Well, the rule that they have rescinded the ban on is article 296 which states:

If the Rider establishes in an individual case that he bears No Fault or Negligence, the otherwise applicable period of Ineligibility shall be eliminated. When a Prohibited Substance or its Markers or Metabolites is detected in a Rider’s Sample as referred to in article 21.1 (presence of a Prohibited Substance), the Rider must also establish how the Prohibited Substance entered his system in order to have the period of Ineligibility eliminated. In the event this article is applied and the period of Ineligibility otherwise applicable is eliminated, the anti-doping rule violation shall not be considered a
violation for the limited purpose of determining the period of Ineligibility for multiple violations under articles 306 to 312

If he can prove this, then fair enough and he should have no qualms in providing the evidence to do so. As it stands, he hasn’t provided this evidence – which doesn’t make him look good. It’s not up to the UCI, RFEC or WADA to prove or investigate this – it’s up to Contador.

The issue is that there has been no evidence made public that shows the ban should be overturned. If this evidence exists there is no reason it should not be made public and I’m sure he would then be exonerated by all. Both Contador and RFEC are bringing themselves into disrepute by not providing this evidence (or some other legitimate, provable reason)

@mattsccm – you’re missing the point. The question is not whether Contador has doped or not (nor the morality of doping) it’s whether the rules have been broken or not. All the evidence there is shows the rules have been broken and there has been no evidence made public to the contrary. As above, UCI rules state that a 2 year ban should be given.

I personally don’t care if he has been doping or not, only that the rules are applied fairly and evenly.

Or not as he’s not banned. Let’s wait and see what the UCI do. He will accept a ban, if banned, that has never been in doubt. Yes, he is looking to change the rules for the future and not wriggle out of the current situation.

no, not at all. Given all the evidence that has been made public it is clear that he should be banned for 2 years – the rules are quite simple and quite clear! There seems to be no basis for RFEC giving him a 1 year ban and even less basis for waiving the ban altogether. If there is additional evidence which categorically proves the steak he ate was contaminated then Bertie is not helping himself by keeping that private.

Given that other people have been banned for the same thing for 2 years recently (and given the same reason and same lack of proof of that reason) there is seemingly no reason why Bertie should not be banned. I’d be very surprised indeed if WADA didn’t take this further, and if they do given the lack of evidence he will serve a ban.

If he was doping for performance enhancement or not doesn’t matter, the rules (as they currently stand) have been broken and it’s astonishing that RFEC have not handed down a ban.

@don Simon – what rule changes? The ones that may happen afterthis case? Surely he must be judged by the the current rules, not afny future ones! As said by many people, many times above the current rules call for strict liability under which, from the evidence released, he is due a 2 year ban.

don simon – Member
Common sense has prevailed, based on the info available it can not be proven that the Clembuterol was taken to boost his performance, therefore he can not be banned. Simples.

Common sense has nothing to do with it though. The rules are quite clear, unless he can prove that he ingested the substance unknowingly he should get a 2 year ban.

There are several things that make me uncomfortable about all of this, which can be summed up by this quote:

”RFEC President Juan Carlos Castaño says it’s “good news” that Contador has been cleared.”

I don’t care whether he was taking drugs to enhance his performance or not, he was found with a banned substance in him and cannot prove why. Therefore should be banned. If it were a lesser rider i’m sure he would have been too.

i thought the worlds biggest sporting event was the tour, and they don’t charge for tickets for that and they’ll even give you some free tat.

Ah, but there might soon be a Hinkley Point C

i shall also be doing the LVIS audax, looking forward to the cake at Hill already (although might be a bit too soon into the 200km route to have two slices like last year…).

Also did the Jack Cotton memorial at the end of Jan.

philconsequence – Member
i’ve been studying this photo for a while…

If you’d been studying it for long enough you’d notice it’s fake, her head photoshopped onto someone else’s body init.

I got a pair of handlebars (EA70, which come in a solid box which i wouldn’t have been bothered if they just stuck an address label on) in a fork box! you could have fitted about 10 handlebar boxes in it!

explains why it’s the Ritchey Bristol Bikefest this year then!

My second hand hope one i’ll sell you for £30?

not as big as the argos “Big Senior” a bloke near bristol rides – i think the headtube is longer than the fork on that one!

the fashion in bristol seems to be to always stop by the kerb, behind the other cyclists so in fact only one (maybe 2) person (people) are in the ASL box while everyone else is forced to queue in the cycle lane leading up to it. really does my nut.

or they just do as the op described

i just bought one, so yes.

about £20

legend – Member

you might want to watch that race again. Mansell was all over the place, Needell was 2 places back when Mansell basically ran into him. IIRC he’d made the same mistake a lap or two before. (was an epic BTCC geek back then)

have a look:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNAUQaJuw34

Ha ha, I love Mansell’s whimpering in the in car shot at the end.

Yellow tape and a valve works fine ime. I’ve got a pair of Stans Crest rims you could have for £70 which would be a good replacement for xc717 – they’re lighter and a bit wider giving a better tyre profile. Email in profile if you’re interested.

I went on a trek to here:

Phuktal Gompa in Ladakh, India about 10 years ago – was pretty amazing and a bit off the normal trail.

I basically wrote the way to do it differently is to not sell the forests in the first place. on every page.

why don’t you get a 4 jeri one:
http://www.bikemonger.co.uk/4jeri-tensioner-29-p.asp

does the same, but is a tenner cheaper…

I’d support life time bans as well, it’s the only disincentive big enough to stop most younger riders

I agree, but there are numerous issues with this relating to false positives, genuine mistakes, ensuring all riders are tested with the same frequency (if you only test the top riders you leave the lower order open to doping), keeping up with the current doping advances etc. Also it wouldn’t surprise me if the riders refused to ride at first.

flatfish – Member
surely they should quote the “freedom of information act” to security.

FOI only applies to access to data held by the state.

Blue/Red/”Magenta” (!!!) I think people get too hung up on colour grading of trails. It’s delivering somewhere to ride your mountain bike all year round, close to the city centre. People should just be happy that in this time of austerity there’s money to build things like this, go ride on them and get over themselves.

i think some people are missing the point with the crud guards, the brushes are supposed to rub!

reminds me of the time I was telling a mate about my new road bike. He asked if it had flat bars, I pointed out that if it did it wouldn’t be a road bike.

Del – Member
the plod at schiphol were digging about on them – that made some sense, as they could see better over everyone’s heads.

Same at Miami airport – except their ones had a shotgun holster mounted down the front. They also had police on full sus mtbs (rebadged treks i think) with slick tyres on (this was all inside the airport)…

IdleJon – Member

Eurosport’s cycling season doesn’t normally start until April iirc.

Yup, Paris Roubaix is normally one of the first races they show. They wait till the snow has gone.

here

complain to them then.

i’ve seen that happen in a few toughened glass things before. Had some table mats that were toughened glass and came home to one of them shattered into tiny pieces. same with a toughened glass pan lid.

geordiepaul – Member
Why couldn’t the tax on petrol be a little more fair. My car is economical with low co2 why should I pay the same fuel tax as someone who has a v8 range rover with does less than 8mpg?

It is – you both pay £2.65 of duty per gallon of fuel, but to him it’s 33p a mile and to you it’s 7.5p per mile (assuming you do approx 35mpg).

local scout group? will probably lend you one for a donation.

up to 948 now…

yeah, i know what you all mean, those ergon grips are terrible!

are they warranteed for 200mm forks?

given that they’re now illegal you might struggle.

bummer. i bet johnson enjoyed that.

looks a bit like a guy i see on my commute. lappierre spicy, but with slick tyres, i think he might be a bit overbiked.

it’s taking longer than i’d hoped to get rid of the tail enders. going to be very late for work at this rate!