serpico7

So Patrik Sinkewitz is alleging that there was systematic doping at QuickStep during the five years he was there. The manager's response amounted to much less than a reassuring denial:

Lefevere was reluctant to respond to Sinkewitz' claims. "I am tired of having to react to all the gossip," he told sportwereld.be. "It is always the same sources playing around. They never supply proof. So I have nothing to say to Sinkewitz's statements or any other gossip in a newspaper or on the internet. I have turned the matter over to my lawyers. They will react at the proper time." Full article here.

Comparing Sinkewitz's statements to newspaper or internet gossip is a joke. This is a guy who was on the team for five years, not somebody merely speculating about doping on the team.

Tom Boonen was on the team during three of the five years that Sinkewitz was there. I recall some strong anti-doping rhetoric from Boonen during the 2007 TdF.

Discuss.

biffstephens

I personally think there was a LOT of doping going on in the old day.....I think taking a storing your own blood was popular and well as EPO and testosterone....I am not sure there were many teams that REQUIRED the riders to take it..I am pretty sure there were some trainers that encouraged it.....

BUT the past is the past for me...I believe people and times can change...

I am sure teams provided help for doping....I think people should get over it and look at how things are changing....

YMCA

No

Dubbayoo

Proper time meaning when they actually say something that isn't true. If you recall earlier in the year Lefevre was going to have his lawyer sue someone...nothing ever came of that either.

CyLowe97

<Yawn>

serpico7

Duke of Kent

I never really had any illusions of Disco being clean, but when people start up with that crap, I always point out that Lefevere has been the DS/whatever for Mapei, arguably one of the dirtiest teams of all time, as well as QuickStep-Innergetic.

And if you point the finger at the cheating Americans, that same finger has be pointed at the Belgian, Dutch and Italian "heroes" of the last 20 years riding for Mapei/QS-I.

serpico7

At some point, somebody is going to offer one of the riders who has either been busted or one who confesses to doping, a lucrative tell-all book deal. Names, places, dates, drugs, dosages, cycle lengths, detection avoidance, etc.

If UCI is serious about cleaning up the sport, they should hire one of the doping doctors, because it seems they are very far behind the game.

YMCA

No need to delve further into the doping practices of the past. It is all understood and would only hurt an already bad reputation.

The new policies have to be strict and sharp. You can already see directors of the past generation willing to have their riders race ethically. Nobody "wants" to dope, so as soon as governing bodies stop fooling around and put the foot down, those making their livelihoods off the sport will either clean up, or be booted on.

I refuse to read any book that comes out bashing past mistakes. We all knew about it, but chose to ignore. Same as the NFL now.

classic1

Doping in cycling?

In more shock news, Boy George is gay, Errol Flynn slept with a lot of women, Keith Richards takes drugs and Oliver Reed was a drunk.

classic1

Is there actually any reason why you'd point that out?

Duke of Kent

Well, someone, a while back, tried to state the Americans were the ones who brought doping to cycling. I laughed at that, and gave some examples of teams that were very obviously doping well before the American presence in Europe expanded.

The fact that everyone seems to hate Bruyneel and love Lefevere is humorous as well.

serpico7

Is 2007 ancient history for you?

YMCA

No, but trying to out the EPO era teams/managers/riders is just a waste of time.

Trevor98

Is anyone really surprised? If you are then perhaps you should rethink your naive understanding of professional sports. Why again, does anyone care about the professional part of cycling? Let it go, you'll be much happier.

serpico7

Why? Because you assume they were all using it?

dmotoguy

assume?