[Closed] Contador suspended 2 years

On the face of it the 2012 tour is going to be as exciting as playing I-Spy in the dark; a few mountain stages in between the time trials.
But of course, being a bike race, anything could happen.

ooh, here we go again;

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/08/police-arrest-husband-jeannie-longo ]http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/feb/08/police-arrest-husband-jeannie-longo[/url]

[i]The husband of the Olympic cyclist Jeannie Longo has been arrested over the alleged purchase of the banned performance enhancer erythropoietin, known as EPO, according to reports in France.

A police official confirmed that Longo's apartment had been raided and Patrice Ciprelli, her husband and coach, arrested, but the 53-year-old cyclist herself had not been detained.

Longo has competed in seven Olympics and came 24th in the women's road race in Beijing four years ago, the event in which she won gold in 1996 and silver in 1992.

The police official did not provide further details, and declined to be identified by name.

The sports newspaper L'Equipe reported that a dozen officers from a police agency that focuses on environmental and public health led a search of the couple's property as part of a judicial probe opened in September.
[/i]

ooh, here we go again;

I love you all my drug filled beauties! Ride like the wind! I am ready to be heart broken

Off on a slight tangent, but here may be the best place to ask, can anyone point me in the direction of any good books about doping in cycling?

Menchov, now he could be an interesting winner. Is he not getting on a bit now? As I recall he is a really classy rider, is there any dirt on him? I'd jusy like to be warned in case he starts to do well.

Longo's husband is really old news.

can anyone point me in the direction of any good books about doping in cycling?

t-obias
Rough Rides, worth a read.

Bad Blood

or David Millars new book.

Probably the easiest way to level the field is to just simply allow doping.

You wouldn't be the first to suggest "stock" and "modified" classes.

And on a lighter note, Newsbiscuit reports "Bradley Wiggins still hopeful of victory in 2010 Tour de France"

can anyone point me in the direction of any good books about doping in cycling?

It's Not About the Bike

lol 😆

so the schleck thing - you are telling me his brother and probably closest friend had no idea he was doping? does this raise suspicion that as they are in the same team that if one of the brothers was doing it then so was the other? same teams, no doubt same trainers/coaches/doctors etc etc etc did one of the shclecks just get lucky/unlucky?!?! do you think one ignored the fact his brother was doping? im sure he knew even if he claims he didnt have anything, his morales for cycling are terrible given the fact he would have known his brother was doping and chose to ignore it and let him ride on, the only other explanation is he was on it too and got away with it

as far as i can see from my limited knowledge of road cycling, the sport looks completely corrupt from within, in order to win. whether that be team coaches, riders, doctors etc etc etc

there will be some genuine riders out there who dont do it im sure, but alot of them must indeed use doping to some extent to stay within reach of their opponents?

its truly truly truly corrupt, my personal view on the armstrong thing is that the man basically is 'cycling' they bring him down, and they bring down absolutly everything within cycling, tdf the whole lot....

no wonder there are so many coverups surrounding this, imagine cycling if armstrong was stripped of all his glory? cycling would be absolutly on its arse, and im not sure they are willing to risk 'finding' anything on the man

Thanks anc, bikebouy, aracer. I'll give them a try.

Lazybike - worth a try, might have to loose 7/8 stone, get fit and actually ride a road bike, but what the hell, can't be that difficult, right? 😀

Thanks ... aracer. I'll give them a try.

😆

Go for it fella.
[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/16937377 ]http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/16937377[/url]
Especially as no one has been able to demonstrate that the ingestion was anything but accidental. Guilty by speculation.

don simon - Member

Go for it fella.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/16937377
Especially as no one has been able to demonstrate that the ingestion was anything but accidental. Guilty by speculation.

Guilty by evidence I am afraid.

The UCI/WADA only had to prove that he had a banned substance in his blood stream which they did.
Once that had been proven then the onus was him to prove that it's presence was unintential/accidental. He didn't.

He lost the case, he has effectively only been banned from competition for 7 months so its time for everyone to move on.

I love you all my drug filled beauties! Ride like the wind! I am ready to be heart broken

Needs to be said in Brian Blessed voice for full effect.

don simon - Member
I've always claimed that he had to be treated as innocent until proven guilty, he's now been proven guilty and will hopefully take the ban on the chin. I have no issue with this.

Proven guilty 🙄 As was clear from the beginning. The contaminated beef cock and bull story does not stand up in any way, he managed to get the evidence on his blood doping not heard.

Go for it fella.

His only possible appeal now is on procedural matters - no more possibility of contesting the facts of the case. I suspect any chance of winning such an appeal was scotched with the panel ruling that Michael Ashenden couldn't testify (which would have been grounds for WADA to appeal on procedure had they lost).

Good luck with that.

The contaminated beef cock and bull story does not stand up in any way

Is he now suggesting he ate contaminated chicken as well?

someone over on the Inner Ring has done a bit of homework, looks like the beef story was total bull (sorry....)

[/i]I just went through the report. One section that stood out for me was #16 in the in the “II. Factual Background Section” “A blood sample was also taken on Mr Contador on the morning of 20 July 2010. Such blood samples also contained clenbuterol at a concentration of around 1 ug/ml”

July 20th is the morning of Stage 16. If you don’t remember that was the day Armstrong went into the break and it also included many HC climbs. It was also the day before the rest day and Alberto’s infamous tainted steak. Why go through the motions of tracing the source of the steak, or even claiming that the steak was the source of the failed test, when he tested positive the day before?
[i]

My favourite was Vinokourov...he was sooo tough, with the bloody knees and the dirt in every orifice on that wet gravel stage, in the 2010 Giro. Now he seems like a Superhero character, and a bit of a joke. My heart was really broken by him !! I'm alright now though

At bigdawg;
I was shocked when i read it too, but apparently that's a typo, it should read 21st, not 20

fairdos - Iwas sure someone would have noticed it beforehand if it had been a day out..

Canal Plus the French TV Company maybe sued by the Spanish Tennis Federation over a comedy program that claims that Nadal and all "Spanish athletes do not win by chance". They broadcast after Contadors ban. Seems they are all at it in Spain, no wonder it's the place to go and get your winter miles in.

Also, Dr Ashenden did testify about the transfusion theory. He could not testify though about the use of phthalate-free bags for transfusion of plasma.

In that piece, is he talking about re-analysing the results of a urine test from 1999, with greater insight into EPO with what we know now, or literally re-testing urine from 1999

He was retesting the 1999 samples. When we collect samples, the assay must have a stability criteria that is established. Once a sample is outside that stability, the results cannot be deemed accurate. Mind you, it's an interesting physiology that can "grow" a residual cysteine amino acid residue on endogenous# EPO!

The Science bit for those that care...

Artificial EPO is made by bacteria using recombinant DNA placed inside the cell. When they produce the protein, it is cleaved and leaves an extra amino acid on the end (cysteine). The old tests could not detect this - they just measured total levels of EPO in blood and urine. The new test can tell if the EPO being detected was made by your own body or by some bacteria in a fermentation plant in Thousand Oaks (Amgen).

Similarly, the new blood reticulocyte testing is fantastic and unequivocal. Your blood cells have a distribution of ages. Take some out and store them, and they stop ageing. Put them back in and you get a sudden large population of younger cells in the blood. Where did they magically come from?

The comment about Pfizer winning next years TDF made me laugh out loud! But you really meant Amgen vs. Janssen (Epogen vs. Eprex). Or will generic EPO from India make an entry?

#EDIT : endogenous = produced by your own body

djaustin - that science lot was really interesting. Thanks.