Drugs in other sports and the media.

blazing_saddles

Here's the Google translation for those who can't be arsed.

I can't copy the emails, but they are in English.

I trapped Antoine Vayer and Thierry Vildary: emails

Here, I propose in full the emails exchanged between me, Dimitra, and Thierry Vildary / Antoine Vayer. I propose the following three parts: first I expose the scenario, so that the reading of the emails is easy. Then will come the emails, without cuts, without editing, raw, accompanied by an explanatory commentary each time. And finally a brief conclusion.

The Trap Scenario

For me, it was a question of pursuing a simple objective: to make Thierry Vildary speak. For years, I saw him accuse wrongly and through many cyclists. Cast suspicion. But without ever a "business" being pushed to completion. For a decade now, this investigative journalist who calls himself "the best underground French anti-doping agency" has been promising us daunting revelations concerning the use of engines in the peloton. So I wanted to know if I was dealing with a real specialist, a crack, or a show-off.

To do this, I had to build a fictional character. And leave nothing to chance. So I chose to call myself Dimitra, hacker from Eastern countries, member of the famous Russian group Fancy Bears. The latter had been talked about during the Rio Olympics in 2016, by making public a list (extremely dubious, full of errors) of medical prescriptions supposedly for use by cyclists during the Olympic events. My character is therefore that of a woman, young, speaking English. This is not insignificant: I know that by choosing to be a woman, I will establish the feeling of superiority that Thierry Vildary enjoys. Untouchable mogul at France Télévisions, convinced of being a leading investigative journalist, I think I understand the profile of the animal. Being contacted by a woman will flatter him, make him less cautious, and therefore make him talk more easily.

The scenario becomes a little more Hollywood then. Dimitra and the Fancy Bears group are employed by a Russian oil tycoon, who reportedly lives in Boston and would like to invest in professional cycling for the long term. His goal: to win the Tour de France with a French rider shortly. For that, he thinks first of all having to clean cycling of the doped that abound there (this is what will allow me to stall on the speech of Vildary / Vayer). He would therefore have used Dimitra and his Fancy Bears team, during the 2020 Tour, to hack the Telegram conversations of riders, staff, etc.

It is therefore a question of making Thierry Vildary (then Antoine Vayer) believe that the Russian oil magnate has set up a shock commando team and that the latter has a mess of information, collected during the 21 days of the Tour 2020 , on the alleged massive doping of the main teams of the peloton.

The storyline is pretty crazy. If, during the conversations, Thierry Vildary puts the forms claiming to have to verify the information, in less than 7 days of exchange, from a simple gmail address (!), he will have:
– delivered the name of the team of “specialists” with whom he works
– flagged up by writing black on white have evidence concerning technological or traditional doping at UAE and Ineos / Sky
– had an accomplice Antoine Vayer publish a fake news out of my imagination on Twitter without ANY verification
– revealed which clan of which pro cyclist he works with
– drooled a little (a lot) on his colleagues from France Télévisions (Voeckler, Offredo, Jalabert)
– offered BY HIMSELF to investigate an alleged mechanical doping (again totally invented) of his colleague Laurent Jalabert

Some, convinced of the integrity of the Vildary/Vayer duo, will find in the content of the emails that will follow material to defend them. I wonder, however, what credit can such an unscrupulous "investigative journalist" have, even though he claims to be cautious. Still, I understand better why no serious business really came out under his patronage. Cheaters, the real ones, can rest easy. I also wonder what credit Antoine Vayer can have with the press and the general public, he who is ready to lie with his accomplice, live, inventing an incredible affair of a new revolutionary doping product. I wonder why the Marseille Public Prosecutor's Office continues to blindly and systematically follow the drilled pipes of people who have not produced any results. Professional cycling has a good face of ideal culprit, especially when it is not French. “Them” are doping, “we” are clean. Moreover, during the conversation, to accuse Julian Alaphilippe of doping, Vayer will say "Julian is Belgian". CQFD.

Additional remark 1: To be credible in the eyes of our two Sherlocks, I obviously had to be precise, quoting the names of riders, staffs, teams, to make believe that I had explosive information concerning them. I therefore specify and declare on my honor that NONE of the lunar information that I mention in the emails is true. None, not one. I simply stuck to what I know of the respective speeches of Vildary and Vayer, of their whims, of their obsessions. I take this opportunity to apologize to these riders, to these teams, for having had to mention their names by associating them with heavy doping. I had to show my credentials to hook the two friends. When, for example, I mention Laurent Jalabert, I do not do it to harm him, simply to provoke a reaction from Thierry Vildary towards his colleague, and to see how far he can go. So I repeat, everything is fake, invented, based on the madness of the two accomplices. Let no one venture to think that even a tiny percentage of what follows is true. Everything is the fruit of my imagination, a bit fruitful.

Additional note 2: In the same vein, I am overcome with remorse when I see that Vayer, convinced that the author of the trap is the Bahrain physio Victorious, has been pursuing him and his team with his hatred for more than a year. . I deeply regret that through the fault of the exchange of emails that you are about to read (and therefore my fault...), the team had to undergo two searches, unjustified bad press. I must recognize here, in all transparency, a big risk of failure: my goal was to discredit two investigators who I knew were mediocre or even ill-intentioned, and to restore credit to professional cyclists who are too often easily singled out. I couldn't imagine that Antoine Vayer was going to decide to settle a visibly old account with Bahrain and his physiotherapist, and at the same time throw shame on an entire formation. I regret that because of this trap, the team physio has to suffer the repercussions of the thing, simply because Antoine Vayer decided that the instigator was him. Once again, I declare on my honor that I am not this person, and that I acted alone.

Additional note 3: I imagine that from now on, the hatred of Antoine Vayer will shift towards me. So I imagine that one fine morning the police, ordered by the Marseille Public Prosecutor's Office, will come and seize my computer, my mobile phone, etc. It is the natural sequence of things. I will not flee, I will not change my phone or my computer. I set up this trap, I believe, for morally just purposes. I got a flagrant lie. I obtained the conviction that I had to do with a passably bad journalist, intellectually limited, boastful, obsessed with a chimera, and an embittered madman, ready to lie in order to shine. If I have to fall, legally speaking, for this, so be it. I will take morality with me.

blazing_saddles

Here's the bit everybody will be interested in:

What about Vildary/Vayer's credibility?

So we have seen it, Thierry Vildary and Antoine Vayer published gross fake news, live. The AK47 remains the main case of the exchange I reproduced above. For a simple reason: it totally discredits the claims of these two characters, whatever the case. It reveals the level of ethics of these two so-called experts, whose potential for harm is inversely proportional to their actual level of information. I do not know if they are deeply dishonest, or simply blinded by their pursuit of cheaters, but the result is there: they are able to lie in public, even if it means ruining the reputation of the people they accuse. This should encourage the greatest caution when information from them comes out in the press.

I obviously also wonder about the credibility of a journalist like Thierry Vildary. I wanted to make him speak, he spoke, without my even forcing him. Apart from the huge security flaws this implies in the quality of the information of a supposed investigative journalist, it says a lot about the psychology of the character. I'm not sure that in the future I will have to trust the information of a man so easily manipulated, who in less than 24 hours throws out the names of his sources, does not verify anything that is told to him and, once again, publishes information through a third party that it has absolutely not verified. How not to doubt such an individual? How not to wonder if he has not, for example, been manipulated for years by Varjas, who claims we have seen him hold the truth about the presence of motors in the bicycle? Thierry Vildary doesn't check anything, doesn't even seem to understand a pedaling rhythm, speaks wobbly English, communicates (with difficulty) from a gmail address. His credulity and amateurism never cease to amaze me. And yet it is to him that we entrust, in an extremely watched Stade2 on the evening of the arrival of the Tour de France, the care of throwing up a little on Tadej Pogacar, winner of the Tour. What is its legitimacy? Where are, for 10 years, his major information having led to major cases?

I insist on this because a journalist of this magnitude has enormous potential for shaping public opinion. This, especially in France, is fed with the tweets/chronicles of Antoine Vayer and the slanderous reports of Thierry Vildary. It is therefore no coincidence, in my opinion, that French public opinion is sometimes so hateful towards cyclists. With the disclosure of these exchanges, I would simply like to show that everything that comes out of the mouths of these two individuals is not gospel. And the fact that I find whole sections of my emails in the French national and regional press presented as verified information sends shivers down my spine. This is not information. It's intoxication.

shirley_basso

Google Chrome will auto translate so no need to copy paste all here.

It's an insane story.

mididoctors

johnmorgandarlingtongP6WYj2Y said:

I’d say there was a case for banning drug testing.

(Ducks)

Those who can afford a better training regime already have an advantage over those who can’t. Other than the potential harm that drugs do to a body, and you could argue that the levels athletes are pushing for do damage anyway, is drug use for advantage any different?

Would a ‘level playing field’ of ‘use what you want’ be better than trying to chase testing for ever-emerging drug technologies?

No

TheBigBean

shirley_basso said:

Google Chrome will auto translate so no need to copy paste all here.

It's an insane story.

Other browsers are available.

shirley_basso

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

Google Chrome will auto translate so no need to copy paste all here.

It's an insane story.

Other browsers are available.

Yeah but who uses them?

TheBigBean

shirley_basso said:

TheBigBean said:

shirley_basso said:

Google Chrome will auto translate so no need to copy paste all here.

It's an insane story.

Other browsers are available.

Yeah but who uses them?

I wanted to say most people, but it is only about 35% of people.

RichN95.

shirley_basso said:

Google Chrome will auto translate so no need to copy paste all here.

It's an insane story.

It's bizarre that any respectable journalist would give those e-mails a second look. Fancy Bears never had any interest in cycling. They work on politics, only once taking a diversion into the Olympics after Russia were banned. I think the journo's ego got the better of him.

bobmcstuff

Vayer's a respectable journalist?

RichN95.

bobmcstuff said:

Vayer's a respectable journalist?

I was thinking of the other bloke, who has a big platform on French TV. He was the main driver of the motors story and informs a lot of a French opinion.

focuszing723

The Rolling Stones have been going sixty years, SIXTY! Basically, if you want to stay slim, live a long time and be rich, take loads of drugs.

Personally I have the odd alcoholic beverage, god I've fvcked up.

focuszing723

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ruTMp4_sy1E
I mean look at this, and they're still slim, rich and going.

seanoconn

focuszing723 said:

The Rolling Stones have been going sixty years, SIXTY! Basically, if you want to stay slim, live a long time and be rich, take loads of drugs.

Blood transfusions is where it’s at for the old and rich.

Basically Vampirism.

shinyhelmut

Meanwhile in athletics…

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/62148549

Silver in the 800m at London behind David Rudisha’s world record run, =3rd fastest of all time. Commonwealth gold in ‘14.

Positive for GW1516 two days before the world championships.

Pross

The fact that someone would use a product linked to causing cancer in tests is why we shouldn't go down the 'let them use what they want' route that you sometimes see people advocate as a solution to doping in sport.

shirley_basso

Lopez involved in drug traffiking investigation.

https://www.velonews.com/news/road/astanas-miguel-angel-lopez-linked-to-drug-trafficking-investigation/

Sorry I can't find the cycling doping thread. Astana have suspended him according to their twitter.

focuszing723

I hate what it's doing to the game of golf, hate it. I really do. It's going to be hard for me to stomach going to Wentworth in a couple of weeks' time and seeing 18 of them there. That just doesn't sit right with me.

So yeah, I feel strongly. I believe what I'm saying are the right things and I think when you believe that what you're saying is the right thing, you're happy to stick your neck out on the line."

Look, it's been a tumultuous time for the world of men's professional golf in particular I've been right in the middle of it. I've picked a great time to go on the PGA Tour board. But yeah, I've been in the thick of things. I guess every chance I get, I'm trying to defend what I feel is the best place to play elite professional golf in the world.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/golf/62712440

Mcllroy's speaks out again on the Liv tour after winning the FedEx Cup for the third time.

Pross

Not sure what that has to do with doping.

focuszing723

Pross said:

Not sure what that has to do with doping.

Money is one of the most powerful drugs, "Liv Tour".

pblakeney

I thought Liv is the drug. 😉

focuszing723

Golf pro's aren't joining it because they want to win the nostalgic/historic event.

andyrac

https://www.crash.net/motogp/news/1012936/1/gritty-marc-marquez-painkillers-i-have-three-days-recover

hanshotfirst

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/63146437

'The British Boxing Board of Control says Saturday's fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr is "prohibited and not in the interests of boxing".

Benn, 26, has returned an "adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug", promoters have said.'

wakemalcolm

Sadly not the biggest drugs story of the day (& I'm quite willing to consider Portuguese cycling as 'other sports')
https://www.cyclingweekly.com/racing/seven-portugese-riders-banned-over-doping

Pross

hanshotfirst said:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/boxing/63146437

'The British Boxing Board of Control says Saturday's fight between Conor Benn and Chris Eubank Jr is "prohibited and not in the interests of boxing".

Benn, 26, has returned an "adverse analytical finding for trace amounts of a fertility drug", promoters have said.'

Are they worried Eubank might get him pregnant?

m.r.m.

While I'm sure you're joking, it's a testosterone masking agent usually. 😉

rick_chasey

Chess is going through the equivalent.

I think it was cosmo catalano who was saying it’s like 90s doping where they can’t prove the cheating but they can measure the outputs and have decided the outputs and circumstantial evidence is enough to stop him playing.

RichN95.

A big bust in tennis. Simona Halep - former world number 1, current number 9 - tested positive for Roxadustat which seems to be some orally taken blood booster

Dorset_Boy

RichN95. said:

A big bust in tennis. Simona Halep - former world number 1, current number 9 - tested positive for Roxadustat which seems to be some orally taken blood booster

A drug for anaemia aparently

RichN95.

Dorset_Boy said:

RichN95. said:

A big bust in tennis. Simona Halep - former world number 1, current number 9 - tested positive for Roxadustat which seems to be some orally taken blood booster

A drug for anaemia aparently

It seems to be some sort of oral EPO equivalent. It won't be doping though, tennis is a skill sport, like football.