Raid on Quick Step!!!!!!!

IndyRider said:

So you guys make fun of Hincapie for not winning even though he has been very close a number of times, and you gripe about the winners being dopers. The evidence seems to point in the direction that Hincapie is a "clean" racer. Someone that has been so close so many times with a little "help" surely would have won one. Choose one side of the argument please.

[font=Verdana]I agree.... I mean when he won the mountain stage at the Tour I thought to myself that’s one clean guy.... when he rides on the front of the peleton at record speed for 150km per day for 12 days straight I think that’s a clean rider..... barahahhhhhaaa..... Hincapie is the original ET ! He’s a hack…… last years Tour shows what a non-EPO Hincapie is…… a piece of [censored]…[/font][font=Verdana][/font]

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]I agree.... I mean when he won the mountain stage at the Tour I thought to myself that’s one clean guy.... when he rides on the front of the peleton at record speed for 150km per day for 12 days straight I think that’s a clean rider..... barahahhhhhaaa..... Hincapie is the original ET ! He’s a hack…… last years Tour shows what a non-EPO Hincapie is…… a piece of [censored]…[/font]

WBT says it how it is. Good call mate.

wolfix said:

Does Bettini live in Belgium? What would be the status of his World's if he was guilty? Would they award it the 2nd place?

I am going to jump ahead here about 35 posts to this thread.........Because if Boonen is one of the guilty, the spin will be "It was Lances fault!" "He was a Postie"

I'm starting to get the feeling that there are people in cycling who don't care that the sport is being torn down. I'm curious as if there will be any less interest in this years TDF if some main riders in QS go down.

[font=Verdana][/font]

[font=Verdana][/font]

[font=Verdana]Have you ever been to [/font][font=Verdana]Belgium[/font][font=Verdana] ? and have you ever been to [/font][font=Verdana]Italy[/font][font=Verdana] ? Why would anyone ever want to like in [/font][font=Verdana]Belgium[/font][font=Verdana] ? Its cold, its wet, its flat and the woman are ugly..... Bettini lives in [/font][font=Verdana]Italy[/font][font=Verdana] ! [/font][font=Verdana][/font]

wolfix said:

I'm starting to think that people involved in cycling and the riders are not that smart. With the enviroment that is out there today with doping, does it make sense to store the stuff in your home?

Absolutely. I mean, dig a hole some place and bury it. Anything's better than storing it your home. It goes back to the drug culture in general. They were probably all, "Hey dude, wana see my epo stash? It's [censored] huge man."

Rolfrae said:

Only the riders directly involved (those found in possession) would be likely to be blocked from starting. I mean, if Valv(Piti) can start the Tour then how can they bar anyone else from starting?

Not necessarily true. If the dope was found in the house of a team staff member then it implicates the team. The staff member could roll over during police questioning, and who knows what has been recorded during phone taps. A few words during a phone call might be all it takes.

helmutRoole2 said:

Absolutely. I mean, dig a hole some place and bury it. Anything's better than storing it your home. It goes back to the drug culture in general. They were probably all, "Hey dude, wana see my epo stash? It's [censored] huge man."

[font=Verdana]But you need refrigeration for the EPO and HGH..... so you can't just put it in a hole in the ground... that’s why all the top cyclist built altitude chambers in their houses.... doubles as a refrigeration unit.... I would hide my stash in my house.... where else would you put it ? Will Voget used to keep it in his fridge right next to the carrots and lettuce ! [/font][font=Verdana][/font]

You have to refrigerate epo?

Jesus.

Back to the drawing board for me.

IndyRider said:

So you guys make fun of Hincapie for not winning even though he has been very close a number of times, and you gripe about the winners being dopers. The evidence seems to point in the direction that Hincapie is a "clean" racer. Someone that has been so close so many times with a little "help" surely would have won one. Choose one side of the argument please.

Most of Hincapie's near-misses in the Classics seem to fall into one of three categories:

1. Bad Luck / Bike Handling / Preparation: Equipment Failures, Crashes, Flats, etc.
2. Mis-Reading a race and / or missing a break - Boonen's 2006 Victory in Flanders comes to mind. The break went and Hincapie missed it. Same thing in 2005. When interviewed one time, Hincapie said "I thought the attacks would come on the Muur, so that's what I waited for."
3. Not having a strong team. In 2002, Hincapie had no teammates left to help him against a wall of Farm Frites riders. George has the misfortune to be riding for USPS / Discover who keep their powder dry until July. No real support for the Classics until 2005 and 2006. By then: Gusev, Hoste and Devolder had been stronger than Hincapie.

So, I don't think he ever lost because of physical traits -- doped or not. In my viewing of the tapes: he usually lost for one of the above reasons. He usually has the legs, but doesn't have the team, the gear, or the tactics to make it.

strummer_fan said:

Most of Hincapie's near-misses in the Classics seem to fall into one of three categories:...

2. Mis-Reading a race and / or missing a break...

Like when he missed the break in the Sydney Olympics because he didn't know there was a break up the road? A classic Hincapie moment there.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana]I would hide my stash in my house.... where else would you put it ?[/font]

At a friend's or relative's or supporter's house. These guys really are dumb or cavalier if they still keep it at any of the team member's homes. They seem to have taken the care to hide it, you'd think they would do that an some unlikely person's house.

QS says it's not QS.
http://velonews.com/news/fea/12374.0.html

strummer_fan said:

So, I don't think he ever lost because of physical traits -- doped or not. In my viewing of the tapes: he usually lost for one of the above reasons. He usually has the legs, but doesn't have the team, the gear, or the tactics to make it.

Seems like to me there were plenty of times (like most of them) Hincapie just didn't have the legs to win, although you can't be blamed for letting accidents and the clear lack of any kind of tactical sense cloud things, as there have certainly been plenty of those as well.

He's about as good as Michaelson or Hoffman were, and if he weren't American and Lance's domestique at the Tour he'd probably get as much press.

All these years and he's got two semi-classics to his credit and a couple of podiums in the big races, that's hardly the palmares of someone who usually has the legs to win big races.

JRMDC said:

QS says it's not QS.
velonews.com12374.0.htmlOpen ↗

Boonen's relative a QS trainer and he was taken in. Nothing found at house. This is going to be good. I foresee months of incriminations and denials, should be plenty of coded conversations. Probably a lot of talk of wasps and such. I interested if Belgians come up with better code names than Spaniards? Although Scarponi's was pretty ingenious. Looks like QS has their ship pretty tight.

whiteboytrash said:

[font=Verdana][/font]

[font=Verdana][/font]

[font=Verdana]Have you ever been to [/font][font=Verdana]Belgium[/font][font=Verdana] ? and have you ever been to [/font][font=Verdana]Italy[/font][font=Verdana] ? Why would anyone ever want to like in [/font][font=Verdana]Belgium[/font][font=Verdana] ? Its cold, its wet, its flat and the woman are ugly..... Bettini lives in [/font][font=Verdana]Italy[/font][font=Verdana] ! [/font][font=Verdana][/font]

He lives in Monte Carlo. Tax-free gear?

Wayne666 said:

At a friend's or relative's or supporter's house. These guys really are dumb or cavalier if they still keep it at any of the team member's homes. They seem to have taken the care to hide it, you'd think they would do that an some unlikely person's house.

Hence why Basso, Ullich and co. stored it all in their blood at Fuentes Madrid clinic.... no gear in their house or in their wife's carboot etc. - you just got to hope no one raids the doc and works out that Brillo is you....... otherwise you're clean and can win 7 tours.....

looks like no actual riders have been caught with anything.. trainers and people associated with the team... seems they knew the, don't stash it in your own place rule.

as for Hincapie.. Hincapie is dumb as a stump and unlucky too... dope or no dope... no matter what, that guy will find some way not to win...

There should be a new rule for codenames: Don't call your stuff "wasps".

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2007/jun07/jun08news2

Rolfrae said:

WBT says it how it is. Good call mate.

Mmmmm, how does your [censored] feel, WBT? 🙂

helmutRoole2 said:

Absolutely. I mean, dig a hole some place and bury it. Anything's better than storing it your home. It goes back to the drug culture in general. They were probably all, "Hey dude, wana see my epo stash? It's [censored] huge man."

This raises the question: can you smoke EPO? Cuz if yes, my friend has an awesome glass four-foot bong and everyone is invited by my place to toke this weekend.

If you're not chokin, your not smokin.