Johnny Schleck's car searched
 

This could be very bad.


http://tour-de-france.velonews.com/a...s-car-searched

uh oh. the cynic in me says 2 things. 1)where there's smoke there's fire. a. schleck has been pulling the gc group around, fetching bottles, closing gaps on accelerations, and bringing a kick to the finishing line for 2 days in the alps without ever looking under pressure. 2) csc and the schlecks better have representation overseeing the search, just to make sure nothing is found that wasnt there to begin with.

I hope this story is a big nothing. I really, really do.

from eurosport:

Papa Schleck update from Reuters. Looks to our untrained eyes like much ado about nothing: Johnny Schleck, who drives guests around for one of the Tour sponsors, was asked to step out of the car at a roundabout and was searched by a police officer. He was then asked to drive the car towards the other side of the roundabout, where the vehicle was searched by customs officers for 30 minutes. "We will search the car," a customs officer told Reuters without giving any further details. The car later continued on the stage course behind a customs vehicle towards Grenoble.

Hope it is nothing.

L'Equipe is reporting nothing found...and they get the word first! :rolleyes:

Aucun produit «dopant ou interdit n'a été découvert» dans la voiture du père des coureurs cyclistes Frank et Andy Schleck. Les douanes avaient immobilisé le véhicule de Johnny Schleck en début d'après-midi, avant de l'emmener à l'écart pour une fouille prévue pour durer plusieurs heures.

However, L'Equipe also says the search came by request of the department in charge of searching for doping products:

Cette inspection avait été déclenchée sur réquisition de l'Office central de la lutte à l'atteinte contre l'environnement et à la santé publique (Oclaesp). L'Oclaesp est habituellement compétent dans la recherche de produits dopants. (avec AFP)

Perhaps they also just thought Andy looked a little too comfortable on L'Alpe.

Oh .................... this may not end well.

... Brad

"Surprise dope check"...I think they search a few just to say they searched a few

Finding nothing out of order is great for everyone

This is "Take back the Tour" year,so checking the cars of top riders is probably pretty high on the "to do" list....they checked a photographers car to so....

Hell,this guy rode with Eddy Merckx...I'd pull him over for a chat

My heart sank when I saw that headline, I am so glad that it turned out to be nothing.

Believe me I know what the toll of doping has had to this sport, and I love what GAR, COL and CSC are doing. But, when something like this happens it seems like a witch hunt to me. Instead of having the po-po's harass a riders dad, why not just pull the Schleck's aside in the evening and do a check, drug test, have a civil conversation without the media getting involved. I am afraid that something as benign as this "random check" could follow the Schleck's through thier careers.

there's no mystery for me as to why the brothers are riding good in the mountains

either one of them is so skinny he could hula-hoop with a cheerio

CONI already tested 6 CSC riders in italy last week, we would have heard something by now if there was anything to report.

because you can't test for all forms of doping. More checks are the answer to not casting a shadow on the innocent.

I agree, more checks the better. I have trouble with the way it was handled and the exposure the check got.

See McCarthyism

Hey do you have an artical about that? I knew that six got tested but I hadn't heard more about it.

Apparently it was a random search; they've been checking cars throughout the tour. The press only mentioned it because the car belonged to Schleck Sr.

L'Equipe interviewed Papa Schleck, and quotes him as saying the agents doing the search didn't know who he was until they looked at his identification. He also said they were very thorough, and checked and looked at everything. He added, "My sons are clean. With all the controls they go through, how could they not be clean?"

SAINT-ETIENNE, France -- French customs agents looking for doping products stopped, searched and released a car driven by the father of Tour de France riders Frank and Andy Schleck on Thursday, officials said.

The agents carried out the random search near the city of Grenoble along the route of the 18th stage and didn't find any doping products or other illegal products, a customs spokesman said.

"Two vehicles were searched: one in which nothing was found; and from the other -- the one of Frank Schleck's father -- some products were taken for verification," said Raphael Grandfils, a state prosecutor in Grenoble. "It turns out that this was not about forbidden products, but medicines that are totally normal to possess."

Johnny Schleck was allowed to return to the course route, the customs spokesman said, adding that it was a random check -- one of many carried out during the three-week event. He said two vehicles were stopped and released.

Frank Schleck of Luxembourg was 1 minute, 24 seconds behind Carlos Sastre in second place overall at the start of Thursday's 18th stage, a 122.1-mile trek from Bourg-d'Oisans to Saint-Etienne.

AP NEWS
The Associated Press News Service

http://sports.yahoo.com/sc/news?slug...v=ap&type=lgns

Here you go.

well, I think back to 1997 and Festina. They were busted at the border bringing drugs in by car.

This isn't the only time this was ever done. Police regularly search the team busses and hotel rooms, too, you know.

so do you want a clean sport, or are you just talking?

Don't forget the constables stopping Rumsas' wife whilst driving and asking, "May we check your booty, er, boot?" And then there was Frigo, the tow-headed lollipop kid who had a car searched, and then Andrea's father's car was searched this year at the Giro and they found his stash of viagra. He had some 'splainin to do to the wife.;) Searching cars is fairly standard operating procedure outside the 'ol US of A. We take a lot for granted here.

Gendarme 1- "C'est 'cialis' inspector!"
Inspector - "Cialis!?! Ittt must be to make 'zem go fasterrr!"
Lab - "Inspector, oui it makes 'zem go fasterrr...and longeerr!"

Poor old guy got his ***** med's tested.

sure it was. we all know they knew what they were doing. im not saying. im just saying. later.

You're not saying, you're exhaling hot air. ;) The article Sci-Fi quoted is pretty clear. They've been searching cars during the Tour for years now; I doubt the cops even knew who the driver was.

Andy Schleck rides up the L'Alpe de Huez sitting up, hands off the bars, fresh as a daisy. He looked like one of the A group on the saturday club ride that has decided to ride with the B's for a recovery day.

His father is stopped and searched the next day. Sure it was just a random chance.

Not saying Andy Schleck is on something. But I don't think there's much doubt his performance peaked someone's curiousity.