The entire Kimmage / Flandis interview

iainf72
iainf72 Posts: 15,784
edited February 2011 in Pro race
Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
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Comments

  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    If the comments about the NYVelocity version are correct, the version published in the Sunday Times yesterday is different from the one on the web. There are supposedly some comments on Pereiro and del Moral which I cannot find in the printed version. Anyone care to confirm?
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • Neil McC
    Neil McC Posts: 625
    What Andy P has posted is the Sunday Times Mag article.

    Iain F has posted the full q&a format interview transcript, which was edited down and written in an article format for The Sunday Times. Therefore there will be a lot more info in the link Iain F posted.
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Yeah I'm reading the NY Velocity link and he's just dropped Pereiro in it.

    Dennisn will be happy with this quote (he won't read the article, obviously, so I'll paste it here): "I mean, I don’t think that there is any way that someone who has never met could get even a remotely accurate picture of me."
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,069
    Neil McC wrote:
    What Andy P has posted is the Sunday Times Mag article.

    Iain F has posted the full q&a format interview transcript, which was edited down and written in an article format for The Sunday Times. Therefore there will be a lot more info in the link Iain F posted.

    Fail on my part. I'd opened but not read Iain's link.

    Discard mine, unless you want a teaser about Elton John. :wink:
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    I think the whole thing is an amazing read.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,244
    iainf72 wrote:
    I think the whole thing is an amazing read.

    What do you like about it specifically?
  • Amazing in what sense? Revelatory, unbelievable, other?
  • frenchfighter
    frenchfighter Posts: 30,642
    Copied it into word to print off and read on the way home....over 25,000 words :shock:

    I wonder how long someone took to type that up...
    Contador is the Greatest
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,244
    Copied it into word to print off and read on the way home....over 25,000 words :shock:

    I wonder how long someone took to type that up...

    Ah, the old office intern/ monkey.
  • DaveyL
    DaveyL Posts: 5,167
    Here's the only bit you need, Frenchie:

    Later, in the same speech he said: “The people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics, the sceptics; I feel sorry for you. I’m sorry you can’t dream big and I’m sorry you don’t believe in miracles. This is one hell of a race, this is a great sporting event and you should believe in these athletes and you should believe in these people. I’m a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live and there are no secrets; this is the hardest sporting event and hard work wins it. So Vive le Tour forever.” So there are no secrets?

    What he meant by there are no secrets is…There is a parallel world where the fans see what’s put in front of them and appreciate it for what they believe it to be and beside it is the peloton who know the real story. Therefore there are no secrets within the peloton, management, the UCI and anyone with a financial interest in cycling. That’s how he justified saying all the things he said. The same could be said of me to some extent.
    Le Blaireau (1)
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Amazing in what sense? Revelatory, unbelievable, other?

    All those. Required reading for any cycling fan.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • The tale of the unpaid salary tells pretty much the whole story (if true) ...

    Although the part about the strip club etc. Is pretty weak ... As though somehow trying to convince us that a man who can break rules or have a (perceived) shady moral standpoint in easily relatable instances can (and must) break rules in every part of his life ...

    Seems more like floyd's religious upbringing shaped him more than he thought ...
  • afx237vi
    afx237vi Posts: 12,630
    Just finished reading the whole thing. Thought it was fascinating. There's nothing particularly revelatory apart from implicating Pereiro and Boogerd (gee, two big surprises there) and hiring del Moral when he was on Phonak, but it goes a long way to explain why Floyd made the decisions he did.

    The conversational style and the lack of editing made it much more candid than a normal print interview. Kimmage really knows how to get his subjects to open up without pushing too hard.

    Vaughters doesn't come out of it too well, though.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    afx237vi wrote:

    Vaughters doesn't come out of it too well, though.

    He does, if only relative to all the other ***holes.

    Interesting bit about St Dave's 'half truth'....
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • dennisn
    dennisn Posts: 10,601
    afx237vi wrote:
    Yeah I'm reading the NY Velocity link and he's just dropped Pereiro in it.

    Dennisn will be happy with this quote (he won't read the article, obviously, so I'll paste it here): "I mean, I don’t think that there is any way that someone who has never met could get even a remotely accurate picture of me."


    Well, I wouldn't say it made me "happy", but I do agree.
  • Kimmage wrote up the notes after he came back - took him over 1 week to write them up ..

    Two things to say on this -
    a) It is Floyds story. Is is true ... we will never know! And God knows people will be coming out of the woodwork to discredit him on it. But he has taken his opportunity to have his say as a matter of record. I read it all (2hrs!) and think people should read it all as he says it is complex - the doping issue is big complex problem. Cherry picking the gossip for headlines n scoring points is not what this is about.

    b) On the last point the much discussed story of blood bags flushed down jacks is denied! He explains that people tooks various facts and prob mashed them together incorrectly ... that seems to go on a lot!!! More reason why people need to read the full story. But again it is only Floyds side of event ...
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Kimmage wrote up the notes after he came back - took him over 1 week to write them up ..

    Two things to say on this -
    a) It is Floyds story. Is is true ... we will never know! And God knows people will be coming out of the woodwork to discredit him on it. But he has taken his opportunity to have his say as a matter of record. I read it all (2hrs!) and think people should read it all as he says it is complex - the doping issue is big complex problem. Cherry picking the gossip for headlines n scoring points is not what this is about.

    b) On the last point the much discussed story of blood bags flushed down jacks is denied! He explains that people tooks various facts and prob mashed them together incorrectly ... that seems to go on a lot!!! More reason why people need to read the full story. But again it is only Floyds side of event ...

    The fact he rubbishes this oft-quoted anecdote makes the rest of it even more believable.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • dave_1
    dave_1 Posts: 9,512
    it's a very interesting read. No many come out of it well. I hope FL builds a good future away from this lousy sport
  • Lets hope that cycling journalists put as much focus on lifting the lid on corruption in UCI as fingering riders! No more soft questions for Pat. Start off by asking how a man liek Verbruggen can sit on any cycling board given his past statements on doping and current aqusations ..?!
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    Do I need to read the whole thing or can I get the gist from the Sunday Times article?! 0:-)
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    ddraver wrote:
    Do I need to read the whole thing or can I get the gist from the Sunday Times article?! 0:-)

    You need to read it if you're interested in pro cycling. If you're not, read the ST article.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,348
    humph!! 25,000 words - feels like I'm at work!
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • donrhummy
    donrhummy Posts: 2,329
    The most interesting part? When Floyd talks about how he KNEW Pereiro also was a doper because he'd seen him dope when they were teammates.

    I always did think it a bit ridiculous that people were fine saying that Pereiro was cheated by Floyd since how could they be so sure he hadn't also doped? (And really, without Floyd giving him 30 minutes on the peloton, he wouldn't have even been near the podium).
  • wicked
    wicked Posts: 844
    So do we think that Landis is lacking credibility now?
    It’s the most beautiful sport in the world but it’s governed by ***ts who have turned it into a crock of ****.
  • ratsbeyfus
    ratsbeyfus Posts: 2,841
    Crikey that's long... I can only manage one half of it tonight... did I read the bit right about the peleton chat in 2006 where Oscar syas he still had a bag of blood to use prior to the last TT, but Floyd was still confident he'd win the time back? Sheeeesh.


    I had one of them red bikes but I don't any more. Sad face.

    @ratsbey
  • TheBigBean
    TheBigBean Posts: 20,511
    Overall, I found it quite a sad read: the breakdown of his marriage, his own mental deterioration, the widespread doping and the ICC's less than positive approach. I'm not sure there is anything especially new here (perhaps the bits about Pereiro although I find it amusing that doping was so endemic that one cyclist would brag to another that he still had a bag of blood left), but it is definitely worth reading for the detail and to gain a better understanding of Floyd.

    The only part where I still think he is being lenient with the truth is the testosterone test, but to be honest I think this is in an attempt to avoid perjury charges, and so I will forgive him for this.

    Perhaps one day the ICC will launch the sort of crackdown required to clean things up. A good place to start would be the plasticizers test. They could retest last year's samples, ban half the peleton and then move on, but they won't. As Floyd says in the interview, punishing Armstrong without wide spread changes would not really be a satisfying conclusion. I suspect he will remain unsatisfied which is why he should take the final advice of Kimmage and try to stay away from cycling.
  • wasabi_m
    wasabi_m Posts: 164
    nyvelocity link doesnt seem to be working, could just be traffic. anyone read it elsewhere?
  • Gazzetta67
    Gazzetta67 Posts: 1,890
    Sadly i think all the headlines will be swept under the carpet. MONEY & POWER allways wins.

    Pro-Cycling is stale and with dinosaurs like Pat McQuaid and his brother and all the other cronies getting "Jolly`s" by the back door the sport WONT move on. I mean what other sport in the world allows a "Athlete" to donate money to buy a drug testing machine and come out of it smelling as roses. Pro-Cycling stinks just now. The UCI must think we all button up from the back.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 21,741
    edited January 2011
    Might be me. I had the link open for most of the day, dipping in, but I still haven't read the final quarter. :oops:
    The site is definitely down, which should be good for another conspiracy theory or two.

    Oh, not for the faint hearted. The peloton in a parallel world. Riders named and shamed.
    I like the fact that he called Armstrong stupid for chasing Simeoni down, as they wouldn't be able to explain it away.
    Not wrong there.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.