What happened here after? Sounds like a great attack by Sastre and co.
I felt sorry for David Duffield on Newstalk last night. He was almost in tears about Vino in the interview. Is it true that the Astana team is funded by the Kazahk (spelling?) nation or something? He was saying he’s unbelievably upset that Vino has betrayed his own people. He still believes Rasmussen is innocent - he’s literally clinging on to the hope that it’ll be sorted. I’m not so sure despite rocko and piper’s stories of clean ups - that’s two of the most emminent racers embroiled in dope scandals during this year’s race.
Vino’s amazing stage win on Monday after losing 28 minutes on Sunday now bears all the hallmarks of Landis’ superhuman recovery last year the day after he cracked.
Sastre was caught with about 8 km to go. Great effort from him and I knew he was saving himself for one day. He could have won the whole thing today but Discovery and Rabobank were just too strong. Ras ended up taking another 45 seconds or so out of Contador.
Duffield is a denier. He is ignoring all the facts in the Rasmussen debate - I have no faith in him at all. I don’t believe that the sport is squeaky clean but there are concerted efforts now to catch the dopers. It’s hard to pick clean winners of the Tour in the past 20 years but none of them tested positive. We know now that Rijs was doping for example. If he was leading the Tour this year they’d be doing their best to catch him out. At the time I’d say they were happy to turn a blind eye.
Christophe Moreni has tested positive as well. Not a big name but it will be interesting to see whether the organisers ask Cofidis to leave the race as they did with Astana.
Cofidis are indeed out of the tour now. This is a positive development for the sport - if a rider in the team fails a drug test then the whole team is taking the responsibility for his actions - not the blame but the responsibility. Hopefully this results in the clean riders joining the clean teams and a culture of acceptance and tolerance of steroids is banished.
Also in a move you don’t often see Moreni has admitted his guilt and has chosen not to avail of his right to have the B Sample tested.
Were Cofidis not part of the breakaway group for ethical cycling? Shame to see a clean team suffer if they were. Similarly I would have hate to have seen T Mobile leave the tour when one of their riders doped. Glad to see the back of Astana though.
I think they were alright. They were scathing in their criticism of Moreni yesterday.
Still not sure if Rabobank are pulling out or not.
A bit of a shame so. Has there been any reaction from Ras yet? I heard a report that a former rider claiming that he was staying at his mothers house at the time he said he was in Mexico. What has the coverage at home been like? Scathing I imagine.
Just after watching this piece from Australian TV rock. The link is youtube.com/watch?v=SHM3QF-Qrem. I found the protest that some teams made before stage 16 to be a positive development and wasn’t aware of it. More and more pressure should be put on those teams which haven’t cleaned up their act to do so.
As an aside I am reading Lance Armstrong’s book Every Second Counts. I want to read this before I read David Walsh’s book on him. About three quarters of the way through it. He very defintiely denies doping. Its not a great read to be honest. Armstrong is a good friend of David Millars. It makes Millars reaction to Vino’s positive test all the more interesting.
I’ve neen away Piper so missed some of the aftermath of the Tour but I see Mayo was done for doping. We both speculated above that he was guilty as sin so it doesn’t really surprise me. Also there are documents from Operacion Puerto being leaked that have Contador’s name on them so I don’t think there’s anything to prove against him at the moment but they’re definitely trying to muddy the waters on him a bit. I’ve no faith in him either.
Interested to see what you make of Armstrong after reading both books. My mind is made up.
I didn’t know Mayo was done. Pretty clear he was on something. Whats becoming clearer to me all the time is the link between the team and the actions of riders. In some teams like Saunier Duval it seems to be accepted if not encouraged. Hence the actions of Di Luca, Ricco, Mayo. On other teams effort is being put in (maybe not enough) to make it harder for their riders to dope. There is a gap opening up between these factions. In the past cycling stood as one in turning a blind eye to doping. This is no longer the case with a concerted effort being made by a half dozen or so teams to rid cycling of this curse. Perhaps a breakaway (no pun intended) organisation is the way forward.
I finished Every Second Counts and Armstrong stronly denies doping. His argument can be almost uniquely convincing in that he stresses after having cancer and come close to death why would he endager his life again by doping. He gives half a page of the book on his relationship with Ferrari where he stresses the doctor had a consultative role and nothing has been proved against him. The fact that Armstrong appears to have the closest relationship with Tyler Halminton and David Millar outwith anyone on his team though is damming. On another note quite amazingly Armstrong refuses to applaud Ullrich for waiting for him after his crash in the 2003 tour (where Ullrich came closest to beating Armstrong in the GC). The American claims he isn’t convinced Ullrich waited and says he raced at race tempo and only slowed down after Tyler started shouting at everybody. Doesn’t look like that to me. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DQDjqAKLUBO
Yeah I think we both called in on Saunier Duval. Di Luca hasn’t been done yet but they’re investigating abnormalities and he’s guilty as sin.
I can’t watch that clip in work but from memory Ullrich clearly waited for Armstrong when he crashed. I think the Ferrari thing hugely undermines any claims Armstrong has at innocence. Why would he have a doper as a consultant? Vino said the same thing about Ferrari before this year’s Tour and thankfully he was caught.
Yeah even if only because of the perception that would be given Armstrong shouldn’t have worked with Ferrari. Looking forward to reading Walsh’s book (hope I can get a copy). He has one over here about Landis and Armstrong’s ‘doping’ that I don’t think is avalaible in Ireland. What are your thoughts on possibility of some sort of breakaway by the clean teams? Only my own idea but I think it would be best way to further clean up sport. No matter what the consequences some teams still seem keen to dope.
I think that book came out during the Tour over here. Not 100% sure though.
I think a breakaway is needed alright and I think there will effectively be one. At the moment there’s a power struggle between the UCI and the organisers of the Tour. Le Tour are saying that if UCI had told them about Rasmussen’s missed test that they’d have barred him from taking part and are suggesting the UCI kept this hidden from them. Because the Tour entry is based on invitation they have the power to ban riders and teams who are under suspicion and not just those who have been found guilty - like when they banned Basso and Ullrich last year.
So I would guess that next year they will only invite teams who have signed up to a new anti-doping protocol and part of this will give the right to Le Tour to implement stricter rules: e.g. you miss one test and you’re gone. This will effectively cause a split in the sport between those teams affiliated with Le Tour and the other Pro Tour teams and the Pro Tour will just die a death or become a sideshow without being eligible for the Tour de France.
Much will depend on getting the support of the Giro d’Italia though.
On a separate note Alberto Contador has been banned from the latest pro-cycling event (the Hamburg Classic) because of his links with Operacio Puerto.
More significantly probably Kashechkin failed a test for blood doping after the Tour (same failure as Vino) and will now be banned for 2 years.
Interesting sponsorship news over the past couple of days:
T Mobile announced that they will continue with their sponsorship of their team for the next 3 years. They acknowledged the problems in cycling and stated that they are determined to help clean up the sport.
Lance Armstrong’s team (Discovery, formerly US Postal) have not been able to find a new sponsor so they’re folding. Hard to believe they couldn’t find a sponsor as they’ve just won another Tour but they’re obviously unsure of their future role in sport. Amrstrong said they may return when the sport is more “unified.” Seems to me that he thinks they’ll be caught on the wrong side of any ethical split which is what I’d expect too. Glad to see the back of them to be honest.
Interesting sponsorship news over the past couple of days:
T Mobile announced that they will continue with their sponsorship of their team for the next 3 years. They acknowledged the problems in cycling and stated that they are determined to help clean up the sport.
Lance Armstrong’s team (Discovery, formerly US Postal) have not been able to find a new sponsor so they’re folding. Hard to believe they couldn’t find a sponsor as they’ve just won another Tour but they’re obviously unsure of their future role in sport. Amrstrong said they may return when the sport is more “unified.” Seems to me that he thinks they’ll be caught on the wrong side of any ethical split which is what I’d expect too. Glad to see the back of them to be honest.
Delighted with both pieces of news. Fair play to T Mobile it would have been very easy for them to run away from this now that the sport is getting very bad PR. Doesn’t make much commercial sense for them imo but maybe i’m wrong. They are leading efforts to clean up sport. Very surprised about Discovery folding. Your theory on them been on the wrong side of ethical split seems logical. Kesh doping is hardly a surprise. It seems Astana were the worst culprits of all (with the possible exception of Discovery who just seem better at avoiding detection).
Yeah that’s the crux of it in your last sentence. Astana got caught doing what Discovery have been doing and I think Armstrong sees the situation as only getting more and more strict so he’s deciding to pull the plug now. Are we really supposed to believe that the most successful team in cycling by a country mile couldn’t find a new sponsor?
The World Anti Doping Agency has opened an investigation on Alberto Contador (Discovery Channel), winner of this years Tour de France, and his alleged involvement in Operation Peurto. WADA is working with ex-Liberty Seguros rider Jrg Jaksche, who admitted that he worked with the Spanish doctor while he was a team-mate of Contador at Liberty Seguros, after it received documents from German Professor Werner Franke that supposedly links the Spaniard to Dr. Eufemiano Fuentes.
Documents seized in the case are said to contain the letters A.C., which is allegedly the initials of Alberto Contador. Jaksche’s initials are also present on the document along side the doping products that he has admitted to using. “I don’t know if Contador was a client of Fuentes,” said Jaksche. “I only know that I used those doping products that are shown on that document.”
With this action, WADA is overturning the UCI’s earlier decision to acquit Contador of any involvement in the case.
Johan Bruyneel, Contador’s team manager, has serious doubts of the integrity of Professor Franke. “'He defended Danilo Hondo, when he was caught in the Tour of Murcia for using the banned substance Carphedon, if you ask me he only speaks the language of the person paying him,” said Bruyneel.
Molecular biologist Franke made his career in Germany through his investigation into systematic doping use of athletes in the former East-Germany. Franke, who has called Contador’s victory the “the greatest swindle in sporting history”, was forced earlier this year to with draw his comments over Jan Ullrich when the former cyclist took him to court.
Did you see Hincapie looks to be going to T Mobile rock? I thought they would be looking to sign riders with a bit of a cleaner pedigree though they are obviously looking for some experience in their young squad. Harsh to penalise Hincapie I suppose when their are few riders of his generation who we can be sure are clean. Problem with him for me is though that I wouldn’t be confident that he was even clean riding the last Tour.
Nicholas Roche seems to be having an excellent year. He had a very good Giro whe
re he had bad look and now seems to be riding very strongly. If he continues this he should be assured a ride in the Tour next year. Roche impresses in mountains
Tuesday, 14 August 2007 22:21
Following seventh place yesterday, Nicolas Roche showed more good form when he finished 16th on today’s tough mountain stage in the Tour de l’Ain.
The Irish Crdit Agricole rider crossed the line 5 minutes 52 seconds behind stage winner John Gadret (AG2r Prvoyance) on the 128 kilometre race.
He was pleased with his performance on the summit finish, as it illustrates his progression as a climber.
‘I was 16th on the mountain stage - my form is very good,’ said Roche.
'Myself and the team leader had to ride a bit on the climb because the front group split in two; six went ahead while myself and the team leader were with 15 others. I rode to close the gap [for him] and then just went at my own speed.
‘I am feeling a bit disappointed as chasing the other day killed me [he rode for most of the first stage on the front as his team missed an important break]. Without that I think I could have done even better.’
Gadret now leads the general classification by 39 seconds from his team-mate Ludovic Turpin.
Roche’s exertions on the first day had cost him a lot of time then; he is now 32nd overall, 14 minutes and 2 seconds back. His good performance today saw him move up 41 places from 63rd in the general classification.
The 2.1 ranked race concludes tomorrow with a 118.6 kilometre stage from St Genis Pouilly to Llex Monts Jura.
Good scoop for Irish cycling. CSC are probably the strongest team in world cycling at the moment.:
CSC confirmed for Tour of Ireland
Monday, 18 June 2007 16:07
The Tour of Ireland received a boost after Team CSC were confirmed for this year’s inaugural race, which takes place from 22-26 August.
Team CSC has won the UCI Pro-Tour team competition for the past two years and competes in the biggest events each season.
Team CSC currently has Andy Schleck, Stuart O’Grady and Frank Schleck in the UCI top 12 individual rider world rankings after the Giro D’Italia.
The team members for the Tour of Ireland will be announced at a later date and Director Sportif Kim Andersen, a previous winner in Ireland in the 1896 Nissan Classic, has a wealth of talent to choose from including big names like Fabian Cancellara, Bobby Julich and David Zabriske.
Youngster Andy Schleck has produced great results since be became a professional with CSC providing the team with second place overall in the Giro D’Italia when it finished in Milan on June.
Both Andy and Frank Schleck have been included in the CSC team for this race.