Positive test reported! 😯
Johann Bruyneel must be shocked...
...that he got caught.
Ah bollocks.
Does this mean the media backlash starts tomorrow?
Could be a false positive.
Just embarrassing for him tbh, he's sucked hard this tour.
he did kind of "pep up" mid tour.
Technically, it's not a positive doping test - he's been caught using a "specified substance" which isn't performance enhancing in itself but can be used as a masking agent to hide genuine performance enhancing drugs.
Or he may just be suffering from water retention...
😉
Is anyone really surprised? Both the Schlecks were implicated in Operation Puerto...
Mmmm, Doctor Eufemanio Fuentes must be shocked...
..that he got caught.
maybe it was something to mask the pain of not being paid ?
Mask the pain of being away from his brother. awwwww.
Certainly wasnt performance enhancing given his 5hit form all year.
Pat McQuaid must be shocked...
...that he got caught.
Frank is on the naughty step, Andy gets the top bunk and is allowed to stay up and watch the A-team with milk and biscuits
Hein Verbruggen must be shocked...
...that he got caught.
Jeez, it will cast a shadow over what has been a good tour so far - still, every rest day, always a drugs story.
And as someone has already said, he did perk up mid tour 😕
Lance must be amazed.
Whats the problem, its not on the banned list?
Believe it is?
pulled out now.
Technically, it's not a positive doping test - he's been caught using a "specified substance" which isn't performance enhancing in itself but can be used as a masking agent to hide genuine performance enhancing drugs.
That'll be enough.
frank has performed 'unbelievably' at times, it's no surprise.
When somebody climbs any mountain at the same pace of faster than their contemporaries but show no sign of effort, whem everyone around them is f*kd then it looks suspicous. The schleks have on occasion done exactly this.
The doctor, i dont understand, the diuretic is being reported as bei g on the uci banned list.
And so, a great Tour (At least for British riders!) will be soured by a drug scandal. AARGH.
And so, a great Tour (At least for British riders!) will be soured by a drug scandal. AARGH.
2nd isn't it? Although the other one was the dopeing story equivalent of a post dated cheque.
Better than previous years, not had whole teams eliminated yet.
Was bemused when I heard this, how would a diuretic help improve performance? Surely these guys need to remain as hydrated as possible....then someone mentioned it can be used as a masking agent for genuine performance enhancing drugs....enough said, ban him.
Here we go again 🙁
Oh flip, he's on my Fantasy Tour team, not that he'd justified his cost yet but I was hoping to get more points from him over the next few days. Perhaps I put too much pressure on him?
Bursts rabidly into the room...have they got smackhead Armstrong yet?
Yeah there would be no direct benefit of taking diuretics. But they increase your urinary volume and therefore decrease the concentration of any other substances, presumably with the aim of taking the concentration beneath the detection threshold.
It's very suspicious, although without knowing the accuracy of the assay to test for the xipamide itself, I have no idea what the false-positive rate is.
This looks like a good article for anyone interested in the physiology:
(Xipamide is a thiazide-like diuretic in the same class as indapamide which is mentioned in the article, I don't think it mentions xipamide separately)
I did s****, in a 'not funny' way during the ITV4 interview with Jens Voigt. "Yes, this tour is clean".
Question is really - how stupid? Surely it has to be a mistake on Schleck's part - reinjecting previously tainted blood? You wouldn't think that you could use something like a diuretic during the Tour and not be noticed, shirley?
Bit shit if he did do something naught, bit off a surprise too.
Bit shit that..
"shrugs and will still watch the TdF"
Crikey is surprised
Oh dear. 🙁
Don't like Frank much to be honest, but this is just a bit sad really.
If he's doped up and getting beat by other riders in the mountains/on tt's it must be crap stuff or......
dammit. I was hoping he was saving himself for the Pyrenees and was going to launch an uber-attack on a hors hill, flashing his chest as he went across the line with "F****y wuvs Andy" written across it.
nicko74 - leave Jens out of this 🙂
Any man that can face plant like him needs utmost respect. 'Ard as nails.
I'm buying his argument that this is a cleaner tour than in previous editions. F Schleck did a Landis in a small way with been blown out of the back of the peleton at the start of the mountains to riding with the leaders a few days later. Wait for the 'I had a few beers to cheer myself up' argument to complete the circle.
Wonder what Andy's been taking while recuperating...
Both the Schlecks were implicated in Operation Puerto
I know we don't want to let facts get in the way of things but the only one who was implicated was Frank. And cleared (admittedly by his own national anti-doping agency)
And so, a great Tour (At least for British riders!) will be soured by a drug scandal. AARGH.
It's not like Frank was a GC contender. If Cadel suddenly tested positive then yes, soured. For me I find the cynicism of Brailsford now deciding to "investigate" his team doctor (once it has become a question in the press) more of a shadow on Team Sky's performance than Frank getting busted.
Maybe there was a Butchers in town that his friend couldn't remember quite where it was when asked? 😆
I don't get it
Al least Sky, or as the French are now calling them 'UK Postal' are clean....
chemical brothers
blown out of the back of the peleton at the start of the mountains to riding with the leaders a few days later
I'm not a fan of Frank but really? He finished 1m09 down on stage 6, 30s down on 8, 3m on 9 (same as Wiggins). I don't think he's really been "blown out of the back" on any mountain stage. Disappointing performances I'd agree has been the watchword of his 2012 but to suggest he had no form then suddenly was at the front is a bit strange.
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Gah, beaten to it.
atlaz
I'm being over the top in my analysis for sure, that's the joy of forums!
But I was concerned that he'd had no form pretty much all season then been dropped by the main group and a few days later he's right back at the front. I did question it at the time, however your right I'm being too cynical, everyone can have a bad day, look at cuddles (not for a second suggesting he's doping). I guess I've been following the sport for too long and just want to believe in a clean tour but I just have nagging doubts most of the time.
It's sport, they all cheat don't they, what with being born genetically superior to the rest of us mere mortals...
Steve
[url= http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/9407038/Tour-de-France-Frank-Schleck-withdraws-from-Tour-after-testing-positive-for-banned-substance.html ]Schleck is also said to have voluntarily accompanied Police officers to Pau police station for an unspecified reason.[/url]
Interesting....
The test was in Cap d'Agde, not Pau. The Cap was Stage 13, two stages since. Wonder if there's anything in this beyond the fact that the story broke while the Tour was in Pau.
It must be something he ate who's his butcher!
how about a conspiracy theory, Bruneyl and Schleck are getting on so well, Bruneyl decides to shaft some of his riders for not doing what they are told.
nervous laughter when asked about drugs even in a spoof interview
Schleck's statement "categorically denies taking a banned substance". Correct Frank, you've failed a test for a specified substance, not a banned substance.