ITV4 Hints...

crimsondynamo

In an interview with Dave Brailsford the other day, he told a story about rejecting a top prospect for team Sky on the basis of his less than pristine biological passport.

In a prerecorded interview from Monaco tonight, DB gave a curiously emphatic "no" to the question of whether he'd like AC on the squad.

Are ITV4 trying to tell us something? or should I just stick with the fake moon landing theories?

JC.152

na i think brailsford doesnt want contador because its too early for a new team to have to build it around contador when really his plan is a british main focus (tour win 5 years) with some riders form abroad as wel

Gotte

It's interesting, and there's obviously someone out there with a flunky biological passport (probably more than one), and he obvioulsy said it for a reason. So who knows. There are only a few riders I trust in my heart, but that said, I think AC is one of them. I personally don;t like him that much as a tour winner. I just find him a bit flat, but I can;t deny the beauty of his break, and admire him for that. So long as it's not enhanced.

kourou

I personally suspect it has more to do with the fact that they have said they don't want anyone linked to doping.

Whether you believe he is innocent or guilty, he is nonetheless linked to Operacion Puerto. Some think he may be the 'AC' listed alongside those of other teammates at Liberty Seguros, though I think the notes were ambiguous, not directly suggesting he took anything, even if it was him.

Some suggest there may have been a cover-up of Spanish involvement (not just cyclists) in Puerto, and Contador was initially included in the riders named, but later withdrawn from that list.

Have a google and make up your own mind... Its unlikely to be settled conclusively one way or another, unless CONI have more up their sleeve than their pursuit of Valverde.

Peakraider

Gotte wrote:

There are only a few riders I trust in my heart, but that said, I think AC is one of them.

You're having a larf, right?

takethehighroad

Alberto Contador is probably as guilty as Allan Davis, just so happens he speaks Spanish, and that's all I'll say on the matter,

iainf72

I'm really starting to not get Team Sky.

Don't hire anyone with links to drug scandals yet they've hired Sutherland as their DS? Unless of course we all live in fantasy land that CSC didn't know what their riders were up to in 2005 - 2006?

Also linked to Cunego who used to be coached by Cecchini.

Load.of.balls

Bronzie

iainf72 wrote:

Also linked to Cunego who used to be coached by Cecchini.

Yeah but he's got a little tattoo that says he's clean - what more proof does Brailsford need?

bipedal

Bronzie wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Also linked to Cunego who used to be coached by Cecchini.

Yeah but he's got a little tattoo that says he's clean - what more proof does Brailsford need?

I seem to remember it was a temporary tattoo!

Kléber

iainf72 wrote:

Don't hire anyone with links to drug scandals yet they've hired Sutherland as their DS?

Plus there's Max Sciandri. I think it was in 1998 that a Francaise des Jeux campervan was raided and a many vials of EPO were found inside a fridge, and in the end Mauro Gianetti and Max Sciandri confessed to this to team management and the sponsors.

This provoked a lot of soul searching within the team, the sponsor was not happy and threatened to pull the rug out from under the team. In response, team boss Marc Madiot promised to build a clean team and so ironically it was a fridge full of EPO that created one of cycling's cleanest and most sporting outfits. But that's another story...

...back to Sky, I think if you rule anyone out who's not got a skeleton in the cupboard and you'd limit the staff available. The point is not what some staff member did a decade ago, it's about riders today. I'm sort of comfortable with staff admitting their mistakes from the past, what was acceptable in the mid-1990s is no longer tolerable. Just ask Jonathan Vaughters.

As for the mysterious "AC" mentioned above, his name is at the bottom of a list, just below LL (Luis Leon) on one document (the so called Document 31):

But Contador is also named in full, not just initials, in other documents seized from Fuentes's clinic in Madrid. But he's not the only one, one of the most unsatisfying elements of the Puerto investigation is that some former Liberty Seguros riders have copped lengthy bans, whilst some have escaped any sanction.

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

...back to Sky, I think if you rule anyone out who's not got a skeleton in the cupboard and you'd limit the staff available. The point is not what some staff member did a decade ago, it's about riders today. I'm sort of comfortable with staff admitting their mistakes from the past, what was acceptable in the mid-1990s is no longer tolerable. Just ask Jonathan Vaughters.

Oh I know all of that but I think Brailsford is being inconsistant. He can give his curt "no" about Contador yet is leaving the hiring of riders to a man who helped Basso to his glorious win in the Giro in 06?

I also wonder if they'll get a tour spot next year.

graeme_s-2

iainf72 wrote:

Kléber wrote:

...back to Sky, I think if you rule anyone out who's not got a skeleton in the cupboard and you'd limit the staff available. The point is not what some staff member did a decade ago, it's about riders today. I'm sort of comfortable with staff admitting their mistakes from the past, what was acceptable in the mid-1990s is no longer tolerable. Just ask Jonathan Vaughters.

Oh I know all of that but I think Brailsford is being inconsistant. He can give his curt "no" about Contador yet is leaving the hiring of riders to a man who helped Basso to his glorious win in the Giro in 06?

I also wonder if they'll get a tour spot next year.

Maybe he already knows Contador is signed elsewhere, or maybe they approached him and he said he wasn't interested. There are many ways you could read that "no" and "no, because he's a filthy doper" is just one of them.

epr

Brailsford also said something (to the effect of) "a top rider approached me about joining the new team...I saw his biological passport profile and said 'no way'."

There is nothing to suggest this is connected to the Alberto Contador remark.

What worries me, though, is that as long as Lance is sitting pretty in second place...forces may conspire...

SpaceJunk

EPR wrote:

Brailsford also said something (to the effect of) "a top rider approached me about joining the new team...I saw his biological passport profile and said 'no way'."

There is nothing to suggest this is connected to the Alberto Contador remark.

What worries me, though, is that as long as Lance is sitting pretty in second place...forces may conspire...

No need to worry EPR - LA wont finish up in 2nd spot by Tours' end.

emadden

bipedal wrote:

Bronzie wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Also linked to Cunego who used to be coached by Cecchini.

Yeah but he's got a little tattoo that says he's clean - what more proof does Brailsford need?

I seem to remember it was a temporary tattoo!

He got it from a packet of Hubba Bubba ... he was seen licking his arm around the back of the team bus

jimmythecuckoo

Its a British team so I am staying positive.

Wiggins and Cav distancing themselves will have given Brailsford a problem.

When the riders are announced I will take stock then.

Gotte

Peakraider wrote:

Gotte wrote:

There are only a few riders I trust in my heart, but that said, I think AC is one of them.

You're having a larf, right?

Well, let me say that I hadn't read anything prior to this about his alleged involvement. That changes it a bit for me after googling. But that said, I don't know that anyone with that profile would risk it now. Of course, the realist in me would perhaps wonder if the temptation to boost his performance to nix LA wouldn;t get the better of him, but aren;t the controls too tight now?

Edwin

"I don't know that anyone with that profile would risk it now"

Landis was pretty high profile, and Vino, Basso etc..... :roll:

RichN95.

Edwin wrote:

"I don't know that anyone with that profile would risk it now"

Landis was pretty high profile, and Vino, Basso etc..... :roll:

Basso and Landis were three years ago, Vino two years ago. Things have changed a bit in that time. I still think there are those willing to risk it, but there are less of them and it's a bigger risk

Gotte

Edwin wrote:

"I don't know that anyone with that profile would risk it now"

Landis was pretty high profile, and Vino, Basso etc..... :roll:

I'm talking about now,which, after the names you mention, is a different era, I think, especially after there was talk of the entire tour being cancelled, and with German TV pulling out, and entire teams not invited back.

And please, spare me the rolleyes. Don;t you think it's a bit condescending?

Edwin

True, in a sense I'm pleased that there's been no high profile busts yet this tour, but then again I'm still concerned about stuff like micro-dosing, and the idea that riders can dope just enough to get an advantage but stay under the radar.

robthehungrymonkey

I'm really of the opinion now that there are so many doping controls now that you just have to take it as it is. If they don't test positive, treat them as clean. Otherwise, you just end up talking about doping and not cycling ALL the time, and it pretty much ruins it for me. Every discussion starts positive, but ends on doping (see the wiggo thread - "he's doing amazing" to "how can he be doing this well, suspicous").

bikerZA

Edwin wrote:

True, in a sense I'm pleased that there's been no high profile busts yet this tour...

Yep that has definitely been a good sign. However test results seem to take longer and longer to come to light these days.

Superoo

I agree with most remarks made and I do get the impression too that Brailsford just likes to bignote himself. He indeed sounds like an idiot and his remarks are surely inconsistant.

But I think some of the remarks made here on this forum are not justified.

You can not point a guilty finger at everyone, that is a sign of jealousy and a very nasty personality trait!
By the way,iainf72, if you choose to accuse anyone - pretending to know everything about everyone in cycling - please make sure you get their name right!

iainf72

Superoo wrote:

By the way,iainf72, if you choose to accuse anyone - pretending to know everything about everyone in cycling - please make sure you get their name right!

I don't pretend to know everything about everyone. But anyway, I like to get discussions going. Some of the things Brailsford has said could be inconsistant with how things look to cycling fans.

That was my point.

If everyone on CSC knew what was happening in 05/06 - I don't know. It's difficult to see how they couldn't given what Bella Jorg has said. Same with Cunego, many people associate with Cecchini have had some problems.