Astarloza suspended

[Bala Verde]

So can anyone estmate when it had 'miraculously' entered his body. When was the test conducted the 26th of June, OoC?

Fresh EPO for training purposes in between Dauphine and TdF
Fresh EPO to maintain fitness between Dauphine and TdF
Old EPO from a previous transfusion (Dauphine)
Old EPO left over from the Dauphine

 

[Dr. Maserati]

....
I was pretty sure there would be no positives DURING the TdF. Nnow that it's done and attention is away from it they can start coming out.

Agree! I think that was part of the agreement of the UCI and ASO/EPA, no positives during the Tour. The sight of Le Gendarme taking away a cyclist in a Police car sends a very bad image across the world!

The UCI were probably on to the Lab's.... 'no, no take all the time you need'.

 

[mr. tibbs]

Just in time for Eta's anniversary... :S

 

[lostintime]

The UCI once again breaks it's own rules of anti-doping testing and notification.

They are a complete joke.

Do you trust them? I do not.

Who knows what the truth is . . . or ever was.


That my friends, is life.

 

[SirLes]

Oh Goody!

First you get to enjoy the tour and then you get to enjoy all the doping scandels afterwards.

Double the fun.

 

[richwagmn]

The UCI just announced that it has temporarily suspended Mikel Astarloza after a positive out-of-competition doping control from the end of June.

Susan

Are these guys sniffing glue? Why would take this risk?

 

[DonTickles]

Are these guys sniffing glue?

Only if it might improve performance...

 

[psychlist]

looks like the beginning of a possible TDF dirty list...sad news

So it begins!

 

[Anonymous]

Unless I'm mistaken what he meant wasn't that.

He means that (like always), many people with eyepatches over both eyes and floaters on their arms and legs will soon come in here stating their "Absolute Unshakable Truth" that doping is not the norm, Astarloza was just a crap rider that got results because he doped while barely anyone else did, etc etc etc

Yep, I wonder if Mr Armstrong has twittered his disapproval yet?

 

[mr. tibbs]

Yep, I wonder if Mr Armstrong has twittered his disapproval yet?

95 will let us know when he does.

 

[mistahsinclair]

No, no, it is like always, just a couple of "donkeys" who couldn't cut it otherwise...

How do you tell the donkeys from the a$$es?

His results in the past have been decent, although not stellar. Does that mean he's not good...or the guys ahead are doped...both?

He's doped and still finished behind clean riders?

 

[poupou]

Yep, I wonder if Mr Armstrong has twittered his disapproval yet?

PR is today: "Look testing works. You can trust the lab ! That proves I am clean"

 

[Rex789]

Look how long after the Giro before DiLuca's results came out. I think we're going to get a couple more from the TDF - but it may take several weeks.

Like several have said "it begins now"

 

[psychlist]

What is the reason that testing takes 6 weeks to get results?

 

[DarkWing]

The new detection methods used since April supposedly take longer. Which is why currently we're only up until samples from June 26th. Very soon they'll get to analysing test results for the Tour's samples...

So how is that test better than the one they already use? The one they already had for testing EPO (in urine) seemed to work.

 

[issoisso]

So how is that test better than the one they already use? The one they already had for testing EPO (in urine) seemed to work.

Compare the ridiculously high ratio of positives/month since the test has been in use (late March) to the ratio of positives/month before it.

 

[Anonymous]

How do you tell the donkeys from the a$$es

Well, thats easy, just count the number of twitters each has.

 

[ThisFrenchGuy]

So how is that test better than the one they already use? The one they already had for testing EPO (in urine) seemed to work.

I would suppose that like a lot of the other med products used as PEDs, you can find many variants. CERA is EPO, but they still had to develop a specific test for it.

 

[biker77]

I have no idea if Astarloza is clean or not. If you wanted to f*** with cycling he is the perfect target. I have absolutely no basis for this statement, other than the guy won a stage and was mentioned just enough in the stage commentary for your casual fan to have noticed.

 

[BroDeal]

What is the reason that testing takes 6 weeks to get results?

The UCI needs that much time to negotiate the bribe to keep quiet.

The AFLD last year was able to provide results within days of the samples being taken. Heck, the same quick testing happened with Vino when the UCI targeted Astana's riders.

 

[runninboy]

The UCI needs that much time to negotiate the bribe to keep quiet.

The AFLD last year was able to provide results within days of the samples being taken. Heck, the same quick testing happened with Vino when the UCI targeted Astana's riders.

Hmmm interesting I like it. And thinking of Astana being banned the following year. Maybe Lance could also convince The Tour to ban all Spanish riders from next years tour as well...
You know its these darn Spanish riders like Astraloza who bring shame on the tour

 

[I Watch Cycling In July]

Ha! picked that one!

...Astarloza had a good ITT for him compared with last year...

That's from my post under 'Contador's recovery' in the clinic on 29th July.

The main thrust of this post was in fact responding to speculation along the lines of ...."A. Schleck or AC had a fantastic time trial ....fantastic results = proof of doping." There is some logic to this view, so I made an effort to check whether their ITT performances really were 'fantastic'.

Some relatively simple analysis showed that A. Schleck's time trial cannot sensibly be considered unexpected........and there is a reasonable chance that it is Cancellara's time that was slow, rather than AC's time that was fantastically quick.

The rider who stood out the most was Asterloza.

My point here is to respond to speculation that because Asterloza tested positive either:
1)There is about to be a flurry of high placed TDF 09 riders caught for excessive doping (by excessive I mean so much that they will get caught).
or
2)Asterloza is the sacrificial goat outside the top 10 conspiracy theory


Get some current information relating to individual riders or groups of riders before indulging in speculation

 

[ladyvader]

I was hoping this would be a bust-free Tour, but I guess not. Let the waiting begin.

 

[pedaling squares]

http://www.fundacioneuskadi.com/pag...ar=1&ocultarp=1&Id=1589&cboanyo=2009&cbomes=7

Official statement by the team (paraphrased, obviously)

Mikel is innocent because our internal controls detected nothing, blah blah blah, we'll stand by him all the way, blah blah blah, B sample. blah


"our internal controls". right. as if.

Kind of supports what Gerard Vroomen said about some teams when their riders get caught doping:

"Some teams will handle it well and other teams just protect the rider, going through ridiculous excuses, basically telling the cycling fans that they are idiots, making up the most *** stories and getting away with it"

Sorry, don't know how to link text to the site.... not a techie!

 

[mistahsinclair]

I was hoping this would be a bust-free Tour, but I guess not. Let the waiting begin.

I thought it would be bust free. At least DURING the tour. Once it's over and the attention of the world is elsewhere then the cleanup can begin.

It will be interesting to see how many are caught prior to the tour (Astraloza) and how many during. I wouldn't be surprised to see more being caught away from it.