Armstrong in the mire again. LeMonde reports

[**Uru**]

Sounds to me like politics and not anything of substance. If the testers were REALLY concerned that anyone in Astana could be using the delay to add masking agents or whatever, then they should have barged into the rider's room straight away. They had the authority, right? Also, why not swap the schedule around? If the tests are random, they should truly be random. It has nothing to do with The Hog, Armstrong or Contador. It has to do with morons running the testing process. To complain about it now is pure political theater.

 

[Cloxxki]

Sounds to me like politics and not anything of substance. If the testers were REALLY concerned that anyone in Astana could be using the delay to add masking agents or whatever, then they should have barged into the rider's room straight away. They had the authority, right? Also, why not swap the schedule around? If the tests are random, they should truly be random. It has nothing to do with The Hog, Armstrong or Contador. It has to do with morons running the testing process. To complain about it now is pure political theater.

I can believe there were delays.
But I wouldn't be surprised if these were maily caused by testers wanting autographed samples for their private collections. How much morning pee does a stage racer produce anyway?

 

[afpm90]

Much to their dismay, without question he made the 2009 tour one of the greatest, in contrast to the most boring tour ever of '08.

Do you know why you say that? Because you didn't watch 08 Tour.You know why? Because your sexy thing wasn't there.

2009 was the most boring Tour I've ever watched, and I'm not the only one who thinks that.

 

[Race Radio]

Maybe teh 6am claim is wrong, but here is the source....

http://www.examiner.com/x-12664-Lan...m7d17-Its-6-am-Wheres-your-blood-sample-Lance

You may want to read the article, the "Source" is Armstrong himself. Considering Armstrong tenuous relationship with the truth I will choose to believe the AFLD

 

[RhodriM]

If the UCI wanted to be *** about it they could have yanked LA away from whatever, like his PR schedule, which ultimately benefits the sport as it creates awareness on a world scale?

Who was he talking to on his PR schedule? From what I understand there's precious few cycling journalists he will actually speak to now.

 

[scribe]

To complain about it now is pure political theater.

Honestly, to complain about it then was political theater. To complain about it now is stale nuisance.

 

[scribe]

You may want to read the article, the "Source" is Armstrong himself. Considering Armstrong tenuous relationship with the truth I will choose to believe the AFLD

Yeah, well. That's what we got.

 

[Race Radio]

Sounds to me like politics and not anything of substance. If the testers were REALLY concerned that anyone in Astana could be using the delay to add masking agents or whatever, then they should have barged into the rider's room straight away. They had the authority, right? Also, why not swap the schedule around? If the tests are random, they should truly be random. It has nothing to do with The Hog, Armstrong or Contador. It has to do with morons running the testing process. To complain about it now is pure political theater.

It appears you do not understand the issue.

The AFLD is pointing out that the UCI, in multiple occasions, gave preferential treatment to Astana. Do you really think the same UCI that is giving them preferential treatment is going to knock down a door?

 

[Race Radio]

Honestly, to complain about it then was political theater. To complain about it now is stale nuisance.

It never changes. Anyone that questions the myth is dismissed as a "hater" their methods are nothing more then "Political" or a "nuisance". The groupies really need to come up with a new strategy as this one is tired.

SSDD

 

[bianchigirl]

guilder, that was comedy gold - my dog died today so I needed cheering up.

Uru, the UCI are open to charges of gross incompetence here - throwing samples in a car boot in the height of summer? Ooooh so many issues there about chain of custody and improper storage of samples. Sorry, I forgot, it's only the French labs who are incompetent

Fact is their dirty little badly kept secret is out in the open and all but the diehard fanboys will sit up and take notice.

 

[scribe]

It never changes. Anyone that questions the myth is dismissed as a "hater" their methods are nothing more then "Political" or a "nuisance". The groupies really need to come up with a new strategy as this one is tired.

SSDD

Your effectiveness in discussion is greatly diminished when you resort to annoying ad hominem.

ywia.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

Your effectiveness in discussion is greatly diminished when you resort to annoying ad hominem.

ywia.

So why are you giving the UCI a pass?

On the issue of incompetence of the UCI testers - this was news back in July and is again news today as more allegations are brought against them.

Do you find it acceptable that the governing body of a sport acts in such an unprofessional manner?

 

[RhodriM]

Much to their dismay, without question he made the 2009 tour one of the greatest, in contrast to the most boring tour ever of '08. In fact the whole season bustled with greatness as cycling appeared to be out from under the dark cloud of innuendo brought on by the AFLD and compatriots against virtually everyone based outside their borders.

Ooh I managed to miss this bit. I think it's a rather bold, some would say rediculous, claim that the '09 tour was one of the greatest. And the best bits of it were hardly provided by Armstrong; when it came to the actual riding there were at least half a dozen riders who were more interesting.

And this season has bustled with greatness?

Rebellin won La Fleche Wallonne. The Giro's pink jersey was worn for much of the race by Di Luca. It was won by Menchov who's form suddenly went AWOL once a lab in Austria ran into problems. Valverde won La Vuelta, Basso came 4th and Vino's back.

 

[scribe]

So why are you giving the UCI a pass?

On the issue of incompetence of the UCI testers - this was news back in July and is again news today as more allegations are brought against them.

Do you find it acceptable that the governing body of a sport acts in such an unprofessional manner?

Answering your questions in order:

1. I want cycling governing bodies to do whatever it takes to clean the sport up. No free passes.
2. See above answer. But I think the news today is stale and the premise of this thread to be slanted.

 

[Race Radio]

Your effectiveness in discussion is greatly diminished when you resort to annoying ad hominem.

ywia.

if you can suggest a better term then groupie for those that ignore the mountains of evidence because of blind love for their hero I will gladly use it.

 

[scribe]

if you can suggest a better term then groupie for those that ignore the mountains of evidence because of blind love for their hero I will gladly use it.

Uh. We are trying to discuss the effectiveness of governing bodies to administer doping controls. I can't help you with your feelings about Armstrong.

 

[RhodriM]

if you can suggest a better term then groupie for those that ignore the mountains of evidence because of blind love for their hero I will gladly use it.

How about 'zealot' or 'fanatic'?

 

[Anonymous]

Isn't most of this old news? It doesn't quite have the legs it did in July.

this is all old news, discussed at the time...

leMonde making new stories out of old rumours, i cant even remember what the story was at the time.. something about the testers turning up at the hotel and choosing to have a coffee and breakfast and then doing the testing, being translated as "testers forced to have coffee while astana hide all traces of drug use".. something like that...

Is Hog short for Hogwash?

 

[Anonymous]

And this season has bustled with greatness?

Rebellin won La Fleche Wallonne. The Giro's pink jersey was worn for much of the race by Di Luca. It was won by Menchov who's form suddenly went AWOL once a lab in Austria ran into problems. Valverde won La Vuelta, Basso came 4th and Vino's back.

To be fair to basso and vino they have served their time...

 

[Race Radio]

We are trying to discuss the effectiveness of governing bodies to administer doping controls.

Exactly. But for some reason there is a group(ie) of people who whenever the Armstrong myth is questioned resort to the same old lines, "Old News" "Political" "Stale" soon to be followed by the old standbys of "Tabloid" and "French conspiracy"

SSDD

 

[RhodriM]

To be fair to basso and vino they have served their time...

Yeah, but the manner in which they accepted(or didn't) their bans hasn't endeared them to me.

 

[Mellow Velo]

The AFLD has become a political failure.

Not surprising the AFLD and compatriots would be conflicted by the cycling world's respect and gratitude for Armstrong's return to professional racing. Much to their dismay, without question he made the 2009 tour one of the greatest, in contrast to the most boring tour ever of '08. In fact the whole season bustled with greatness as cycling appeared to be out from under the dark cloud of innuendo brought on by the AFLD and compatriots against virtually everyone based outside their borders.

Joseph Goebbels would have been proud to have written this piece of denial propaganda.

That's gratitude in the shape of a large $ sign, no doubt.

As a season, it bustled with mediocrity, it's lowest ebb being
one of the dullest Tours in living memory.

At least, that was the fault of a French failure.

 

[Race Radio]

this is all old news, discussed at the time...

leMonde making new stories out of old rumours, i cant even remember what the story was at the time.. something about the testers turning up at the hotel and choosing to have a coffee and breakfast and then doing the testing, being translated as "testers forced to have coffee while astana hide all traces of drug use".. something like that...

Is Hog short for Hogwash?

This is not "New Stories out of old rumors"

This story is based on a recent AFLD report that goes into detail about how the UCI gave preferential treatment to Astana.

If the report had been available directly after the Tour the groupies would have shouted that it was a "Rush to judgement"

 

[Dr. Maserati]

this is all old news, discussed at the time...

leMonde making new stories out of old rumours, i cant even remember what the story was at the time.. something about the testers turning up at the hotel and choosing to have a coffee and breakfast and then doing the testing, being translated as "testers forced to have coffee while astana hide all traces of drug use".. something like that...

Is Hog short for Hogwash?

Actually Dim, there is a lot of new information here:

• That the samples were stored in car boot and not in a proper container.

• That samples were marked "Out of Competition"

• Talking loudly about a suprise control the night before.

• The UCI did not give the AFLD the 'whereabouts' of the Astana team.

 

[British Pro Cycling]

Guys, you know very well by now that RaceRadio is first and foremost a troll. He wants to turn this into a slanging match. Try not to rise to his bait.