Something is Wrong...

in professional cycling. A Frenchman winning a Belgian semi-classic with a very strong ride?

The times they are a-changing.

 

it did not look super human tho.

the attack with 9kms to go
destined to fail if there was organisation, the wattage was not extraordinary. just well times, took the chasers on the hop, and nick nuyens did a great defensive ride.

 

Something else is wrong or very confusing. N.Axelsson won again for serramenti. This is a rider who was in the last group of a giro mountain stage aaaround 2000. failed a test for EPO, then rides fairly average for a few yrs and now wins. Other older riders on the team are going well.

 

love it. here's hoping it's not a fluke and a trend. I'm thinking that a lot of guys are laying low and waiting to see what happens before doing the full regimen.

 

Great ride from Chavanel!

What has happened to Boonen?? No more juice or has his young girlfriend taken all the energy out of him...?

 

Axelsson rode very strongly too, at Tirenno.

He's 36 years old.

 

We were hypothesizing that he was doping with Viagra when his pic was posted here some time back. So, maybe Viagra doping and having a young gf don't go well together if your aim is to win a race?

 

Oh no, she's a succubus.

 

If people were to be testing the boundaries of the passport then maybe the older guys would have less to lose by being the guinea-pigs?

 

yep won't be long before the Bonnen's & co. say a collective "FARK !" and get back on the juice again..... Fuentes will be offering an all inclusive year round blood passport beating package........ as things stand they can't have these crap arse riders winning... bassons should get back on the bike at this rate !

 

Well stated WBT; you see Boonen has four houses & six cars. The repayments on those requires him to win. He'll have to go back go doping. Where Gilbert had one modest house & a cheap family car...... he doesn't need to dope to survive. We live in interesting times my friends.... The next six months will be very interesting.... Someone just hit F5 !

 

If this continues then Simoni will win the Giro.

 

I agree, it was believable and Nuyens was instrumental in neutralizing the chasing group.

 

Two (or maybe 3?) years ago Boonen was Basso-esque in the northern classics, I remember him practically soft-pedaling the climbs and being right at the front as easy as pie in the races leading up to the big ones. He then won Flanders but went off the boil at Roubaix.

He has never gotta back to that form, and you have to wonder why?

He is still very good, but he has never looked unbeatable since then.

 

I think he was on his way to a fairly high finish in the Giro one year when he crashed out late in the race. Then had his problems. I remember seeing his name the past few years, was he racing in Portugal?

He also rode strongly in MSR and was in the move on the Cipressa I think.

Like I said in another thread the biological passport will lose it's effectiveness the longer it goes on and no one is taken down. Given the UCI's past ways, I would assume they will try to talk some sense into a suspicious rider and give them a chance to clean up (while simultaneously targetting them for testing) before they actually suspend any one based on the passport.

 

Or wait until Stage 16 of the TdF to break the news...

 

Niklas Axelsson’s career looked dead in the water when he tested positive for EPO at the 2001 world cycling championships. He admitted his guilt and was later banned for four years by the Swedish cycling federation.

The 35-year-old then mounted a comeback in 2004, but was stricken with testicular cancer in 2007 only to reappear yet again with Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni-Androni Giocattoli this season.

Persistence paid off Wednesday when he won the 175.6km second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy.m second stage of the Settimana Internazionale Coppi e Bartali in Italy.

____

Wow didn't know this...... I guess he didn't it the wrong way around.... aren't you supposed to get testicular cancer first then take EPO for the rest of your career and win ?

 

I don't know... but testicular cancer looks like being a good thing to get for cycling performance thereafter... presuming you survive... .

I've heard that after testes removal, you don't have any natural testosterone production, so you can artificially keep your levels at the max limit, without worrying about the natural production getting affected or causing fluctuations in the ratios.

 

Where did Booned start is professional career? I mean, where in earnest?

 

Perhaps he can only focus his juiced-up peak on a 1- 1.5 month cycle.. and he was so miffed at the criticism he got for his efforts in the 2006 TdF that last year he decided to focus on that race (didn't do too bad in it as I recall). And now he's again focussed on that race for 2008. It probably is too difficult for these guys to play around with chemicals the whole season. But I'm just speculating of course.