Amnesty for Basso?

helmutRoole2

No worries. Anytime.

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"Bait in 08" --nns1400

Crankyfeet

Shit... so "new for old" and...how is it that you keep having run-ins with admin there then?

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thoughtforfood

No, I stand corrected and would have used the word had I been aware of it prior to my posting. DP Toolometer it is, and I am sure the forum there will peg it this year.

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

thoughtforfood

Thunder, I respect your opinion about a lot of stuff, but on this I will have to disagree. He is full of it, and moderates with the finesse of an elephant IMO. Then again, I don't know him personally and would probably feel differently if I did.

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

Frigo's Luggage

I agree. Except the injections were candy.

He reminds me of Tafi. Does anybody remember the huge argument between Tafi, Pantani and Cipo when Mapei decided to go clean?

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We are all made of stars.

Frigo's Luggage

They are short sighted.

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We are all made of stars.

thoughtforfood

Are you making fun of me Frigo? I am kind of sensitive, so....

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

thunder

V is different to the mods. He is never there, and just lends platitudes when he wades into conflicts. Never resolves things, and actually exacerbates things.I think he feels loyalty to Chris H and House, which in one respect is noble.

No problem with V. He has his certain opinions on the sport and life, and the doping POV is completely flawed.

Alas.

Heroes did get screwed over. If he was really for profit, I think he would be doing something else, to really think he is commercial, when he is like you LBS who has the better mechanic in the sport, knows everything, and works for nix.

Frigo's Luggage

Nah. I really do like Simoni's cantankerousness (if that is a word). I liked how he called Basso out for trying to sell the stage. It was typical omerta stuff. Basso tries to sell the stage. Simoni gets censured for talking about it.

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We are all made of stars.

Bro Deal

It doesn't matter if he wants to make some bucks (euros) on the side, anyone with more than two brain cells could see that he adds a lot of valuable content and the policy should be flexible in his regard.

It's not like he's a useless wanker selling his mama's lasagna.

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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

Bro Deal

I grown to really like Simoni. I was not too keen when he won his first Giro and his hooligans were giving other riders a hard time or when he dissed Pantani, but shown himself to be a fighter. He speaks his mind. And adds a lot of color to the sport. He's like the Eddie Irvine of cycling--well, maybe not quite.

I also think there are riders like Simoni that have reduced their doping. The way I see things right now is that there are three groups: Those who are really clean, those who are as hardcore as ever, and a those in the middle.

The Swiss study that came out a few months ago pegged the use of testosterone and HGH use at 80% of the TdF field. That is 20% clean, but that 20% is really a floor. That number is likely biased downward because the testing is not totally random; the leader and stage winners are tested and those tests would have been a significant portion of the total number of tests. I am willing to peg the clean riders at somewhere around 25%. I think it will increase this season.

We can estimate the hardcore users using both the Swiss study and the one the UCI did. Both have the percent of riders using blood manipulation at 25%. For the same reasons as above, that number may be biased upward; so I will peg the hardcore at around 20%.

That leaves 55% of the riders who are using recovery products like HGH, testosterone, insulin and such. A large number of these riders who are older were probably hardcore users a couple of years ago but have pulled back for one reason or another. Fewer teams are doing dope support themselves, the penalties have become very severe, transfusions are risky because of the blood storage and require outside help, whatever. There are many reasons why riders may decide that it would be wise to cut back.

I think Simoni is probably in the middle group. Not to say that he is not using testosterone/HGH during races and EPO during training, but it is not in the same league as a rider like Basso or DiLuca and their E.T.-like performances.

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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

thoughtforfood

I agree actually. I said "clean" and in reality he appears to be clean of blood doping, but the HGH, etc are probably still in use by him. Funny thing is, I almost consider that clean because it appears to me the biggest performance enhancement is from the blood manipulation....plus, I just like cantankerous people..

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Two things are infinite: the universe and human stupidity; and I'm not sure about the universe.
-- Albert Einstein

thunder

ofcourse.

Heroes adds valuable content.
he just happens to be my best source, and very generous in his time.