CERA at the Giro '08

[BroDeal]

Italian police have seized the samples from last years race. Let the fun begin.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Giro_dItalia_news_roundup_article_282205.html

 

[Dr. Wattini]

Thank you god. Finally some of the usual drama associated with the grand tours.

 

[pmcg76]

Holy crap, if this is true, this could be bigger than Festina, Dr.Mabuse, Puerto put together. If the police do proper testing, a lot of heads could roll and maybe we will get to see if BigBoat is correct and just how widespread doping still is, but I believe it will become very political cos it is Italy after all.

 

[JayZee]

This is great news. I do wonder what took them so long and why wait until the eve of the Giro. The Italian police should have immediately seized the blood as soon as the Giro dude said there would be no retroactive testing of the Giro samples. I am getting tired of the relative quiet and then a rush of activity around the grand tours. Are they (testing bodies, governments, newspapers) out to catch cheaters or are they out to gain publicity (and money).

 

[elapid]

While great news if true, I wish that these would not happen on the eve of the grand tours. The authorities had plenty of time to move well beforehand in both this case and Operation Puerto. As a result, there is added suspicions and, if riders are pulled on the eve of the event, disruption to the teams. While I have no sympathy for dopers, I do think that the authorities should do the right thing by the riders, the teams, and the race organizers.

 

[BroDeal]

Pellizotti and DiLuca may not be sleeping well. Maybe the Tinkoff stage winners are also losing sleep.

Those are my guesses.

 

[ingsve]

Does anyone know to what extent people left samples in last years giro? Do they take blood samples of all riders before the race or should we only expect people that did well or got tested randomly to have samples tested now?

 

[jaylew]

Pellizotti and DiLuca may not be sleeping well. Maybe the Tinkoff stage winners are also losing sleep.

I'd say Ricco. After all, he "rode a clean Giro."

 

[euphrades]

I am curious to see if any of last years Astana boys show up on the list.......think about it testing began with the Tour and none of them lined up for that race. They took for the Giro thinking they wouldn't get caught and then got wind of the testing done for the Tour and stopped.

My guess it will be none of the Astana folks, I think they probably do more blood doping than naything.

 

[Anonymous]

this could be interesting indeed...

who came tenth in the giro last year.. while i am confident most riders are clean now, cera in last years giro.. thats another matter.. my moneys on two entire teams going home..

 

[Zoncolan]

Well, I guess late is better than never.
I just find it a crying shame we have to wait for the police to make a real effort.
Seems the UCI has no real interest in cleaning up the sport.

 

[ElChingon]

I'm sure they will finish testing the day before the last stage, by coincidence , where were the sample and testers these past 12 months! Man they sure know how to add to the drama... hopefully who ever planned the timing of these tests, tests positive for DUI and gets their just due.

 

[Bala Verde]

It's going to get juicy. Can't wait till tomorrow, the start, but I am also anxious to see these results.

 

[slowoldman]

You know I have mixed feelings on this. The anti doping part of me wants to cheer, but the cycling loving part of me wants to scream very angrily. We are coming into what should be the crowning part of the cycling season and the headlines won't be for the racing. Our beloved sport will be all over the front page for DOPING, again. With that comes the inevitable inquiries and accusations from my friends that will be hard to combat.

 

[El Imbatido]

Do you think mass people willl start pulling out citing something like 'swine flu' or the whole team has a stomache ache so we need to quarantine them'

I can just image the whole astana team(or any team for that matter) just packing up after a couple of days in the giro.

But you have to say it is pretty ****e timing yet again.

 

[BikeCentric]

There must be something political going on behind the scenes here. Why would the police seize the blood on the day before the Giro when they could have done it at any other time other than to deliberately damage the race? Perhaps this is Italian politicians trying to embarass and hurt financially both the UCI and the organizers of the Giro for their ineptitude in anti-doping efforts. Good news on the anti-doping front, bad news on the "I just want to enjoy the damn Giro" front.

 

[quadsRme]

the cops know this forum needs more topics so.......

 

[Epicycle]

Only fitting for some top riders to be tossed during the centenary Giro.

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

About 50 years ago Jacques Anquetil made the off-hand comment that doping in that time weren't such a problem, and when it truly becomes a problem, the police are the ones who will get involved, and the ones most likely to be trusted.

So here we are, a half-century later, and not much has changed. The UCI is impotent, and the police are doing the dirty work.

What makes you think Simoni is the most suspect Dim?

Keep a few things in mind, while CERA shows up, it still has a relatively short half-life, so if someone took it in mid-April, there's a chance someone who wasn't tested for several days would show nothing. The other thing is that while there are "markers" in CERA, there are also parameters which must be met before the test is officially "positive". But I don't know if that's going to apply here.

Agree it sucks this has to come out on the eve of the Giro. But yes, better late than never.

What I'm saying is that I don't expect any more positives than we saw in the Tour, maybe even less.

 

[issoisso]

You think this is bad enough for the reputation of the sport?

It gets worse. Boonen just tested positive for Cocaine.....again.

EDIT: Link. Thanks to Xavier.

http://hln.be/hln/nl/952/Wielrennen...OONEN-OPNIEUW-BETRAPT-OP-COCAINEGEBRUIK.dhtml

 

[whiteboytrash]

Italian police have seized the samples from last years race. Let the fun begin.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Giro_dItalia_news_roundup_article_282205.html

Contador will go as will Kloden.

 

[whiteboytrash]

You think this is bad enough for the reputation of the sport?

It gets worse. Boonen just tested positive for Cocaine.....again.

EDIT: Link. Thanks to Xavier.

http://hln.be/hln/nl/952/Wielrennen...OONEN-OPNIEUW-BETRAPT-OP-COCAINEGEBRUIK.dhtml

Can't believe someone spiked his drink again.

 

[El Loto]

Bruseghin ftw

 

[Anonymous]

What makes you think Simoni is the most suspect Dim?
.

Simoni.. did i say simoni...

oh hang on.. without looking did he finish tenth.. aha.. i meant if 1-9 get done for cera does that make tenth place the winner of last years giro..

 

[Mellow Velo]

Maybe the Italians will only go after the Spanish, as it was mostly the Italians that got stitched up by Operation Puerto, while the Spanish fed gave all their riders a free pass?

Soon, we'll be having Vino and Kash back....

As Alpe says, little or nothing has changed.

As for the UCI; it's shows that those with a more moral attitude and the means to proceed aren't just going to follow the: "There's is no point in testing samples, retro-actively" line.
Can't sit on those hands anymore, Pat and expect things to go away.