2007 Tour - Page 2

BACH · August 5th, 2007, 09:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ Smith

I actually think this year may have been a crossroads, it's either going to doom the event that they had widespread doping again, or it's going to be the beginning of the end of doping in cycling. The young riders clearly seem to want to change the sport for the better and made a clear statement about how they feel about the past doping history. Hopefully that will start a movement towards clean riders.

If not the TDF is in trouble, last year Landis wins and then we found out he cheated, multiple cheaters this year plus countless guys pulling out before or during the event, if they don't learn from this they never will.

The biggest problem IMO is the different rules imposed by the different teams.

Rasmussen got sacked, because he missed a doping-test due to bad scheduling (He never tested positive in any of the following tests but clearly made a mistake) and because people find it suspicious that he often trains in Mexico (His wife is mexican and he therefore owns a house there). If these are big enough question marks to get fired from your team, then fine, but then those rules should apply to all riders. Rasmussen got sacked after testing negative 17 times this season....

That would mean that most riders in the top 10 should have be excluded as well.

Russ Smith · August 6th, 2007, 10:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BACH

The biggest problem IMO is the different rules imposed by the different teams.

Rasmussen got sacked, because he missed a doping-test due to bad scheduling (He never tested positive in any of the following tests but clearly made a mistake) and because people find it suspicious that he often trains in Mexico (His wife is mexican and he therefore owns a house there). If these are big enough question marks to get fired from your team, then fine, but then those rules should apply to all riders. Rasmussen got sacked after testing negative 17 times this season....

That would mean that most riders in the top 10 should have be excluded as well.

True but you have to remember a lot of well established cheaters never tested positive either. I am not familiar with Rasmussen's case but it may well be his team had reasons that aren't public?

I think it's a good sign the young riders are speaking out, I just hope they're not just paying lip service, I hope they're being honest.

Scott MS · August 7th, 2007, 07:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Russ Smith

I actually think this year may have been a crossroads, it's either going to doom the event that they had widespread doping again, or it's going to be the beginning of the end of doping in cycling. The young riders clearly seem to want to change the sport for the better and made a clear statement about how they feel about the past doping history. Hopefully that will start a movement towards clean riders.

If not the TDF is in trouble, last year Landis wins and then we found out he cheated, multiple cheaters this year plus countless guys pulling out before or during the event, if they don't learn from this they never will.

It's a bold move by cycling to go after doping in such an open, public manner. Some people say the UCI is foolish for airing the dirty laundry because football, baseball, etc. has probably as many problems -- maybe more.

Just remember that the good old American sports leagues are all about the $$ and any kind of gambling or drug scandle could bring these leagues down. They caught some people (Tocchet, Rose, Donaghty), but there are probably 10x more people who were never caught. I'll bet that NBA ref wasn't the first ref to bet on games.

Just yesterday, MLB umpires squashed a proposition to do background checks on them. I guess I really don't care if a criminal is behind the plate, but what do they have to hide? Most employers today do background checks.

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