wow, dude offers no opinion, only says "here's an article on it" with link and a quote, and then gets ripped into for a thought he didn't seem to provide in his post... And the article has a direct quote from the UCI on the issue
Make of that statement what you will... A deal done? Certainly looks that way.
Benotti's statement is wrong - Menchov lost his podium from 2010 TdF, so not just his "outside the podiums"
I'm sure Menchov was charging for both Giro and Tour in 09. Hell, if you're doing the Giro/Tour double you'd need to. Just like his 2010 Tour/Vuelta double, which, funnily enough had a similar set of results as his 2009 GT double - 2nd to 41st - similar to 1st to 53rd, no?
Can't say he's not consistent when he rides 2 GTs in a row - great first ride, sh*t second one... As to why that is, is anyone's guess (unless he crashes, but that is why he's known as "the Pope", for kissing the tarmac so much), but that prologue in 2009 was rubbish. Suddenly being down at 53rd, I'm sure he got reckless/desparate to regain ground, and therefore, as seems to be standard with doping cases, made the mistake with his programme that lead to popping up on the BP's Most Wanted... That it failed to gain him more than 2 positions in the remaining 3 weeks seems completely odd.
That said, I don't recall anything of him in the '09 tour, so if anyone could fill in what happened regarding crashes and other issues that hampered him, I'm all ears...
But back to the UCI/WADA/RUSADA sanctions on him - whoever
actually applied the sanctions (and I thought it would be RusADA and not the UCI) - they're only going to be able to apply it to what they have the evidence to do, no? Otherwise it's off to CAS they go, and is that what they really want (saga, lawyer fees, etc) with a has-been who'll be off into the sunset?? Doubt it.
Sounds like the insurance company that spares themselves $50k in legal/admin fees to fight a $25k claim... Strike your bargain and walk away.
Dodgy or just business sense?