[golgiaparatus]

I thought at first that maybe he was found positive and the TDF is covering their asses. Then I thought... I doubt it cuz it would have been leaked and L'quipe (or whatever) would have been all over it like snot on a 2 year old.

However, I don't doubt for 1 second that the TDF went to rabbo and said... look we cant let your boy win, we cant prove he's dirty, but the publicity is too bad for us to let him win. So either you remove him or we will remove Rabbo from all ASO races from now on.

As for Rassmussen lying, that may be, but I am still betting that the ASO told Rabbo to remove him.

 

[golgiaparatus]

Intere sting quote from the article.
guess they won't feel they won it properly

The win will be tainted... it will forever have the dreaded *

 

[luelling]

When Lance got the yellow after a crash and didn't want to wear it, officials wouldn't start until he put it on, and that was a respectable situation. So I can't see them letting him not wear it out of "respect".

I was going to mention that, and I agree. Contador will be in yellow tomorrow, and I think its for the better. I just hope his ass doesn't fail a doping control; I would probably write off professional cycling if that happens.

 

[MtnbikeMike]

As much as I didn't want Ras to win, it sucks they did it this way.

Why was he even allowed to race if all of this stuff happened?

 

[luelling]

As much as I didn't want Ras to win, it sucks they did it this way.

Why was he even allowed to race if all of this stuff happened?

ASO didn't know before hand...or they sure as hell woulda kept him out

 

[MtnbikeMike]

But the Danish Cycling Federation knew, but only now made a stink about it.

 

[douglas]

ASO didn't know before hand...or they sure as hell woulda kept him out

The rule is you cant miss 3, he mised 2 from one, and 2 from another organization...the total was 4 but being it was 2 each from different organizations - technically, according to their own rules Ras was ok to race.

Note: They plan to immediately change that rule to say 3 total missed tests (as in from either/any organization)

 

[douglas]

Interesting question. He's in thelead, so technically, he should, yeah? Would it be classy of him to wear the white anyway? Would Tour Officials allow him to wear anything but yellow?

Tomorrow's initial coverage will be interesting since they already played the, "hey, other sports have problems too" card.

"There will be no yellow jersey worn in today's stage, although there will be a jersey awarded on the podium in Castelsarrasin"

 

[Cant Climb]

at what? second place?

I thought Levi was a bit closer......winning is a long shot.

I really have no idea how Contador TT's.......

 

[Echo]

I thought Levi was a bit closer......winning is a long shot.

I really have no idea how Contador TT's.......

He was 1:14 behind Evans in the first TT. That one had a climb in it so who knows if that helped Contador. Saturday should be very interesting!

 

[Westy]

Why avoiding out of competition testing is a really scummy thing to do.

But even for techniques that we do have a test for, such as EPO, the window of detection is often limited. The sensitivity of the urine EPO test is limited to about 72 hours after injection. The blood test, by itself, is not considered legally valid proof of EPO use because it cannot distinguish naturally occurring EPO from synthetic. But the effectiveness of EPO as a doping technique is much more long-lived. An aggressive course of EPO taken in the six or so weeks prior to a Grand Tour can take the rider’s haematocrit, or red blood cell count expressed as a percentage of total blood volume, from a normal level – say, 40 to 44 percent – to close to the UCI threshold of 50. That increase is directly correlated to power output. Over the course of a Tour, it will decline several percentage points, but the effect of the EPO use lasts the entire Tour. By contrast, the administration of the EPO itself ends two to three weeks prior to the race, so by the time a racer is controlled in the race, all legally verifiable traces of its use are gone. The racer gets the benefit, but will never test positive.

This is the reason accurate and timely whereabouts reporting is absolutely essential to clean sport: the most effective doping in endurance sports like cycling takes place not during the race, but preceeding it, and out-of-competition testing is the only way to catch it. Again, over the past 24 months Rasmussen missed two tests outright, failed to report his location on two others, and revealed that two of the responsible agencies had never tested him during that time. No one can prove Rasmussen is doping. But neither can he claim that he’s made every effort to show he’s not.

 

[MMcG]

Why avoiding out of competition testing is a really scummy thing to do.

Also the lying about where he was - saying he was in Mexico, when in fact he was in Italy, right? - didn't help his cause one bit.

 

[splat]

THe RasMOOOfan fan club

 

[Cant Climb]

In the last few years blood transfusions have become more popular also.....i suspect riders just use it for a mini-boast to get near the 50 mark and not go over it.

Vino may have been trying to do this and his handlers gave him someone elses blood by mistake....maybe Kloden's...??....i doubt they treat the entire team, just the key guys to keep risk low.

 

[Westy]

In the last few years blood transfusions have become more popular also.....i suspect riders just use it for a mini-boast to get near the 50 mark and not go over it.

Vino may have been trying to do this and his handlers gave him someone elses blood by mistake....maybe Kloden's...??....i doubt they treat the entire team, just the key guys to keep risk low.

Autogenous blood doping takes a lot of planning as it takes time to recover from the first donation. Storing blood requires proper refrigeration and is hard to hide. Vino could have just been losing time and said **** it give me blood. If he didn't have any of his own laying around they would have had to get it from a donor.

 

[Cant Climb]

Autogenous blood doping takes a lot of planning as it takes time to recover from the first donation. Storing blood requires proper refrigeration and is hard to hide. Vino could have just been losing time and said **** it give me blood. If he didn't have any of his own laying around they would have had to get it from a donor.

Makes sense.

I was reading a preTour article and they mentioned the mysterious visits to chalets in the middle of the night by motorcycle couriers......wonder what they are bringing in, drugs or blood....would seem easy to police also but i guess its been going on for years.

 

[Hawkeye]

Makes sense.

I was reading a preTour article and they mentioned the mysterious visits to chalets in the middle of the night by motorcycle couriers......wonder what they are bringing in, drugs or blood....would seem easy to police also but i guess its been going on for years.

I always read that stuff as a little to cloak & dagger to be true.

But after this years tour I would love to hear theses stories from a reformed doper.