From David Millar on twitter

“Dear Rabobank, you were part of the problem. How dare you walk away from your young clean guys who are part of the solution. Sickening.”

Just read the Rabobank statement. You can’t really blame them as their comment regarding a having no confidence that the sport is incapable of cleaning it’s self is pretty true. They could of course have stayed and enforced clean sport on the team so am sympathetic to Millars comments.

Will the UCI listen, not sure yet.

Which major sponsor will go next? Sky?

I kind of agree with DM but I can certainly see at the same time that Rabobank and others won’t have confidence in the sport until there’s some definitive change – eg the UCI leadership actually changes…

Sky won’t leave unless their riders start testing positive – at present they’re trusted and it’s good for their image.

Doping accusations

According to a 2012 investigation by de Volkskrant, doping was used by Rabobank riders since 1998 and condoned by the team, with team physicians actively monitoring the health of those riders. According to Stefan Matschiner, a key witness in the Humanplasma scandal, three (former) Rabobank riders were customers of the Swiss blood doping expert. Matschiner mentioned Michael Boogerd, the most successful Dutch Rabobank rider, and said one other team member was a customer. Theo de Rooij, Rabo’s manager since 2003 and responsible for pulling Michael Rasmussen from the 2007 Tour de France, did not deny doping was used by team riders, but said that the use of doping was neither suggested nor paid for by the team.[6]

Great to see a bank taking the moral high ground.

Yes, the irony of a bank taking the moral high ground isn’t lost on me either!

Yes, the irony of a bank taking the moral high ground isn’t lost on me either!

To be fair to Rabobank, they are the only bank in the Netherlands that has not needed government support and no bail outs. They are also a co-operative which is in theory run for the benefit of their customers, they have no shareholders.

Bad day for cycling. I disagree with Millar though-were the Rabo executives in on the doping back in the day? Doubtful…Rabobank top brass aren’t the DS’s of the team are they?!

Sorry, more speculation on LaLa here..

The Confession

I can actually see that happening, he tweeted something a bit odd the other day along the lines of ‘why does trouble always start out as fun’ which sounds to me like the beginnings of something, but I also agree he’ll not apologize to the people who’s lives he has made hell.

I think maybe hes waiting for the outcome of the hog and the other dr’s hearings.

were the Rabo executives in on the doping back in the day? Doubtful…

Were the Rabo execs guilty of over-pressurising the team to get a Dutch winner of the Spring Classic, TDF etc… I think so.
Agree with DM they should MTFU throw out the management and initiate a clean team policy.

Were the Rabo execs guilty of over-pressurising the team to get a Dutch winner of the Spring Classic, TDF etc… I think so.

Probably not, frankly the Exec Board members would have had very few dealings with the team at all, I went to the Tour with Rabo a couple of times, they regarded a few stage wins as a brilliant tour, I am sure that they would have preferred to have more winners at Amstel Gold as this was their biggest cycling customer entertaining event of the year, but I did not get the impression of them as a win at all costs outfit.

Rabobank’s statement made me feel a little angry tbh. Totally agree with Millar. Yes, it doesn’t reflect well on them and they obviously want to make their position clear, but jumping on the bandwagon and potentially damaging the sport for a few of their own browny points comes across as selfish and cowardly.

There’s a lot of opportunity to improve cycling for the better right now, and I can’t help but feel they could have put in a more positive contribution than that.

It’s going to be Monday…..

MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
Hora so have you had enough time to ponder my question?
so do you still think he’s innocent and didn’t dope?
just wonderin like.
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Some more good news for Lance. will be interesting to see if it’s corroborated

http://ireport.cnn.com/docs/DOC-860283

MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
Hora so have you had enough time to ponder my question?
so do you still think he’s innocent and didn’t dope?
just wonderin like.
POSTED 22 HOURS AGO #
Well?
POSTED 19 HOURS AGO #
Well?

POSTED 2 DAYS AGO #

Well?

😆

MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
MrSmith – Member
Hora so have you had enough time to ponder my question?
so do you still think he’s innocent and didn’t dope?
just wonderin like.
POSTED 22 HOURS AGO #
Well?
POSTED 19 HOURS AGO #
Well?

POSTED 2 DAYS AGO #

Well?

😆

Based on this story
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/20014630
I don’t think he’s going to be doing any confessing just yet…

glitch bump

45 pages is too much for the forum to cope with… 😉

Hmm the bit where he suggests Lance never had cancer wouldn’t seem to lend credibility to it. One of the comments about when Livestrong bands came out is interesting too.

And, $35,000 to ride with him!?

Edit: eh, where’s the post I was replying to gone? OMG conspiracy!

grum – did you just reply to a thread you made up in your head? 🙂

The post is the last one on page 45….

Oh……

:crackhead:

So I think what we’ve established is Lance is a complete **** and doped. I don’t think there are many people except maybe hora who don’t accept that.

I don’t think there are many people except maybe hora who don’t accept that.

and Lance of course

So I think what we’ve established is Lance is a complete **** and doped. I don’t think there are many people except maybe hora who don’t accept that.

I fully expect some kind of statement about the good work he does for others, how he’s always been a fighter of just causes and how he sees himself as an inspiration to others as a means to avoid the pertinent question.

Much like lance has done…

Lance can’t admit the truth for various legal and financial reasons. If he’s not forced to by a court (and even then he can plead the fifth) then he’ll just leave it hanging.

It’s a sad day when LA is probably more hated than Jimmy S.

By the sound of most on here you would rather let JS babysit your 14 year old girls than Lance.

Some of you guys need to calm down a bit and get some perspective

Strawman anyone?

Strawman anyone?

Yep

It’s a sad day when LA is probably more hated than Jimmy S.

By the sound of most on here you would rather let JS babysit your 14 year old girls than Lance.

Some of you guys need to calm down a bit and get some perspective

Some of you need to stop taking the Internet so seriously and not get so excited about what somebody you don’t know has posted on a forum that you need to “calm down” 🙄

Whatever you say smith

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Where IS Hora anyway? He’s gone all quiet. I have visions of him rocking back and forth in a chair moaning “Lance, how could you?” over and over…

In another thread hora said ‘they all cheated, he was just the best at cheating’. 😐

There is some truth in that

‘they all cheated’ – some of them because lance bullied them into it, and apart from the ones who weren’t cheating who were victimised and intimidated out of the sport.

How did lance intimidate say someone like Frank Schleck ? People were cheating before Armstrong and they have been cheating since he left. With all the organising of the drugs and all the intimidation and bullying how did he find time to ride a bike.

How did lance intimidate say someone like Frank Schleck ?

Straw man – who claimed he has?

People were cheating before Armstrong and they have been cheating since he left.

True – has anyone claimed people only cheated due to LA? Relevance?

With all the organising of the drugs and all the intimidation and bullying how did he find time to ride a bike.

Is this a serious question? I am not sure what you are trying to imply could you be explicit?

A lot cheated but the they all cheated but LA was the best is just another part of the mythology BS LA awesome legend- ie we are meant to think if they were all clean he would still have won. The problem is his clean results are average [ for a pro and he did not even complete a TdF before winning it*] and we all know that the drugs dont affect everyone equally so he may have just got the best boost from the regime or dont the best system etc

All we can say is that of the cheats he was the best at cheating and some of the riders were riding clean.

* he is not listed in the classification results on Wiki – if anyone knows differently I am happy to have the full answer.

Is this what the Lance-defenders have been reduced to? Clutching at tiny straws.