Virenque



de don

New Member
Jul 24, 2007
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Do you think R Virenque was doping when he came back after his ban or did he do it clean when he came back???

He was not a good when he came back and not as lean
 
de don said:
Do you think R Virenque was doping when he came back after his ban or did he do it clean when he came back???

He was not a good when he came back and not as lean
I think he was clean, as he never raced again for winning the Tour. He once won a mountain stage ( can't remember which year ) and was leading in front of Armstrong. When asked if he would try to win the Tour, he answered he wouldn't stand a chance, there was a big gap between his capabilities and "others' .

Anyone remembering when this was?
 
Virenque responding to a french interwiew has said that he would dope again if he was sure to be not caught.
For me and many others he was back with PED... just a little less than precedent. Without PED he would have never be able to climb with the first groups of riders.
 
I am with Poulidor on this one. Virenque would do anything to win, and came from a generation when there was absolutely no stigma attached to doping (well, until the entire Festina affair).

I am certain he doped following his comeback, slightly less than beforehand probably, but doped nonetheless.
 
The article in the latest Procycling doesn't give very flattering picture of Festina and especially the gentleman in question.. hard to believe not.
 
poulidor said:
Virenque responding to a french interwiew has said that he would dope again if he was sure to be not caught.
For me and many others he was back with PED... just a little less than precedent. Without PED he would have never be able to climb with the first groups of riders.
Sounds like he probably spun his blood when he came back.
 
de don said:
Do you think R Virenque was doping when he came back after his ban or did he do it clean when he came back???

He was not a good when he came back and not as lean
Almost certainly.

IIRC, when the French Federation cracked down on the doping in the wake of the Festina scandal and instituted longitudinal controls, Virenque and Jalabert were the two notable riders that left the country and took out foreign racing licences.
 
de don said:
Do you think R Virenque was doping when he came back after his ban or did he do it clean when he came back???

He was not a good when he came back and not as lean

errrr Viremque wasn’t banned until 2000 and for 8 months at that. Hardly a ban.
 
Wayne666 said:
Almost certainly.

IIRC, when the French Federation cracked down on the doping in the wake of the Festina scandal and instituted longitudinal controls, Virenque and Jalabert were the two notable riders that left the country and took out foreign racing licences.
Hmmm, I actually might reconsider, as you're right he did not race under French controls anymore after his return. So yes, that w..ker might have been loaded after all. I hate him because of his stupid comments on French Eurosport, when doping cases mentioned. Example, when rumours about Ullrich being involved with Puerto case on Giro back in ...2006 ??...he said: "Come on. Again these rumours about doping? No way these guys are doping today. One should focus on the race, not on accusing those poor riders." SIGH...

Concerning Jalabert don't forget he did not leave the country when France instituted longitudinal controls, he had been with Once well before that.
 
adamastor said:
Concerning Jalabert don't forget he did not leave the country when France instituted longitudinal controls, he had been with Once well before that.
He could be with Once and could have had a french licence.
 
poulidor said:
He could be with Once and could have had a french licence.
Yes, I'm pretty sure he moved and raced under a Swiss license once the French got serious about the dope testing.
 
Wayne666 said:
Yes, I'm pretty sure he moved and raced under a Swiss license once the French got serious about the dope testing.
Sure for a none french license.!
 
poulidor said:
Sure for a none french license.!
According to some comments on other older French forum posts, after 1998 Manolo Saiz forbid Jalabert to take part at the longitudinal tests. In 99 Jalabert took part at the Giro, not the Tour. I remember the whole Once team left the Tour in 98 in protest. Jalabert's comment became famous: "We are no cattle..."
 
Yeah, I can't forget Jalabert and Once's stance - at the time, it seemed a fair enough thing, but as time passed and people realised how entrenched doping was and therefore how much work there would be to do to clean it up, that stance didn't look good. Having said that, he was and still is my favourite rider of all time.

Virenque - almost certainly a doper to the end. He was (by the accounts of his fellow pros) not very intelligent, completely in love with the celebrity that came with his success, and had a generally poor character. I remember one pro dissing him after the Milan - San Remo - in the breakaway, he would sit there doing no work until the motorbike camera came up alongside, upon which he would go to the front, waggle his head from side to side with his tongue out (face tilted slightly toward the camera) and scream at his companions to do more work. A very unpopular rider in the bunch.