Widespread doping at LA-MSS

afx237vi

Wow, talk about a bad week. First one of their riders dies after a crash then they get raided by the Portuguese police:

http://www.velonews.com/article/76506/p ... guese-team

Current riders include Zaballa and Vicioso :roll:

aurelio_-_banned

So much for the claims of that McQuaid clown that the days of organized doping in cycling are over, and that doping violations today is an individual matter for some riders...

http://www.thepulse2007.org/?p=73

LangerDan

afx237vi wrote:

Wow, talk about a bad week. First one of their riders dies after a crash then they get raided by the Portuguese police:

http://www.velonews.com/article/76506/p ... guese-team

Current riders include Zaballa and Vicioso :roll:

According to cyclingnews this morning, police are investigating Neves death as a heart attack while on the bike - ti would appear theres more to it than first thought.

blazing_saddles

Wow! All the foreign riders named in OP have been suspended.
No Spainish rider was suspended. Vicioso's name kept coming up again and again.
Do the Portugese have carpets? Just wondering where they are going to sweep this particular pile of dirt, under. :roll:

Just goes to show, all these lttle teams are systemmatically doping and getting caught.
Moral of the story? If you were named in OP, and want to continue in the "system", join a rich, big team, with it's own dope monitoring programme. That way, you will never fail another test. :roll:

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Wow! All the foreign riders named in OP have been suspended.

Tyler Hamilton and Botero would beg to differ.

micron

The fact of the matter is that the UCI will continue to pursue the smaller teams to give the illusion that their 'fight against doping' is credible, whilst continuing to protect the biggest teams with their 'anti doping programmes' and substantial financial contributions to the UCI coffers.

jimmythecuckoo

A tragic tale of doping with the added sadness of a riders death involved too.

micron

But whilst the UCI protects the big teams and continues to let them get away with doping, the pressure will remain on the smaller teams to be competitive by whatever means necessary and, without the enormous doping budgets of the bigger teams and the safeguards of an 'internal doping control system' more riders will die.

GroupOfOne MkII

LA-MSS are/used to be Maia Milaneza who a few years ago were won of the better 'smaller' Iberian teams. Used to get invites to the Vuelta etc. Didn't Claus Moller win a mountain stage for them one year?

Anyway, reason I bring this up, to add to their current ex-OP riders they employed Txema del Olmo (failed a test for testosterone I think, at Euskatel) and Francisco Perez (yes the one who is riding the Giro, failed an EPO test during 2003 Tour of Romandie after winning 2 stages).

beatsystem

I find it so sad that the sport i loved since a young man is continually involved with doping.When will these people learn,how can one promote cycling and its stars when half of them seem to be junkies,it makes me SICK.

andy_wrx

Unfortunatley the sport you loved as a young man was also full of doping back then...

beatsystem

it may have been but riders thought they could get away with it and probably did,but now they are getting caught every week but they still have not got the message. Surely these people now know they WILL get caught.

iainf72

beatsystem wrote:

it may have been but riders thought they could get away with it and probably did,but now they are getting caught every week but they still have not got the message. Surely these people now know they WILL get caught.

Will they? I'd say there is very very good chance of not being caught. How many positives have we had this year?

One? Two maybe?

skavanagh.bikeradar

The thing is, if you know what you are doing and are able to afford the right advice you can pass tests all the time and still be doping. Hence the response to the 'did you dope?' question often sounding like this: 'I've been tested a gazillion times even at 3am on the day my mother died, and I've never failed a test. I am totally calm'.

Clearly this isn't the same as saying "I have never cheated a fellow professional, an organiser, a sponsor, a fan or a media organisation during my cycling career. Ever. And to prove it please take blood from me at the end of every stage of the Giro/Tour/Vuelta and at the start of every stage. Also I'll make my HT readings available to all media who want it daily, share a room with a WADA antidoping specialist and involve myself with anti doping work in a University lab of the WADA's choosing. Oh and by the way here's some DNA, just in case you want to compare it to anything you have found or will find that might link me to suspected blood doping activity. Further I condemn all cheating and have made a dossier of what I know available to WADA and the UCI as well as my national federation so that the fight against doping may be successful". See the differences there?

robmanic1

iain's right, it's so deeply ingrained within the sport, perhaps it's time just to accept the fact or stop following it.
It has, sadly, become a freakshow and everyone's under suspicion. I plan to carry on watching it, I will no longer talk to people at work about my sport however, because it's become somewhat of an embarrassment. Sad days

Cumulonimbus

On the subject of whether doping is going on or not i will be intrigued to see the winner's time up Alpe d'Huez this year. Although sports science and better bikes should mean that times are getting a bit faster i find it hard to believe that some recent years' times are achievable legally. The page below shows some ascent times

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpe_d'Huez

Although the previous days, the individual stages and the variation in pace on the ascent all mean that times will differ, i find the apparent step change around 1990 to be very suspicious. I have seen elsewhere Fignon's time in 1989 as being 41:50 which makes Lemond and Hinault's time seem suspect. The record is still held by the Pantani 1997 ascent which was the year before the Festina bust. This stage was relatively flat before it reached the Alpe so maybe that is a reason why it is was that bit faster.

2006's times dont offer that much consolation. Schleck's ascent was relatively slow but then again he had been in a breakaway (though i think Cunego did a lot of pace-setting). The times of Landis and Kloden are substantially below the times of 20 years ago. Be interesting to see what the fastest time is this year.

blazing_saddles

iainf72 wrote:

Blazing Saddles wrote:

Wow! All the foreign riders named in OP have been suspended.

Tyler Hamilton and Botero would beg to differ.

There you go, nit picking again. Hamilton was already under suspension and to use your old argument, Botero retired.
Unlike Mancebo, however, he spent 18 months off the bike and is now stuck in the same pugatory as TH, OS and FL at Rocky Racing.

On the subject of Hamilton, there's obviously another federation, besides the Spanish, slow on the up-take. I wonder why?

iainf72

Blazing Saddles wrote:

On the subject of Hamilton, there's obviously another federation, besides the Spanish, slow on the up-take. I wonder why?

I'd suspect it's because it's practically impossible to go after this without cooperation of the Spanish legal system.

There is also a question around whether or not you could nail TH for something which predates a time he's already done a ban for.

beatsystem

sad days indeed

drenkrom

Even though many here would love to read it as such, this has nothing to do with the UCI trying to prove blah blah blah...

This is the Portuguese police who did an autopsy on their lost rider and somehow came to the conclusion kicking down the team office's door might yield some nice little loot. in the reports, the three letters U, C and I are nowhere to be found. The investigation was instigated under the national ADA.