Professional Cycling For the Fans - Boonen tested positive for cocaine!

Today’s breaking news:

TOM BOONEN TESTED POSITIVE FOR COCAINE!

Links about the case:

Het Laatste Nieuws - http://www.hln.be/hln/nl/952/Wielrennen/article/detail/306782/2008/06/10/Boonen-betrapt-op-cocaine.dhtml / Original source (in Belgian)

Cyclingnews - http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2008/jun08/jun10news / Brief details in English

Cycling123 - http://www.cycling123.com/?lang=eng / Short Quickstep comments on the situation

How stupid is Boonen?...

Now comes the killer: Cocaine is not a proscribed drug as long as it's not being done during a race! This guy doesn't necessarily have to spend a day under any kind of sanctions.

OK, now go figure: Testosterone is completely banned although it's probably legal if you're not competing in some form of athletic competition, but a drug that can put Joe Average in jail for about five years doesn't even give you a slap on the wrist.

Exactly! The system is ****ed! And today Quickstep confirm that they still have faith in Tom Boonen..

Whats wrong with a lil bit of cocaine, as long as he takes stages in the Tour....what a team!?!!

I wonder if ASO will de-invite Quickstep now. Probably not, as this is only the first time Quick Step has proved to be an embarrassment.

And Brunyeel doesn't have anything to do with the team (yes, I have my own ideas why Astana was not invited).

Great. Is there not a sport left where spectators and fans can be confident that the athletes are competing in a clean and contaminate free way? After the last fiasco of the TdF, I about gave up. Now it looks like I'll be very sceptical as I watch Boonen sprint to the line. I'm about sick of this stuff. These athletes so spoiled that they can be so care free? Or is the pressure so great they do this kind of crap? Geesh!

Is it really that hard to see that the job of wada et al should be to prevent dopers from having an advantage not make sure all cyclists are saints.

Boonen is uninvited to the Tour. Amen. :banned:

Of course, Quick Step is neither firing him, nor levying any sanctions, and the UCI says that no sanctions are necessary since the drug isn't illegal under these circumstances :roflmao2:. In fact Quick Step is going out of its way to stand by him.

However . . . . . . he just may get busted and face civil penalties, just like any other ordinary Jacques

And Brunyeel doesn't have anything to do with the team (yes, I have my own ideas why Astana was not invited).

I'm surprised that theory hasn't been mentioned here before.

And yet the UCI is hammering Petacchi cause he used his puffer too many times on one ride. CAS and FCI are willing to give him a 48 hr reprieve and let him be able to start the Vuelta if he can find a team. The UCI becomes more useless everyday.

Forgive me but I'm missing something -

Lebleup - what Boonen has done has nothing to do with "the sport" - the sport is actively fixing things and is kilometers ahead of any other sport in the world in that regard, especially all of the US based associations (each and every one of them, excluding maybe the professional bowlers association and NASCAR).

Jaxgtr - what would you expect from the UCI???? Petacchi used a performance enhancing drug without the proper exceptions during competition. How does that in any way equate to Boonen being a party boy who has got to clean up his act?


Seriously folks - if you want to gripe about these guys not being roll models shift the focus and blame onto MLB, the NBA and the NFL. These guys live in fairly modest homes, don't make the kind of money that a ball player makes as the union imposed minimum and they have to spend 5 hours a day most of the year riding a bike (that part I'd love) in pissing down rain (that part I sort of don't love).

Detrub is right - focus on the sport. Boonen wasn't nabbed by ANYONE in the sport - he got pinched by the Belgian police who were investigating his relations with a Cyclo rider who fingered him as "his dealer".

In case anyone's knee stopped jerking long enough to listen, cocaine *is* a legal drug. (I've used it myself, quite legally.) It is illegal only under certain circumstances. Testing per se, therefore, can reveal no evidence of a crime. Further, it is not considered a performance enhancing drug.

So from the point of view of the cycling governing bodies, where' the beef?

I agree that he should sit out the Tour. He screwed up, he's taking responsibility and accepts that decision. They probably should take his driver's license away as well while we're at it.

He made an error in judgement using drugs. Haven't we all made stupid mistakes? And some of us have paid for those msitakes dearly. But does that mean we should crucify him and make him an outcast? Or is that part of the problem? When people need their friends the most they get isolated and lose that support system. Isn't that opposite of what should be done?

So I have no problem with the Quick Step team standing behind their rider. I'd do the same if my friend or teammate made a mistake.

I still beleive he should be punished but I don't agree that he should be kicked off his team. Like Merckxx I believe in second chances. But make it clear that if he does it again he will be kicked off the team for good.

Forgive me but I'm missing something -

Jaxgtr - what would you expect from the UCI???? Petacchi used a performance enhancing drug without the proper exceptions during competition. How does that in any way equate to Boonen being a party boy who has got to clean up his act?

In my book, cocaine is worse, and shown to cause way more problems that someone taking a puff or two extra, but at the same time, I understand what Petacchi did was wrong and he should have been penalized. In this case, you going to allow a rider who uses coke to ride, but someone who CAS and FCI said while it was technically wrong, they are willing to allow a 48 hrs reduction in his suspension. It's not like he is getting 6 months off, it's 48 hrs.

Any athlete that is world renouned is on a stage as it were. Young minds, children, look up to these folks as role models. If an athlete is to be willing to stand on the podium and raise his/ her arms in victory, then he/she should be willing to face the music when doing something foolish enough to show the world they are not the "clean" athlete they purport to be. It doesn't make a difference how much money they make. They are in the public eye and are adored by millions of young ones the world over. THAT translates into way more than the tons of revenue generated by their just being present in their particular sport. The spasmodic deeming of what is "legal" or "illegal" nowadays is absolutely ridiculous. And I might add, the fact that many folks accept the use of cocaine in one's personal life as an accepted behaviour as it is not an "illegal" drug as if to say a world class athlete's personal life is partitioned from their professional life is lunacy. Again, they are ROLE MODELS. Why do you think this hit the news wire? Because some journalist had it bad for the man and wanted to mess him up before the TdF? Let's be real.

Ok. My two cents worth of ranting is over. However, I will be watching to see if Boonen has white powder on his nose when he sprints to the line. If the man even swipes at his nose.... I'm on it!:twitchy:

They probably should take his driver's license away as well while we're at it.

they already had for other reasons



I still beleive he should be punished but I don't agree that he should be kicked off his team. Like Merckxx I believe in second chances. But make it clear that if he does it again he will be kicked off the team for good.

He broke no rules why should be punished.


Further, it is not considered a performance enhancing drug.

yes it is and has long been used in cycling as such. However it is not going to do much outside of a race and the rules recognize this.


And yet the UCI is hammering Petacchi cause he used his puffer too many times on one ride. CAS and FCI are willing to give him a 48 hr reprieve and let him be able to start the Vuelta if he can find a team. The UCI becomes more useless everyday.

Because petacchi broke the rules and was cheating(and no it's not just an extra puff on the inhaler). Boonen on the other hand was not caught doing either. For the second time doping tests aren't about making sure riders are saints they are about a level playing field.


Any athlete that is world renouned is on a stage as it were. Young minds, children, look up to these folks as role models. If an athlete is to be willing to stand on the podium and raise his/ her arms in victory, then he/she should be willing to face the music when doing something foolish enough to show the world they are not the "clean" athlete they purport to be.

He was as far as we know a "clean athlete" he just wasn't a completely sober person all the time. If anyone thought he was a good role model before this they hadn't been paying much attention. Noone gets this pissy when an actor, musician or other celebrity gets actually caught with drugs(lord knows they're never tested) why should an athlete be any different?

boonen's story to the police is that the beer he was drinking was spiked with cocaine and it made him ill. this won't be easy to prove since the only person that could tamper with his drink is the bartender or waiter and i doubt that they would confess to such a thing.
that aside his 2 dui arrests should have him sitting in a jail somewhere, not just losing his drivers license for 2 weeks. is drunk driving a sport in belgium?

I believe Quick Step has contracted for flooring commercials on French TV during the Tour de France featuring Mr. Boonen. (see cyclingnews.com). So it makes economic sense for them to stand by their man.

who cares if boonen does blow? seriously. he aint a role model, he races bikes. every sport has drugs involved, performance enhancing and otherwise. who cares?