Darn it. I was holding out hope for the Schleck brothers (as naive as that is).El Loto said:
Because the first step in catching the dopers is actually wanting to catch them, since who and when and how often you test someone seems to be critical to the process.slovakguy said:still baffled at how the french can put their ped positives out front, but the giro and vuelta seem rarely to find any dopers.
The Italians was raiding Fränks hotel tonight. Purely for the press, of course. I don't thing even Fränk is that stupid that he (1) bring the drugs to the hotel (2) in "raiding" Italy. And if he is that stupid, even he would have been able to dispose the stuff now, since the news have been around for a while.slovakguy said:what i find disappointing is how the german police (& tdf testers) seem to be doing all the heavy lifting in this sad matter. italy, the low countries, and especially spain seem to want this affair swept quickly under the rug once and for all. still baffled at how the french can put their ped positives out front, but the giro and vuelta seem rarely to find any dopers.
slovakguy said:what i find disappointing is how the german police (& tdf testers) seem to be doing all the heavy lifting in this sad matter. italy, the low countries, and especially spain seem to want this affair swept quickly under the rug once and for all. still baffled at how the french can put their ped positives out front, but the giro and vuelta seem rarely to find any dopers.
Thanks RdBiker, I had actually neglected to mention the Mazzoleni and Petacchi affairs.RdBiker said:Well actually the Italians have been pushing sanctions to their riders more heavily than any country. Just look at their investigations in to the Puerto and Oil for Drugs cases. The Basso affair was already closed but the Italians opened it up and got him a two-year ban. And then we have Mazzoleni, Di Luca and Petacchi who have also been sanctioned.
Powerful Pete said:Why is it that the Italians are always the bad guys?
After all, Basso is finishing up his two year ban, Bastianelli (women's WC) did not get to go the Olympics and has been banned for two years (for a dietary supplement to make her lose weight), Di Luca was unable to race the World's last year as he had been implicated in the oil for drugs scandal.
Lampre was raided twice in the same week during their winter training camp (going after golden boys like Cunego and Ballan).
After Ricco's positive Sella was nabbed almost immediately.
Apparently there was suspicion re: the blood of a number of riders in the Giro, but the CERA test was only approved after the Giro in time for the Tour (if I recall correctly).
A number of coaches (even at local level) have been thrown out of cycling altogether with lifelong bans from the sport.
The Carabinieri love to go after cyclists, almost as much publicity and no risk of messing with the big boys (that is why they never raid the Serie A calcio teams).
If you are going to pick on someone, go after the Spanish. Valverde was strongly implicated in the OP affair and has continued to race as if nothing happened.
Someone should do an analysis of nationality of riders caught doping normalized to the number of pro riders from those countries. Seeems to me the French have had very few caught dopers since Festina compared to almost any other big cycling nation. Some but not many despite supposedly be subjected to much stricter testing than the peloton as a whole up until recently. Doesn't mean they are all clean, but probably less dirty than most.Eldrack said:the French have been testing hard for a while and seem to have cleaned up most of their athletes. Might all be smoke and mirrors of course.
Powerful Pete said:Why is it that the Italians are always the bad guys?
After all, Basso is finishing up his two year ban, Bastianelli (women's WC) did not get to go the Olympics and has been banned for two years (for a dietary supplement to make her lose weight), Di Luca was unable to race the World's last year as he had been implicated in the oil for drugs scandal.
Lampre was raided twice in the same week during their winter training camp (going after golden boys like Cunego and Ballan).
After Ricco's positive Sella was nabbed almost immediately.
Apparently there was suspicion re: the blood of a number of riders in the Giro, but the CERA test was only approved after the Giro in time for the Tour (if I recall correctly).
A number of coaches (even at local level) have been thrown out of cycling altogether with lifelong bans from the sport.
The Carabinieri love to go after cyclists, almost as much publicity and no risk of messing with the big boys (that is why they never raid the Serie A calcio teams).
If you are going to pick on someone, go after the Spanish. Valverde was strongly implicated in the OP affair and has continued to race as if nothing happened.
Which is what it is. It's nice for the public to get exposed to the truth once in awhile.Eldrack said:I think this illustrates why sometimes the authorities don't want to catch dopers. Catch too many and your sport is seen as dirty and tainted. The Italian cycling federation have done an excellent job of cracking down on the dopers, but the public image of Italian cycling is damaged because of it. Spanish don't do anything and we all forget about Puerto as it gets brushed under the carpet. Still, there is light at the end of the tunnel, the French have been testing hard for a while and seem to have cleaned up most of their athletes. Might all be smoke and mirrors of course.
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