Chris Horner on the Nevada City race.

[Snake8]

So wait, BikeCentric/Bro/Bb etc., do you think that the US Pro peleton is clean? So, if it is, mean old LA and his henchmen unfairly deprive these honest young men of a living? Are you that naive? You guys always want to have it both ways...everything you hate (LA/Astana etc.,) is evidence of doping. Blah blah blah, sorry but I'll continue to mention that Alpe shares most of your opinions and still makes reasoned objective comments/thoughts/opinions. Anyway, back to bike racing...

I think one of the real implications here was pointed out earlier, you have an obvious cabal within Astana. Chris, Levi and Lance have been training together and hanging out all year. How does this bode for Contador? I wouldn't be happy if I were him...

 

[BikeCentric]

So wait, BikeCentric/Bro/Bb etc., do you think that the US Pro peleton is clean? So, if it is, mean old LA and his henchmen unfairly deprive these honest young men of a living? Are you that naive? You guys always want to have it both ways...everything you hate (LA/Astana etc.,) is evidence of doping. Blah blah blah, sorry but I'll continue to mention that Alpe shares most of your opinions and still makes reasoned objective comments/thoughts/opinions. Anyway, back to bike racing...

I think one of the real implications here was pointed out earlier, you have an obvious cabal within Astana. Chris, Levi and Lance have been training together and hanging out all year. How does this bode for Contador? I wouldn't be happy if I were him...

What the Hell are you talking about bro? I'm not talking about doping; you are. All I said was that Armstrong is too good to be racing domestically and dope doesn't have a thing to do with that statement.

 

[Snake8]

Awwww BigB, why you gotta be popping the cherries of these poor little kids who just want to worship their hero?! They're just a couple of innocent doe-eyed Cat 5 virgins and you're all screaming at them like a mean older brother "GOD IS DEAD AND SANTA CLAUS DOES NOT EXIST!!"

Um. Yes. You. are. talking. about. doping. silly. rabbit.

 

[BikeCentric]

Um. Yes. You. are. talking. about. doping. silly. rabbit.

It's funny, every time you dredge up an old post and whine and cry about people talking about doping you keep the topic fresh. My comments about Armstrong at Nevada City have nothing to do with doping and I am not interested in making any blanket insinuations about the current state of cleanliness in either the US domestic peloton or that race specifically. But thanks for bringing it up.

 

[BikeCentric]

Um. Yes. You. are. talking. about. doping. silly. rabbit.

Also, are you *** or can you not understand that I was asking BigBoat to chill on the dope talk in that post? Learn to read Son.

 

[skippy254]

I would guess that almost everyone involved in the race (racers, organizers, sponsors, and fans) were more than happy to have Lance, Levi, and Chris at the race. The excitement and publicity it brought to the race are all good things for U.S. racing.

I got to "race against" Lance at Leadville last year and of all the racers I talked to there was no bemoaning the fact that he was racing. How many times in your life do you get to line up against the top tier and see what they truly have?

That is what is great about events like Nevada and Leadville. Your average grassroots race car driver never gets to line up against Schumacher. How many semi pro football players get to play against Tom Brady and does your avg. amatuer boxer even want to step into the ring against Wladimir K.?

We as racers should be grateful that in the great sport of cycling we get the rare oppurtunity to compete with the best.

I also think that at this point in Lance's career that he would have to be an absolute moron to dope. He has entirely WAY too much to lose. He would lose all the (credibility) of his 7 TDF wins, all of his income from Nike, etc., the Livestrong foundation would take a huge hit.

The amount of hate on here is incredible. I'm just guessing that some of you just can't stand the thought of an american winning again at the tour. Your arrogance is despicable.

 

[BikeCentric]

The amount of hate on here is incredible. I'm just guessing that some of you just can't stand the thought of an american winning again at the tour. Your arrogance is despicable.

That's totally it man - people who aren't Lance fans HATE AMERICA!

 

[nobody]

I also think that at this point in Lance's career that he would have to be an absolute moron to dope. He has entirely WAY too much to lose. He would lose all the (credibility) of his 7 TDF wins, all of his income from Nike, etc., the Livestrong foundation would take a huge hit.

You should have be more cautious to Kohl's words.

If an athlete who showed not great abilities to ride GT in his prime career, then became a winner with the help of a famous doctor, and finally come back after 3 years of retirement to get a good ranking on last GIRO didn't dope, we should believe in real miracles!

 

[Bala Verde]

That's totally it man - people who aren't Lance fans HATE AMERICA!

Is the 'if you are not with US(a), you must be against US(a)' a logical valid argument in this country? Or is it just a failure of public education combined with a persistent love for stubborn ignorance...

 

[BroDeal]

That's totally it man - people who aren't Lance fans HATE AMERICA!

Those traitors should be sent to Gitmo. They are probably french. How dare they question a great american like The Lance. Even though he tested positive for EPO six times, even though he confessed to taking a wide range of doping products in front of friends, even though his personal assistant found steroids in his bathroom, even though he encouraged teammates to dope, even though his soigneur had to use make up to hide injection sites, he was clean. Hope rides again. Yee haw! America, F** yeah.

 

[Epicycle]

That's totally it man - people who aren't Lance fans HATE AMERICA!

I know I was tormented by the possibility of Christian Vandevelde winning the Tour last year.

 

[Mr.DNA]

Not only do you HATE AMERICA, you must LOVE CANCER.

 

[blaxland]

Bro, there aint any of em' clean... That nice Mennonite (amish) man from Lancaster... Floyd Landis... he doesnt need to dope his clean V02 max is 90...nope.

What about that Tyler hamilton..with the nice dog and the soft demeaner... If anybody does not need to dope its that little tiny climber Heras. He doesnt weigh anything, nothing to slow him down. ... What about the British TT specialist Millar...Boardman's TT prodigy doesnt need epo? Surely that very very professional young man Ivan Basso doesnt need any dope, definately not frozen packed red cells from the freezer in nitrogen...surely not whole blood drawn off 2 weeks in advance! What about big Jan? Surely the uber talented rider who lived in Bavaria doesnt need to dope, let alone blood dope with his own blood! Or use IGF-1, slin, actovegin...

What about that american cancer survivor... Lance...he would never ever put Actovegin (free-protein calf blood extract) in his blood... surely he wouldnt come into a race jacked on epo and test positive a bunch of times... Or use that corticoids (kennocort)... He does not need corticoids for his saddle sores surely.

Carlos García Quesada
Marco Pantani
Ángel Casero
Alejandro Valverde
Rubén Plaza
David Bernabeu
David Blanco
Eladio Jiménez
David Latasa
Javier Pascual Rodríguez
Allan Davis
Joseba Beloki
Alberto Contador
David Etxebarría
Isidro Nozal
Unai Osa
Sérgio Paulinho
Michele Scarponi
Marcos Serrano
Ángel Vicioso.....

How about Tyler's Phonak squad... José Ignacio Gutiérrez, José Enrique Gutiérrez, Santiago Botero, they couldnt have doped with Fuentes... No

Óscar Sevilla, the best young rider in 2001..nope
Jörg Jaksche >> who said 100% of the riders on every team he was ever on doped... he must be lying he wouldnt be telling the truth...

Interesting that the list of dopers are mostly Spanish and French riders?

 

[BikeCentric]

Interesting that the list of dopers are mostly Spanish and French riders?

You mean Italian and Spanish. Likely there is not all that much French doping anymore after the Festina and then Cofidis affairs. Spain is pretty lenient about it as you can see from how Operacion Puerto was handled. Italy is maybe getting serious about it now with CONI as they've always had a ton of doping going on, paradoxically because CONI actually funded doping in the 90's with Conconi and Ferrari who were doping Italy's Olympic program. Matt Rendel details what went on in "The Death of Marco Pantani" if you're interested. It's all public information now in court documents so no secret.

 

[patswana]

Those traitors should be sent to Gitmo. They are probably french. How dare they question a great american like The Lance. Even though he tested positive for EPO six times, even though he confessed to taking a wide range of doping products in front of friends, even though his personal assistant found steroids in his bathroom, even though he encouraged teammates to dope, even though his soigneur had to use make up to hide injection sites, he was clean. Hope rides again. Yee haw! America, F** yeah.

It's also important to remind people that Armstrong only spent most of his career working with Dr. Ferrari because that nice doping doctor is a great conversationalist. There was nothing more to their relationship than that.

 

[grimpeur]

You mean Italian and Spanish. Likely there is not all that much French doping anymore after the Festina and then Cofidis affairs. Spain is pretty lenient about it as you can see from how Operacion Puerto was handled. Italy is maybe getting serious about it now with CONI as they've always had a ton of doping going on, paradoxically because CONI actually funded doping in the 90's with Conconi and Ferrari who were doping Italy's Olympic program. Matt Rendel details what went on in "The Death of Marco Pantani" if you're interested. It's all public information now in court documents so no secret.

I believe that after the Festina or Cofidis affairs the French Sports Minister pushed through a law that would require jail time for any rider caught "defrauding a sporting event." And I believe French riders are required to report for monthly testing. Ever notice how not long after the these doping affairs broke and the laws changed abunch of riders moved to Spain?

 

[Escarabajo]

Interesting that the list of dopers are mostly Spanish and French riders?

Show me the French riders from the list?

 

[Bagster]

Show me the French riders from the list?

Not any point the French doping because they are all crap anyway, Philipe Gilbert excepted. May as well ride clean and lose than ride doped and lose, its better for your health

 

[Bagster]

Sure, but if god forbid Ben-Jacques Mayne ends up being the best of the rest, beating him (in a tag team effort even) is hardly a basis to conclude that Lance's form is 'fantastic'. That's just presumptuous, but in that way of course a trademark part of the Armstrong promotional machine. I bet Sastre and Schleck are trembling after reading this!

You guys are classic. The guy enters a race and wins. The promoters love it, the crowd loves it and probably most of the competitors love it to be able to say they raced against Lance. Lance never promoted his attendance at the race as anything but a bit of a fun tune up to the tour.
The only people it seems who didn't enjoy it are the lard asses on here who spend their lives looking for meaning in bagging a guy who could beat them on a kids tricycle.

Who cares what Schleck and Sastre are thinking but I'm sure they have ridden local races in their own countries for their own reasons.

 

[flyor64]

Not any point the French doping because they are all crap anyway, Philipe Gilbert excepted. May as well ride clean and lose than ride doped and lose, its better for your health

^^^This is humor right?^^^

Philippe Gilbert is from Belgium...he does speak french though

 

[Amsterhammer]

You guys are classic. The guy enters a race and wins. The promoters love it, the crowd loves it and probably most of the competitors love it to be able to say they raced against Lance. Lance never promoted his attendance at the race as anything but a bit of a fun tune up to the tour.
The only people it seems who didn't enjoy it are the lard asses on here who spend their lives looking for meaning in bagging a guy who could beat them on a kids tricycle.

Amen, bro', nail on head!

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

The only people it seems who didn't enjoy it are the lard asses on here who spend their lives looking for meaning in bagging a guy who could beat them on a kids tricycle.

You sure about that?

Ever try to earn, or supplement your living at cycling? Either as a racer, or support staff?

Do you suppose it would be okay if "for fun" Lance entered a few Cat 5 races as well?

 

[boots911]

i was in this year's pro12 race at nevada city, finished top twenty.

first off the rest of the pro12 field didn't care who was in the race, in fact before lance announced he was racing it, only 20 guys had pre-registered. on the day of the race, the field was full (125+ riders) before noon.

second, we see all sorts of pro riders in our races here in norcal, and in the early season we get pro tour guys entering our races quite often. had astana brought 9 guys to nevada city, i might consider that bullying. but three? not a problem, and dont care.

third, i've done this race three years in a row now, and finished top twenty every time. yes lance lapped us twice, but we also got lapped last year by nydam and england, and the year before darrin lil lapped us as well.

finally, the crowd was outstanding, and they cheered for everyone, not just lance. if this is what it takes to get bicycle racing back to the forefront (and give anther boost to the 2010 tour of california) im all for it.

`b

 

[Seth Bullock]

i was in this year's pro12 race at nevada city, finished top twenty.

first off the rest of the pro12 field didn't care who was in the race, in fact before lance announced he was racing it, only 20 guys had pre-registered. on the day of the race, the field was full (125+ riders) before noon.

second, we see all sorts of pro riders in our races here in norcal, and in the early season we get pro tour guys entering our races quite often. had astana brought 9 guys to nevada city, i might consider that bullying. but three? not a problem, and dont care.

third, i've done this race three years in a row now, and finished top twenty every time. yes lance lapped us twice, but we also got lapped last year by nydam and england, and the year before darrin lil lapped us as well.

finally, the crowd was outstanding, and they cheered for everyone, not just lance. if this is what it takes to get bicycle racing back to the forefront (and give anther boost to the 2010 tour of california) im all for it.

`b

Exf@#kingactly. I recall reading the same sort of post on the previous Gila thread. Racers or ex racers who've actually done these races themselves approve of the idea of Armstrong or other pros riding against them in these sort of events. On the local front (Australia) when Robbie McEwen, Evans, Gates, Matty White (before retirement), Hayman, Davis etc. compete in local crits no-one (other amateur racers or fans) seems to give a flying f@#k.

 

[ndpuck]

Do you suppose it would be okay if "for fun" Lance entered a few Cat 5 races as well?

I don't think USA Cycling would approve the downgrade on his license.
Not quite that far down at least.