"Everything that was old is new again"..category..

[oldpotatoe]

Yikes..:eek:

https://www.velonews.com/2018/10/news/andrea-tafi-mulls-roubaix-return-at-52_480346

[Gummee]

It'll be a great publicity stunt for some team.

I don't think 'old guy power' is going to help him tho

M

[mtechnica]

Haha awesome

[jet sanchez]

Crazy. I was just working on my Superprodigy yesterday, switching out the stem. That would be cool, if he did it on a steel bike.

[witcombusa]

Has to ride the bike he won on in 1999 if he does this! :banana:

[FastforaSlowGuy]

Cue the doping jokes/jabs in 3...2...1...

[Black Dog]

cue the doping jokes/jabs in e...p...o...

fify ;)

[saab2000]

I hope a team takes him and I hope he rides and finishes.

[Hindmost]

There's a rumor that RockShox is going to reissue the Roubaix forks.

[John H.]

He should probably think about how lubed up he was back in the day- Add 20 years plus no dope= quickly dropped.

[MattTuck]

Don't they have a Roubaix sportif for the general public? If he wants to relive his glory days, that seems like the right forum.

On the other hand, maybe he could just be a grand marshall, or give the stone.

This isn't like the masters, where if you win, you get invited back until you can barely walk.

[Fixed]

I hope he has a good heart doctor
Race against others his own age would be better

[velotel]

I say more power to him, why the hell not if he can hold the pace of the peloton. Fantastic inspiration for riders moving up the age scale, if for nothing else just showing that life isn't over after 50, just slower, and then even slower. And if he doped back in the day, weren't many who didn't, outside of Andy and Greg and a few others obviously. Plenty of times when I'd love to see an EPO station part way up some climb, though to be honest I doubt I'd stop; I'm happy with herbs in a bowl and riding into the zone, slowly of course. But if he can get into the Robaix, I'll sure as hell cheer him on. Life today isn't what it was when my dad was ready to retire. And when my son is my age today, he'll be way faster than I am today. Just the way it is.

[El Chaba]

Can this thread be merged with the "Masters Doping" thread?

[Kirk007]

Having ridden with both Andy Hampsten and Alberto Elli this summer I wouldn't bet against someone like Tafi being able to hang in the pack if he put his mind to it.

[pdmtong]

“I don’t want this to be a circus,” he said.

Right.....

[Dino Suegiù]

I hope a team takes him and I hope he rides and finishes.
Same.

At least that way he would also ride against all the negativity and beat it. I would wish him the best. Most people cannot even hope for such a 20th-year-anniversary (cycling one) at age 50+, but he really could possibly do this (finish the real race). Chapeau to him if he does try it.

[FlashUNC]

It's Andrea Tafi. Of course he wants to make it a circus.

Just go ride the Fondo with the rest of the punters.

[OperaLover]

Did I read somewhere thatLandis was going to try a comeback?

[Fivethumbs]

Where's Rock Racing when you need them? I thought they were "Here to stay."

A few years ago Alexi Grewal tried a comeback at age 50. That did not go so well. But I don't know if he was riding 18,000 km per year.

[marciero]

Cue the doping jokes/jabs in 3...2...1...

52... is that his age or his... never mind too easy

[marciero]

Despite my above comment there does exist some nostalgia or fondness or something from the glory days of Mapei-which coincided with my introduction into the sport-that has survived all the doping cynicism. So I have to smile. Agree he should totally ride a C-40.

[GonaSovereign]

The Mapei team all tested at the Mapei sports center (http://www.mapeisport.it/en/scientific-activities/). Tafi knows (or can find out) how many watts per kg he was putting out then, and whether he can do 80% of that now.

[Dekonick]

50 is the new 30

[Pearsom]

"Let me dream. Let me taste this impossible mission.” I like it. It's romantic. We all should have something big we are chasing to keep us going.

[pbarry]

Paging Chris Horner..

[everbeek]

The Mapei team all tested at the Mapei sports center (http://www.mapeisport.it/en/scientific-activities/). Tafi knows (or can find out) how many watts per kg he was putting out then, and whether he can do 80% of that now.

Perhaps Cycle Sport or Pro Cycling from 20ish years ago - 465 watts at threshold. The journalist wrote that watching him ride back and forth in the Arenberg Forest preceding the race was "like me riding up and down my driveway".