thoughtforfood said:
However, while in the US the Tour de France is the only race people know, in what we call "the rest of the world," there is a tradition to many races few here can even pronounce. In those races, QS shows themselves to consistently be a threat for the win, and in many cases, they do win. This year has not been as stelar, but as a team, they far surpass DC.
Many in the US have a tendency to claim that an organization that has a star athlete, is also a great "team." QS, and their previous incarnation Mapei are great teams, and no team with a "dictator" will ever match their overall achievement.
I am with Bro on this one, the numerous wins they have were clearly a sign that they concentrated on a different racing program, and in that were just as successful as DC. Just because they did not concentrate all of their attention of overall GT's does not mean that in their area of concentration, they were less successful. I would submit they were just as successful, if not more so.
DS also has a pretty bad history of producing riders who once they left the team, showed where their real talent originated in the first place, and that is doping.
on the final part, I really don't see point stressed, that doping like Disco, cannot be achieved over the entire year.
Logistics, risk of scandal being caught, reconsitituting red cells, delivering dope cross borders.
It is mitigation of risk factors, and good business, to just minimise and manage all external factors.
If they could have deal with all contingencies and doped Hincapie to win the spring cobbled classics, they would have, but there are too many variables in the one day races. In the tour, Armstrong managed to tune the science.
The only wildcard would be injury and the possibility of a crash. Armstrong had everything else tweaked. Well done. He may have had Harvard MBA grads in his corner, they really did everything perfectly. From Bruyneel, to Stapelton, to Ferrari. From the 4th win on, it was a certainty, bar any unforseen event like a crash.
The classics and the one-day races are not fait accomplis. There are 20 riders on the start of Roubaix and Flanders who could win, and probably only 10 who go in believing they can. The bumpier ardennes, probably less.
But there were about 3 riders who could threaten Armstrong and USPS.
How do you transport dope cross borders? Best you carry in the body, have them doped in Gerona, and ready to ride, then legal imported drugs to hit them up for 27 jabs per stage in the tour, and complement with insulin, albeit illegal etc. Then find a provider for the IGF-1, HGH, and testosterone, which will not pass the inspection, and be given pass from import authorities.
So, they carry in a hundred odd legal drugs, and then use the other stuff surreptitiously, and then the courierd blood ia back roads thru Pyrnees on rest days.
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/tour-like-a-mobile-pharmacy-10544