Rasmussen out of the tour!!!

[Crankyfeet]

Right because the Festina affair really cleaned the sport up! Oh, wait, no it was cleaned up when Thevenet admitted doping in 1978. Oh, wait no Tom Simpson's death led to it being cleaned up. No, it was cleaned when Merckx failed a dope test. No, Pantani's death cleaned things up.

This may damn near kill the sport financially but it ain't gonna clean it up.

Point taken, but don't you think that the sport is on its knees now, a litttle more than in those previous scandals.

 

[Trajectum]

I just got back from a VIP thing with LIVESTRONG. I was wondering why the journalists were asking strange questions......... I thought the buzz was about the chickens great ride today.......... I should have paid more attention to the questions then to the bottle of Amber Bock and the redhead wit the tube top......

Headed back ...curious as to what LA is going to say. He's on in a few minutes.

Yep. remember that you had that gig tonight. Was curious about how it was actually guess I'll read up on it later

 

[Philsybob]

I think the time has come for the cheaters to go to jail. They are receiving income under false pretences. In other words they are de-frauding the public, the organisers and their sponsers for quite substantially amounts of money.

Obviously 2 years ban is not a detterent.
Pay all the money back is not a detterent.
Maybe 2 years in a jail with Bubba may prove to be a detterent.

 

[Klodifan]

So what is all the crying about? This is a fantastic outcome. With the information we have and the ITT performance of the chicken we know that he was doping. If he had stayed and won, then we would have once more had a victor that we could be certain was a doper. Now, with him gone, we will have a victor, whether it be Contador or Evans, for whom there is zero evidence of doping. This is great for the Tour and for bicycling.

you have once again shown your bias and inconsistensies. youve previously written about there not being proven evidence against your favored riders and lambasted those who sugested otherwise. clearly by this post you indict yourself. there is still no actual proof against the chicken that he doped. and no I am not a fan. but obviously you turn a blind eye to puerto contadors shinanigans which on the surface are merely circumstansial innuendos as in ras' case. your judgement is cloudy, to say the least.

if you were a person of intellectual honesty you would have to hold contador to the same level of suspicion as you do for rassmussen. sadly, you are incapable.

 

[lwedge]

This is not a great victory for Discovery. It is a blow to cycling but maybe a boost to Soccer.
The **** is hitting the fans and I don't mean the kind that blows air although this blows.
Anyone one up for some competitive drinking? No doping needed to win!

Nope, my testosterone levels are high enough thank you.

lw

 

[Trajectum]

Hey look, I'm sorry your guy lost. Honestly. He did a super ride today. But had he completed this Tour and won we would have one more Landis type year. And that's not good for the sport.

This is worse.. It is rumoured that most of the teams will pull out during the night and even if they dont.. Contador/Rasmussen are responsible or how things unfolded in the mountains, we would have seen a completely different tour if the Chicken would have not been allowed to start in the first place. Now the GC is detirmened by how things unfolded in the mountain stages and none that happened there makes sense. This wont just be an "alright, lets take rasmussen out and happily finnish the tour" kind of situation. This impacts the race itself till a large degree and I even wonder if the tour will be finnished this year.

Then again they had no choice but to pull the chicken after it became known he was in Italy and not Mexico. Things went the way they went but this tour is messed.

 

[RedFury]

I´m sipping a delightful Highland Park single malt myself. I think it´s what Landis has before a major stage . . .

Hehe! Cheers, mate.

OTOH, I do have to agree (how could I not?) that professional cycling is riding on the very edge of destructiveness. BUT the fact that TWO very high-profile cases have been busted in this TDF at least gives me a glimmer of hope for the future. Not like I'd encourage my kid into such a dirty sport -- at seventeen too old anyway; besides, I don't think many kids are taken by it in any event. Outside the three or four traditional countries that is. Newcomers such as the US, sadly, might be a lost cause with all this **** -- but perhaps this is the start of a new era.

Or at least this foolish old-man thinks so. And I can't lie, seeing a Spaniard top the charts with a very good chance to make it stick till the [size=-1]Champs-Elysees gives me a huge boost. Or is it the Cava?

Anyway, long time since Big Mig for moi and many of my coutrymen/women.[/size]

 

[redLantern]

So what is all the crying about? This is a fantastic outcome. With the information we have and the ITT performance of the chicken we know that he was doping. If he had stayed and won, then we would have once more had a victor that we could be certain was a doper. Now, with him gone, we will have a victor, whether it be Contador or Evans, for whom there is zero evidence of doping. This is great for the Tour and for bicycling.

yea this is FANTASTIC,,police raiding hotel rooms,multiple teams leaving the tour,t.v stations pulling their coverage,sponsors probably pulling out,loads of negative publicity,fighting between the ASO and the UCI,yellow jersey expelled from the tour....yup coulnt agree with you more, the tour has never been better!!!!!

 

[poulidor]

If Vino get caught it's only because Astana could not send his own blood in France. Too risky for the carrier. So he has to loan a blood compatible person, I heard that some lists of this guys exist, you have just to pay for this extra!

 

[sydsyd]

Well, technically there is no evidence of Ras doping. All his controls so far have been negative. What did him in was lying to his team. Unless there is some sort of suterfuge going on, it seems that his team now has evidence that he lied. How/when they got that evidence, it must have been confirmed in some way other than "I heard a rumor ..."

What gets me about this whole thing is how when team management and riders are asked about doping, many of them talk around the issue. Like Brunyeel the other day, to paraphrase, "gee I just don't know what we can do." And, you have to roll your eyes when you hear the "I'm shocked!" comments from directors/riders when they are interviewed post-doping revelations. It seems like change is only going to happen when big names in the sport start opening up and being brutally honest about the situation. That is, if they are serious about cleaning up the sport. Make the penalties more painful for the team or sponsors. Ban riders who are known to have been associating with people like Ferrari and Fuentes. Otherwise, screw it all and let 'em dope.

 

[saluki]

you have once again shown your bias and inconsistensies. youve previously written about there not being proven evidence against your favored riders and lambasted those who sugested otherwise. clearly by this post you indict yourself. there is still no actual proof against the chicken that he doped. and no I am not a fan. but obviously you turn a blind eye to puerto contadors shinanigans which on the surface are merely circumstansial innuendos as in ras' case. your judgement is cloudy, to say the least.

if you were a person of intellectual honesty you would have to hold contador to the same level of suspicion as you do for rassmussen. sadly, you are incapable.

You know Klodifan, if you're not Trash's sister, you should be. There is no comparison between Contador and Ras. Ras has had someone testify that he tried to use him as a mule to carry blood doping products. He has disappeared on at least four occasions without telling where he was. He has 2/3 broken the rules on that count. And now he has been shown to have lied about being in Mexico at a time when he was actually in Italy. And that is definitely breaking the rules.

Contador has broken no rules. He has failed no doping tests. He hasn't disappeared without people knowing where he was. You and your pack of low life hyenas think that you can make Contador guilty of something by repeatedly calling him Puerto Contador. But Contador was cleared by the UCI virtually as soon as he was accused. This while the UCI refused to clear most others even after the Spanish authorities did. And he was only ever accused because of who he rode for. There has never been any evidence against him.
So you can take your insinuations about him and, like I said before, go sit on your doped up Klodi doll.

 

[Trajectum]

What gets me about this whole thing is how when team management and riders are asked about doping, many of them talk around the issue. Like Brunyeel the other day, to paraphrase, "gee I just don't know what we can do." And, you have to roll your eyes when you hear the "I'm shocked!" comments from directors/riders when they are interviewed post-doping revelations. It seems like change is only going to happen when big names in the sport start opening up and being brutally honest about the situation. That is, if they are serious about cleaning up the sport. Make the penalties more painful for the team or sponsors. Ban riders who are known to have been associating with people like Ferrari and Fuentes. Otherwise, screw it all and let 'em dope.

Former pro Jans Koerts (last riding for Cofides untill the summer of 2005) also talked bout doping in the eveningprogram of the NOS today. He admitted that he has been using doping through pretty much all of his career and that he didnt know any riders in the tour who did not. I quote (by heart so could be wrong on the exact sentence) 'There comes a time in your career when you must decide. Either you accept your career to be over and not ride as a pro, or you join and dope with the rest of them. I chose the second and do not regret it"

 

[saluki]

This is worse.. It is rumoured that most of the teams will pull out during the night and even if they dont..

Let me stop you right there. That's a White Trash rumor. When Trash shakes your hand, you need to count your fingers.

Cofidis is leaving because their guy Moreni tested positive. That's all we know for now.

I do agree that this year's Tour is one of the ugliest that I remember. But Disco and Contador did nothing to make it that way.

There comes a point beyond which sponsors simply cannot stay in the sport. I'm afraid that we have reached that point for the majority of them.

 

[musette]

If the UCI was doing it's job - it would have banned Ras in June 07 - when he missed his first appointment.

Aren't you aware that, under UCI rules, it takes THREE warnings re:missed testing outside of racing to be treated as having a non-negative result?

 

[Bro Deal]

A friend of mine just talked to Rasmussen. He denied doping and explained his increase in performance in this way, "I'm on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day. What are you on?"

 

[mercurycu99]

You know Klodifan, if you're not Trash's sister, you should be. Contador has broken no rules. He has failed no doping tests. He hasn't disappeared without people knowing where he was. You and your pack of low life hyenas think that you can make Contador guilty of something by repeatedly calling him Puerto Contador. But Contador was cleared by the UCI virtually as soon as he was accused. This while the UCI refused to clear most others even after the Spanish authorities did. And he was only ever accused because of who he rode for. There has never been any evidence against him.
So you can take your insinuations about him and, like I said before, go sit on your doped up Klodi doll.

I agree, Saluki But you'll never get anywhere with the Disco/Lance bashers on this forum or the inept troll that is the Admin. This Forum is a biased, pathetic joke that only - exists to blame Lance for every drug cheater that has been caught.

GO DISCO!!!!!!!!!

Mercury

 

[ATM]

Unless there is some sort of suterfuge going on, it seems that his team now has evidence that he lied. How/when they got that evidence, it must have been confirmed in some way other than "I heard a rumor ..."

He admitted he was in Italy when confonted.

 

[saluki]

"I'm on my bike, busting my ass six hours a day."

You know, I actually believe that part. I have little doubt that Ras spend six hours a day busting his ass. And that's one of the reasons we shouldn't judge him too harshly. But I still believe he doped.

 

[musette]

Jealousy does something prompt fans of other teams to make unsubstantiated assertions to challenge DC/USPS' success.

 

[Trajectum]

Let me stop you right there. That's a White Trash rumor. When Trash shakes your hand, you need to count your fingers.

Cofidis is leaving because their guy Moreni tested positive. That's all we know for now.

I do agree that this year's Tour is one of the ugliest that I remember. But Disco and Contador did nothing to make it that way.

There comes a point beyond which sponsors simply cannot stay in the sport. I'm afraid that we have reached that point for the majority of them.

Yeah.. Seems like White Trash pulled that one out of his nose again.. Seems I am willing to believe anything at this point. Still the GC standings are largely determined by how the tour unfolded around rasmussen and the battle between Contador and Rasmussen. The GC now means very little in my opinion and I dont really feel like watching the rest live.