On May 7, 7:42 am, "
[email protected]" <
[email protected]>
wrote:
> http://www.gazzetta.it/Ciclismo/Primo_Piano/2007/05_Maggio/07/smsbass...
>
> This should be interesting...
I like Basso, his style, focus on the long climbs and improvement in
the ITTs. I was hoping he wasn't involved, as he repeatedly
insisted. More bothersome is the fact that he openly lied about his
ties to OP for nearly a year. Imagine, TdF and Giro winners get
busted in the same year for PEDs! The fact that Herera got stripped
of his Vuelta title the prior year puts grand tours in such a bad
light. The winners of the TdF, Giro and Vuelta all stripped of their
titles? Although I doubt Basso will face a similar fate. I now agree
with ASO - Implicated riders should be banned from the ASO sponsored
events. The Giro and Vuelta organizers should do the same thing.
I really like the idea of cleaning house in the sport. They need to
fine these riders in addition to the suspension. The riders are
gambling that they won't get caught and that they can make a lot of
money in 2-3 years gaming the sport. Awful behavior. It's so
difficult to watch the sport on cycling.tv these days and consider the
number of riders who are using drugs or alternatives to enhance their
performance. Even the riders returning from suspensions dished out in
2005 suspect in my eyes. Evans and Hamilton take note. And all those
spanish riders who avoided prosecution on that testing technicality in
OP - Contador et. al.
Riis was the smart director sportif and got rid of Basso right away.
It was good to see Discovery do the same as it probably saved the team
a lot of embarassment. It's difficult to recruit a new sponsor when
your top rider has a fridge full of blood.