Boonen positive?

campagchris

Jez mon wrote:

Yep but the green jersey is Hushovd's for the taking

not if Bennati has anything to do with it.Theres even talk of Oscar staying for 3 weeks :roll:
Wonder if he(boonen)fancies a football career as he has all the atributes to be a Newcastle player apart from not passing go and not picking up£200 :shock:

drenkrom

Simoni tested positive for china in competition, hence the boot to his @$$. Ullrich tested positive for amphetamines, which are banned at all times, not E, as I'm not even sure MDMA figures on the ban list.

You can't bend the rules to let a rider get away, but you can't bend them to put a rider away, either. This has nothing to do with performance-enhancement, IMO. Just someone remind Boonen that, unlike Hollywood jet-setters, he gets tested. He may have realized that now.

secretsqirrel

Soccer is starting to get twitchy about 'Role Model Behaviour', Cycling is certainly getting sensitive about reputation.
Even though Tom Bong has not technically broken his own sport rules, ASO/UCI and even the pro teams may turn cool on him to 'make an example'.

May seem unfair but PR rules.

Moomaloid

Can't see that he's actually done anything wrong apart from getting caught. If its not on the banned list then he's done nothing sport wise, yes he's been caught having already taken some Chop but how can they prosecute for that? Its certainly not performance enhancing...

he's been a silly boy but i'm sure EVERY team will be looking to snap him up if he leaves QS.

Arkibal

iainf72 wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Jeff Jones wrote:

He will escape a doping suspension

...but what will Sheriff Prudhomme and the ASO posse have to say?

"Rack us up a line Tom"

?

Arkibal

There were rumours (before his cocaine insident) that he was going to Bouyges Telekom (sorry for the spelling), since QS had not secured a sponsor yet. Why he would go to the lowest PT team is a surprise, but now even that option might have been closed for him.
Tour of Suisse stated that Tommeke is not allowed to participate their race, a big blow for his Tour preparations. I don't think ASO would ban him, unless of course he gets suspended.

Anyway all the latest news about him have been very sad, drunk driving, speeding and using drugs, hopefully he'll get his act together.

sing_for_absolution

There'll be a press conference tomorrow at 1030 their time. Will tears be shed?

campagchris

Theres starting to be a likeness to another great cyclist here (that wore a bandana).Bit like George Best and Gazza.Lets hope Boonen doesn't end up like Marco.
Wether its on the banned list or not it still pulls cycling back into the quagmire.

blazing_saddles

organisers of the Tour of Switzerland which starts on Saturday moved immediately to bar Boonen from competing in their race.

Straight from this site.

iainf72

I'm disappointed in you lot.

No one has yet done the "Tom was at USPS so this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lance was Texan" or whatever it is.

:P

He's not going to be the only one either, is he? At least tennis has the decency to cover up when one of their star playes gets a smack habit.

drenkrom

Does anyone know if, in Belgium, the presence of a drug in your body is considered possession? Some countries have such laws, like Sweden, and Boonen could be in trouble for that.

If a prosecutor really wants to go into that for what'll end up being a sommunity service sentence, of course.

DaveyL

iainf72 wrote:

I'm disappointed in you lot.

No one has yet done the "Tom was at USPS so this proves beyond a shadow of a doubt that Lance was Texan" or whatever it is.

:P

He's not going to be the only one either, is he? At least tennis has the decency to cover up when one of their star playes gets a smack habit.

Who's that then? I'd have thought being properly addicted to heroin would not be particularly compatible with performing at the top level in any sport.

And are we forgetting Martina Hingis's cocaine positive? She took the Mancebo "I prefer to retire than fight this" approach. But she hasn't come back (again) yet, unlike Paco.

st68

im disappointed at this news ive always rated tom boonen even if the only thing coke enhances is the users ability to talk crap as 40% of my locals patrons show me most saturday nights :shock: judging by the top of the toilet lid an its modest covering of snow! and the persistant sniffin oh deary me

3leggeddog

I know its difficult to differentiate at times but this, to me, looks like recreational use rather than performance enhancement.

Can't a man let his hair down?

iainf72

It's all a bit screwed up when Tom has a bit of coke it's a massive big deal, he's told not to come to races and a press conference is required.

He drives drunk really fast and no one really cares.

Odd.

I know there is a certain irony to me saying this and starting the thread...But I'm just a gossip

Squaggles

Drink driving is worse , yes . he doesn't seem to have much regard for laws , rules and decent behaviour . But he wins races and he's a star , so thats OK ?!

What a tosser .

Salsiccia

iainf72 wrote:

It's all a bit screwed up when Tom has a bit of coke it's a massive big deal, he's told not to come to races and a press conference is required.

He drives drunk really fast and no one really cares.

Odd.

The irony is palpable, isn't it. Mind you, the Belgian authorities seem fairly lax - he only had his licence suspended for 2 weeks, but he was doing TWICE the speed limit while DUI. He might have been looking at a custodial sentence over here (and quite right too).

I'm no advocate of doing charlie, but if he gets a racing ban for this it's ridiculous. As for the Tour de Suisse removing his invite, I'd bet my mortgage that half the money-men behind TdS are on the Colombian sherbet. Hypocrisy all round.

terongi

Charlie? China? Ching? Chop? Gak? Colombian Sherbet?

Is this a competition for who can think up the most obscure street slang for cocaine?
Are we all trying to be ever so cool?

Can I join in this discussion if I don't have a special nickname for cocaine, or should I make one up and hope no-one notices?

Can anyone score me a line of skange?

aarw

iainf72 wrote:

Kléber wrote:

Jeff Jones wrote:

He will escape a doping suspension

...but what will Sheriff Prudhomme and the ASO posse have to say?

"Rack us up a line Tom"

?

LMAO

mm1

Am I alone in feeling sorry for the poor lad?

My partner has a bit of a drink problem and coke habit, she lost her drving license and then her job and we will soon lose our home. Forget about all of this "responsibility to the sport" and "role model" nonsense a lot of very ordinary people mess around like this, some get burned, some do not - here's hoping Tom gets help if he needs it.

ut_och_cykla

Yes I could feel sorry for him - if I had his money and skills. Not sure he should be banned from cycling. Best would be a spot of gardening leave till the dust settles, pruning teh roses and getting some professional help for his self-damaiging life style. I'd be more worried about the drink driving myself- dangerous for him AND others. 2 weeks without his licence - Belgians only got licenses a few years ago!
Silly billy he is - grow up Tom..

Kléber

mm1, I hope you do all you can to get the help needed as quickly as possible.

Boonen is different though. He's surrounded by people supposedly to help him, can buy the finest treatment and more. It's now time for him to get some good advice. Who knows what this is, we're not talking about a habit perhaps, just a one-off and he got caught? Either way, he's lost some of his shine in Belgium.

If anything, it shows the bad management at Quick-Step. The news leaked out, they've been silent today, Boonen's locked up inside his parents home. And it's all emerged at the same time as contract negotiations come up. Hopefully they can explain more today...

Mar ge

so no new news from the press conference.
Tom offered some apology for the effect on his family etc but didn't admit or deny anything about cocaine use.

"i'm not perfect and will accept the consquences"

From the radio it sounds the only interesting thing from the conference was that Quickstep will renew their sponsorship deal for a further 3 years. (what awful timing to announce that!!)

jimmythecuckoo

ut_och_cykla wrote:

Best would be a spot of gardening leave till the dust settles

But what would he grow?

iainf72

Mar ge wrote:

"i'm not perfect and will accept the consquences"

Fair enough. I mean, what's he supposed to say. A fake apology perhaps?

Tom could've been on the gear for years now for all we know. It really is a private matter but because it's "drugs" everyone has to hop up and down. (yes, I know I started the thread) I've known a few people with habits over the years - A couple of them had some problems but the others coped fine and lead fairly normal lives. They've all packed it in now.

eire

To be quite honest I've always thought Tom Boonen was a bit of a deck. This just confirms my view. He's tested positive for cocaine after all his ranting about people who use drugs to cheat or otherwise and he's lost his driving license twice in the last few weeks for being drunk behind the wheel.

What a tosser, indeed.

Moomaloid

I deffo feel sorry for the lad. He comes under the most immense pressure in Belgium...

pottssteve

I believe he's a regular reader of the Race forum of Bikeradar. All I cn do is direct him to the following site and suggest he follows the advice in the lyrics...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ec2BcZWn3zk

squired

I remember recently reading that a big name footballer was dealing cocaine to other premiership/international footballers and that an England cricketer (it was implied that he was a regular in the starting 11) was also implicated as being a regular user. As far as I know there have been no names given out and I've heard nothing about it since. Why is it that when it comes to cycling the name always seems to come out?

tabmaster

The way I see it is that he has just made a silly mistake in his private life. Okay, if you are in the public eye one should accept that you are going to be under the media microscope. But really, without condoning the use of class A drugs, what has he done that is so extraordinary? A few years back, or maybe even still, if a premiership footballer was reported to be doing coke nobody would bat en eyelid. Leave the bloke alone.
He is, after all, only human and therefore fallable just like everyone else. Unless of course the 'sack him' crowd in this thread are virginal white and closely related to the Pope, isnt it slightly hypocritical to be baying for his blood?