HigherGround

I think it's odd that there still hasn't been any mention of Danielson's B sample results, as far as I can tell. If the B sample was positive, one would think the UCI would have to announce it. If it was negative, you would expect Vaughters and the team to be announcing it on every media outlet possible.

okane

.... rarely follow it or watch on the tube. Sort of like watching Barry Bonds hitting a home run! Big Deal, who cares. For the first time in many years I rarely watched or followed the TDF (or other "big time" races) because now I will always wonder who is and who isn't.

WCroadie

When was the last time an athletes B sample came back negative?

As for giving up on sports, if you accept that all, if not most of the GC contenders are doping, you can enjoy it again, the field is somewhat level as they are all cheating. Just like most of the big 4 sports in america, those athletes are doping as well.

dksix

I say let them dope, let's see some hard core racing. Put them in weight classes like fighters and let them go at it. I'd watch it to see some guy weighing 100KG pounding the pedals up those mountains at 70 KPH and then hitting 120 on the descends. Put them on ultra light Chinese frames with disc brakes and really make it interesting. At least then we here on BF would know how durable those frames are.

SpeshulEd 

Or hey, maybe just support the athletes that have a history of being clean and ride for teams that support being clean.

hueyhoolihan

cheating is the devil's spawn of intense competition.

it's like trying to contain a balloon's in one's hand while some other guy is attempting to put 100 PSI in it. not easy. it want's to pooch out somewhere.

GreenAnvil

It's a cabal, my friend...

GreenAnvil

Doping in cycling was always part of that culture. Until one cheater/chemist became better at that game than all the rest (and threw everyone that got in his way under the bus)... Then it was not cool. The same in baseball, football, etc.

So if you're going to be a cheater, at least be a cool, fan-loving, innocent-looking, highly marketable cheater, and maybe then things might just sort out by themselves. If you get caught be polite and say that you don't know how in hell that ever got into your system, because you and everyone including your Mama know that you'd never do something like that, apologize for "letting your fans down", accept the deal they cut under the table for you, ride into the sunset with whatever money you already made, and let the powers that be go find themselves another cool, fan-loving, innocent-looking, highly-marketable moogerfooger to sell as the face of the "product"... er "sport."

mapeiboy

I think there are enough riders that are trying to do things right and are essentially getting punished for doing so

I don't believe the sport is any cleaner than years ago . These days the teams just know how to hide the things better .

pacificaslim

As was said in th 1974 cycling film "stars and watercarriers":

Thirst is stronger than the rules.

mapeiboy

+1 . Jacques Anguetil ( first 5 times tour de france winner ) : 1) one can not win the tour on mineral water alone . 2) Everyone in cycling dopes themselves and those who claim they don;t are liars .

spec84

You guys really think the top pros are still doping? I mean, Danielson was one of the old guard of cycling. Hell he raced on Armstrong's team back in the day. Its hard for me to believe that someone like Quintana or TJVG would be doping. Chris Froome has had some legendary climbs that raised many eyebrows, but even he seems so adamant that he's clean. It would pretty much blow the cycling world away if any of these newer and supposedly cleaner generation of cyclists ever tested positive. I just hope that we never have to see that day...

GreenAnvil

XYZ News: "Hey Rider X, are you currently taking or have you ever taken any banned substances?"
Rider X: "Sure! Every morning with breakfast!"

What would you expect?

I don't think that ALL are doing it, but I believe a significant portion are STILL doing it, including key players, and that with the knowledge and implicit consent of team's management, governing bodies, and sponsors. I don't get too high on watching these glorified modern gladiators (pro athletes) and pretend that they are above and beyond the moral ills that afflict us all... so yes, they WILL seek any and every advantage they can get over the competition, legal and otherwise.

WCroadie

Like Garmin I believe that all the GC guys are doping, they have to to be competitive with those who are still on the good.


I agree with just about everything posted above, it's sad but it's the state of pro cycling.

Anyone who wants to read some great info on doping, read Hamilton's book. I just started reading it again for the 2nd time, pretty much lays it all out there. What he and Floyd said years ago is pretty much all truth.

mprelaw

It's harder to cheat today---but not impossible. The guys who get caught are the dumb ones, or the ones who take the easily detectable stuff. I forget who it was that got popped for cocaine early in the Tour. It's probably the easiest one of all to detect on a simple piss test. It's not banned out of competition, but it you snort it within a week of the start of the Tour, you're pretty damned dumb.

spec84

Boonen? Or maybe your referring to one of the Katusha riders...

HigherGround

Luca Paolini

spec84

Those damn Italians sure love their nose candy...

SpeshulEd 

Luca rides 100+ miles day after day and then finishes up with a bit of disco at night, that's impressive right there!

Shimagnolo

Cocaine. Now *that* is old-school!

HigherGround

Didn't Gilberto Simoni get busted for that, and successfully blame it on some throat lozenges that a family member brought back from Colombia? All the positive drug test excuses are running together after all these years.

Edit: Jeeze, I'm even forgetting how often riders have had multiple positive tests. https://velonews.competitor.com/2002/...-positive_2314

Leinster

I'll take "harder to cheat" as progress over "impossible to not cheat."

If the cheats are micro-dosing instead of 60-percenting, if they're watching their "glow-time" and trying to maintain readings that won't redflag their bio-passport, then at the very least they are keeping themselves within certain physiological boundaries where a 100% clean rider can have a shot. And maybe the positive tests that do happen, and the way riders get found, is enough to make an on-the-fence peloton noob think a little longer before trying out his first blood booster, or filing a dodgy TUE, and maybe even some of them will decide that the risk isn't worth it.

Pemetic2006

Cool. Let Lance run a marathon now and again.

SpeshulEd 

I just watched an old Showtime documentary about Lance last night. He's a tool.

Pemetic2006

Perhaps, but he's not satanic. I'm sure there are worse folks, as well as better, out there.