Damsgard....................discuss

alanmcn1
alanmcn1 Posts: 531
edited February 2009 in Pro race
Surely now Rasmus Damsgard's dope screening programme has to be the biggest joke in world sport??????
Robert Millar for knighthood

Comments

  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    It's no joke, just a PR smokescreen at best and a dangerous, unaccountable concept at worst. The case of Vladimir Gussev says a lot, sacked from Astana for "anomalies", ie suspected doping, but he is free to join another team.

    It all reminds of the Western films. The Sheriff is lazy and weak so some people hire private marshals to protect their interests and impose their own law. These people become unaccountable, it's what happens when people take the law into their own hands.

    It all points back to the weakness of the UCI, these schemes wouldn't need to exist if it had a firm reputation for anti-doping and being able to impose a fair rule across the sport.
  • alanmcn1
    alanmcn1 Posts: 531
    If Damsgard was working at my University department he would have been sacked by now. Complete conflicts of interest.....................accepting gifts from clients he is testing for the love of god
    Robert Millar for knighthood
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    He was sacked! That's partly why the hospital he works at sacked him, so he's set up a private company, Radar, to perform the testing. As we've discussed on here before, this creates a very big conflict of interest, if he finds a rider positive then this could see the sponsor withdraw, which means the source of Radar's revenue dries up. The temptation to treat things under the Radar is significant. The only way to avoid this would be for the team to post some giant sum in a bank account as a prize for catching riders, so if a rider is caught then Damsgaard is rolling in cash, but this only creates further conflicts of interest.

    Once again, it is like hiring a private policeman, it's fraught with room for mistakes. That's why the governing body needs to run these schemes properly.
  • skavanagh.bikeradar
    skavanagh.bikeradar Posts: 1,097
    Ha, ha, ha! Governing body.....running....anti-doping...ha! ha! ha!...schemes properly...ha! ha! ha! Oh dear, my ribs hurt.
  • NJK
    NJK Posts: 194
    alanmcn1 wrote:
    If Damsgard was working at my University department he would have been sacked by now. Complete conflicts of interest.....................accepting gifts from clients he is testing for the love of god

    Why do you think Astana are using him? Total Joke just like Armstrong& Bruyneel, at least they could be a bit more subtle. Why don't they say we are just going to dope like before, cycling was i think turning a corner a very big corner but now all the oldies are coming back.

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