Road Bike Racing - Heras loses it all

Suspended and loses Vuelta title.

http://www.velonews.com/news/fea/9472.0.html

Heras, by cheating to win the Vuelta, was attempting to rob Menchov of a prize that, with endorsements, is worth over a million dollars. He ought to be in prison, not on suspension.

The Spanish Cycling Federation showed courage in taking action. It is a "tradition" that a Spanish rider win the Vuelta, just as it is a tradition that an Italian rider win the Giro. Millions of cycling fans in Spain are going to be furious about Heras being punished...but doing the right thing is seldom popular.

[QUOTE=alanbikehouston]Heras, by cheating to win the Vuelta, was attempting to rob Menchov of a prize that, with endorsements, is worth over a million dollars. He ought to be in prison, not on suspension.QUOTE]

If you are going to get this serious about dopping then the doctor that helped him should have been punished also. Liberty should have been stripped of it's ProTour status and recieved the same suspension as Heras. These riders are not doing this on their own, they have help.

Even the ones you believe couldn't do it, do it.

I feel sorry for Heras, but I think it's more pity than anything else. His career is over, as is his credibility. Heras could have taken his lumps and retained his dignity and risked losing the Vuelta, but that's not an option for a Spaniard in a Spanish race. Sad and pathetic.

Cycling is such a beautiful sport, with such a disgusting and unsportsmanlike side to it. I'm tired of hearing about riders getting popped every week for doping. I love to win as much as they do, but I guess when there's millions of dollars on the line, you've gotta find a way to keep the bills paid and food in the fridge.

I watched that time trial thinking, "Man, I hope he's just having a really good day."

That's horrible.

I found it noteworthy that his good days were drastically better than others--so much so that riders in the peloton also took notice. His performance in races leading up to the Vuelta were no indication of what was to come in the Vuelta either. I suspect he resorted to performance enhancement when victory was not assured otherwise.

In addition:
Some photographers and press also made note that during his major attack, no video or photgraphs were taken of this decisive move on the most dramatic stage of the entire race. That is odd considering the commercial value of the Protour and the technology available to record such events. It has been suggested that Menchov's victory was unthinkable to Spanish organizers and Heras was assisted by Spanish Press by motorpacing him up to his awaiting teammates therefore solidifying his position in GC. It was during this stage that he crushed his competition and took decisive command of the race.

Entirely speculative but still worth noting.

BTW: I wish they would put these restrictions on Professional Baseball or Football. But players union even protects these hoodlums from standard drug testing. They even protect their players from criminal prosecution when they've committed violent crimes.

If you are going to get this serious about dopping then the doctor that helped him should have been punished also. Liberty should have been stripped of it's ProTour status and recieved the same suspension as Heras. These riders are not doing this on their own, they have help.

I agree with this. The UCI should set it up so that not only do riders get punished for doping, but the team should get punished for making sure they don't dope.

Although, its amazing about the opinions on BF about doping and getting caught, apparently, he only deserves it if he's not an American (reference to all the Tyler Hamilton threads).

You dope you should go and your Dr. should no longer be allowed to say "I'm a doctor"

Heras, by cheating to win the Vuelta, was attempting to rob Menchov of a prize that, with endorsements, is worth over a million dollars. He ought to be in prison, not on suspension.

.

and what makes you so confident that Menchov, as well as a significant number of others in the peloton din't have any help? We turn a blind eye to the obvious doping in our sport, and the when the supposedly one lone cheat gets caught we react with sactimonuos shock and indignation.

Although, its amazing about the opinions on BF about doping and getting caught, apparently, he only deserves it if he's not an American (reference to all the Tyler Hamilton threads).
True, but Tyler put up a really creative (though improbable) defense.

We turn a blind eye to the obvious doping in our sport, and the when the supposedly one lone cheat gets caught we react with sactimonuos shock and indignation.

One lone cheat....... has there ever been one lone one? This goes back to when I started watching TDF in the 80's and they still haven't gotten any better at getting the athletes to stop doping, test em' all as they get dressed in the morning or something. If you crack down HARD maybe.... just maybe the message will get across. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to be trying to be a clean competitor in this sport, losing to dope and having to wait forever for test results and second results...yadayada, so that you as a clean competitor can be vindicated as the real winner.

I agree with this. The UCI should set it up so that not only do riders get punished for doping, but the team should get punished for making sure they don't dope.


Absolutely. 90% of these riders are simple small town guys who probably don't have anything more than a highschool diploma. Someone is showing them how to micro dose EPO, someone is suppling them with the drugs, and the teams aren't so blind that they don't know what's going on. Guys like Heras make very good salaries, the teams expect results, they know what the riders will do to win and turn a blind eye. That eye would remain wide open if they were on the hook also. Cofidas, Phonak and Liberty should all have recieved the same 2+2 year ban the riders recieved. If that were the case I'd bet the farm that the sport would become a whole lot cleaner.

You dope you should go and your Dr. should no longer be allowed to say "I'm a doctor"

Wow. I can't even begin to figure out how that sentence should be punctuated.

.....
Although, its amazing about the opinions on BF about doping and getting caught, apparently, he only deserves it if he's not an American (reference to all the Tyler Hamilton threads).

I don't get it. Exactly who here said that because he's not American, he deserves to get caught?

Koffee

I don't think anyone here has spared Tyler. In fact, we've gotten a pretty good chuckle out of his vanishing twin defense. Almost better than the Chewbacca defense.

Almost better than the Chewbacca defense.

Wait a second. What are you doing talking about Chewbacca when we're discussing the serious problem of Heras' doping? That doesn't make sense. Here we are talking about Hamilton, Heras and the EPO heebeegeebees and then you go on and bring up the big hairy alien that fires a laser crossbow. This does not make sense. And if this doesn't make sense, then we shouldn't take away the Vuelta title from Heras. How can we take away something when we don't even understand the situation?

Heras, by cheating to win the Vuelta, was attempting to rob Menchov of a prize that, with endorsements, is worth over a million dollars. He ought to be in prison, not on suspension.



So then, if it had been anyone besides Menchov, whom he was intentionally trying to rob, Heras wouldn't have doped? :o

Wait a second. What are you doing talking about Chewbacca when we're discussing the serious problem of Heras' doping? That doesn't make sense. Here we are talking about Hamilton, Heras and the EPO heebeegeebees and then you go on and bring up the big hairy alien that fires a laser crossbow. This does not make sense. And if this doesn't make sense, then we shouldn't take away the Vuelta title from Heras. How can we take away something when we don't even understand the situation?

Brilliant defense, Mr. Cochrane!

Rest in Peace, counselor....
http://elson-alexandre.com/images/samples/cochran.jpg

Wow. I can't even begin to figure out how that sentence should be punctuated.


lol Neither could I.
:beer:

Wait a second. What are you doing talking about Chewbacca when we're discussing the serious problem of Heras' doping? That doesn't make sense. Here we are talking about Hamilton, Heras and the EPO heebeegeebees and then you go on and bring up the big hairy alien that fires a laser crossbow. This does not make sense. And if this doesn't make sense, then we shouldn't take away the Vuelta title from Heras. How can we take away something when we don't even understand the situation?

Wasn't it sad when Chewie died in the first book of the New Jedi Order? :(

Did anyone watch "Doping to win" on one of the cable networks earlier this week? I didn't see it, but apparently they were featuring a european rider who was talking about all the things he took at different points in the race. Anyone know who that was?

You dope you should go and your Dr. should no longer be allowed to say "I'm a doctor"

actually, Doctors will lose their licence for knowingly doping a patient.

Wait a second. What are you doing talking about Chewbacca when we're discussing the serious problem of Heras' doping? That doesn't make sense.

Alas, that is the beauty of the Chewbacca defense. Simple and brilliant.

Some photographers and press also made note that during his major attack, no video or photgraphs were taken of this decisive move on the most dramatic stage of the entire race. That is odd considering the commercial value of the Protour and the technology available to record such events. It has been suggested that...Heras was assisted by Spanish Press by motorpacing him up to his awaiting teammates therefore solidifying his position in GC.Could you please refer us to where you read this? Where was it suggested that Heras was motorpaced up to his teammates by the Spanish Press? Or are you just making this up as you go along...again? :rolleyes: