Here we go again... another scandal on TDF

Well, this is sort of good news on other riders:

Five Astaná riders who were forced out of the 2006 Tour de France because of alleged links to a blood doping investigation have been formally cleared by Spanish courts.

Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Sergio Paulinho, Allan Davis and Alberto Contador have all received a written document officially clearing them of any links to the ongoing "Operación Puerto," the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco reported Wednesday.

Bummer for those guys that they had to miss the Tour, though.

i'm fearful of the results. I was rooting for him. Cross our fingers.

I heard somebody on the radio say that Major League Baseball and the Cycling community needed to get together. One is way too loose and the other is way too tight, and the middle ground should be about right between them.

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Originally Posted by pooks

I heard somebody on the radio say that Major League Baseball and the Cycling community needed to get together. One is way too loose and the other is way too tight, and the middle ground should be about right between them.

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I agree. I went to a SF Giants game this weekend, and the level of Barry Bonds worship made me sick.

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Originally Posted by maillotpois

Well, this is sort of good news on other riders:

Five Astaná riders who were forced out of the 2006 Tour de France because of alleged links to a blood doping investigation have been formally cleared by Spanish courts.

Joseba Beloki, Isidro Nozal, Sergio Paulinho, Allan Davis and Alberto Contador have all received a written document officially clearing them of any links to the ongoing "Operación Puerto," the Spanish newspaper El Diario Vasco reported Wednesday.

Bummer for those guys that they had to miss the Tour, though.

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Bigger bummer for Vino who had a real chance at a podium place in this years TDF - but was excluded because too many of his teammates (now cleared - just several days after the tour is over) were implicated.

From what I understand, it's an inconclusive test. Also, we shouldn't rule out meddling with samples and all that. It seems that cycling has some of the tightest rules and the most testing of any professional sport, so I'm not surprised the top riders are often accused/caught, etc. using enhancements. I'm sure other pro sports would fare similarily. This is not to say that using enhancements should be OK, necessarily, but I guess I don't share the extreme disapppointment.

Maybe we should have two associations: "hopped up" and "ridin' natural." Kind of like supermarket foods -- regular and organic?

I know he was given permission to have a cortisone shot in his hip prior to the tour. I don't know if that effects the results on those tests.

2nd. That shouldn't have been the only day he was tested. He had held the mellow johnny before, so shouldn't the prior tests have been steroid positive? I can't believe he would have taken steroids just for 17.

Right now it's all speculation so I'm just going to wait and see. I have a hard time believing this as well. Hopefully things will turn out for the best.

IF indeed he did do something he shouldn't have done, then I too will give up my interest in procycling.

Yup... let 'em do their stuff on their own. Let us RIDE, RIDE, RIDE and know we're doing it under our own steam (or hot air, or whatever!), with a little caffeinated GU now and then...

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Originally Posted by sydney_b

Maybe we should have two associations: "hopped up" and "ridin' natural." Kind of like supermarket foods -- regular and organic?

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lol, great idea!! It would be really interesting to see the different results.

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Originally Posted by SouthernBelle

2nd. That shouldn't have been the only day he was tested. He had held the mellow johnny before, so shouldn't the prior tests have been steroid positive? I can't believe he would have taken steroids just for 17.

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I'm afraid even if this is the only day of the tour that is positive the results will still stand, if the B sample is positive as well, until and unless he sucessfully fights it. Roberto Heras lost his Veulta title last year for one positive EPO test from a sample taken on a day when he already had the race won - so logic would say why dope when the race is essentially over.

The riders do and should fight some of this testing. Its not like a pregnancy test - either you are are you aren't (even pregnancy tests aren't 100%). Many of them are quite subjective, requiring being "read" by a technician and are also subject to natural fluctuations in the persons own body chemistry. While I don't know much about how they test for testosterone, the EPO test has proven to be far from reliable and there are several atheletes who have fought and cleared themselves from false positives.

As my July Secret Sister knows, there is a popular bumper sticker here that says "Texas is Bigger than France". Hehe, I guess the anomosity is on both sides of the ocean.....:p


I hope Floyd is cleared. I too wonder if there is some correlation with the cortizone? Just say it isn't so!!

Amanda:

I was hoping that exact thing -- perhaps if Floyd has been receiving cortisone injections in his hip for pain....?

I refuse to believe it until all the facts are in and we know for sure.

Can't Floyd's "B sample" be tampered with??

Denise

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Originally Posted by tulip

The French, and the rest of the world, have issues with how American policy and action is completely screwing the world, from environmental issues (***k you, Kyoto Accord!) to the w-a-r...but we're here to talk about doping in the Tour de France. A much brighter topic, non?

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Tulip,
I am with you on that. I can tell that you are quite emotional about it. I also grew up in Europe and a lot of people think that French and other Europeans hate Amiricans. This is definitely not true, I have plenty of French friends who just laugh at that.
This doping issue is a major one. I have never seen anything like that in any other sport. At least not this massively right before the event. I do hope that Floyd is cleared, although I am not his fan. It just would be a shame if he went for it after such a scandal.

I'm postponing judgement until I know more facts, but I find the lack of facts frustrating. Granted I haven't done a thorough search, but none of the news articles ever talk about who does the testing (TdF? WADA?), who has access to the samples, how they are handled, conditions under which they are obtained . . . The whole thing seems shrouded in mystery so why should we believe what the test results are if we don't know anything about the process? (This is the science geek in me talking . . .)