Gonchar busted!

Per Cyclingpost, Gonchar has been suspended for 30 days by T-Mobile - no Giro for him.

very strange though. What is really the issue here?

He'd already been withdrawn from the squad because he was feeling ill or something and wasn't going to recover in time for the Giro.

Cyclingnews coverage of the suspension: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?...y07/may11news2

Got some pretty good spin doctors at T-Mobile. Suspended even though all his tests were within UCI limits???!!!! Come on, who are they trying to fool here...

No one... the T-Mobile internal tests picked up some irregularities so they have suspended him until further detail becomes available.... that’s a good thing... not spin but truth..... remember only T-Mobile and CSC are doing these tests...

Not necessarily. Probably Gonchar's results were within UCI limits but still showed something fishy, like Hamilton's blood at LBL and Romandie prior to his Vuelta bust.

"Got busted" seems too dramatic a statement, T-Mobile established a team of independent doctors at the university of Bayreuth who survey the cyclists. Honchar´s hemotocrit levels seem to have been a bit too volatile. Perhaps they´re a bit too anxious at the moment at T-Mobile after all the revelations by Jef d´Hont.

It appears there is a majority in this thread willing to give Honchar the benefit of the doubt on this one, but I'm not buying it. You don't get suspended for 30 days for nothing. Obviously he was cheating or attempting to cheat the UCI rules. If it walks and quacks like a duck...

This would be his third suspension over the year if I remember correctly.

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Dope,when training and talent just aren't enough.

It'll be interesting to see how the facts make their way to the public, but, as per Tony, this reeks of a preemptive strike.

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"Bait in 08" --nns1400

Weren't the reasons offered for his non-Giro participation somewhat fishy? They claimed he had a "cold" while he claimed something else.

On another note, its nice to see a USPS and Discovery alumni (Michael Barry) starting the Giro for T-Mobile. I assume that they did their due diligence when they signed him. Having known him (through his father) since he was a little lad I hope and trust that he's always raced clean. In that case, and given T-Mobile's signing, what does that say to those who claim that USPS / Discovery is dirty to the man.

People only buy excuses when they aren't from Disco or a Lance x-teammate. LOL this board cracks me up.

Yeah, he's probably the one or two riders who aren't apart of OP.

You know, I thought OP would open people's eyes about doping in the pro peloton and pro sports in general, but there's always a fan base out there who think their guy isn't doping.

Tous dope, dude. I mean, do I even need to say it at this point?

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"Bait in 08" --nns1400

I don't see what the problem is. It looks like T-Mob is doing exactly what they said they would do: Monitor riders to detect patterns that would indicate doping. Is there anyone surprised that Gonchar tripped the tests? He won the two Tour ITTs last year. He is like sixty years old, pushes a gear more suitable for use when drafting behind a car, and was caught up in a previous doping scandal.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

It's not 1996 anymore. The teams that still run doping programs seem to have a team within a team. The information that came out about Quickstep said that the lower riders were not doped. OP did not involve all twenty-five Liberty Seguros riders. We have an eye witness account of Bruyneel discussing the Tour team's hematocrits right before the Tour and then shutting up when he realized he was being overheard. Does anyone think Beppu is getting the same program as Hincapie? Maybe Barry was not in the inner circle.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates