Ex pro Matt Decanio about his experience of doping

sward29

Found this online and thought others may enjoy (sic) it. Many will say that he is just a bitter ex pro who is looking for someone to blame for his inability to get a contract; but you have to admire the guy's courage for naming so many high profile riders with the possibility of litigation.

http://turbocycling.wordpress.com/2008/ ... a-love-it/

OffTheBackAdam

Well, he's certainly throwing mud far and wide. Is he accusing Lemond of doping?
Most of the people he names aren't known to me, since I don't take a lot of interest in US domestic racing.
Pity it's not written better, it reads like someone having a drunken flame on the internet late at night.

cswebbo

No, he is saying Greg Lemond is clean, and it is the others who are trying to silence him. This is because his brand of bikes are owned by the company that sells Trek.

Greg Lemond is probably the last clean winner of the TDF ?
Read his interview in last months PRO CYCLING.

jerry3571

Greg Lemond was a hero of mine since a teenager. I'd like to think that there were some clean Tour de France winners but I would need to put on my rose colour glasses to think that. Paul Kimmage, at that time, was writing his book "A Rough Ride". Charly Mottet gets a good write up in the book and he is now a big cheese in French Cycling, maybe why so many Fench riders don't win so much; Mottet's influence. They say that a sign of non steroid use is a rider who can compete for up to 2 weeks but fades in the 3rd due to fatigue. Steroids would enable a rider keep a rider on top for the duration of a 3 week Tour.
I wouldn't trust any high profile rider to not dope. Maybe a rider who gets dropped when the pace gets up or fatigues after a few days racing. The majority of clean riders would be the ones who aren't in the headlines and are never heard of.
Hmmm...
Cheers Jerry

girofan

The best article I have read in years on the doping monsters in cycling!
Matt knows, but probably have difficulty in proving his accusations, but that does not invalidate his comments. More power to his elbow. Pity one or two others who know what has transpired don't 'blow the gaff'.

Titanium

Strong words. Remember pro cycling is first marketing, second sport. It's safe to say hundreds of millions of dollars of extra profit have been derived from the widespread use of fairy tale images, legendary stories and supposed courage. Many sunglasses, bikes and sports apparel and more have been sold. Anyone threatening to destablise this has to realise the wealthy, organised and powerful opposition they are against.

dirk_van_gently

Does read like a bit of a P!$$ed up rant, but I suspect there is truth in there.
Doesn't matter what the sport, a successful campaigner needs an edge, that's why I believe there isn't a single Professional athlete who is 100% clean.
There is simply too much money in sport, for athletes not to "take a chance".

I know this is fiction, but the TV show "House" recently had a story about a Pro cyclist who was doping and as a result collapsed. It was interesting how cynical both the cyclist and his manager were in manipulating the truth, and justifying doping.

dulldave

I reckon Lemond was clean. I can't see why someone would risk their entire livelihood on hypocrisy. However I think many of his team weren't so he still benefited from it.

I think it was possible to compete with dopers in the 80s but with EPO and whatnot the margin between a doper and clean rider have created a situation where only dopers can win. This in turn increased the number of dopers.

It will be interesting to see if the TDF begins to slow down. If it doesn't then nothing is changing. Regardless of the number of positive tests.