What Fuels Dutch Female Cyclists?

[Kenneth Litwak]

I can't help wondering how Dutch female cyclists can be so successful all the time. It's practically the case that if van Vleuten is in a race, everyone might as well go home because they can't possibly win. I don't see women from any other nation dominating race after race, year after year, the way the Dutch women do. I don't have exhaustive statistics to prove my point but it seems every time I watch a race that has Dutch women in it, I can guess who will win without much effort.

[Kenneth Litwak]

After seeing Anna van der Breggen's huge margin of victory at the World Championship road race, I thought of Lance Armstrong and also Chris Fromme's huge lead up a climb in the Giro a few years ago (his lawyer kept him being banned for drug use). Both of those guys used drugs that enhanced their performance. Van der Breggan may just be Wonder Woman but what she did would not happen in a men's race and it was a stunning victory.

Post by Kenneth Litwak
I can't help wondering how Dutch female cyclists can be so successful all the time. It's practically the case that if van Vleuten is in a race, everyone might as well go home because they can't possibly win. I don't see women from any other nation dominating race after race, year after year, the way the Dutch women do. I don't have exhaustive statistics to prove my point but it seems every time I watch a race that has Dutch women in it, I can guess who will win without much effort.

[Alan]

Post by Kenneth Litwak
After seeing Anna van der Breggen's huge margin of victory at the World
Championship road race, I thought of Lance Armstrong and also Chris
Fromme's huge lead up a climb in the Giro a few years ago (his lawyer
kept him being banned for drug use). Both of those guys used drugs that
enhanced their performance. Van der Breggan may just be Wonder Woman
but what she did would not happen in a men's race and it was a stunning
victory.

Total bollocks.
They dont need drugs, as they have got a quality training system in
place. Think of the SKY team 5-8 years ago, everyone was saying they must
all be doping, yet it has now been revealed some of the secrets their
Coaches knew, all about tapering for a race, and getting the training
right to peak for that forthcoming race. I read one this week, one rider
did a 4 hour training session on the bike, at a high level, after that he
had to do a 20km run. What other teams do / did that?
'Dont see it in mens races' - ever watched the tour, and a late breakaway?
It happens 4 or more times during every tour. It isnt that the leaders
are 50% better than the others, they make a small gain, increase it
slightly, then the chasing group start messing around with no focus on
catching the breakaway, so the lead gets insurmountable, hence they only
keep to their one pace, so the leaders stay away.

[Kenneth Litwak]

So, is it training alone that has led Vos and van der Breggen own Fleche Wallone since 2007? Training alone has Dutch women winning six of the last ten UCI word championships road race? If this is training only, then all the coaches of other women's trade teams and the national team coaches should all be fired. If it's only training, why don't other nations have such stunning results? I could be wrong but the results are pretty amazing. Van der Breggen has won' Fleche Wallone more times than either Valverde or Merckx. That's remarkable. Why don't other cyclists copy the same training program?

Post by Alan

Post by Kenneth Litwak
After seeing Anna van der Breggen's huge margin of victory at the World
Championship road race, I thought of Lance Armstrong and also Chris
Fromme's huge lead up a climb in the Giro a few years ago (his lawyer
kept him being banned for drug use). Both of those guys used drugs that
enhanced their performance. Van der Breggan may just be Wonder Woman
but what she did would not happen in a men's race and it was a stunning
victory.

Total bollocks.
They dont need drugs, as they have got a quality training system in
place. Think of the SKY team 5-8 years ago, everyone was saying they must
all be doping, yet it has now been revealed some of the secrets their
Coaches knew, all about tapering for a race, and getting the training
right to peak for that forthcoming race. I read one this week, one rider
did a 4 hour training session on the bike, at a high level, after that he
had to do a 20km run. What other teams do / did that?
'Dont see it in mens races' - ever watched the tour, and a late breakaway?
It happens 4 or more times during every tour. It isnt that the leaders
are 50% better than the others, they make a small gain, increase it
slightly, then the chasing group start messing around with no focus on
catching the breakaway, so the lead gets insurmountable, hence they only
keep to their one pace, so the leaders stay away.

[William Henderson]

Post by Kenneth Litwak
So, is it training alone that has led Vos and van der Breggen own
Fleche Wallone since 2007? Training alone has Dutch women winning six
of the last ten UCI word championships road race? If this is training
only, then all the coaches of other women's trade teams and the
national team coaches should all be fired. If it's only training, why
don't other nations have such stunning results? I could be wrong but
the results are pretty amazing. Van der Breggen has won' Fleche
Wallone more times than either Valverde or Merckx. That's
remarkable. Why don't other cyclists copy the same training program?

Lamenting Jeannie Longo