Pro cycling 'on last chance' over drugs
Schmidthouse
Posts: 134
http://news.theage.com.au/breaking-news ... -7hrj.html
Tim Dornin
January 15, 2009 - 4:44PM
Professional cycling is coming to the end of its chances to rid itself of drug cheats, former Tour de France rider and now team manager Alan Peiper says.
The Team Columbia boss said riders who opted to cheat had to be made aware of the consequences of their actions both for themselves and for others involved in the sport.
"It's not just them that's being affected," said Peiper.
"If one rider tests positive then 70 people lose their jobs because the sponsorship stops.
"Once they start to realise that ... I think everything will change."
And Peiper believes things have changed with cycling now one of the cleanest and most heavily-controlled sports.
"Compared to a few years ago we're on a fantastic track," he said.
"(But) In any part of society there's always an element that doesn't play by the rules.
"Whether it's speeding in traffic or stealing something from a supermarket.
"You can never change the whole of society."
Peiper's comments came ahead of the first ProTour race of the new season, Adelaide's Tour Down Under, where American Tour de France great Lance Armstrong will make his return to the pro peleton next week.
They also followed last year's Tour de France where four riders, including the King of Mountains champion and third-placed finisher Bernard Kohl, tested positive to third-generation drug EPO CERA.
It was changes to drug-testing policies which caught those riders after the tour.
Those changes could now result in riders being tested up to three times a day by different agencies.
But Peiper said his riders were supportive of the new regime.
"They see how important it is to be tested," he said.
"By there being more tests and more stringent tests they see that their jobs are protected as well.
"So they're all on board and they're all going with it. If we just keep moving in this direction then we'll be fine."
Team Columbia veteran George Hincapie also endorsed recent efforts by cycling to clean up its act.
"I still believe cycling does more than any other sport, it tests its athletes more than any other sport," he said.
"I'm personally proud of what we have done and I don't know if there's much more that we can do.
"We just have to keep catching the guys who are cheating."
Tim Dornin
January 15, 2009 - 4:44PM
Professional cycling is coming to the end of its chances to rid itself of drug cheats, former Tour de France rider and now team manager Alan Peiper says.
The Team Columbia boss said riders who opted to cheat had to be made aware of the consequences of their actions both for themselves and for others involved in the sport.
"It's not just them that's being affected," said Peiper.
"If one rider tests positive then 70 people lose their jobs because the sponsorship stops.
"Once they start to realise that ... I think everything will change."
And Peiper believes things have changed with cycling now one of the cleanest and most heavily-controlled sports.
"Compared to a few years ago we're on a fantastic track," he said.
"(But) In any part of society there's always an element that doesn't play by the rules.
"Whether it's speeding in traffic or stealing something from a supermarket.
"You can never change the whole of society."
Peiper's comments came ahead of the first ProTour race of the new season, Adelaide's Tour Down Under, where American Tour de France great Lance Armstrong will make his return to the pro peleton next week.
They also followed last year's Tour de France where four riders, including the King of Mountains champion and third-placed finisher Bernard Kohl, tested positive to third-generation drug EPO CERA.
It was changes to drug-testing policies which caught those riders after the tour.
Those changes could now result in riders being tested up to three times a day by different agencies.
But Peiper said his riders were supportive of the new regime.
"They see how important it is to be tested," he said.
"By there being more tests and more stringent tests they see that their jobs are protected as well.
"So they're all on board and they're all going with it. If we just keep moving in this direction then we'll be fine."
Team Columbia veteran George Hincapie also endorsed recent efforts by cycling to clean up its act.
"I still believe cycling does more than any other sport, it tests its athletes more than any other sport," he said.
"I'm personally proud of what we have done and I don't know if there's much more that we can do.
"We just have to keep catching the guys who are cheating."
There's no time for hesitating.
Pain is ready, pain is waiting.
Primed to do it's educating.
Pain is ready, pain is waiting.
Primed to do it's educating.
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Comments
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I cant take Hincapie seriously.0
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Possibly at the back of his mind is that if one of HIS riders tests positive,He looses his job
No disrespect to AP whatsoever,he was a rider whom I admired for his profesionalism when racing,& seemed to be one of the pioneers of diet relative to racing.
As a team manager,it would be out of control if a rogue rider was to dope up,but may well cost the whole team their job.
Not that sure that ONE rider testing positive will bring about the end of pro racing,though.so many cols,so little time!0 -
I too admire his attitude, he tried to speak out about EPO abuse once but got told to put a sock in it. For all his dietary knowledge, when he retired he bought a burger van which he drove to Belgian races and made a living selling pomme frites and greasy burgers.nick hanson wrote:seemed to be one of the pioneers of diet relative to racing.0 -
Peiper has a chapter in his book entitled "Tyler and Danilo"
A few quotes
"both leave questions about this new era of stringent control and zero-tolerance punishment"
"And Hamilton? I just don't feel the case against him was proved beyond all doubt"
"There are always other explanations for a postive like his - Something in the food chain, or sabotage, for instance"
I often wonder if Stapleton has read the book (worth reading, btw). While there's nothing wrong with his views aren't they at odds with the ethos of that team?Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.0 -
Fortunately for Peiper his career was about over when EPO and the like changed the cycling landscape - but for someone who was schooled in Flanders, he could be significantly more open and candid in his views - to say that the case against Hamilton wasn't proven is laughable. He's part of the omerta - either tell the truth or don't botherMake mine an Italian, with Campagnolo on the side..0
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Alterntatively, write a book to make some money out of your career and don't put anything too damning in there in order that you might still have a job in cycling at the end of it. 98 out of 100* people would do the same rather than risk any chance of a living from cycling if it was pretty much all they knew (and were good at it).
* for the pedants I'm making this up and I have no idea how many people would, in reality, protect their living over telling the truth (especially if telling the truth was likely to be a monumental waste of time). however I'd do it and I'm sure you would too.**
**This is a personal assertion, I don't know what you'd do. Of course if you weren't well disposed to make a living doing something else that you don't have a passion for I reckon you'd play it safe.***
***Of course I don't know this for sure either. I'm asserting my opinions here, which may or may not be shared by the majority of this list or the public at large.^
^ I'm not a professional and/or elite level athlete. While I'm not qualified to talk about working in professional cycling from my own experience I hope that like most things in life about which I know very little I can express an opnion that can be freely agreed or disagreed with depending on your own opininons.
Spelling mistakes are entirely the responsibility of this poster. Enough caveats?0 -
I was at a couple of the Baxter Training Camps in the 90's with Allan Peiper.
Seemed a decent guy. I think he was disapointed with the end of his career not leading into management straight away. Obviously it has now. He made it perfectly clear that he was competing against doped riders in Belgian Classics where he might have won if they were clean. Seemed to accept that there was not much he could have done about it at the time though.
Peiper has strong views on diet and taking things 100% seriously, no time for time wasters. I suppose this is the Aussie racing mentality, as having travelled half way around the world to race, why blow it in the pub?0
