Ullrich out of TdF!!!!

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Trekhawk

Quick question for all your TDF cycling gurus. Does the suspension of all these riders especially the top guys throw the still competing teams ride strategy into confusion?
Do they start hastily making a new strategy??

---

You bet it does! I was very surprised to read this:

"We then had a meeting with the AIGCP. During that meeting it was decided that the race's ethical code will be applied to the letter and that none of the riders suspended will be allowed to be replaced. The sporting directors of each team will now contact the riders concerned."

Some teams will be starting short of riders, and somebody correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe a team needs a certain number of riders to complete the whole tour to be listed in the ranks.

I'm glad I waited to fill out my TdF contest entry, as I was leaning towards Jan.

the first thing that my bf said to me this morning was about this.... i thought he was joking because i was rooting for these guys. nope, its true. wow.

its to bad this happened. its really bad that they do it and think they could possibly get away with it. (if its true)
the media does hype stuff up, specially bad stuff, but hopefully its not as bad as it seems. i guess all we do is wait and see what comes out of it. i hate it when media gets involved in the bad stuff, and doesn't show the good side. all you ever hear, it seems like, in the media is cycling = bad.


going to be a good race still, with or without these guys.

I believe a team has to have at least 6 riders on the course at all times. Like in the TTT it's very important to make sure that not too many guys get dropped/crash.

I think Vino's team, which had been slated to be pulled earlier in the week, but was reinstated, will ultimately be pulled because too many of their riders are suspended.

Personally, I'm disappointed and shocked - in the riders (if guilty), the so called "doctors" (who should have known better), and in the media (what a circus it's become!). Why wait until NOW?

I guess that I'm just naive enough to think that all athletes are clean and do these things by virtue of training, mental and physical. I also know that the TdF is CUT-THROAT and anyone will say anything in order to "even things out". I read recently that Lance was asked if there was someone behind all the accusations aimed at him, he replied yes, but wouldn't name who. Just what we need - a soap opera, act II.

I'll still follow the race and I'm hoping that Landis shines. I also hope that the named riders are found innocent and that maybe these accusations can stop and we can all get back to business: bicycling.

Lorie

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Pyannyplayer

I'll still follow the race and I'm hoping that Landis shines. I also hope that the named riders are found innocent and that maybe these accusations can stop and we can all get back to business: bicycling.

Lorie

---

I'm totally with you on this one!! :)

Though it's very disappointing, I think it could make for a VERY exciting race. With some of the favorites out some of the lesser known riders will get some press. As my DH just said, the tour is now wide open.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by Eden

Innocent until proven guilty!

---

absolutely!

Yup... and reporters and newspapers **are** competing.
And if it's cutthroat enough for people to be doping, then it's cutthroat enough for people to be setting up other people to get put out of the race, planting names, etc. (However, I have to figure it's more in keeping with the competitive nature of humans to want to enhance their own performance in any way possible - that would be an easier slippery slope to land on.)
I dunno. It's a bummer.

I'M SICK!
Jan and Ivan...my favorites and my bicycling heroes.
I have to tell you a story. I'm work in a lab at a hospital so I can see the RBC/MCV counts on patients. When I began hiking into my mountains at 48 yrs. my RBC count was typical female normal levels....about 4.2 million and my MCV was around 84. After one year of aerobic excercise in the mountains at elevations of 5500 to 7500, and I must say, this was 3-5 hours of hiking for the purpose of staying aerobic with jogging down the trails always....my labs changed WITH NO EPO! My RBC count went over 5.4 million and my body compensated by making smaller RBC's bringing down my MCV to 75 which is more microcytic. What I'm saying is that in order for my body to handle the thinner oxygen and still oxygenate my body, it made more RBC's to give me more oxygen-carrying hemogloben surface area. My HGB was as high as 15.9 which is high for females. I have questioned how they test these athletes...what a nightmare for the drug-free victims!

I was so looking forward to the Tour de France. Having Lance gone now really opens up the field to let other top cyclists shine. What a shame some will lose their chance. I say they are innocent! Jan is a seasoned athlete...he would never do this! That's where I stand in my little naive world.

this really blows. :mad:

I don't get it why Riis would suspend Basso if he isn't sure the allegation is true?? The BBC news one says: "CSC manager Bjarne Riis, who decided to suspend Basso from the team, said: "It is difficult for us to believe what is happening. "He accepted my decision. He was very sad. He wanted to do well on the Tour. "It's a huge blow for everybody."

Anyway, I just was talking to my brother (bigkahunadad)... I was saying that it will be interesting now to see who ends up on the podium. He said it's sad, because whoever wins will always have that "well, if Ullrich and Basso had been there..." following them... sorta like Jan winning the year Lance wasn't there... it just blows no matter how I look at it.

Hincapie and Landis have been my ponies of choice... Landis lives close to me here in SoCal... gotta root for the local guy... BUT, I didn't want it to be deemed a "by default" win for ANY of them... sad.

I'm with Eden... innnocent until proven guilty... it is undoubtable that at least some of the elite pro-cyclists are cheating (heck, some of the top cyclists in local clubs here are known to cheat at local competitions).

So why not postpone the whole tour instead and get EVERYONE tested methodically!

Public stripping of anything won/achieved would be alot more humiliating...

I'm gutted for Ulrich... incredibly disappointed if its true... this was finally a year he could try and shine... his last chance

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by bikerchick68

I don't get it why Riis would suspend Basso if he isn't sure the allegation is true?? The BBC news one says: "CSC manager Bjarne Riis, who decided to suspend Basso from the team, said: "It is difficult for us to believe what is happening. "He accepted my decision. He was very sad. He wanted to do well on the Tour. "It's a huge blow for everybody."

---

None of the sponsors want to be stuck with the racers if they are found guilty. Not very good for their image.

Besides, I don't intend to be cynical, but once all the names have fallen it will be interesting to see which teams don't have riders involved. And then, along the line of Geonz's "it's cutthroat enough for people to be setting up other people to get put out of the race, planting names, etc.", well,... make your own conclusions. That won't mean that the other teams are not doping or getting transfusions, unfortunately.

I can't clearly see whether it's the teams (sponsors, coaches, doctors, pharmacists, etc.) or the cyclists that should be charged. I tend to lean toward the teams, who of course know what's going on and somewhat encourage it. But at the same time, knowing individual cyclists, I can imagine how they can get totally irrational about performance and being on top of things... how they would do anything (including seriously harming themselves, as the death of a few pro cyclists of the past years have proven) to get and stay on a pro team.

And, by the way, the criminal legal system is different in many (if not most) countries than what it is in the USA ("innocent until proven guilty"). I am not sure about Spain but I know that in France for example the procedure is more akin to: "once you have accusations set against you, you have to convince the judge of your innocence". The judges also have a different way of exercing their powers. That's important to understand (I unfortunately don't have the keys to this).

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by RoadRaven

So why not postpone the whole tour instead and get EVERYONE tested methodically!

Public stripping of anything won/achieved would be alot more humiliating...

---

Here! Here! I totally agree.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by d-biker

That's where I stand in my little naive world.

---

Hi neighbor - I live in that world too. I choose to believe these guys are innocent until they are proved, without a doubt, to be guilty.

If CSC had not suspended Basso on their own, he would have been followed the whole tour by the "possible doper" shadow. As it is, this thing is going to shadow Le Tour and all cyclists. Let's hope this causes change for the better in the future.

Well, I guess we can take Vinokourov off our lists as well, Astaná-Würth will not take part in the Tour. :( This is the guy I feel really sorry for.