Horner wins Vuelta

Oldest ever winner of a Grand Tour, amazing!

Thoughts?

Gutted that Nibali didn't win it. He put up a pretty good fight on the Angliru.

Also interesting that both the Giro and the Vuelta were much more exciting races to watch than the Tour this year.

Oh yes, and if a 41 year old can win a Grand Tour, that means I've still got 5 years to get in shape...

In the words of his fellow countryman ..."not normal"

His previous Grand tour results don't really jump out even though he has had recent reasonable success in shorter stage races and one day classics.

Hmmmmm another thing I kinda felt for a fellow team rider and fellow old git .... Jens didn't really seem that excited by his achievement ??

the germans are hardly known for the sense of humour dave. after watching the whole vuelta it dose not seem right.and with his past links to lance and bruyneel you have to wonder.the interviews with him made me cringe,a redneck who has done to many media training coarses..............and a power output of 6.83 w/kg that is of the scale makes merckx ,hinault and indurain look like 3rd cat riders

If you were going to cheat your way to a win, would you make it so blindingly obvious?

I understand the level of cynicism, but really, if you were going to do it, would you do it in such a big way? Especially given the current perception that every winner of every major and grand tour race is a cheat, until proven otherwise.

Given that train of thought you then have to jump on anyone who suddenly shows form; Nicolas Roache for instance, really? Unremarkable for years, and then all of a sudden, grand tour stage wins and wearing the red jersey, stands to reason, he MUST be on something. Alternatively, you could just think that the years he spent in French teams did not actually suit him and that his new team are starting to release his real potential (as Jens suggested).

I have to say though, it was a much more interesting race to watch than the TdF and was compulsory viewing every evening.

Like winning the TDF seven times in a row you mean?

Name me any top ten rider back then that was not up to something.

That was then, this is now and not only do we have proper testing regimes, we have much more comprehensive and sophisticated testing.

I accept it is probably still possible to take one of the new substances being identified as having performance benefits and not get caught for a while, but given the current climate, with the whole of the sporting world watching cycling, do you really think Horner would be so stupid to do that at the Vuelta?

What would he gain? If he got caught he would be stripped of everything, financially ruined and the sport he says he loves would disappear into obscurity unable to raise a penny of sponsorship.

TBH, he's been around and about the top end of the results as a rider for many years. Most of his "best" years (so far) were spent either on small teams in Europe, or in the US, so he's unlikely to feature in the major classics. Also, he hit the euro pro scene quite late (26/27) most riders are getting chewed out 4 or 5 years earlier.
And he's been injured/not racing most of this year, so is *relatively* fresh.

I'd say its on the similar footing as the recent Wiggo/Froome victories in the TDF, unusual enough to raise eyebrows and ask questions. But its not like he utterly smashed it and did an Armstrong (7 TDFs) or a Floyd (5+ minute time gap in 2006/st17).

We will see.

And those bars he looks like he's about to turn off the tarmac and find a dirt track to ride down.

As an oldie like him I say WELL DONE

easy fishing this morning