Just sayin.

Not surprising really. Whether you like it or not, cycling has been "dirty" from the start. In the early 1900s riders were known to take minute amounts of arsenic to improve performance... a trick used on race horses.

Even in my little backwoods Aussie town we have former elite riders that raced in the 70-90s that doped and are now having life threatening health problems because of it.

If the presence of the plasticizer is confirmed he's done...
That said it's really depressing to see professional cycling tearing itself apart like this repeatedly...

Football season has just started here and you can't tell me the pro ranks aren't riddled with steroid users and yet you don't see headlines when somebody trips up and tests positive. They don't strip a Super Bowl win from a team if a player tests positive after the fact......not apologizing for Contador or any other rider but in the end the sport is being marginalized. You can't trust race results to hold up over time....they're now saving/freezing urine samples so they can be tested years after the fact when better tests are developed. Is that really what we want ? Do we really want to go back and re-write the final results of races 5, 8, 15 years ago ???

They should just take all the anti-doping rules out and let the guys run drugged up to the hilt. Just like the NFL, NBA, MLB, and all those other fine pro sports*.

*Yeah I know doping is technically illegal in those sports, but if you don't enforce a rule you basically don't have a rule.

"Can you categorically prove that it's not a trace from the plastic IV bag that they used to give the cow the growth hormones that my client accidentally ingested in his steak dinner?"

And it keeps on getting worse , quote from an article in the NYT today. "Kohl, who said he retired from the sport to avoid having to think about doping every day, has no specific knowledge of Contador’s case but said most of the top riders rely on transfusions of their own blood and of designer, undetectable drugs like different types of the blood-booster EPO.

“I was tested 200 times during my career, and 100 times I had drugs in my body,” he said. “I was caught, but 99 other times, I wasn’t. Riders think they can get away with doping because most of the time they do. Even if there is a new test for blood doping, I’m not even sure it will scare riders into stopping. The problem is just that bad.”

Yeah, that was the article's ultimate 'gsteinb is right' moment.

Ouch.

It would scare me enough to know that they can find trace amounts of the plastic bag that carried my blood into the hotel.

I wonder if that same test could taste the cedar plank that my salmon was infused with, because I sure can't.

"The cedar plank is soaked in water, and then when set on top of a grill. The wood smoke caused by direct heat is infused in the salmon and creates a great flavor that pairs nicely with the Maple Syrup and Mustard Glaze"

It's interesting to say the least. Does it really matter now? I just goes to show you that to be the best, you have to cheat. I mean, it might be more heartbreaking if BF found out Jens did the same.

What can they do? I enjoy watching the pro races, but I think the true heart of the sport is with the enthusiasts that go out and race. Just like grandpa pcad.

Maybe the correct winner will get his due now.

gotta really wonder if this is all true, then what. geez, it just opens a door to all kinds of witch hunts, accusations, suppositions, accusations, etc.

Unfounded vicious rumor has it that PCad uses Provigil, a substance banned on BF. How else could he sit there and tap out so many posts?

Rumor has it that he ducked back down the alley
With some roly-poly little bat-faced girl
All along along
There were incidents and accidents
There were hints and allegations

I'm not sure I follow. a) If it's proven true would it be shocking given the number of grand tour contenders who have gotten caught in recent years? b) if it's proven true how could the phrase witch hunt at all be connected?

So true.

Awesome! Great use of a semi-obscure song lyric.

yes, very nice.

who would that be? The "clean" guy?

maybe the clean guy in last place will get the win now.

Probably the guy in 65th on GC

No, the little scrawny, sweaty guy with the crappy transmission.

A little slow on the uptake ?

I'm just curious, how much time would a transfusion like suggested in the article take to complete?

They're all set up in the team bus. Takes me about 10-15 minutes when giving blood at the Red Cross .... so maybe about the same going the other direction ?