Clean Colombians? (Arkea investigation page 27)

[hrotha]

We are still waiting on the Puerto blood bags, aren't we..

Yeah but I don't even mean it like that. In Puerto they obviously found something (ok, they found a lot). It was a major doping scandal even if the outcome was ultimately disappointing. It seems to me these days it's always like the police rushing in like a bull in a china shop, turning everything upside down, shouting, slashing the cushions to get a look inside, yelling "WHAT IS THIS??!?", and then it's sugar water.

 

[Escarabajo]

1. Legal supplements.

2. There is a no needle policy at any UCI-sanctioned race. It has been in place for almost a decade already. The Tour is a UCI-sanctioned race.

3. If Quintana used needles for anything painkilling then he would need documented diagnosis, proof of no alternative treatment, it must be given by a certified medical professional, and the UCI doctor must be informed within 24 hours. For any prohibited substance there would be a TUE as well. If he took corticosteroids then he'd have to stop racing for 8 days.

Ok. Thanks.
This could be the main reason for him not going to the worlds for Colombia.

 

[perico]

Matt Rendell obviously spoke to the Colombian guys...

He said legal dietary supplements were seized, questioned asked included "why did you return 2 bidons on stage X", "Why were bloody bandages in your room?", team doctor maybe had needles in his bag, Quintana has a no-needle policy since he was at Colombia es Pasion.

https://twitter.com/x/status/1308122587558481934

View: https://twitter.com/mrendell/status/1308122587558481934

How reliable will Rendell be on the subject? I read King of the Mountains back in the day, but haven’t read his follow up. I mean, he absolutely demolished any doubt regarding Pantani, but he has an affinity for the Colombians. Not to say that he’s like Paul Sherwin reporting on USPS, but I haven’t watched or listened to him in years. I know him mostly through his books. Not trying to cast doubt on Rendell specifically or question his integrity but we’ve been down this road before.

Im thinking in comparison to Walsh’s strange blindness to anything dodgy at Sky before inhalers became a thing.

 

[Logic-is-your-friend]

I think it were facecreams to make Nairo look younger.

It's quite peculiar that they are the ones targeted, though Nairo did have a splashing pre-corona season.

 

[Red Rick]

I think they got too close to the radiation coming off of Pogacar.

 

[Red Rick]

But seriously they're only gonna find extremely lame *** aren't they?

 

[Escarabajo]

Could require a TUE or short punishment me thinks.
If it is related to painkillers and such!

 

[TomLPC]

Poor Nairoman could be about to be thrown under a big Slovenian and cyclocross champion shaped bus.

Whatever tech he might've been on he should consider a refund.

Is the burden of proof high for these search warrants? As in, could I just phone in an anonymous tip saying yeah I've just seen Brailsford going into a bus with all sorts of heavy gear or do they have to do a bit of digging first?** I know from my experience of the dark corners of the internet that if it was a terrorist threat the swat team would have to go in all delta force regardless, but would they go to these measures for a few pills? It feels like they've popped some courier festina style then done the raid on the basis of that.

**Theoretically, of course.

 

[zigmeister]

Probably just took a saline IV and now they are dopers due to no-needle....

 

[ppanther92]

Remy di Gregorio early this decade

Schleck

 

[Gigs_98]

If Quintana indeed gets caught up in this his story would be an incredibly sad fall from grace.
I agree with @hrotha though, whenever these sort of cases actually end up delivering a big doping scandal we usually know right away. Like, I wasn't yet following the sport when there were new doping cases on a weekly basis but in the last few years doping stories either went:
"This guy or that team was doping, here is the irrefutable prove"
or
"There are some indications that someone might have done something illegal and that's the only thing we ever find out"

In the 2nd case we then go on about whether this could develop into a major scandal but the reality is, if it's really a major scandal we wouldn't have to discuss it. We would already know.

 

[Escarabajo]

Poor Nairoman could be about to be thrown under a big Slovenian and cyclocross champion shaped bus.

Whatever tech he might've been on he should consider a refund.

Is the burden of proof high for these search warrants? As in, could I just phone in an anonymous tip saying yeah I've just seen Brailsford going into a bus with all sorts of heavy gear or do they have to do a bit of digging first?** I know from my experience of the dark corners of the internet that if it was a terrorist threat the swat team would have to go in all delta force regardless, but would they go to these measures for a few pills? It feels like they've popped some courier festina style then done the raid on the basis of that.

**Theoretically, of course.

If that the case they went to the wrong hotel because I heavily doubt that that is the case for Arkea.

 

[AustCyclingFan]

Well I've woken up in Australia and looked at my newspaper and just heard about this

Let me say I am shocked. SHOCKED

And will be shocked if he's the only one who goes down this year. Seems a good way to slowly tax the public mind for the inevitable alien pinging announcement

 

[perico]

But seriously they're only gonna find extremely lame *** aren't they?

Nairo been hitting the clenbuterol?

 

[Red Rick]

If Quintana indeed gets caught up in this his story would be an incredibly sad fall from grace.
I agree with @hrotha though, whenever these sort of cases actually end up delivering a big doping scandal we usually know right away. Like, I wasn't yet following the sport when there were new doping cases on a weekly basis but in the last few years doping stories either went:
"This guy or that team was doping, here is the irrefutable prove"
or
"There are some indications that someone might have done something illegal and that's the only thing we ever find out"

In the 2nd case we then go on about whether this could develop into a major scandal but the reality is, if it's really a major scandal we wouldn't have to discuss it. We would already know.

Bonus points for

"Guy in hospital wins Grand Tour from 8 years ago due to bio passport"

 

[ppanther92]

If that the case they went to the wrong hotel because I heavily doubt that that is the case for Arkea.

Or we are simply around the year 2000 again with the current state of cycling. Very fast climbing times. Maybe competing clean is no more. Maybe it never was (although I had some hopes around 2010 and 2011). I cannot really say but what I could say is, if something compromising was found in Nairo's case, it would let me draw vertain conclusions about other riders too.

 

[Tonton]

Another French conspiracy...what's wrong with these people...jealous...haven't won a Tour in 35 years...muhahahaha!!!

I admit I'm the one who tipped the cops. The top-28 will soon be DQed, suspended. And guess who's going to win Le Tour .

On a more serious note, we still don't know. The journos published what they know, the reporting is incomplete, we'll know more in the days ahead. Obviously, the cops were tipped.

Worrisome if the 17th in the GC was doping...it would create (even more) suspicion about the ones at the very top and the whole '20 Tour field. And the whole season.

Concerns have already been voiced with regards to the lack of testing during Covid spring confinement and the risk of a free for all doping wise. Then we saw climbing records get shattered, yellow kits from JV looking like Saunier Duval, Pogacar looking like the Giro '94 Berzin and destroying Dumourain against the clock.

Ah, the French...

 

[Savant12]

Nairo seems to be too big a name to get popped given all the other really dodgy performances at this Tour. Maybe, Dayer will be the chosen one.

 

[luckyboy]

Probably just took a saline IV and now they are dopers due to no-needle....

What reasoning would a pro cyclist have to take a saline IV in the middle of the Tour de France aside from hiding that they've taken a blood transfusion lol?

How reliable will Rendell be on the subject? I read King of the Mountains back in the day, but haven’t read his follow up. I mean, he absolutely demolished any doubt regarding Pantani, but he has an affinity for the Colombians. Not to say that he’s like Paul Sherwin reporting on USPS, but I haven’t watched or listened to him in years. I know him mostly through his books. Not trying to cast doubt on Rendell specifically or question his integrity but we’ve been down this road before.

Im thinking in comparison to Walsh’s strange blindness to anything dodgy at Sky before inhalers became a thing.

He's just getting that info/spin straight from Quintana's people, I imagine. Not insanely biased like some but he's certainly biased towards Colombians and some other South Americans like Carapaz.

 

[Oldermanish]

He crashed several times. Finding bloddy bandages in the room isn't surprising.

What could the water bottles have that could be illegal?

I had a nasty crash on rough pavement. My hand was pinned under my drop bar while I slid over the gravel-studded asphalt. When I got to the doctor it took 8 shots of Novocain to deaden the exposed flesh before the doctor could clean it. Each shot felt like fire so nothing about it was convenient or performance enhancing. Any decent team doctor would document something like that so if some part-time journalist got the scoop about blood, bandages and needles from hotel staff it could be explainable.
Or it could be something that we'll find out about.
All of the good stuff we'll likely find out years from now when they discover testing techniques and back-check. By then the money is all spent.

 

[LeoMontero]

Lets get the facts, Nairo crashed heavly in stage 13. He got a lot of bruises and it is known that he has allergy. If you look his Twiter, he showed a video with photos of his chest, knees and elbows.
so the question of why there are bandages with blood is kind of ridicoulous. the question from the bottles, its like there are 1000 answers to that. and if nairo or dayer are not under custody, its like nothing happened.
now i think the police found some suspect things in the doctors room or car. but siriously i find it weird. ok with the pilicy of no needles, but i think that doctors always carry needles, because if they need to attend an urgency, they need them asap, like an alergy problem during race. once a racer is injected, he retire from race. But having the needles is no proof of doping per se.
what is the worst to me, is that with this, they are marked for ever.

 

[LeoMontero]

I had a nasty crash on rough pavement. My hand was pinned under my drop bar while I slid over the gravel-studded asphalt. When I got to the doctor it took 8 shots of Novocain to deaden the exposed flesh before the doctor could clean it. Each shot felt like fire so nothing about it was convenient or performance enhancing. Any decent team doctor would document something like that so if some part-time journalist got the scoop about blood, bandages and needles from hotel staff it could be explainable.
Or it could be something that we'll find out about.
All of the good stuff we'll likely find out years from now when they discover testing techniques and back-check. By then the money is all spent.

this second part is my guess. you also need to add the alergy problem from Nairo. He fly into a plant that is heavily alergy

 

[AustCyclingFan]

this second part is my guess. you also need to add the alergy problem from Nairo. He fly into a plant that is heavily alergy

That reminds me of the Australian swimmer who got busted she said she got it from eating steak that had the steroid in it from when the animal was alive.

 

[perico]

That reminds me of the Australian swimmer who got busted she said she got it from eating steak that had the steroid in it from when the animal was alive.

The steak excuse usually don’t work too well

 

[myrideissteelerthanyours]

My take is that they found a few sets of wheels plugged in to charging stations and the police need a committee of engineers and lawyers to determine if its 'a method that could be qualified as doping'