Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 95 total)
  • Have we done Team Sky 'No Doping' declaration yet?
  • psling
    Free Member

    British cycling team Sky revealed Wednesday that all their riders and management will be forced to sign a pledge, swearing that they have never doped or they will be booted out of the squad.

    Sky, for whom Bradley Wiggins triumphed in the Tour de France this year, said that all staff must be clean as the sport continues to reel from the Lance Armstrong doping scandal.

    ‘Over the coming weeks, we will talk individually with each team member and ask everyone, at every level of the team, to sign up to a clear written policy, confirming that they have no past or present involvement in doping,’ said a Sky statement.

    ‘Should anyone choose not to sign up to our clear policy they will have to leave the team, as will anyone who does sign but is subsequently found to be in breach.

    ‘We are making this statement because we believe it is important to be open about the steps we are taking.’

    Sky said they felt obliged to show fans that they are committed to a clean sport.

    ‘We want a team in which riders are free of the risks of doping and in which fans — new and old — can believe without any doubt or hesitation. There is no place in Team Sky for those with an involvement in doping, whether past or present. This applies to management, support staff and riders,’ added the statement.

    ‘Like others, we have been shocked by recent revelations of systemic doping in cycling’s past. So we have taken steps to reaffirm our commitment to being a clean team.’

    Will anyone be quietly leaving this week…?

    MSP
    Full Member

    I thought the riders who came out in support of Lance, were probably involved in his doping regime, and were getting there own defence in disguised as solidarity with a former team mate. so that’s Hammond and Dowsett, Hammond isn’t on the sky payroll, but will watch to see if Dowsett goes or hopes to ride it out.

    I think there are a lot of cyclists out there right now hoping that they can ride the storm without links being found that reveal their own drug use.

    binners
    Full Member

    Well according to this…

    which is a bloody good read!… those responsible for setting up Team GB (and subsequently Sky) in its present incarnation, said the whole reason they concentrated on the track, and left the road cycling well alone, was that they knew, full-well that all the major teams were systemically doping. And that, as they were committed to racing clean, they’d only ever be racing for 5th or 6th place, so it just wasn’t worth it.

    So I suspect they’ll have a pretty accurate picture of who’s clean and who’s been doping in the past

    piemonster
    Full Member

    IF they have there fingers crossed when signing it can they get around the “policy”

    Sounds like a lot of guff done purely to look like they are doing something.

    Ro5ey
    Free Member

    Not sure how Yates can stay.

    He reckons that he didnt see anything “dodgy” while he was director sportif for LA’s last Tour win.

    Not sure weather not “seeing” anything is the same as not “knowing” and turning a blind eye ??

    IHN
    Full Member

    I think the aim of Sky is to be a clean team, but one could be mildly cynical and wonder whether it’s a coincidence that they waited until Michael Barry left until they started making people sign the pledge.

    DezB
    Free Member

    So signing something will stop them doping, whereas before it was what stopping them from doping? Just the fact that it’s an illegal practise in their sport? Weird.
    Road racing is just a complete farce isn’t it.

    IHN
    Full Member

    Not sure how Yates can stay

    That’s a very good point, especially as he was a rider at the height of the ‘doping generation’.

    Plus, to be honest, when he speaks he sounds like he’s on something anyway…

    IHN
    Full Member

    Road racing is just a complete farce isn’t it.

    No, not really.

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Bit of a token gesture. Lance had a ‘no doping’ clause in his bonus contracts and look where that got us….

    wingnuts
    Full Member

    I think its an important step to reassure the public, who are on side with British (Sky) riding at the moment. Glad its being done through all levels of personel. Very difficult to assess how far participation in, saw practises, awareness of availability, of team doping could stretch.
    There are people (Sean Yates) who are very vulnerable. There are people who may have contact but refused and made a hasty exit (Hammond) and there will be plenty of innuendo (like I’ve just done) that will just feed the rumour mill.
    I think people need to say what they knew about, but as importantly say how it could have been prevented.
    Whilst I’m not sure about giving David Miller a position at the UCI or any other controlling body, he is articulate and thoughtful about new directions. These have to be developed so its not just hand wringing and crucifying wrong doers.
    I’m also concern about how far this code will go with substance abuse as Team Sky would be in trouble if it extended to alcohol! Bye bye Geriant, bye bye Brad!

    footflaps
    Full Member

    Well according to this…

    I read these books by some great American cyclist, who won a whole host of races, and was clean as a nun’s habit, yet I hear all these nasty whispers on the internet that maybe it wasn’t all true…

    Ro5ey
    Free Member

    “Plus, to be honest, when he speaks he sounds like he’s on something anyway…”

    Oh it not just me who thinks he talks in joined up. 😆

    wrecker
    Free Member

    Road racing is just a complete farce isn’t it.

    It has been until now. Maybe there’s hope for it if sky really are clean and managing to win stuffs.

    mrblobby
    Free Member

    All just a PR exercise unless there’s some real comeback if a rider signs up and is later found to be in breach of that contract.

    Didn’t most of the peloton sign something similar soon after the Festina affair? We now know what a joke that was.

    Yates is most definitely on dodgy ground. Find it hard to believe that you could be a DS in the Postal team at that time and not be aware of what was going on. “I just drove the car and called tactics…” doesn’t really wash, especially when doping played a part in those tactics. Do have a degree of sympathy though as the guy’s got to make a living during that time, and turning a blind eye would be understandable. Would rather he have a more credible story though.

    binners
    Full Member

    Road racing is just a complete farce isn’t it.

    If you listened to the fascinating Five Live programme* on doping in cycling this week, the (very thinly-veiled)implication was that there are an awful lot of other sports that are still chock full of dopers, and that cycling is the only sport that is really taking the issue seriously.

    * If you didn’t catch it, this is well worth a listen

    jambalaya
    Free Member

    @binners – I didn’t heard the 5Live show yet but will catch up on it. I think very many sports take doping serious particularly Olympic sports. My kids swam competitively and from an early age they are monitored so any abnormal changes in their performance or test results can be picked up. I’m not saying there are sports that turn a blind eye but saying cycling is the only sport that takes it seriously is a bit strong IMO.

    MSP
    Full Member

    there are an awful lot of other sports that are still chock full of dopers, and that cycling is the only sport that is really taking the issue seriously.

    I think cycling and athletics (and probably swimming) are the only sports which are making a real effort to tackle drugs, football, rugby and other team sports are still in complete denial.

    IHN
    Full Member

    there are an awful lot of other sports that are still chock full of dopers, and that cycling is the only sport that is really taking the issue seriously

    This is what gets me. In practically all sports, strength and/or stamina bring an advantage and, especially at the top level, the pressure and desire to win is massive. The temptation to dope to imrpove strength and/or stamina must therefore exist just as much in other sports and, assuming that human nature is fairly constant and cyclists aren’t somehow ‘weaker-willed’, it must go on. But when do we ever hear about it?

    totalshell
    Full Member

    does this mean i wont be able to cheer them on any more as i was once a passive smoker of what might not have been kosher cigarettes

    binners
    Full Member

    jambalaya – I think the implied accusation seemed to be being leveled at the Major League American sports, rather than athletics, swimming etc, where huge amounts of money are at stake wih TV contracts etc

    The Five Live programme is truly shocking!! Just the shear extent of the endemic doping. It appears that literally everyone was at it! A really interesting programme

    jfletch
    Free Member

    Whilst on the face of it Sky’s claims are laudable if they don’t follow it through with some openness and action then they should be considered as dodgy as the rest of them.

    If they all sign the pledges and carry on as if nothing happened then it will be incredibly hard to belive in what they are doing, all the way up to Brad. In particular with regards to two people.

    Sean Yates – He rode on Motorola at the start of the EPO era, he was Lance’s mentor during the time Lance started doping and Lance personally hired him to “drive the car” at Discovery during a time Lance was high as a kite. Despite this Yates claims he never doped and never knew Lance was doping.

    I’m afraid for him his word is not enough on this. If he just signs the Sky forms and Brailsford come out in support claiming he has Yates’ word they have effectively swept it under the carpet and are complicit in maintaining the omerta. They either need to get rid of Yates or if he really didn’t dope they need to find some way of corroberating his story.

    Michael Rogers – He has admitted working with Dr. Ferrari but claims he never doped. Again this doesn’t seem plausible since the whole raison d’etre for Dr Ferrari was as the expert in doping. So as with Yates, for Rogers, signing the forms and moving on isn’t an option; they either need to fire his ass or find some way of corroberting his story.

    Of course all this could be avoided if they dropped their unrealistic “no association with past dopers” policy and adopted the Garmin approach. Then they could keep Yates and Rogers (who are clearly excellent at their jobs) as long as they were open about the past so that we could belive in the present.

    jfletch
    Free Member

    football, rugby and other team sports are still in complete denial

    Indeed. In light of Hamiltons revalations that he would try everying to avoid a test if he was “glowing” and would therefore fail a test, including literally hiding in his house until they went away…

    … you have to question Rio Ferdinands missed test and subsequent ban.

    The circumstances to that test are bizare, particularly if you view it with an assumption of an inocent man. An inocent man just wouldn’t behave that way, its weird. But if you view from the perspective of a man who knows he is “glowing” then it all makes perfect sense.

    bikebouy
    Free Member

    Pretty standard practice nowadays No?
    Most, if not all, Teams have a policy of this magnitude.
    Would suggest that a lot of Teams will be bolstering thier position by producing, or indeed outwardly showing that, they have a Zero tollerance policy (in one form or another)

    Can I point you towards Garmin and Vaughters..

    jumble
    Free Member

    I cannot see how this declaration changes the current status at Sky. The declaration says that if we later find you were a doper then you will leave. This is their currenct stance anyway si I think this is pure PR BS.

    Regarding “everyone was at it” in 1999 after the Festina scandal. The tests performed on the 1999 samples refutes this and actually seem to show an effort by the peloton to change maybe through fear of police action). Unfortunately USPS decided not and destroyed everyone in 1999 TdF and any chance for change. It took the other teams a few years to catch up hence why 2003 everything got a lot closer.

    binners
    Full Member

    Can I point you towards Garmin and Vaughters..

    Who? This Garmin….

    😉

    jumble – by the sounds of it, the 99 testing regime was generally considered to be an absolute doddle to get around, by all but the most bumbling and incompetent cheat

    rusty90
    Free Member

    They either need to get rid of Yates or if he really didn’t dope they need to find some way of corroberating his story.

    Therein lies the problem – how can anyone prove they didn’t dope? If Sky were to fire Yates on the basis of guilt by association I imagine his lawyers would have a field day.
    Is every ex-pro who raced in the ’90s now tainted?

    andytherocketeer
    Full Member

    May well be standard practice now to force riders/staff to sign a declaration, but it’s also the PR side of “being seen to be doing something”, especially where sponsors are involved.

    Probably needs something more like holding all (or substantial quantities) of prize money (edit: and/or salary) as a bond. Still clean after 7 years, get your prize money that’s been held in trust. Might be difficult when teams chop and change and merge every 2 years, though.

    piemonster
    Full Member

    Is every ex-pro who raced in the ’90s now tainted?

    Yep, or at least those that did well in the GT’s

    chipsngravy
    Free Member

    Taxi for Mr Yates!

    MSP
    Full Member

    by the sounds of it, the 99 testing regime was generally considered to be an absolute doddle to get around, by all but the most bumbling and incompetent cheat

    The sports testing regime was way behind the dopers, but due to doping actually being a criminal offence if France, and the previous years police action in catching Festina, much of the peloton appeared to want to be “going clean”, this is backed up by Ashendens, later tests which respectively applied new technology to old samples.

    ocrider
    Full Member

    British cycling team Sky revealed Wednesday that all their riders and management will be forced to sign a pledge, swearing that they have never doped or they will be booted out of the squad.

    They would be better off calling an amnesty, especially concerning Yates. There is no way that he had no idea of what was going on in Discovery or Astana. I would be surprised if any of them had never doped once in their careers in light of all the recent revelations.

    crazy-legs
    Full Member

    I think the aim of Sky is to be a clean team, but one could be mildly cynical and wonder whether it’s a coincidence that they waited until Michael Barry left until they started making people sign the pledge.

    Barry retired (or jumped, depending on your point of view) and was off the team payroll by the time the news story broke.

    He obviously knew the shitstorm that was going to blow up when all this came out so he’s been pretty clever about the whole thing and besides, he claims never to have doped after 2006 so technically, Sky and Barry haven’t come out of it that badly.

    rudebwoy
    Free Member

    Yates could have looked but not seen, he could have listened and not heard, ….doubtful in the extreme..

    Surely an admittance and repentance, a few hail marys and on with the show 😉

    ooOOoo
    Free Member

    The sports testing regime was way behind the dopers, but due to doping actually being a criminal offence if France, and the previous years police action in catching Festina, much of the peloton appeared to want to be “going clean”

    Maybe that’s what is needed – make it a criminal offence everywhere. OK, it’s just sport, but it would show that society takes it seriously and doesn’t appreciate potential ‘heroes’ and ‘role models’ being created by pharma companies and dodgy doctors.

    robbespierre
    Free Member

    I think that this is a very bad decision by SKY.
    It puts the spotlight on Yates. It is implausible that he rode during this period in teams that were systematically doping and yet never doped and never saw anyone else dope. Simply impossible.

    So now SKY has achieved a situation where Yates must resign or be sacked OR team Sky’s clean image looks tarnished.
    Very poor decision by them

    jfletch
    Free Member

    So now SKY has achieved a situation where Yates must resign or be sacked OR team Sky’s clean image looks tarnished.
    Very poor decision by them

    Agreed. The same applies to Rogers due to his links to Ferrari.

    tang
    Free Member

    According to today’s paper we will hear more details today from sky.

    gary
    Full Member

    It puts the spotlight on Yates. It is implausible that he rode during this period in teams that were systematically doping and yet never doped and never saw anyone else dope

    Its not just about USPS/Discovery when it comes to Yates

    http://www.dopeology.org/incidents/Yates,-S-adverse-analytical-finding/

    duckman
    Full Member

    Wonder why SKY decided not to draw a line and say; “from this moment” Yates will be a loss, SKY pride themselves on employing the best.

Viewing 40 posts - 1 through 40 (of 95 total)

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