Now Ricco!!

pinarellodude

Starting to become a joke again??

Mog Uk

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... highlight=

humble

no joke - ask Duenas - he's in jail - and facing prison - let's see if that ever goes through - but the threat and the hassle makes the penalty much higher than a sporting ban.

entire S.D. team is out also.

if they find anything in Ricco's room - he'll be in the same boat.

The french strategy is seems to be to increase the chance of being caught through targeting and the perceived penalty to include criminal prosecution - no telling if it's having an effect on any other than those caught in it's net - but probably - it is making the cheats think.

I hope they put a similar plan in the Vuelta.

pinarellodude

What the hell are the orginisers off the Tour off italia doing? They are always cought at the tour de France yet with these riders they come off a good tour of italia?
Makes me think that at the tour off italy there turning a blind eye?

cumbriamike

I take my holidays to watch the Tour.

As usual I feel cheated!

Ban all drug takers for life, that's the only answer

redddraggon

cumbriamike wrote:

Ban all drug takers for life, that's the only answer

Lol, you need to catch them first.

http://www.bikeradar.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12577976

humble

de facto good news for Valverde - he get's the stage 6 win - and Efimkin - he get's the stage 9 win.

yeah - they missed the podium - but at least they don't have to wait two years to get the credit like Periero.

assuming Ricco's B is positive also.

Giro d'Italia - look at that race winners over the past three years and you can draw your own conclusions - that Basso still holds credit for his 2006 victory says a lot - De Luca tested positive in 2007 still the victor - not convicted and still the winner - and Contador - who is not without links to a number of figures known we know are involved in doping - Fuentes, Saiz - and who signed with a team that was gigged twice in last years TDF - interesting in that he already had links - and still chose to go to that team with the sullied name - and was excluded from the Tour this year - and the Giro - then they (Giro) changed their minds. He wins. So what about the chances that there has been a clean winner of the Giro in the last three years - or any Grand Tour for that matter.

/h

cumbriamike

Lol, you need to catch them first. .

That's ok redddraggon laugh out loud, obviously you need to catch them first but for how many years does cycling have to suffer this farce

andyp

cumbriamike wrote:

That's ok redddraggon laugh out loud, obviously you need to catch them first but for how many years does cycling have to suffer this farce

It's entire history so far? Drugs and cycling have gone hand in hand since it's inception as a sport.

acorn_user

French law is different to Spanish and Italian law. AFAIK, doping is not a criminal offence in Spain. In France, I don't think you are allowed to transport the stuff even. Remember Raimondo Rumsas?

cumbriamike

Maybe but anything is possible.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... tive-17596

By the way I know this is all very naive but when cycling is becoming more & more popular, with so many Sportives etc its just so disheartening to have to look at every rider & wonder if they are 'clean'

oldnewbikercp

cumbriamike wrote:

Maybe but anything is possible.

http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... tive-17596

By the way I know this is all very naive but when cycling is becoming more & more popular, with so many Sportives etc its just so disheartening to have to look at every rider & wonder if they are 'clean'

I am coming to the train of thought it is easier to assume they are all at it ,the ones that arnt are just a bonus.

carbonfiend

Millar asks for me the most important question around this, where has he got it from. I was just reading the full story and the EPO that Ricco has suppossed to have tested positive for was only passed for approval in Jan 2008. He hasn't just bought this off the internet. There is a whole undercurrent of people involved in EPO use as its not just a drug you can take on your own its has be administered in a specifc dose over a defined time period and your blood needs to be constantly monitored.
The other interesting issue here is that there isn't a yet WADA approved test for this form of EPO yet, they know when somebdoy has used it but they can't verify it in an offical test so that they can name the product, which they have done. Apparently as well Ricco had already been tested 4 times before this positive - I can see this one dragging on and one.
Lets face it though who didn't have suspicions about Ricco he was so obviously filthy.
Call me cynical but I'm convinced that probably all GC contendors are using.

z000m

cadel looks like a freak, i would be suprised if hes not on the juice.

bombdogs

Starting to get a bit of a joke now - that's three within the first week. Although, you can look at it from the point of view that the checks are working and the bad are getting weeded out from those who are clean.
What annoys the hell outta me is the way these team managers claim they never knew anything like that was going on. Come off it, they know if their riders are doping or not. Not like EPO or other doping products can be bought down at your local Boots.
Why do these idiots take stuff to improve their performance when there is clear proof with the likes of Mark Cavendish that you can still win stages clean?
Agree with what a lot of people say on here about bannin them for life. It's the only way these mugs are ever gonna learn that cheating is not right.
Personally, I cheated in the egg and spoon race when I was seven. Yes, I droped the ball, picked it up then put my thumb on it before racing across the finish line. Felt guilty ever since. Have never been able to look at that certificate since!!!!

mtsuit

bombdogs wrote:

Come off it, they know if their riders are doping or not. Not like EPO or other doping products can be bought down at your local Boots.

Well, you used to be able to buy EPO over the counter in some countries (Switzerland?), but I think those days are gone.

matttill1982

did anyone see cadel evans attacking the microphone after he took the yellow jersey! he looked like a crazed man! looked like roid rage! but seriously though, who's to say they aren't all on it. makes you wonder whether they should just abandon the drugs policy and let them take what they want, then they're all on a level playing field.

as for saying cavendish can win "clean" columbia can state they have this policy and that policy but do we really know for sure their riders are clean. how can we know that about anyone. plus depends what you definition of "clean" is. he's lost a stage win in the tour of california for hanging on to the team car. cheatings cheating at the end of the day

carbonfiend

Valid point - one of defences against the sport of cycling when I talk to non cyclists is that we don't own the copyright on cheats. They are endemic to every game where big prizes, prestige and money is involved. I for one have my serious douts about tennis, they play at such intensity for hours over a really long season without barely an injury or moan - too good to be true. Look at formula 1 racing as well the whole Mclaren Ferrari fiasco last season, football (they don't test for EPO).
Also lets face most sports come down to how much money you have to provide training equipment and team mates. Why no make racing like the athletes hour record, all on the same bike same equipment even same buget

Jabster101

What annoys me is that the media / gen public like to batter pro cyclists with a general anti drugs stick – it’s not so much the cheating, but the (evil) drug taking bit that seems to fire them up and wheel out the moral high horse.

At the same time they marvel at the all night benders of pro cricket and rugby players, because ritually pickling yourself in alcohol is fine and manly. How these people are able to sustain 20 hour sessions on alcohol alone isn’t questioned – because of course only one international rugby player has ever taken a class A drug, and that was just the one time, and that was part of an evil set up, and he got caught.


If you’re a footballer you can go out every weekend shoving all sorts down your neck / up your nose, gang bang and pay off the locals, even slap your Mrs about, and that’s fine.

As for golfers…

jerry3571

There will always be baddies whatever the drugs control do. People still watch and the sponsors get their advertising. There is nothing to do. Don't trust any rider to not be caught and just enjoy the spectacle. Doping has been around as long as the Greeks and Romans. As long as we applaud success then they will cheat.
One thing I don't get is why Cycling has got it's knickers in a twist trying to catch ALL the cheats. They won't get everyone and all they do is give the sport a bad name. Most other physical sports dope but do not have the controls Cycling does. All the Doping Controls do is expose who gets caught. If they look harder then they will catch more dopers. The Peurto Affair was said to be mostly football related. I know a Rugby player who has known common Steriod and HGH use in that sport. Are they caught; "no". Their anti doping controls are a joke. At the Tour of Britain, last year, I stood beside "Matthew Pinssent" the Olympic Rower; he was doing a TV programme and the feature was about Doping In Cycling. I could hardly control myself to call him a "Cheeky Fu**er". His sport involves Endurance, Power and a large VO2 capacity. Do we know of any other sports with these same characteristics???
Hmmm....
I am not accusing anyone of Doping for sure; especially Rowers, who are of a Higher Class and Higher moral code than the usual commoner.

Ciao Jerry

Uncle Chop Chop

matttill1982....you obviously missed the bit of the video where the journalist deliberately poked Cadel in his injured shoulder on more than one occasion. What do you expect Evans to do????

Trekiethered

It is not good enough to simply wash our hands of dopers and just let them get on with it. It would finally kill off our beloved sport. The public and sponsors are already disilussioned with it - a free-for-all would only make that worse. This Tour de France has restored some optimism that cleaner racing might be possible.

To not try and catch all of the offenders (because it's awkward to catch so many) would be enormously unfair on those who were caught whilst others were allowed to get away with it. And morally indefensible.

And what sane person would want to get involved in a sport where, in order to succeed, you had to fill yourself full of chemicals and do untold damage to your immediate and future health.

If the fight against the drug cheats doesn't succeed there won't be a professional road racing sport anyway.

It does make you wander about the tests carried out in the Giro this year. The organizers were very proud of the fact that there were no positives (or "non-negatives" as they now seem to be called) and it maybe the wish overriding the reality.

jerry3571

It'll all carry on as before because Companies from emerging Super Powers will probably want to sponsor Cycling when they need to get into European Markets. I think the Sponsors wont' go away. If you want a product name on Telly for a couple of years then Cycling is a good deal. If drug issues keep causing problems then maybe the longer term sponsors will become a thing of the past. The Sponsors will always want to see their guy cross the line first with the Company logo splashed across the riders chest. No Company would want to pay for a guy to come last. Shame really.
-Jerry