Contador and Spanish cycling

[Huckleberry]

Just in:

Associated Press reports that a epidemic of LAAK (Lance Armstrong A$$ Kissing) is sweeping the country of Spain....those most most likely to exhibit symptoms of LAAK are current and former Spainish Pro cyclists.....symptoms include drooling, uttering stupid comments defending Lance Armstrong to the press, refusal to face reality and the worst symptom of all is their strange sexual attraction to UCI head Pat McQuaid........More details to follow......

 

[Sarcastic Wet Trout]

Alberto never said Lance is innocent. What Alberto said is true, every word of it.

False.

“From my point of view, he was been humiliated and lynched. He has been destroyed. If cycling is popular in the United States, it’s thanks to him. If they know the Tour, it’s thanks to him.”

Armstrong was not lynched. He was investigated by the appropriate agency, found guilty of doping and conspiracy to dope, and punished within the rules. That's not a lynching.

I started following pro cycling and the Tour in the era of Greg LeMond, America's only TdF champion. Lance's drug fuel era has been a turnoff.

 

[No_Balls]

It's not that Hinault gets a pass because there are more sensible riders behind him. It's that French cycling as a whole gets a pass because it is, overall, on a completely different page, which the likes of Hinault and Jalabert are not representative of.

Well, checking out Dopeology might give a better idea. Even though they are a bit behind spanish and italians (were is the big F U Ferrari and italian cycling-thread btw? Benotti69 might be intrested?) in this matter.

But even if you were correct it is a very dreadful thought thinking in terms like "even if we dope we still does it an a far lesser context then the spanish so it is ok for us to do this and say this". It is when you are satisfied, and thinking you are on another page, you will lose the struggle against doping.

 

[Arnout]

The French cleaned up after the Festina affair, and certainly the way most French riders speak out against Armstrong reflect their genuine anger at being robbed by a cheater.

The Spanish neither cleaned up when they had some opportunity to do so, after OP and are neither good at PR, of which the Anglo Saxons are masters of.

Exactly.

Let's make a generalization:

The Spanish: Deny there is a problem and are offended that Armstrong is suspended
The French: Can now prove that cyclisme a deux vitesses actually existed (and I think they are right). For me, the combination of the things Pinot and his brother have said about this case and his showing in the Tour last year are very promising.
The Germans: Well they stopped cycling a while ago.
The English: Are shocked that this could ever happen, but luckily the era is over and they are clean.
The Americans: They left Armstrong en masse. Young riders are actually condemning Armstrong quite clearly, which is encouraging.
The Dutch: They only think about money and stop sponsoring.
The Belgians: They never say anything worth remembering and this time is no different.
The Irish: Good journalists, bad managers.
The Australians: Are confused, I'd say. They entered the peloton just too early to react like the English, so they keep sort of silent.
The Italians: What do they say? I haven't heard a lot about them. Interestingly, it seems they are either on the same page as the French or as the Spanish, depending on the person.

 

[frenchfry]

I call your FU and raise you one.

With these guys still in the sport, 2013 will be just like 1999 after the Festina affair. On your marks, get set, dope!

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Exactly.

Let's make a generalization:

The Spanish: Deny there is a problem and are offended that Armstrong is suspended
The French: Can now prove that cyclisme a deux vitesses actually existed (and I think they are right). For me, the combination of the things Pinot and his brother have said about this case and his showing in the Tour last year are very promising.
The Germans: Well they stopped cycling a while ago.
The English: Are shocked that this could ever happen, but luckily the era is over and they are clean.
The Americans: They left Armstrong en masse. Young riders are actually condemning Armstrong quite clearly, which is encouraging.
The Dutch: They only think about money and stop sponsoring.
The Belgians: They never say anything worth remembering and this time is no different.
The Irish: Good journalists, bad managers.
The Australians: Are confused, I'd say. They entered the peloton just too early to react like the English, so they keep sort of silent.
The Italians: What do they say? I haven't heard a lot about them. Interestingly, it seems they are either on the same page as the French or as the Spanish, depending on the person.

Check what Ivan Basso said it was hilarious.

 

[the asian]

Well, checking out Dopeology might give a better idea. Even though they are a bit behind spanish and italians (were is the big F U Ferrari and italian cycling-thread btw? Benotti69 might be intrested?) in this matter.

But even if you were correct it is a very dreadful thought thinking in terms like "even if we dope we still does it an a far lesser context then the spanish so it is ok for us to do this and say this". It is when you are satisfied, and thinking you are on another page, you will lose the struggle against doping.

CONI are at least investigating the Ferrari affair, and the Italian worlds team left out the guys with doping allegations.
And the Italian riders have been smart enough not to utter stupid BS like the Spanish.

Honestly why are the Spanish riders talking about Lance never testing positive, and the evidence of witnesses is of lesser value.

If you rule out "the fear of them having the same fate as lance due to teammates breaking omerta" the only reasons I can fathom is that
" Spanish law totally disregards witness evidence"
Or
The spanish think that breaking the law and not getting caught is legal.

 

[the asian]

Check what Ivan Basso said it was hilarious.

What did he say?

 

[Vino attacks everyone]

Yes, F U AC for not condeming LA like everyone else, F U for not take part in the bashing like every other crackpot out there, rofl

 

[GreasyMonkey]

Devil's Advocate....

It would not surprise me at all if The Sociopath put out the word, loud and clear to all his fellow riders of the past:

"S**T ON ME, you go under the bus too...."

I am sure LA has books full of incriminating evidence against nearly all of them, and he will be more than happy to drag them under the bus with him now.

As my Spanish is not good enough to have a clear understanding of AC's words, the general translation does not do him any favours in the Anglo-Saxon world, with our pedantic sense of ethical behaviour - quite different to the Latino view of similar things.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Check what Ivan Basso said it was hilarious.

Link please?

 

[No_Balls]

CONI are at least investigating the Ferrari affair, and the Italian worlds team left out the guys with doping allegations.
And the Italian riders have been smart enough not to utter stupid BS like the Spanish.

Yeah, we said this after the so called "cleaning up" after Festina-affair also.

An investigation is an investigation. So far in time it is not different to the OP-affair. It is what happens after the investigation which matters.

Honestly why are the Spanish riders talking about Lance never testing positive, and the evidence of witnesses is of lesser value.

They dont question the witnesses evidence but, like Bernard Hinault, they wonder why this comes out now. Valverde, as a altogheter different story, comes out down right defending Armstrong.

Spanish law totally disregards witness evidence"[/B]
Or
The spanish think that breaking the law and not getting caught is legal.

No need to drag spanish law in this. It is just them thinking Omertá is alive and kicking in a opinionated matter. And since anyone who is anything in this sport, from McQuaid to Merckx via Indurain and Hinault, fails to condemned Armstrong, they might be right.

 

[bridgeman]

LA has binders full of people. ShiShaw!

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Of course we understand this. But we (or at least I) are frustrated because they still think coming out with this crap is a good idea, which has some very ugly implications: 1) doping culture in the Spanish peloton hasn't moved one inch since 1998, so they don't feel even the tiniest bit of guilt about doping and lying; 2) the Spanish media are still totally complicit, because the riders don't even have to sugarcoat or hide their true feelings in public, as they know no one who matters to them will call them out; 3) they keep feeding us the same BS about the new era, when they're proud of being at least 2 or 3 eras behind.

Yes I understand your points.

I sort of expected the comments to be along the lines of Contador. I guess I am just total convinced that a large majority of pro's are juiced and feel no guilt about it. They are comfortable supporting a known doper because they are insecure having such a hammer being dropped.

Some of that was evident during the Fuentes raid and investigation.

I do feel your pain and understand it. I am not trying to bang on the fans here but I also think everyone could see some of this coming from a mile away.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

LA has binders full of people. ShiShaw!

lmao!

 

[No_Balls]

Edit. 10 char

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Pretty spot on
Add Kimmage also to the gods of the clinic

That is true about Kimmage. That FishHack has everyone scrambling to raise money for his defense against the UCI lawsuit.

To be fair he could just have a public appointed attorney to defeat someone as obviously corrupt as the UCI. They stand no chance after the USADA report.

 

[Semper Fidelis]

Yes, F U AC for not condeming LA like everyone else, F U for not take part in the bashing like every other crackpot out there, rofl

LMAO

You really need a sense of humor to read all this stuff.

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

Is Contador really any worse than say Benson who thinks its really cool to hang out with the likes of Hog.


http://mobile.twitter.com/dnlbenson/status/261172106795044864

I mean come on, why not just invite Jimmy Savile to the party as well.

 

[Benotti69]

That is true about Kimmage. That FishHack has everyone scrambling to raise money for his defense against the UCI lawsuit.

To be fair he could just have a public appointed attorney to defeat someone as obviously corrupt as the UCI. They stand no chance after the USADA report.

The fishhack is laughing about your boy now.

You backed the wrong donkey.

 

[MellowJohnny]

Doping is thrive in Spain, its the easiest place of the mainland cycling nations to do it,

Also, he's probably smoothing things over with LA for when he gets the same treatment in however many years time

 

[the asian]

Is Contador really any worse than say Benson who thinks its really cool to hang out with the likes of Hog.


http://mobile.twitter.com/dnlbenson/status/261172106795044864

I mean come on, why not just invite Jimmy Savile to the party as well.

That's not terrible.He must have hoped to get an exclusive interview form Bruyneel giving us some new entertainment. H/E his offer has been rejected by Hog.

 

[ElChingon]

Clinic regulars please don't feed the Race Section regulars, they obviously don't see a difference between the forum sections.

Each group retreat to your forum sections.

This thread is a basic train wreck circa the beginning of the forum when we had no clinic.

 

[Mrs John Murphy]

That's not terrible.He must have hoped to get an exclusive interview form Bruyneel giving us some new entertainment. H/E his offer has been rejected by Hog.

That's one spin you can put on it. I doubt very much if Benson had any intention of going Paxman on the Hog, and why not just DM it?

It makes Benson sound like a teenage Justin Bieber fan.

 

[hfer07]

his opinion...

From his website:

“lo duro que es que tu deporte esté protagonizado por cosas negativas, como el caso Armstrong, pero en lo que hay que pensar ahora es en el presente y en el futuro”.

This sport is too hard to be highlighted by negative news, like the Armstrong's case, but we have to be thinking in the present & the future(of the Sport)instead

“los métodos antidopaje ahora son máximos y creo que insuperables. Han evolucionado mucho con respecto a una década atrás”. Y, para terminar, dijo que experimenta un cierto “sentimiento de tristeza al ver cómo el corredor que ha sido para mí la referencia cuando empezaba termina de esta manera”.

the anti-doping methods are at the maximum nowadays & I believe they cannot be surpassed. they have evolved way much in comparison to a decade ago. About Armstrong he expressed "his feelings of sadness"
to see how a rider that was his reference when he begun competing could end up in such way" ...