Riis admits doping
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One imagined he would. I wonder how much though. I do hope he's not saying that he tried it once or twice.0
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COPENHAGEN, May 25 (Reuters) - Former Tour de France champion Bjarne Riis of Denmark admitted on Friday to having used performance-enhancing drugs during his career as a cyclist.
"I have taken doping, I have taken EPO," the 1996 Tour winner told a news conference. "I purchased it myself and I took it myself. It was a part of every day life as a rider."0 -
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That's a very full admission. I'm glad he's made it.0
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<font face="Tahoma"></font id="Tahoma">Team CSC Press Release, issued today at 4.19pm.
Concerning the current debate in Germany, Bjarne Riis would like to give the following statement:
After the long run of confessions concerning the Telekom team in the 1990s, I have decided to give a statement about my involvement.
I have decided this for two reasons.
First of all, I'm doing this to keep the focus on the work we are doing today that keeps cycling in the right perspective. The massive steps we have taken to fight doping and the ways in which we have secured that the team rests on the right and proper foundations.
I think if we are to talk about doping, we should talk about what to do now and not about the mistakes in the past. The recent developments in Germany have taken the balance out of this and therefore I want to set the record straight. And I want to do this, because the future of cycling needs the right focus.
Second of all, I'm doing this to get rid of the endless discussions about things that are truly in the past and that I personally have put behind a long time ago. I don't want my personal past to overshadow that work and brilliant effort that Team CSC is doing today. We are the number one team in the world for the second year running and I want my riders and sponsors to be proud of that. They work, within the rules, with passion, professionalism and commitment and I want them to keep on doing that. When I was a rider in the 1990s, I worked extremely hard to get my results. I worked extremely hard, day in day out and I sacrificed a lot just even to be part of the best. In that time, the perspective on doping and preparation was wrong and misguided.
That also means that I did things that I shouldn't have and I have regretted that ever since. Those were mistakes that I take the full responsibility for and I don't have anyone to blame but myself. We all make mistakes and I think my biggest mistake was to let my ambition get the better of me. That I have had to deal with a long time ago and I am glad to say that I am a lot wiser now. Both in my personal and in my professional life.
I don't want the mistakes of my personal past to stand in the way of the work we are doing today. I did what it took to compete at the highest level back then, and it's a deep satisfaction for me that those days are long gone and the sport has moved in the right direction. If that wasn't the case, I wouldn't be here today.
I have learned from my past - for better and for worse. The experience and wisdom I have gained informed my decision to come back to cycling and has energized me to create the best team in the world.
If I had a baby elephant, I'd ask Banksy to paint it....<hr noshade size="1">If I had a baby elephant, I\'d ask Banksy to paint it....0 -
I'm just surprised he'd ask Banksy to paint his elephant0
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Just been watching the Danish TV press conference. He admitted taking EPO from 1993-1998 but in response to a question afterwards can no longer remember how much.
He says his TdF jersey is in a plastic bag and now means nothing to him [as it was so long gao].
Danish press taking it very seriously - he's a massive star in Demark not unsurprisingly and the Swedish commentators on Eurosport are positivley squirming over the fact there were 2 Swedish with riis team in et 90's - Mikael Andersson & ??.
Sad for cyclings profile at the moment but probably best in the long run. If only other muscle /endurance sports could be so open.
pousse moi s'il vous plaitpousse moi s\'il vous plait0 -
I don't buy this BS statement.
The old days were bad, but now we're much better. Then wtf is Puerto? Doping practices are just more sophisticated now. That's all.
TdG0 -
Well, what a surprise! How else does anyone imagine he WON?
Clown on Giro Eurosport commentary says "I won't be speaking to him again!" Naive or just petty?
d.j.
"Like a true nature's child,
We were born,
Born to drink mild"0 -
If you get caught in the present, "I didn't do it, I'm innocent". If it happened in the past, "I made mistakes, but they are in the past and should be forgotten. We should focus on the present".0
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You can hear the disdain dripping from David Harmon's voice.
Personally, I'm surprised he's come clean. I thought he'd be a denier until the end.0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by davej</i>
Clown on Giro Eurosport commentary says "I won't be speaking to him again!" Naive or just petty?
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Or honest. If the yellow jersey means nothing, why was he a cyclist in the first place? For the money?0 -
It's a complicated situation. I am naive enough to believe him when he says he wants to do things differently now, and to believe him when he says he regrets what he did in the past. His portrayal in Overcoming is consistent with this. I guess we will only see by what happens from now on - as the quote from "Faust" which opens the Overcoming film says "It's only actions that make a man"...Le Blaireau (1)0
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It is obviously confessions season - a good time for anyone else who has a doping history and is still involved in the sport to get it out in the open.
I think that Riis is jumping on the bandwagon in the hope that his participation is swept along in a general 'regretfest'. He was a dodgy customer as a rider and today seems to have been an opportunist confirming what pretty much everyone (except Dave Harman it seems) has known for years.0 -
All this "Sorry I doped in the past and now I'm clean" doesn't wash. it is an admission that for years he has been lying through his teeth and milking his previous status.
Rijs should now be sacked, have his previous wins nullified, and banned from acting in any capacity within the sport.
CSC is now yet another tainted team - they have either been duped or went along with Rijs's lies and hypocrisy.
[:(!]0 -
Makes you wonder if there are any pro cyclists who actually haven`t tried some sort of doping. Will the innocent ones among them please step forward and let us know.
It`s a state of mind.0 -
"For the money?"
Probably! Why do YOU go to work?
d.j.
"Like a true nature's child,
We were born,
Born to drink mild"0 -
He's denied that he's "Mr 64%" and that his confession is not related at all to what's going on in Germany. Yeah, it was just a complete coincidence that he's confessing while everybody else does the same. [:o)]
tea is good0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by davej</i>
"For the money?"
Probably! Why do YOU go to work?
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Yes but Riis says he doesn't care if they take his jersey. He doesn't seem to be offering to give back the prize money he got thanks to his cheating.0 -
The user and all related content has been deleted.0
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I see there is the usual hysteria. I'm surprised that I'm not surprised.
If he'd continued to keep his own counsel he'd have been condemned. He admits, in a full and frank way unlike many others, that he doped and he's condemned.
I'm glad he's confessed. I hope we can trust in the CSC monitoring system and I hope he educates his riders on why they shouldn't dope.0 -
I am glad Riis has confessed fully and I hope he gets the chance to keep CSC riders developing as clean sportsmen. I don't think there's much chance he can have the 1996 TDF win taken off him, as we demonstrated with the thread where we struck off suspect riders. Riis has set an example, hopefully others will follow.
________Our behaviour is a function of our experience.0 -
In the spirit of confessions (and to lighten the tone a bit), I'd like to confess that before a surrey league event in about 2002 I took cafeine. I cant remember how much, or whether it had any affect at all, but I did take some and I may or may not have got a result on it, but I dont care as I've spent the prize money for that year already (came to about œ110 I seem to remember!)0
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"Probably! Why do YOU go to work?" - Yes for the money but it's also something I believe in and enjoy, and while there are many things that I may believe should be done differently (I work for the NHS) I don't go around breaking the law.
Let's see some real committment by "cycling" and at least strip any self-confered doped of any titles which may have been won outside the rules.
p.Never order anti-pasta to arrive at the same time as pasta.0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Positron</i>
"Probably! Why do YOU go to work?" - Yes for the money but it's also something I believe in and enjoy, and while there are many things that I may believe should be done differently (I work for the NHS) I don't go around breaking the law.
Let's see some real committment by "cycling" and at least strip any self-confered doped of any titles which may have been won outside the rules.
p.
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But who would you give Riis' 1996 TDF win too? Go down the list of riders in the top 20, it would be a struggle to find one you could trust to be handed the 1996 win
________Our behaviour is a function of our experience.0 -
<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by fpdave</i>
In the spirit of confessions (and to lighten the tone a bit), I'd like to confess that before a surrey league event in about 2002 I took cafeine. I cant remember how much, or whether it had any affect at all, but I did take some and I may or may not have got a result on it, but I dont care as I've spent the prize money for that year already (came to about œ110 I seem to remember!)
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Me too fpdave before a Star Trophy event.[:I]
Bet we don't get in the news though now we've confessed[:D]0 -
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But who would you give Riis' 1996 TDF win too? Go down the list of riders in the top 20, it would be a struggle to find one you could trust to be handed the 1996 win
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Not top 20 but ..... <b>Chris Boardman </b>[:)]!0 -
Hi Chris ,how's tricks?0
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<font face="Tahoma"></font id="Tahoma">All this talk of a British winner of the Tour in the next 25 years and we could now have one in the past 11 years! That goes to show how well they're working up in Manchester. [:D]
PS. I'm glad Riis has admitted his guilt, lets hope that more do the same.
<hr noshade size="1">If I had a baby elephant, I'd ask Banksy to paint it....<hr noshade size="1">If I had a baby elephant, I\'d ask Banksy to paint it....0
