Recent content by L'arriviste

  1. L'arriviste

    Marseille or Montpellier?

    Marseille is a sprawling city, not really ideal for cycling unless you're prepared to spend a lot of time navigating in and out and/or you're close to the edge already but the surrounding region does have some great roads once you're out there, particularly deep in the garrigue northeast of...
  2. L'arriviste

    Movistar

    Doesn't confirm that Ibarguren will be exclusive at MOV but assuming so and given the impact he seems to have had on QS after a dreadful 2011, has Lefevere got his losses covered?
  3. L'arriviste

    Antoine Vayer

    The remarkable thing is that Vayer knows plenty of people who know better but it requires effort that he no longer seems willing to make. As I have mentioned here before, I met him in person a couple of years ago and we spoke briefly but to me he did not seem any better informed than anyone here.
  4. L'arriviste

    UCI suspicion index 11 years on

    8. Nocentini although he retired before the sanction took effect. Results from 2018 until retirement DSQ'd. It is an interesting barometer too for certain individuals who subsequently admitted to doping before that time and, on a purely speculative basis, for a few others whose careers declined.
  5. L'arriviste

    Cavendish: class of his own?

    It was a common criticism of the UCI that the CADF, the sport's former anti-doping body, was not really independent from the UCI itself. Since the CADF was dissolved at the end of last year, an event that seems not to have provoked much in the way of journalistic comment, most of the staff went...
  6. L'arriviste

    Cavendish: class of his own?

    Putting aside the improbable sprints, we will witness a minor miracle if Cavendish even finishes this Tour. If we are to believe the story from his team he was not expecting to ride it and indeed he hasn't ridden anything longer than a week since the Tour in 2018 where he was OTL on Stage 11...
  7. L'arriviste

    State of the peloton 2021

    The WADA Prohibited List depends on classes of substances and this brings a great deal of flexibility. For example: "Anabolic androgenic steroids (AAS) When administered exogenously, including but not limited to ... [list of drugs]" (my emphasis) So provided that WADA has identified a...
  8. L'arriviste

    State of the peloton 2021

    Nothing really substantial here. He said he was personally disappointed with how the first week went for him and because he thinks he can do better. When the interviewer refers to what De Gendt said, GVA replies that it was much the same for him yesterday, less so the day before that, but he...
  9. L'arriviste

    State of the peloton 2021

    De Gendt has since given an interview today to Sporza in which he says: "Yesterday I did the numbers I would do in a breakaway only I finished 28 minutes down. But I feel just as tired as after I've been in a breakaway ... The day must come when the young guys are better, but they are doing it...
  10. L'arriviste

    Antoine Vayer

    Yep, likeable, but evidently not too bright. His whole persona depended on the perception of proximity to events and as his relevance diminished he had to reach to stay in the game. He reached way too far.
  11. L'arriviste

    Antoine Vayer

    Exactly, that was the impression I got. He was asking the same sort of questions like anyone else.
  12. L'arriviste

    Antoine Vayer

    I had a chat with him last year in person. He was a bit tired with all the travelling but he did give me the impression that, although he didn't like what he was seeing, he had no clear explanation for it and it frustrated him. Same for any of us, really. Whatever his online output, and a lot of...
  13. L'arriviste

    AICAR, GW1516 Wada can test, can the French ?

    Re: To respond to your second question, yes there is although the details of it must be assumed because the answer your third point is not yet, as far as I'm aware. The only published evidence so far to support its use among athletes is news of criminal arrests. It's high time we heard some...
  14. L'arriviste

    Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

    Re: Re: Posted this before but it's more relevant than ever now: The appetite for an ex post facto scandal in the post-Armstrong era is certainly lower but it should be noted anyway that Boonen's situation was very different. His doping case with the UCI was already concluded at the time, he...
  15. L'arriviste

    Teams & Riders Froome Talk Only

    :D This is OT but I often receive enquiries through my website from folks who seem to have misunderstood what it is about. For those who are interested in the price of fish the following, sent by an organisation apparently blacklisted in the United States, represents a current USD price list...