What a difference 15 months makes !

moray_gub

Just reading all the Contador/Lance threads and my mind goes back to last years Giro. Back in the heady days of May 2008 Contatdor was the hate figure in here ridiculed by most and respected by very few despite the great achievement of wiiining the Giro with little preperation. Unfounded allegations of blood doping, negative riding etc etc , evil Astana blah de blah the vitriol was quite something. Now some 15 months later a lot of forum regs have become Contador fanboys who back him to the hilt over every tactic and every utterance as long as its against Lance. Quite amusing to be honest as along with myself i could count on the finger of one hand the posters who had time for Bertie back then.


MG

DaveyL

get with the prog MG, I made this point aaaaaages ago

:-)

DaveyL

PS I don't like either of them :-)

takethehighroad

I may not have been vocal back then, but I've hoenstly always liked him since the 07 Tour, and was backing him against Rasmussen since the Albi time trial.

I trust him as much as I trust Allan Davis. That is to say he was part of Liberty Seguros, so god knows what went on with each individual rider (apart from maybe Bella Jorg et al who have confessed) and he found solace in a DS who's been known to look the other way (Bruyneel). It's just that Davis got unlucky at the end of 07, seems 2nd in MSR wasn't enough!

iainf72

I like Bertie because he's quite exciting to watch and not as creepy as someone like Di Luca, don't trust him though.

frenchfighter

Moray Gub wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

And the reason for that? "My enemy's enemy is my friend". Wind the forum back 12 months and AC's name was mud on here. Lance announces his comeback and all of a sudden it's poor, dear, sweet Bertie...

Yep there are a few regular posters in here who are now viewing Bertie as some kind of 2nd coming of christ after being very fierce ctitics of his last year. At least i am consistent in liking Berie as a rider before Lance's comeback and during it.

Richrd2205 wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

And the reason for that? "My enemy's enemy is my friend". Wind the forum back 12 months and AC's name was mud on here. Lance announces his comeback and all of a sudden it's poor, dear, sweet Bertie...

????
Just over 12 months ago, I suggested that AC might not be clean after his Giro performance & was comprehensively flamed, not sure how that equates with the idea of his name being mud....

akx237vi wrote:

I think it's just down to personalities. One is likable, the other one isn't.

The first part of this is incredibly true, the second less so. There are psychological conditions that polarise responses massively. For me, the interesting question is why LA polarises opinion so, rather than endlessly rehashing old arguments & this quote comes very close to pinning it down.

frenchfighter wrote:

Contador (please not Bertie) was always my favourite and I never liked Armstrong. If people have changed their opinion on him so much the better. They may have done so as they see that Contador is consistently humble, far from the media and generally likeable. Furthermore, he lets his legs do the talking and they rarely let him down.

DaveyL wrote:

I'm quite used to using Bertie now so I think I will stick with that. It could be worse, why dont you look back to threads during last year's Giro and Vuleta. "Dertie" and "Cerador" were the order of the day - he was the most despised rider on the forums. Now, he's dear little put-upon Bertie. What could possibly have caused such a re-evaluation?

frenchfighter wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

He was winning GTs and had been linked to OP. And he was riding for Buryneel's team.

So that makes him the most despised person on here? Sorry I am COMPLETELY lost.

If that kind of logic is to be followed then Lance is about about 1000 times worse than Contador - he has an EXTREMELY tight relationship with Bruyneel has won more GTs than Contador and has had positives for corticoids and EPO as well as well as plenty of other 'doping' issues, about which there are many more knowledgable people on here than me.

The logic is completely flawed.

I am flummoxed! I was expecting something terrible...

afx237vi wrote:

DaveyL wrote:

I'm not standing up for it - just explaining the way it was. LA was gone, so the forumers needed a new hate figure and Bertie fitted quite nicely - he was the new "chosen one" of Bruyneel, quite enough in its own right for them. Now that the lightning rod is back, the Bertie-hating has pretty much stopped.

No one said it should make sense.

I'm not sure there was ever any Bertie-hating, to be honest. People may have pointed out his links to OP, expressed dissatisfaction at his choice to ride for Bruyneel, and showed some sceptisism at his dominant performance, but no cyclist has ever provoked a reaction in the same way as LA has.

I think it's just down to personalities. One is likable, the other one isn't.

eh

I like Bertie because he's quite exciting to watch and not as creepy as someone like Di Luca, don't trust him though.

+1, except I kinda liked Di Luca for his riding style even though I was 99% certain he wasn't clean.

andyp

Oh to be perfect and have consistent views throughout life.

RichN95.

TakeTheHighRoad wrote:

I trust him as much as I trust Allan Davis. That is to say he was part of Liberty Seguros, so god knows what went on with each individual rider (apart from maybe Bella Jorg et al who have confessed) and he found solace in a DS who's been known to look the other way (Bruyneel). It's just that Davis got unlucky at the end of 07, seems 2nd in MSR wasn't enough!

In defence of Allan Davis, he immediately offered his DNA for comparison with blood bags and was quite insistent that they do it, which they never did.

takethehighroad

Yeah, I'm not saying anything against Davis, just that his and Contador's situation are simliar in my eyes.

SpaceJunk

I used to hate AC, and then LA came back.

So now I love AC because I hate LA. (Just kidding ).

SunWuKong

DaveyL wrote:

PS I don't like either of them :-)

Kind of +1 although he seems a nice bloke (AC that is) I just find his performances too good (IMO).

iainf72 wrote:

I like Bertie because he's quite exciting to watch and not as creepy as someone like Di Luca, don't trust him though.

Come on Iain what is creepy about attacking. I really liked Di Luca's racing, I never thought he was clean mind.

DaveyL

frenchfighter wrote:

lots of stuff

And your point is?