Essential reading from Brad McGee

iainf72

http://www.theage.com.au/sport/cycling/ ... 28aif.html

Richmond Racer

Just read that. Good stuff from McGee. Interesting to read yet another article/statement where riding on CSC did not automatically mean that the rider went down the wrong path. At a time when the ex-dopers confessional statements contain lots of 'I had no choice' - a very notable exception being Bobby J's yesterday - good to see a riposte from someone who says he had plenty of opportunities but said no each time.

MrTapir

Richmond Racer wrote:

Just read that. Good stuff from McGee. Interesting to read yet another article/statement where riding on CSC did NOT automatically mean that the rider went down the wrong path. At a time when the ex-dopers confessional statements contain lots of 'I had no choice' - a very notable exception being Bobby J's yesterday - good to see a riposte from someone who says he had plenty of opportunities but said no each time.

Did you forget the 'not' where I've added it above in your quote? Not being a git about it or anything.

Also what McGee says about people offering it to him and then later on saying that he was right, I think that there must be a tipping point in the peloton where there are enough people that are like McGee to encourage people down the right path. Also in the Armstrong years, the big cheese of the peloton was a massive bullying doper. But now, when the guys are people like Wiggins and Millar, and there are young guys like Kittel who are obviously passionate about their sport being non-doping, weell thats good and it can only encourage things to be clean and drug free, not totally but enough that the dopers and doping apologists are a big minority.

Richmond Racer

MrTapir wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Just read that. Good stuff from McGee. Interesting to read yet another article/statement where riding on CSC did NOT automatically mean that the rider went down the wrong path. At a time when the ex-dopers confessional statements contain lots of 'I had no choice' - a very notable exception being Bobby J's yesterday - good to see a riposte from someone who says he had plenty of opportunities but said no each time.

Did you forget the 'not' where I've added it above in your quote? Not being a git about it or anything.

Also what McGee says about people offering it to him and then later on saying that he was right, I think that there must be a tipping point in the peloton where there are enough people that are like McGee to encourage people down the right path. Also in the Armstrong years, the big cheese of the peloton was a massive bullying doper. But now, when the guys are people like Wiggins and Millar, and there are young guys like Kittel who are obviously passionate about their sport being non-doping, weell thats good and it can only encourage things to be clean and drug free, not totally but enough that the dopers and doping apologists are a big minority.

I did indeed forget the crucial word 'not' - thanks for pointing that out - I'll edit it now :oops:

On your point about riders, I've written this in another post but riders so appear to be speaking out more - younger guys coming through will over time replace the older guys who grew up in a peloton where a major no-no was to 'spit in the soup'.

Pross

Very good article and taking it at face value I found his comments on Saxo interesting as they are one of the teams I'm always wary of (although I guess the riders can do their own thing without him knowing!). Also, the comments about the change of attitude in French teams after Festina was interesting. I guess once these things become legal matters the risk starts to look disproportianate to the reward.

Graculus

That is a good article - pity about the Google advert at the bottom selling EPO boosts for cyclists...

timoid.

This is by a stretch the best article I've read on the fallout from the Armstrong case.

Pross

So where do we think Saxo as a team stands then? On one hand we have a very anti-doping DS and the other a very dodgy owner, unrepentant convicted doper team leader, dodgy team manager and lots of insinuation that the team is one of the most questionable in the peloton!

No_Ta_Doctor

Pross wrote:

So where do we think Saxo as a team stands then? On one hand we have a very anti-doping DS and the other a very dodgy owner, unrepentant convicted doper team leader, dodgy team manager and lots of insinuation that the team is one of the most questionable in the peloton!

And don't forget the team star and his dodgy steak.

There could well be a two-level thing going on in the team, hidden from McGee. Not systematic doping of the team, just a bit of networking and individual doping, enabled by a couple of key players. If you wanted to be cynical about it you might suggest McGee is there to offer credibility.

Just idle speculation on my part, but there's too much out there about Riis to be all that confident about the team as a whole.

Richmond Racer

No tA Doctor wrote:

Pross wrote:

So where do we think Saxo as a team stands then? On one hand we have a very anti-doping DS and the other a very dodgy owner, unrepentant convicted doper team leader, dodgy team manager and lots of insinuation that the team is one of the most questionable in the peloton!

And don't forget the team star and his dodgy steak.

There could well be a two-level thing going on in the team, hidden from McGee. Not systematic doping of the team, just a bit of networking and individual doping, enabled by a couple of key players. If you wanted to be cynical about it you might suggest McGee is there to offer credibility.

Just idle speculation on my part, but there's too much out there about Riis to be all that confident about the team as a whole.

I'd agree. And similar team-within-a team set-up at CSC. Unless you want to discredit everything Hamilton says in his book. I dont believe Riis would have changed his approach with Saxo.

richard wants a baum

His spoken to an Australian Cycling Mag, Ride Cycling Review and has said he will answer questions if anyone has them look it up on facebook if you want to ask anything.

Pross

Any chance he'll move to Green Edge or even Sky? I suspect both those teams would like an anti-doping DS at present and he might what to move to a more reputable team.

Squirrelpie

Could be that only the team leaders get anything other than training. Then there is no chance of witnesses and if you change and want to speak out later in life then your alone. Or this is just PR.

I couldn't work for Saxo Tinkoff, I would have two many doubts.

bipedal

The best that can be said about Riis is that he doesn't appear to have engaged in organised institutional doping at CSC/SAXO nor does he appear to have pressurised riders into doping if they weren't inclined to do so. However, against this he either knowingly turned a blind eye or actively encouraged the seeking of "training plans" from dodgy doctors by his top riders if they were inclined to do so. In addition, one has to question whether it was simply budgetary limitations that prevented him going Postal. The arms-length approach of course places all the risk on the rider, but also increases the likelihood of mistakes and of them getting caught out. For me, there's no reason to believe that Riis's current team leader's preparations aren't being viewed in the same way as those of Hamilton, Basso and Schleck-the-Elder: "just let him get on with it and the less I know to incriminate me the better".

iainf72

More from Brad

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/bra ... he-present

The dude is a hero.

andrewjoseph

he didn't believe hamilton and landis at first, obvious lies. But he only believed when frankie andreu and hincapie spoke up.

There were other believable people speaking up, Betsy for one and she wasn't trying to cover up her own drugs bust.

I'm not sure about McGee, especially when he talks up Bertie. I know I have a bias against Bertie, but I find the idea that he is clean very hard to accept.