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Can we schedule 1km of the 2010 TdF through Italy?

DenisMenchov said:
just think which rider has a ban in Italy. btw He said that he`ll concentrate on Tour next year.
I'd like to take it a step further.

If the Italian government could be so kind to declare one truck trailer Italian territory (multi-ambassy vehicle), it could be brought to all the big races over Europe, and have them be run through Italy. An International level bike race deserves to be ran through more than one country anyway, and which better than Italy?
Or make it a motorhome, driven and inhabited by a mobile ambassador. 2 ramps, 2 signs (welcome in...and see you soon again in...) and a good espresso machine, and we're in business!
 
Mar 18, 2009
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BroDeal said:
I'm waiting for the prologue of a GT to start in the Big House. A black and white striped jersey could be handed out to the winner.

How about one starting in one of Fuentes' labs and ending inside the nearest jail cell?
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Cogombre said:
Surely it's not that hard that the final stage of the TdF enters the Italian embassy. :D

Brilliant! Here, have a cookie

cookie-bite-web.jpg
 
May 6, 2009
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It's all so obvious, Valverde rides a Pinarello, which is Italian, surely that can count against him? Also, it should be noted that his bike has a '11 speed Campagnolo Super Record groupset, again that is also Italian, so that must count against him.
 
A

Anonymous

Guest
can we not just stand by the side of the road, with a fake "welcome to italy" sign, loads of italian flags and pretend..

he might fall for it..?

just out of intrest.. why isnt valverde in line for the greatest sporting lie award..
 
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Anonymous

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Ferminal said:
Your shameless self-support of your countrymen is abhorrent.

+1

there really does come a point where you have to let nationalism drop and accept the truth..
 
Jun 16, 2009
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dimspace said:
can we not just stand by the side of the road, with a fake "welcome to italy" sign, loads of italian flags and pretend..

he might fall for it..?

just out of intrest.. why isnt valverde in line for the greatest sporting lie award..

that is hilarious. we could make some pizza and gelati to create the illusion. or someone could push him off. i would pay big money (in australian dollars) for someone to do that.
 
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pedaling squares said:
+1.
Cavendish cut Thor off. Cav deserved to be relegated. Thor earned the maillot vert.

I think thor deserved the maillliot vert but it was partly the barriers fault for how they've postiopned them. the sprinter can go up to 75km/h and you've got barriers swerving out. Plain dangerous. At the vuelta, gesink was a bit all over the place but really the barriers coming out was the organisers fault.
 
dimspace said:
+1

there really does come a point where you have to let nationalism drop and accept the truth..

What if you do accept the truth? Then who do you cheer for? As far as guilt goes, Valverde's blood was matched with that in Fuentes' clinic, a bag from several years ago which had EPO in it. Is that right? It's been awhile since I looked over the details. Regardless, it's a smoking gun, perhaps one level below being caught red-handed (Ricco, Sella, Schumacher, Rebellin, etc). It's about on the same level as Armstrong's positives from 1999, I would say. And it's only slightly more incriminating than all of the associations with various doctors that haunt a good number of riders in the peloton. So, given all that, as an anti-doping advocate, who do you cheer for? I have a few educated guesses about who might be clean in the peloton, but I really don't know much, even as a fan who tries to keep myself educated.

Anyway, all that is to say that it's hard for me to let suspicions of doping enter into the question of who to cheer for, when I suspect most riders of doping. For sure I'll cheer a bit harder if someone who I think is totally clean wins something, but I don't see why I shouldn't cheer for an exciting rider. Although I don't admire Vino's complete lack of remorse, or Valverde's evasive technical legal defence, I do admire both men's racing styles, so I'll continue to be excited to see them in a race when they are permitted to compete.

I'm aware there is a line of thought that is simply 'doping=bad', but I'm just saying I feel the problem is more sophisticated than that.

Thoughts?
 
Mar 18, 2009
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workingclasshero said:
i'm thinking, why does a person old enough to type several sentences in one go, have the need to have a hero to cheer for? :confused:

Quite. I'll never understand the mentality. I get yelled at (not asked. yelled at.) why do I watch cycling if I'm quite sure the majority of top riders are on drugs.

Most self intitled "cycling fans" simply can't comprehend the notion that someone can love the sport. To them everyone MUST have someone they root for, and if those riders aren't present, there's nothing interesting to even consider thinking about, much less watch.