Danilo is caught.

[Bala Verde]

Well, i'm disappointed, but not particularly surprising. Di Luca did nothing but attack for 3 weeks, which made for a fantastic Giro.

Menchov watch is now officially on again.

Wouldn't surprise me if he (Menchov) got fired at the end of the season after his 'bad perfromance' he put in in the TdF. That is if he doesn't get caught before...

 

[Cloxxki]

Once again we see a rider using the newpaper headlines when making his grocery list for the pharmacist. Pro's really are split into 2 kinds of people. Farmers and intellectuals. This is an insult to farmers as those are known for strong common sence, but I lack a better word.

We have to praise the Italian Union here. What a difference in attitude from the Spanish. WADA/UCI also go a great job. It must have been really hard to get him, especially when he was microdosing. And, they don't call it until absolutely certain.

But, he has a pretty face, so like boonen, his fans will still love him, saying he just had bad luck, or was framed. Easy to say now, but I never liked his face and attitude. and, it's easy to attack when your legs aren't hurting.

Lesser young riders in the pack will be reading the newspapers tomorrow, and it will stick into their minds: even the big heroes take the things from the newspapers. I don't HAVE to be a midpacker, when my heart is that of a winner. I train the hours, I do the high cadance thing, I deserve the fame!

 

[Mambo95]

But they didn't know that there was a marker for CERA. By 2009, everyone knew that there was a marker for CERA.

There was never a marker, though.

http://www.velonews.com/article/80701

 

[Alpe d'Huez]

If I had to make a guess I'd say he was microdosing, thinking like Kohl and Ricco he wouldn't get caught. OR, he had some sort of black market eastern (Russian, Chinese) re-engineered version of Cera that he assumed the testers wouldn't be able to see.

It does suck because he's such an exciting rider who leaves everything out on the road.

Agree with BroDeal on Franco Pellizotti. Gains even higher than Danilo in recent years. But he's now 2nd in the Giro. Sastre moves up to 3rd. Basso 4th.

Curious if this is going to be isolated, or we'll see more positives in the days to come.

If the 2008 results make Contador positive before next weekend we might have a certain Mr. Armstrong in yellow

LOL! Not going to happen. Contador won't get caught, and Lance won't finish in 2nd anyway.

I think the reason we have seen pairs of riders getting tagged for homologous blood doping is that they were either...

Back in the day when they didn't test for it, or couldn't easily detect homologous transfusions, athletes would use volunteered blood from a relative. Not sure if that was attempted by any of these people, just another variable.

Wouldn't surprise me if he (Menchov) got fired at the end of the season after his 'bad performance' he put in in the TdF. That is if he doesn't get caught before...

He won the Giro! If anything gets him fired, it's going to be because he's tied into some pretty negative accusations coming his way.

 

[BroDeal]

I think the reason we have seen pairs of riders getting tagged for homologous blood doping is that they were either 1) using the same equipment and there was some cross contamination, or 2) they used the wrong blood bag. It seems like there was also some illness with Hamilton and Vino ... could have been all sorts of reasons that we could speculate, but one would be using blood foreign to their system.

I don't think it was contamination because Hamilton had a significant percentage of foreign blood in his system. This was not due to very small amounts of blood in uncleaned equipment.

While mixing up blood bags might be a possibility, we know that Fuentes asked clients about using relatives as a blood source. Both Perez and Hamilton were clients of Fuentes, and so were Vino and Kash. What are the chances that the two pairs had the compatible blood types?

 

[Bala Verde]

He won the Giro! If anything gets him fired, it's going to be because he's tied into some pretty negative accusations coming his way.

Yes, he won the Giro, but RAB has been getting too much in the center of 'doping' attention. They will have to find a reason to get rid of him, because I doubt they will want to fuel doping speculation surrounding him.

Bad performance in the TdF and loss of confidence/trust in the rider (like Dekker) would be the way to go and give him the boot. Dekker was quite the winner before he was laid off as well, so in Menchov's case, winning the Giro, while being covered by a cloud of doping accusations don't same to favour his odds. RAB will have to side with anti-doping, instead of success...

 

[Turd Ferguson]

I agree with Alpe's theory that he was probably using a reengineered CERA from a black market source and thinking he wouldn't get caught. When it comes down to drugs, it's all about money and lies, and DiLuca got some bad intel, thus getting ripped off on product.

To me it seems strange that he tested positive on the days prior to the big stages. This stuff takes a few days to tell your body to start producing more red blood cells - it is not just an instant flip of the switch. However, if he was microdosing, his program likely increased those doses leading up to an important stage and the accumulation of those doses could be what set off the red lights on the tests.

Very exciting rider to watch and it is unfortunate that he will be gone, but it is good to get the cheats out of here.

I don't think this is surprising to anyone on these forums. We all have our suspicions and they are slowy being confirmed.

There was obviously something going on with Menchov and he has been scared out of his shady ways now.

 

[hfer07]

It was so evident that Di luca was juiced--the way he just kept attacking for the entire length of the Giro without a bad day is just too suspicious.
Another one bites the dust...

 

[Jamsque]

Di Luca's disqualification means that Carlos Sastre has now been on the podium of all three Grand Tours.

 

[Escarabajo]

It was so evident that Di luca was juiced--the way he just kept attacking for the entire length of the Giro without a bad day is just to suspicious.
Another one bites the dust...

+1........................

 

[Anonymous]

but why so long to announce it, or does the way the passport program work is they need post race normal blood levels to prove there was a peak or what...

so we can expect the tour positives in october..

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

I am surprised !

Didn´t the most of you said in other forums that no big rider will be caught, that we only get scapegoats instead (Astarloa, Lanaluze etc.)?
To be honest, i tought the same.

Very good job by the italians in recent weeks

 

[mercuryrising]

Although it made for exciting viewing, the way Di Luca bounced on the pedals up those Giro climbs, never seemingly tired, never out of breath, relentlessly attacking, it was an unbelievable performance. And so it has been shown to be.
I hope he never races again.

 

[elapid]

There was never a marker, though.

http://www.velonews.com/article/80701

Thanks. I searched and found this after BroDeal's post but didn't have time to post it before having to get to work. No marker, but a unique molecule which is readily identified. I stand corrected!

 

[Oldman]

Although it made for exciting viewing, the way Di Luca bounced on the pedals up those Giro climbs, never seemingly tired, never out of breath, relentlessly attacking, it was an unbelievable performance. And so it has been shown to be.
I hope he never races again.

This type of attacking at altitude hasn't occured during this year's tour. I remember watching the Vuelta broadcast several years ago and laughing at the race-guys repeatedly attacking like US Criterium prime hunters at 7,000' elevation. Not all of them were Spaniards...

 

[Sheltowee]

No Virgins

I thought DiLuca was on the stuff at the Giro after his back-to-back-to-back hammering days. I bet Menchov would love to be home in Russia right now. He'll probably get busted before season's end. I've been suspicious of Contador since 07. The Schlecks, Armstrong, CVV and others. But never questioned whether or not Wiggins was running clean, but now I do. I guess I've been around the sport too long. There are no virgins in procycling. But then, virginity is over rated anyhow.

 

[Bala Verde]

The not so classical "How could I be so stupid" or "I am not so stupid" defense by Di Luca.

He refutes the positive test by refering to the positives of Sella, Rebellin and Ricco, who were busted using CERA. Why would he use something that he knew was going to be detectable.

His more classical defense is the "The lab has made errors" or a more accurate translation "the lab uses strange methods"

In any case, if the B-samples are positive as well, he'll quit racing.

I bet his final defense will be that he did it for the victims of Abbruzzo

 

[Deagol]

I hate to give in to speculation like this, but here goes: The way Menchov responded to DiLuca’s numerous attacks, those responses were explosive like he was attacking himself. He was glued to DiLuca’s wheel, did not ride tempo to regain contact but accelerated so quickly in response. I would be very surprised if Menchov rode the Giro clean. Perhaps he is riding the Tour clean because (pure speculation here) he feels the chance of detection at the Tour is greater than the Giro????

 

[poupou]

When does the results of CONI's testing of the 2008 Giro samples come out? That could be interesting.

The retesting is done by Italian Justice so CONI have to wait their results. Often Justice is slower than sport entities.

 

[poupou]

To me it seems strange that he tested positive on the days prior to the big stages. This stuff takes a few days to tell your body to start producing more red blood cells - it is not just an instant flip of the switch. However, if he was microdosing, his program likely increased those doses leading up to an important stage and the accumulation of those doses could be what set off the red lights on the tests.

CERA has a long window (1 month or more) of detection so by the testing you cannot know when he took it.

It's alleged that Schumacher was caught in beijing for his use of CERA on TDF !

 

[issoisso]

The retesting is done by Italian Justice so CONI have to wait their results. Often Justice is slower than sport entities.

However, the samples were sent to the Chatenây-Malabry lab for testing

 

[mercuryrising]

This type of attacking at altitude hasn't occured during this year's tour. I remember watching the Vuelta broadcast several years ago and laughing at the race-guys repeatedly attacking like US Criterium prime hunters at 7,000' elevation. Not all of them were Spaniards...

We also saw this type of riding at the '07 Tour (stage 16 I think). Rasmussen and Contador, riding like it was a track sprint, stop-start sprinting, in the final few km of a mountain stage.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I am surprised !

Didn´t the most of you said in other forums that no big rider will be caught, that we only get scapegoats instead (Astarloa, Lanaluze etc.)?
To be honest, i tought the same.

Very good job by the italians in recent weeks

I don't think most said that but I certainly was one of those - although if you look at the thread it was to do with this Tour.

Where I based that theory was on the UCI taking over the ani-doping controls from AFLD - actually I would love to be proved wrong and enjoy the taste of 'humble pie' than be served the bland dish of the cleanest ever Tour.

 

[Cobblestones]

I don't think most said that but I certainly was one of those - although if you look at the thread it was to do with this Tour.

Where I based that theory was on the UCI taking over the ani-doping controls from AFLD - actually I would love to be proved wrong and enjoy the taste of 'humble pie' than be served the bland dish of the cleanest ever Tour.

Since the vampires switched to coffee, you're guaranteed the 'cleanest' tour ever.

 

[Oldman]

We also saw this type of riding at the '07 Tour (stage 16 I think). Rasmussen and Contador, riding like it was a track sprint, stop-start sprinting, in the final few km of a mountain stage.

Forgot about that. Rasmussen lacked the meat to even make those attacks.