyans, in particular, would make exceptional riders.
All that is needed is money.

definitely - just like there are born runners and born footballers and born cricketers...some people have a natural aptitude and talent for certain things.

if you're born with a light frame and the cardiovascular system of an ox, it helps, surely?

Yes, it's down to the lingering Italian influence. Abyssinia as it then was, was part of Mussolini's pathetic attempts to create a new Roman Empire.
The Ethiopians rose up and drove them out...

apparently lance Armstrong has a huge lung capacity, abnormally so.

indeed.

and it was said that Lara, at his peak, had 25 percent better eyesight than the normal 20/20

you gotta be a freak to win

Big Mig too..
(Newbies/bankers: Google 'Indurain').

I heard that, too.

I agree. An awful lot of Africans with French passports end up playing football in the European leagues due to their French/whatever dual citizenship, and I vagely remember a Kenyan (probably wrong though) running for Denmark! So it could happen with the cycling too. Love him or hate him, Armstrong has made cycling a truely global sport.

If Obama rode bikes, he'd win that shit.

Ba-track loves that shit!

Apparently Indurians' lungs were so large they poked out through his back when he was standing upright!

didn't he have like an abnormally slow resting heart rate, like 30bpm or something stupid, which would have killed a normal person
just culled this from wikipedia
At the top of his career, Miguel Indurain had a physique that was not only superior when compared to average people, but also when compared to his fellow athletes. His blood circulation had the ability to circulate 7 litres of oxygen around his body per minute, compared to the average amount of 3-4 litres of an ordinary person and the 5-6 litres of his fellow riders. Also, Indurain's lung capacity was 8 litres, compared to an average of 6 litres. In addition, Indurain's resting pulse was as low as 28 BPM, compared to a normal human's 60-80 bpm , which meant his heart would be less strained in the tough mountain stages. His VO2 max was 88 ml/kg/min; in comparison, Lance Armstrong's was 82 ml/kg/min and Greg Lemond's was 92.5 ml/kg/min.



also as a side note wondered whether genetically he had any north african ancestors, this might also play into his freakish athletic ability

or was this Gower? perhaps both.


oh, is this a cycling forum?

Didn't I spot a black guy in the ToB riding for rock racing?

In my memory there have been very few black pros, Nelson Vails olympic track medallist swithced to the US pro crit and road circuit, London's own Maurice Burton and Russell Williams, and also in the UK Mark McKay and currently David Clarke.

Certainly in Rollapaluza's foray into schools we find some unbelievably talented young people from all backgrounds, male and female, what makes those guys choose cycling or another sport or no sport at all is probably cultural / environmental.....

There are loads of kids round my way who are hugely talented bike handlers on their shitty mountain bikes, interest in owning and riding bikes is high...but are they interested in following that through and entering a predominantly white, middle class (because of the expense involved) sport?

don't say that cycling is middle class around RPM..he'll have an embolism.

it is now. come out to the MOD circuit in cherstey tomorrow. all BMW's, audi's, VW's. no escorts in site!!

we all know the working class history of cycling as a sport, my experience as a child was never having a new bike, my race bike made entirely of second-hand parts and even bits from the dump and I only got the bikes because of the effort my dad made coz he was into cycling.....then having to race against kids on Colnagos.....it is exclusive purely because of the cost involved.

does no-one ride there?

not really, same as hillingdon. pretty shocked, most people rockup in cars! but MOD is way worse.

I get the feeling that the journalist came on here, read a previous post, did some background, and took all the credit.
new in '82 started something like this, and it was pretty good too.

Apart from in your kit bag and under your bed...

US is worse...

Isn't the point of this whole thread that cycling is still not a truly global sport?

Can cycling be truly global when there are no fishes riding for professional teams?

Actually they poked out the front, or rather they gave him a pot belly which was especially evident when he was on his TT bike.
And does anyone really believe that Indurain was racing clean? That in the early nineties a tall, heavy Spanish rider was able to climb as well as anyone in the Tour without using EPO?

not to mention black fishes

what exactly is the scale of this problem BMMF?

What about Pascal Poisson, winner of the Grand Prix de Wallonie in 1987?