Damiano Cunego, the Italian Christophe Bassons

Jul 21, 2012
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Cunego is pretty talented imo. Yes he was dopings, but he still won a grand tour when he was only 22 against a bunch of dopers.
 
Jul 10, 2010
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Please - you are being ridiculous. Cunego? Equated to Bassons? NO.

If you want to go on otherwise, I have one word to remind you to review.

Troll.
 
Mar 18, 2009
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Samson777 said:
BroDeal said:
I guess that temporary tattoo was legit.
Link?:D:D

cunegotat-670-80.gif
 
Mar 18, 2009
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hiero2 said:
Please - you are being ridiculous. Cunego? Equated to Bassons? NO.

If you want to go on otherwise, I have one word to remind you to review.

Troll.

I will guess that you didn't read the news today.
 
May 23, 2009
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I wouldn't equate him to Bassons, however, things are looking interesting with the news coming out of the Mantua investigation. Sounds like Cunego threw in the towel and went cleans for real quite a while ago.

Good on him! Hope he cooperates with the investigation and tells all he knows.
 
Jun 10, 2010
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That Cunego stopped doping early on is a theory that has been around for a while, long before today's news. Still, I wouldn't be too hasty. "I won't work with that particular doctor like the rest of the team" does not necessarily mean "I am clean".
 
hrotha said:
That Cunego stopped doping early on is a theory that has been around for a while, long before today's news. Still, I wouldn't be too hasty. "I won't work with that particular doctor like the rest of the team" does not necessarily mean "I am clean".
No, could also mean that he didn't need the extra help, because he got a better doctor of his own. But does his results really suggest that should be the case? That's one thing to consider.
 
May 23, 2009
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hrotha said:
That Cunego stopped doping early on is a theory that has been around for a while, long before today's news. Still, I wouldn't be too hasty. "I won't work with that particular doctor like the rest of the team" does not necessarily mean "I am clean".
When you pair this with comments Cunego made in the past like "There's General Classification and there's Life's Classification" with stating that he's at a crossroads of his career and that his results may not stay where they were and it's a possible conclusion.

Then there's the free fall in results. Since his second Lombardia win, what has Cunego done? Won the Coppi e Bartali, a stage at Romandie and scraped a top 10 at the 2011 TdF crashfest...

I still wouldn't stick my neck out for him but hopefully a bigger name rider has taken steps in the right direction.
 
Jul 3, 2009
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Actually he was very good in 2011, best in climbing terms for a while. I guess last year he struggled because everyone else started doping again.
 
Jan 27, 2012
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Often Cunego's riding (last quite a few years) reminds me of someone who could be clean. He tries, often fails, but wins once in a while. If hes clean, it would still take immense talent imo.

The TdS performance against Leipheimer was particularly good. Maybe too good.

It will take (and took) serious will power to stay clean on a team like Lampre imo.
 
Jun 19, 2009
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Ferminal said:
Actually he was very good in 2011, best in climbing terms for a while. I guess last year he struggled because everyone else started doping again.

Wasn't that the year where the climbing speeds were well down on previous years and those since? The calm before the Sky broke.

I was quite hopefull after the 2011 tour, but having said that it was also the Gilbert year:rolleyes:
 
Apr 16, 2009
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Ferminal said:
Actually he was very good in 2011, best in climbing terms for a while. I guess last year he struggled because everyone else started doping again.
You know things don't work that way even if he has been clean for the last few years. You still can have an array of problems with performance without doping!!
 
Apr 19, 2011
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I always assumed that the "mono" he caught the year after he won the Giro was actually something doping related. Some sort of scare, medical or testing related?

He was a different rider when he returned.
 
Apr 3, 2009
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42x16ss said:
I wouldn't equate him to Bassons, however, things are looking interesting with the news coming out of the Mantua investigation. Sounds like Cunego threw in the towel and went cleans for real quite a while ago.

Good on him! Hope he cooperates with the investigation and tells all he knows.

Sort of off-point here, but this makes me think of the following.

Many observers felt from watching his performances that it was abundantly clear Cunego went off the sauce a long time ago. Simply comparing what he was like in his Giro win to what he was afterwards said all that needed to be said.

My point? You can have a very good idea who's doping and who isn't by watching performance. You can't be sure, but sometimes it's really, really obvious.
 
Jun 7, 2010
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IzzyStradlin said:
Maybe he gave it another shot in 2006?

And I really doubt his Lombardia wins are clean, per se. But maybe he went from hardcore to occasional. The 2004 Giro was insane.

It was insane, but he gained 3 minutes over the rest through luck and a superior team