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How long before this winner is linked with performance drugs? Took a few years with Armstrong and a lot less with Contador so how long with Evans?

Voeckler over performed so maybe hes a candidate too.

Enjoyed the whole tour as a spectacle myself but its a lot like watching athletics,you always wonder who are the cheats.

 

Was thinking the same especially considering Cadel's age. Some might get suspicious, how could you not with the recent history or performance enhancing drugs in cycling.

It's not like he came out of no where though, he's been around the top few for a few years. He doesn't seem like the type either, but that hasn't stopped others before I suppose.

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You mean like a BMC soigneur being found with 195 doses of EPO a week before the tour started as was alleged in the Belgium press?

 

On the flipside, its interesting to compare the climbers times today with those from the height of the EPO era in the mid and late 90's and early 00's. Pierre Rolland did the Alpe D'Huez in 42:01 after a very short mountain stage, Pantani. Armstrong, Ulrich and Landis all clocked in around 38 mins and the pattern is similar for the other climbs.

If they are still on the gear then its clearly not as good as the old stuff.

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Its true that the levels detected would not provide any benefit, but its indicative of a doping and transfusion regime. The contaminated meat defense is no more likely or unlikely than a scenario where the blood was taken early in the year, tested and found to be clean by the Astana labs but in fact contained small traces. When it was re-introduced and tested at a lab with more sophisticated equipment those traces were detected.

So Bertie benefits from increases in his training performance and increses in haematacrit levels from the fresh blood during the race although still well below the threshold.

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Bertie is banned for 2 years. Backdated to the intial test in 2012 so Schleck wins the 2010 tour and Scarponi takes the 2011 Giro. He will be back for the Vuelta and Giro de Lombardia at the end of the year.

 

Its good news for Wiggins, with over 100k of time trials in this years TdF if he can replicate his climbing from the Dauphine and the Vuelta last year he is in with a chance.

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If you dont like cycling then fair enough, but there are lots of sports which are far worse for drug taking and have nothing like the anti-drug measures. Cycling is the only sport to have a blood passport and has the most out ot competition testing of any sport.

 

Try the NFL, or MLB for sports with real drug problems. 4 game ban in the NFL and 15 days in baseball, not exactly career ending sanctions. As for your comment about irrelevant sports, there is only one country in the world that plays them.

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If you dont like cycling then fair enough, but there are lots of sports which are far worse for drug taking and have nothing like the anti-drug measures. Cycling is the only sport to have a blood passport and has the most out ot competition testing of any sport.

 

Try the NFL, or MLB for sports with real drug problems. 4 game ban in the NFL and 15 days in baseball, not exactly career ending sanctions. As for your comment about irrelevant sports, there is only one country in the world that plays them.

 

L19, you wouldnt have to go that far from left field to find serial dopers.

 

the italian footballers where doping for years, Chelsea where blood spinning as well by all accounts.

 

Operation Puerto alone had over 200 blood bags from different athletes in different sports, only 90 where known to be cyclists, who owned the other 100+ bags? Wasnt Rafa Nadal rumoured to have been one of the accused

i can only make a guess that some where footballers. And lets be honest, football is so big and powerful they simply could not let information get out.

 

id say a shit load of footballers are being juiced up without having any clue either.

 

their obvuiously not on EPO or getting transfusions as theyre more of an endurance aide. But i wouldnt be surprised if footballers where using HGH and the likes.

 

people can say what they want about cycling and its doping. But the fact of the matter is they test for it 100 times more than any other sport on the planet.

 

sure its annoying that they dope, but i truly believe there's more clean riders in the peloton now than dirty ones.

 

i think both Schlecks are doping though. Frank was already basically done. And the way Andy isnt celebrating his now 2010 victory is annoying.

 

i know if i came second to a doper and was given the win 2 years later i would be delighted. fair enough your moment of glory of standing on the champs elssye was taken from you, but deep down you'd know you where the true winner.

 

i remember during the 2010 Vuelta that guy that came second, ezequil mosquera was done for doping. obviously Joachim Rodriguez was bumped up to second and he was asked by jounralists was he happy with how he gained his second and simply replied. "yes, i know i was clean, so i deserved that 2nd place, he didnt!!"

 

thats what Andy Schleck should be saying imo

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First time I've ever come across that claim. Have you got something to back it up?

 

ah come on Captain, you know what i mean.

 

i was reading an interview with James De Gale about a year ago, and he was talking about the differences between being an amateur boxer and a pro. he said the biggest difference for him was the lack of drug testing. When he was boxing for Team GB he was being randomly tested every other week. at the time of the article he was a pro for 2 years and had never been tested once!!!

 

pro cyclists are tested pretty much every week. after races or stages. then there's the random blood tests in the middle of the night. There's no other professional sport that does that.

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Well there is an element of hyperbole but take an rider like Cavendish who won or finished on the podium 7 times in last years TdF. He will have been tested on each of those occasions. He claimed he had 60 tests last year and it was headline news when he missed an out of competition test even though he had been tested the week before.

 

Mark Cavendish admits missing out-of-competition drugs test last year | Sport | The Guardian

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It's disappointing.

 

Few things more compelling in sport than when they hit the mountains, and the pelleton starts to drop away.

 

And it would be just as compelling if none of them doped.

 

But they've always doped, and I'm sure they always will. Maybe they should take away all the money Contador made during the past 18 months? And fine him an equal amount if he wants to come back? I don't know.

 

I guess it's a question of whether or not the drama out-weighs the disappointment.

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It's disappointing.

 

Few things more compelling in sport than when they hit the mountains, and the pelleton starts to drop away.

 

And it would be just as compelling if none of them doped.

 

But they've always doped, and I'm sure they always will. Maybe they should take away all the money Contador made during the past 18 months? And fine him an equal amount if he wants to come back? I don't know.

 

I guess it's a question of whether or not the drama out-weighs the disappointment.

 

CAS have still to rule on a proposed 2.5 Million Euro Fine for Contador.

Contador: CAS To Rule On 2.4 Million Euro Fine Later | Cyclingnews.com

 

I feel sorry for the guy. He was tested clean a few days before the positive test. The trace of Clenbuterol is so miniscule that it could not possibly provide any performance improvement. CAS threw out the WADA/UCI suggestion that he had a blood transfusion because when blood has been stored there are markers which indicate the material used to store it and these were not present. CAS also said the most probable cause is a contaminated food or supplement but because that can't be proved they upheld the WADA appeal. They as much as said that they think he did not deliberatly dope, but because there is a tiny trace of the drug in his body he's screwed.

 

He'll be back in September and he'll romp the Vuelta.

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