my58vw

True for some people.

I have been watching le tour de france, giro , vuelta, et al for years. Sure some people may be fair weather, but this is a generalization.

bac

Knee jerk reaction anyone? Geez.

... Brad

bac

Yup. Certainly one would be a hypocrit if one continued to watch ANY sports then. Sadly, most pro sports are tainted with drugs - MUCH more so than cycling. In cycling, they are actually trying to catch the dopers.

So why would anyone quit watching the sport that is attempting to catch the dopers? I don't understand either.

... Brad

acape

Nobody. The DS's will just drive their team cars into Paris drinking champagne.

redirekib

It's just disapointing to spend hours watching the coverage and then have a lead change due to doping scandals.

bac

Yup, that part is a bummer. It's a real downer for the Ras fans I'm sure.

... Brad

djgonzo007

Agreed, at least the cheaters are being caught. Look at MLB Bonds is still playing baseball and will break Hank Aaron's record without MLB doing anything about it. I respect pro cycling for cleaning up it's sport, where is this testing in the NFL, MLB, and NBA. I'm glad so many are being busted maybe just maybe it will wake those ******* up and they will race clean out of fear of humiliation.

bac

What a contrast, eh? One guy is going to Cooperstown, while the other guys (doping cyclists) are having their lives turned upside down.

... Brad

Grasschopper

So did anyone catch the last part of Phil Liggett's bit?

Um has he not heard of Operation Puerto?

BigSean

True, he shouldnt have been allowed to start. However now he is gone and the outcome will not be effected.

wearyourtruth

man i don't know what to think anymore! i endo'd onto my shoulder on my way home from work, made it home, decided to watch the tour before i went to the ER for an x-ray, just got home and now it's all screwed up again! what a tour... *whew*

jkoman

I can't understand some of these comments.

Most of us knew the riders doped...most of them. Those who didn't admit this had heads in the sand, almost all of the older riders admit or sorta admit doping. It's a part of this and other sports culture.

We all knew the testing was getting tougher with greater consequences so this should be expected. The french were really showing the courage to take on the situation despite the uproar. Getting things to the point of required action because of public and corporate outrage. The recognition and $$ that come with corporate sponsorship have strings attached, don't forget that.

I always said...I will not believe the sport is improving/changing until I hear riders "calling out" riders who dope. The days of riders saying..." I'm soooo surprised and disappointed that ------ was doping....what a shame. The same way that Phil,Paul, and Bobke gloss over it. When you start to hear...." That SOB just cost me my job and my kids education by doping I'm gonna kick his arse and sue his butt " . Thats when we will see a cleaner sport....peer pressure with financial consequences. Riders who want to sign for teams like Slipstream that have blood monitoring systems in place are the guys I hope to see more of.

I will try and maintain my love of cycling during the tough times. I will watch guys like Moreau suffer and think....maybe he's a clean one....until we see A LOT MORE riders admitting to doping.

Cycling defined: A great sport going through a really difficult time

inja

Agreed -
If U.S. Pro sports athletes were under the same scrutiny and had to live up to the same international standards, we'd all be watching little league and high school sports...

rustycool7

If you ain't cheatin, you ain't tryin. If you get caught, you ain't tryin hard enough.

whiney

Yes, keep on saying things like these. You must be really well informed.

You should also add that tests are made by underage student who have no skills in biochemistry ("summer jobs" ?), and their pipets need a calibration. Analyzes are made by drunk senior researchers.

I assume "official lab" means that they have rules and procedures, like any other official lab in the world.

Haven't you noticed that this hate started when they decided to thaw LA's pee ?

gpsblake

I'm glad that the Tour De France, teams, and sponsors are really cracking down on this stuff. My question is why didn't Vino simply use his own blood for a transfusion instead of a 3rd parties? I don't think that is detectable.

Rasmussen, I;m up the in the air about. Yes, he lied about his location but yet has failed a drug test. But I'll also concede, there is more to this than the public knows.

Sad, because this has been some really awesome racing in the mountains all gone to waste now.

Also a question, since Rasmussen been kicked off his team, could another team pick him up since he has complete the tour up to this point? I would think that some wild card team with a small sponsor would love to pick up Rasmussen for some cheap publicity.

Blue Order

Yes, and they've repeatedly broken their own rules and procedures, which doesn't enhance their credibility any. If you want to stop doping, the anti-doping organization and the lab have to be fastidious about following their own rules.

RockyMtnMerlin

I hope that was in jest.

shawnj73

If they let him start, and he tested clean through the tour they should let him finish. There is no proof that he did anything wrong except for a guy says he saw him in Europe when he said he was in Mexico. Yes; he did miss a couple UCI tests, but they let him start the tour. WTF. As far as I know he has never tested positive for any band substance!

Bacciagalupe

Either the lab mixed up the packets, or Vino ran out of his own blood and thought he would not get tested / caught.


Well, think of it this way. Let's say you told your boss you were going to be in the Mexico City office for the month of June (remember, he's training and collecting a salary). However, you go to Florence instead. Not only that, but you lie to your boss and your customers about your whereabouts. Would you be surprised if your boss fired you the instant he found out?


Any team that picks him up right now will get a raft of complaints and heavy monitoring by the UCI, and may not get invited to numerous events. A non-Pro Tour team like Tinkoff might hire him, but maybe not after seeing how hiring Hamilton worked out. The dude is going to be radioactive for quite some time.

Personally, if he really did dope I think his only chance is to come clean, take a 2 year ban, and then get back into the sport.

oilman_15106

My boss used to take out his fishing boat every Friday about noon. I would be fired if I told anybody where he was.

Sage23

Or any of the GC favorites for that matter. No Ras or Vino doping, the race takes an entirely different form. Who knows, Contador, Evans and Levi may not even be the top three had they been out to begin with.

DMF 

I agree with Chris Horner. "I'm a rider. I'm clean. You're telling me I should quit because someone else cheated? No f*g way!"

grebletie

There's also the uncomfortable fact that whatever Bonds may or may not have done was not against MLB rules at the time. The player's union resisted an agreement on drug testing until 2005, making the analogy somewhat dubious.

FIVE ONE SIX

and that was him on the phone, with his mom...