Guess who's writing a diary for Cyclingnews?

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited November 2008 in Pro race
No. it's not me you crazy fools (although, if anyone wants to pay me for my opinions I happy to take any work that comes my way)

It's Ivan Basso!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/riders/2008/ ... =basso0801
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.

Comments

  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    Given his website i would expect it to be all "hello trees! Hello sky! Hello smiling family! Bad Birillo!"

    Rather than

    0800: Woke up, had breakfast (800ml packed cells).
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I can imagine it already...
    Ciao, I am calm. I have been working hard. My Cannondale is great. My team is so nice. My trainer Sassi is attempting new methods....
    I want original insight, not the usual monotonous words. I want to hear from people with things to say. Why not hire someone outspoken like Jerome Pineau?

    I'm sick of the cheats prospering, by all means let the guy come back but he has everything to prove now, why not hire him once he's made an honest name for himself?
  • timoid.
    timoid. Posts: 3,133
    Who says doping doesn't pay?
    It's a little like wrestling a gorilla. You don't quit when you're tired. You quit when the gorilla is tired.
  • steviedonut
    steviedonut Posts: 69
    Timoid. wrote:
    Who says doping doesn't pay?

    precisely
  • GroupOfOne MkII
    GroupOfOne MkII Posts: 1,289
    Kléber wrote:
    Why not hire someone outspoken like Jerome Pineau?

    This the outspoken Jerome Pineau who's joined Quick Step?
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Yes, he's promised to let rip. He recently said Boonen was stupid but understandable but that if he saw doping, he'd shout loud. Alternatively, get Svein "the Canadian Chuck Norris" Tuft or even David Millar, as both have interesting things to say.

    I'll say it again, I'm really disappointed by the cyclingnews.com decision, you guys do not represent a healthy way of cycling, I know you're in business but it stinks.
  • drenkrom
    drenkrom Posts: 1,062
    ugh... and I thought the "Exclusive video of Lance Armstrong farting" thing was as far as it would go. :roll:
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    And the editor has decided he needs to slap a government health warning on the front of it:

    http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id= ... nov10news2

    "Welcome to my first editor's comment. I'm here to unveil Ivan Basso's exclusive online diary. You don't need to point out that there would have been easier, less controversial topics to begin with, but like a plastic wrapper to an adult magazine, this was a necessity – not a legally-binding one, but one born out of respect for our audience.

    Over the next year Basso will be giving you an exclusive account of his return to the sport and his search for redemption. He'll document how cycling has changed since his ban; the peloton's reactions towards his return and of course his new transparent aims on training and racing. You can also expect snippets of analysis from his coach, Aldo Sassi.

    I hope Basso's diary will deliver an insightful glance into the complex and often far too secretive lair of a cycling superstar. Yes, there are easier, perhaps softer riders we could have worked with but whatever your preconceived opinions of Ivan Basso as a rider and human being, by Sassi's and other accounts, Basso's talent and resolve will soon reposition him right back at the pinnacle of his sport, its biggest races, and hence public consciousness.

    As a news-based site it puts our publication in a difficult position. You'll ask, and rightfully so, where does Cyclingnews position itself on matter of banned riders and their quest for redemption? Does this contradict a desire to cleanse cycling? What about the riders Basso beat, do they deserve more?

    If anything, I hope our site will always be there to inform, challenge and entertain our readers. I'd see that not as contradiction, but rather that Cyclingnews relays a spectrum of all-encompassing opinions. Where we're not afraid to ask or answer tough questions of our sport and where we try and leave you, the reader, in a position to make up your own minds.

    Daniel Benson
    Editor Cyclingnews.com"

    Oddly enough, below that story is a link to Walsh's piece on doping in the peloton. I am minded of a tabloid newspaper screaming outrage at a sex scandal whilst publishing all the juicy details directly below.

    Still, there's no such thing as bad publicity, eh guys?

    Why not get Patrik Sinkewitz to write a column about what he's up to these days?
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • SpaceJunk
    SpaceJunk Posts: 1,157
    //Why not get Patrik Sinkewitz to write a column about what he's up to these days?//

    Heck, I'm thinking of approaching Future Publishing with a proposal for a new cycling magazine: Reformed Dopers Monthly.

    I don't think I'd have any problems filling issue after issue with exclusives, new doping products, even a section 'Clean cyclist of the month - what a naive fool!'.

    That way these cheats can still continue to prosper, and be treated like heroes!
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    DaveyL wrote:
    Why not get Patrik Sinkewitz to write a column about what he's up to these days?

    He's trying to get a gig now, isn't he?

    I don't have a problem with Basso doing his thing - At least he's done a ban. 90% of the peloton will have been guilty of some naughtiness but less than 5% of those have served time.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • skavanagh.bikeradar
    skavanagh.bikeradar Posts: 1,097
    Fair enough Iain, but I suspect (guffawing) that they won't get any "glance into the complex and often far too secretive lair of a cycling superstar".
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Fair point Iain but shouldn't we be offering a platform to that clean 10% instead? Besides, "some naughtiness" is a soft way to describe a heavy blood doping programme and all the lies Basso used, he even managed to hoodwink Bruyneel with deceit. Only a small share of the peloton could afford the scheme he was using if they wanted to, so he's well beyond anything 90% of the bunch could have done.

    Given he lied for so long and then only admitted to an "attempt", readers will wonder if they are getting an honest account.

    I know cyclingnews.com is in business to sell online ads and to attract readers but the sport needs reform and the fans need to be part of this, worshipping and rewarding the cheats is exactly the wrong way to go and the likes of cyclingnews.com are prolonging the mess the sport is in.

    Imagine how a clean rider - and obviously some pros do visit the site - feels when he visits the site looking for results, he's being paid a pittance and sees the likes of Basso getting paid to produce a puff diary.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    Kléber wrote:
    Fair point Iain but shouldn't we be offering a platform to that clean 10% instead? Besides, "some naughtiness" is a soft way to describe a heavy blood doping programme and all the lies Basso used, he even managed to hoodwink Bruyneel with deceit. Only a small share of the peloton could afford the scheme he was using if they wanted to, so he's well beyond anything 90% of the bunch could have done.

    All valid points. But there are riders on "clean" teams who've been on those kind of programmes, wouldn't you suspect? You mention St David, I think he's also been economical with the truth.

    Cycling fans seem to want palatable lies rather than the truth.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    It's all relative. My point on Millar wasn't so much for his new sanctimonious stance on doping (although I welcome that), more that he's a more interesting character and so has more to say. He won't write the "The training has been perfetto and I am calmly looking forward to the Giro", you get an insight into more.

    I'd suggest cyclingnews.com looks at the current edition of Velo Magazine. They handed the issue over to several French pros and its very readable. Francaise des Jeux rider Jeremy Roy has an engineering degree and tells of his work with Mavic and discusses tech, Agritubel's Geoffrey Lequatre is a wanabee fashion designer and discusses the team clothing worn by riders. In other words, it's much more than the usual "I attacked on the last hill and won" stock, it's additional to the racing.

    One final thing, in the interests of transparency and honesty, as supposedly supported by Basso, is his diary going to be ghostwritten like many other columns? I know for a fact that fellow Italian Gianni Savio does not write his columns.
  • bobtbuilder
    bobtbuilder Posts: 1,537
    WTF- I can't believe that this has happened! I feel physically sickened by this.

    Of all the doping scandals of recent years, for me it is Basso's which hurt the most. After reading (and being suckered by) his interview in Cycle SPort with the Vitruvian Man cover, I thought that this was a rider to believe in.

    His sickening attitude when caught of sheepishly saying "yes, my dog is called Birillo" and smiling like he had been caught in a harmless prank made my blood boil.

    As previously posted in this thread, why can't we have a diary by one of the vociferous Anti-doping riders? I would rather read that than Ivan the Terrible's triumphant return to the Giro.

    Does anyone really think Basso has anything important to say?

    In his first column, are we treated to an apology for his contribution to cycling's current plight? No, a couple of vague mentions of Puerto, and then on to how we can visit his website and learn of his "values".

    Cycling News - this was ill-advised at best, and sycophantic at worst. :roll:

Categories