[DRB]

Along with a stack of other riders.

Mancebo.

And it appears also that ASO is going to ignore the CAS and exclude Vino's team as well.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2006/jun06/jun30news2

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13559903/

 

[jacksonpt]

Is this for real???

Ullrich I don't care much about - he's the biggest disappointment in the tour over the last 3 years. Basso being out is big, and it will be a shame for him to miss out on what is likely his best chance at winning a tour.

On the bright side, with Basso out, will Rassmussen be CSC's horse?

 

[douglas]

holy crap!!


plus how can The Jan Crush souls if he's not even gonna race?

 

[DRB]

Is this for real???

Ullrich I don't care much about - he's the biggest disappointment in the tour over the last 3 years. Basso being out is big, and it will be a shame for him to miss out on what is likely his best chance at winning a tour.

On the bright side, with Basso out, will Rassmussen be CSC's horse?

Absolutely for real.

Rassumssen rides for Rabobank not CSC.

 

[jacksonpt]

Absolutely for real.

Rassumssen rides for Rabobank not CSC.

Was he CSC last year, or do I just have no idea what I'm talking about???

 

[Westy]

It is obvious to me that all the pro riders are on the dope. The tests obviously don't work against a highly technical doping program. They need to change the rules. The dope-heads are cheating and breaking the rules and should not be allowed to race, but that just means the unlucky dopers get caught and the next lucky doper steps up into the winning spot.

They just need to test hemocrit for a reasonable level, say 40% and just let everyone get to that 40% however they like. Because trust me, very few of these guys have natural hemocrit levels much higher than 40%. I wish they published the non-negative tests for these guys, I bet 99% of them come in with 'crit levels of 48-49%.

 

[DRB]

Was he CSC last year, or do I just have no idea what I'm talking about???

Rabobank last year as well......

BUT he is still very much a threat. That is if he can stay upright on the time trials.

 

[Westy]

Absolutely for real.

Rassumssen rides for Rabobank not CSC.

Go bobby julich! We could have another american win the tour during this "scab" year.

 

[DRB]

It is obvious to me that all the pro riders are on the dope. The tests obviously don't work against a highly technical doping program. They need to change the rules. The dope-heads are cheating and breaking the rules and should not be allowed to race, but that just means the unlucky dopers get caught and the next lucky doper steps up into the winning spot.

They just need to test hemocrit for a reasonable level, say 40% and just let everyone get to that 40% however they like.

What if you are naturally above 40%?

 

[Echo]

I see Cadel and Rasmussen duking it out... Evans will be faster in the TT's and Rasmussen will take him in the mountains... Sucks that the big boys won't be there but I still think it will be a good race.

 

[DRB]

I see Cadel and Rasmussen duking it out... Evans will be faster in the TT's and Rasmussen will take him in the mountains... Sucks that the big boys won't be there but I still think it will be a good race.

Plus Landis, Leipheimer, Hincapie, Valverde..... there is still plenty of firepower in the Tour to make it very very exciting.

 

[Ian F]

This may very well be the strangest Tour ever...

You almost have to wonder if Lance saw the writing on the wall that this would happen and said, "I don't need to deal with that..."

 

[Westy]

What if you are naturally above 40%?

Those 3 guys? They already have rules for special exceptions.

 

[Echo]

This may very well be the strangest Tour ever...

You almost have to wonder if Lance saw the writing on the wall that this would happen and said, "I don't need to deal with that..."

It's only a matter of time before L'equipe looks at the Puerto files and figures out a way to implicate Lance.

 

[DRB]

It's only a matter of time before L'equipe looks at the Puerto files and figures out a way to implicate Lance.

Oddly enough Lance won a preliminary hearing against a British newspaper for libel yesterday involving their accusations of doping.

 

[Westy]

No one can prove Lance was on the dope, but does anyone actually think he wasn't?

 

[McGRP01]

This is the biggest suck of the week.

 

[splat]

Beloki too!!!


WOW !

 

[The Toninator]

This may very well be the strangest Tour ever...

You almost have to wonder if Lance saw the writing on the wall that this would happen and said, "I don't need to deal with that..."

Olympics?? OH NONONONONO! - France Armstrong

 

[mogulskr]

And it appears also that ASO is going to ignore the CAS and exclude Vino's team as well.

So Vino is out then or can he switch teams. I would guess not.

 

[Wumpus]

They just need to test hemocrit for a reasonable level, say 40% and just let everyone get to that 40% however they like. Because trust me, very few of these guys have natural hemocrit levels much higher than 40%.

The normal ranges for hematocrit are dependent on age and, after adolescence, the sex of the individual. The normal ranges are:

*Newborns: 55-68%
*One (1) week of age: 47-65%
*One (1) month of age: 37-49%
*Three (3) months of age: 30-36%
*One (1) year of age: 29-41%
*Ten (10) years of age: 36-40%
*Adult males: 42-54%
*Adult women: 38-46%

http://www.medicinenet.com/hematocrit/article.htm

 

[LordOpie]

heheheheh

In the midst of all the doping scandals going on in the Tour, there is a certain irony about the return of David Millar to racing. After police searched his home in 2004, Millar admitted to using EPO to win the 2003 world time trial championships (among other races), and received a two year suspension that has just run its course. Millar said that he is now ready to race without doping, and called the events in Spain "fantastic news".

 

[GotMyGED]

Ullrich....I can understand. he has been such a huge disappointment over the past few years. He was probably under a huge amount of pressure to do well at any cost this year.

But Basso......is an idiot. He had everything set up for him. A great team, the best bikes the sport has ever seen, and the support of many of the fans. What an idiot.

I think they should strip him of his Giro win. He doesn't deserve anything.

 

[The Toninator]

Ullrich....I can understand. he has been such a huge disappointment over the past few years. He was probably under a huge amount of pressure to do well at any cost this year.

But Basso......is an idiot. He had everything set up for him. A great team, the best bikes the sport has ever seen, and the support of many of the fans. What an idiot.

I think they should strip him of his Giro win. He doesn't deserve anything.

easy there gun slinger, nothing has been proven yet. They dont even have his name on the 'paper work.'

 

[sanjuro]

dopers suck!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Heidi]

Wow, I'm just speechless

 

[sanjuro]

easy there gun slinger, nothing has been proven yet. They dont even have his name on the 'paper work.'

You're absolutely right. They must be innocent because they have no proof, and drug use is so rare in the peleton.

From the NY Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/30/sports/othersports/30tour.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&adxnnlx=1151679704-5eRFqr2taxaAFqWWz+KA8w

Experts in the doping-control measures used by cycling and other sports say that since a urine test for EPO was devised by a French laboratory in 2000, many athletes whose tests seemed to indicate they made use of the banned drug have nevertheless been given a passing grade.

Don Catlin's role as the head of the drug testing laboratory at U.C.L.A., the only American site accredited by the World Anti-Doping Association, makes him an authority on doping by athletes. Catlin said his lab saw many EPO urine tests that indicated illegal doping by an athlete. He passes most of them, however, because the evidence is not, in his estimation, overwhelming.

"I don't call them because I know I will be faced with a phalanx of scientists and experts who are there to say I'm wrong," he said. "The false negative rate is very high."

Diagnostic tests that detect the illegal use of steroids, amphetamines and other substances banned in cycling and most other sports are relatively simple: a machine spits out the scientific equivalent of a plus or minus sign. The EPO test, in contrast, spits out a Rorschach blot, with results that must be interpreted by someone skilled in the art.

 

[Heidi]

Someone hit it on the button. I believe most of them are using, just not all getting caught.

 

[GotMyGED]

easy there gun slinger, nothing has been proven yet. They dont even have his name on the 'paper work.'

Sorry, I'm a basso fan myself.....just a little pissed off that something like this has happened.

 

[Heidi]

HAHAHAH - check out this quote by Jan's ex-trainer, ""e has an altitude chamber in his basement, that cost €120,000, so that he could train in a clean way, and he still manages to fall in with these rogues and betrayers. Who has been advising him, who has been taking care of him, since I'm not with him? He is actually old enough to know who he should trust. I simply don't want to believe it, it is incomprehensible."

Sounds like his mom!

 

[Heidi]

Check out the poll on Eurosport:

Your reaction to Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso's exclusion?
Number of votes : 2094
1. You cheat, you're out. Game over.
40%
2. Let them ride. Wait until they're formally convicted.
46%
3. Cancel the Tour.
15%


The evidence must be serious enough for the leaders to know that they are guilty. Or, is it really just the "code of ethics" that they are being suspended for? I think they evidence must be pretty straight forward.

I really can't work today.

 

[Ciaran]

Sorry, I'm a basso fan myself.....just a little pissed off that something like this has happened.

Pissed that he was doping or pissed that he got caught?

They are ALL doping. These guys just got caught.

So is cheating still cheating when everyone is cheating?

 

[Heidi]

Pissed that he was doping or pissed that he got caught?

They are ALL doping. These guys just got caught.

So is cheating still cheating when everyone is cheating?

Yes, I think so. It's just sad because they got caught yet you know others are doing it as well, just not getting caught!

 

[James]

Beloki too!!!


WOW !

That one breaks my heart...
I always had a soft spot for the little Spainard who could stay with Lance until the crash.
But it does look pretty damning for there to be a doping policy on the team. Here's hoping Vino can somehow make the tour...

 

[Heidi]

Tony, there goes your climber predictions in Beloki! Back to the drawing board.

 

[N8 v2.0]

The following riders were named in the ongoing Operación Puerto doping case by Spanish investigators on Thursday

Astaná-Würth

Michele Scarponi (I)
Marcos Antonio Serrano (Sp)
David Etxebarria (Sp)
Joseba Beloki (Sp)
Angel Vicioso (Sp)
Isidro Nozal (Sp)
Unai Osa (Sp)
Jaksche Joorg (G)
Giampaolo Caruso (I)
CSC

Ivan Basso (I)
Caisse D'Epargne-Iles Baleares

Constantino Zaballa (Sp)
Saunier Duval

Carlos Zarate (Sp)
Ag2r

Francisco Mancebo (Sp)
T-Mobile

Jan Ullrich (G)
Oscar Sevilla (Sp)
Phonak

Jose Enrique Gutierrez (Sp)
Jose Ignacio Gutierrez (Sp)
Communidad de Valencia

Vicente Ballester (Sp)
David Bernabeu (Sp)
David Rodriguez (Sp)
Jose Adrian Bonilla (Sp)
Juan Gomis Lopez (Sp)
Eladio Jimenez Sanchez (Sp)
David Latasa (Sp)
Ruben Plaza (Sp)
Jose Luis Martinez (Sp)
Manuel Llorent (Sp)
Antonio Olmo (Sp)
David Munoz (Sp)
Javier Cherro (Sp)
Javier Pascual (Sp)former rider and now an official
Unibet.com

Carlos Garcia Quesada (Sp)
Riders retired or suspended for doping

Roberto Heras (Sp)
Angel Casero (Sp)
Santiago Perez (Sp)
Tyler Hamilton (USA)
Igor Gonzalez Galdeano (Sp)

 

[Transcend]

They just need to test hemocrit for a reasonable level, say 40% and just let everyone get to that 40% however they like. Because trust me, very few of these guys have natural hemocrit levels much higher than 40%. I wish they published the non-negative tests for these guys, I bet 99% of them come in with 'crit levels of 48-49%.

The problem is that 40% may be reasonable for you at sea level, but for a high caliber athlete living at altitude (take Boulder for example) it isn't reasonable. Some people have natually high hemtocrit levels anyways, and if you throw in altitude or an altitude tent and lots of training, they can have ridiculously high counts without any sauce.

 

[sanjuro]

Check out the poll on Eurosport:

Your reaction to Jan Ullrich and Ivan Basso's exclusion?
Number of votes : 2094
1. You cheat, you're out. Game over.
40%
2. Let them ride. Wait until they're formally convicted.
46%
3. Cancel the Tour.
15%

The evidence must be serious enough for the leaders to know that they are guilty. Or, is it really just the "code of ethics" that they are being suspended for? I think they evidence must be pretty straight forward.

I really can't work today.

Good that you posted a Eurosport poll. I believe the American view towards drugs in cycling is much different than Europe's.

Actually, I think the American view towards doping in the "major sports" is about the same as Europe's, which is turn a blind eye when records are being shattered.

Us cyclists I think are more "sophisticated" fans, and I think we do have higher expectations for cheating and fair play than johhny football or jose futbol.

 

[Silver]

Those 3 guys? They already have rules for special exceptions.

I had a routine blood test before surgery last year and asked my doctor to check that box on the form (I don't know if they usually do or not.)

I was 42...and I'm not anything special.

 

[Heidi]

This whole thing sure makes the US look rosy though. I mean, our only guy on "the cheat list" we already caught two years ago and have punished. Ohhh if that was only the truth.