Zabel stripped of Green Jersey

timoid.
timoid. Posts: 3,133
edited July 2007 in Pro race
Eric Zabel has been stripped of his 1996 Green Jersey today, which leaves only the Polka Dot Jersey as "unstripped".

We'll I'm glad the winner of the KOM in 1996 was French ahem, rode clean...
It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.

Comments

  • Bronzie
    Bronzie Posts: 4,927
    Who won KOM in '96 - it wasn't the blubbering Frenchman was it - please tell me it wasn't!!
    It's a Lifestyle! -+-+- Coggan Training Levels
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Bronzie wrote:
    Who won KOM in '96 - it wasn't the blubbering Frenchman was it - please tell me it wasn't!!


    http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2007/to ... ry#jerseys


    Go figure
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,549
    Bronzie - read it and weep;

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/King_of_the_Mountains

    Now I've known for some time that the French can be chauvinistic but frankly this is getting ridiculous. Where does it end? Will they be exhuming Anquetil and asking him to return his yellow jersies?
  • bigdawg
    bigdawg Posts: 672
    how on earth can they expect to be taken seriously...???
    dont knock on death\'s door.....

    Ring the bell and leg it...that really pi**es him off....
  • Mr Bumble
    Mr Bumble Posts: 572
    :shock: Absolutely ridiculous....

    what a bunch of Pillocks- makes you wonder if David Irvine is on the ASO board :evil:

    So when is the badger going to hand over his used yellow laundry....

    I think this might encourage Zabel to fight for green with all he has got...
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    I'm looking for an email address for ASO other than press relations, which is all I can find. I HAVE to let them know how ridiculous this all is. I'll write to them in French, that'll throw them off a bit.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    I think the key difference is that both Zabel and Riis have admitted doping for / at the Tour. Tricky Dicky didn't make any such direct statement.
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,253
    In case anyone is wondering, the Green will now pass to Frederic Moncassin. So the French have now found the formula for success - disqualify anyone who beats them.
    Twitter: @RichN95
  • Dick-Head
    Dick-Head Posts: 1
    There is only one word to describe the French –Pathetic!
  • caracolito
    caracolito Posts: 55
    Richard Viranque

    KOM 1? 2? 3? 7 time?

    Lets recap which teams he was member and when... Lets recap when he did well and when his Mousley was not as powerful.

    Hm.... Well sure he's clean.

    It's enough to know by looking at his last name...


    A'z
    Going uphill fast, is easy; all you need are legs and lungs. Going downhill fast is hard... you need... balls.
  • ricadus
    ricadus Posts: 2,379
    Start an online petition to have Virenque stripped of the polkadot mailot?
    Tour de France
  • Ste_S
    Ste_S Posts: 1,173
    What did he admit to when he confessed to doping ? Wiki doesn't really go into detail on his confession.

    On a side note it appears he won the French version of I'm a celebrity... :shock:
  • petegettins
    petegettins Posts: 5
    I disagree with everyone who has said it's wrong for him to be stripped of his jersey. He cheated, he admitted it, he has no right to retain the title. I don't care how long ago it was. Likewise Riis should be stripped of his aswell. No surprises he's not there this year. Virenque did not admit he cheated in the Tour itself, though we all know he was doped up to the eyeballs. Until he does, there's nothing anyone can do.
  • Ste_S
    Ste_S Posts: 1,173
    petegettins wrote:
    I disagree with everyone who has said it's wrong for him to be stripped of his jersey. He cheated, he admitted it, he has no right to retain the title. I don't care how long ago it was. Likewise Riis should be stripped of his aswell. No surprises he's not there this year. Virenque did not admit he cheated in the Tour itself, though we all know he was doped up to the eyeballs. Until he does, there's nothing anyone can do.

    Stripping people of jerseys is pointless. Where do you stop ? Anquetil and Coppi both admitted to doping, do you strip them of their jerseys posthumously ?
  • bigdawg
    bigdawg Posts: 672
    its not so much the fact he's been stripped of green its the fact that RV is keeping his...

    WIlly Voet was very detailed in what RV had been involved prior to 98.
    dont knock on death\'s door.....

    Ring the bell and leg it...that really pi**es him off....
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    bigdawg wrote:
    its not so much the fact he's been stripped of green its the fact that RV is keeping his...

    WIlly Voet was very detailed in what RV had been involved prior to 98.


    Using that logic we'll have to strip Freddy Maertens and Sean Kelly of a lot of their titles too. Plus numerous others.

    Cheating is only cheating if you get caught and after a certain time its tick tacks no backs. If the governing body at the time had no interest in clamping down on cheats (and ASO clearly didn't), then you should keep what you got, sullied or not.

    Zabel should keep his green jersey and Riis his yellow. Stripping people of past glories is meaningless and useless. ASO/UCI need to be realistic and face up to the current problem and deal with it in an effective way.
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    I can't see the point in taking Green off Zabel. It's so long ago and it seems like everyone did the same..
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NKBacb2V ... ata_player
  • Mr Bumble
    Mr Bumble Posts: 572
    The only thing it will result in is zabel posting it to aso on the rest day to be given it back after the tour finishes on the champs elysees!!
  • knedlicky
    knedlicky Posts: 3,097
    Has Zabel been stripped of the jersey? I thought it was only that Zabel said he would accept the 1996 Green Jersey being 'taken' from him as a result of his admission.

    Like others here, I think it pretty stupid to deny titles from those who admit doping, especially when it seems many others were doing it at the time, and in the decades before.

    Zabel has suggested that anyone who comes clean by a certain date should receive an amnesty. Obviously that would be to his benefit but I'm not sure many others would admit their victories may have been due to doping. But still worth a try?
  • SeamusD
    SeamusD Posts: 30
    I think it's very sad looking back over the history of such a great race that it's hard to dismiss the thought from your mind that a significant number (most?) of the former riders and champions of all the jerseys were cheating. Taking a jersey from one rider who has confessed to doping and giving it to the second placed rider who was facing the same pressures, temptations and opportunities at the time does nothing to restore the credibility of the results or the race.

    I am very firmly in the anti doping camp and I think the organisers are in a difficult position. I appreciate their efforts and what they are trying to do and personally feel that the war on drugs may be turning a corner. Let's just hope that 2007 produces a clean winner with a record that never becomes tarnished by subsequent revelations.

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