• The Cycling News forum is looking to add some volunteer moderators with Red Rick's recent retirement. If you're interested in helping keep our discussions on track, send a direct message to @SHaines here on the forum, or use the Contact Us form to message the Community Team.

    In the meanwhile, please use the Report option if you see a post that doesn't fit within the forum rules.

    Thanks!

French is accusing British cyclist Cheating

Page 2 - Get up to date with the latest news, scores & standings from the Cycling News Community.
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
The pharmaceutical question certainly does remain, but ultimately it is not something that you can make sense of unless you accept that there has to be some evidence of some sort, and speculation does not count as evidence, even though on this forum speculation gets regenerated by others and becomes proof. I haven't seen any, not a scrap, and whereas I would not even raise an eyebrow if Froome or Wiggins (or any pro road rider) was found to be doping, I would be surprised and disappointed if the same was found on the track team. I don't equate the cynicism and history of the road scene with people like Laura Trott.

But, as you rightly said, this thread, and the comments of the French are not about doping.
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
No_Balls said:
While there is every reason in the world to be suspect of the brits dramatically improvement, fitting enough for the Olympics on home soil, the only sad thing is that it comes from the french. I mean, have there been any rider who not have cheated since 1985 according to the french?

When it comes to road riding they were probably right :D

Do you really think the British improvement on the track is dramatic? From where I'm looking it has been steady progress since 1996.
 
Mr Pumpy said:
I wasn't.

I was pointing out the irony of unsubstantiated insinuations coming from the French when they have a concrete, hard and fast, undeniable cheat as their central guy.

The British are in a luxurious position. They don't have to resort to name-calling and finger pointing, nor do they have any mud sticking to them. They let their legs do the talking ;)

So much of what has been posted on this sub-forum is dead end. It is quite striking that now the TdF and the olympics are overthere is actually something worth reading, mostly on the USADA and JV threads.


Indeed and no coincidence free from any chest beating Brits.
 
Mr Pumpy said:
...they have riders who have been stripped of medals and sanctioned for doping related offences.

Links please. Plural. As you suggest there are more than one.

The most recent is Bauge with a whereabouts penalty that, oddly enough, the UCI got involved so there was actually a penalty. Are there others?

Do you realize doping is a serious, do-time-in-prison crime in France?
 
Mr Pumpy said:
When it comes to road riding they were probably right :D

Do you really think the British improvement on the track is dramatic? From where I'm looking it has been steady progress since 1996.

No. For track matters i trust them as long as i know they are good. I didnt raised an eyebrow when i saw the british performance on track.

As for the road, then it is a different story.

Mr Pumpy said:
When it comes to road riding they were probably right

Perhaps, but then we do know what the french implies here.
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
ferryman said:
[/B]
Indeed and no coincidence free from any chest beating Brits.

I think the 'chest-beating Brits' were far far outnumbered by the ex-colonial subjects still weighed down by the mighty chips on their shoulders :D
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
DirtyWorks said:
Links please. Plural. As you suggest there are more than one.

The most recent is Bauge with a whereabouts penalty that, oddly enough, the UCI got involved so there was actually a penalty. Are there others?

Sorry, yes, sloppy use of english on my part. Bauge is the only one I am aware of. I don't know if there are others.

Do you realize doping is a serious, do-time-in-prison crime in France?

Yes, in theory, but off the top of my head I can't recall the names of any who have been handed custodial sentences.
 
Jul 14, 2012
111
0
0
Visit site
Mr Pumpy said:
Ah yes, 'fanboy'. The playground insult so common on this forum, behind which lies the insinuation that the person concerned is a fanatical devotee, blind to the obvious and incapable of being rational when their idols are held up for scrutiny.
Who uses a term like this? Somebody with either the intellectual laziness or insufficient intellect to attend to the issue in hand.

Much like 'denier', the other term of abuse,so glibly used in this topsy-turvy ecosystem of a forum, with its sinister inflections of anti-Semitism.



Where I am from is irrelevant. If you'd like to comment on my posts, be my guest.

Blah blah blah, drone drone drone, blah blah blah
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
No_Balls said:
You only have to study the Virenque files and see how it went with that prison sentence.

Loads of suspended sentences, but did anyone actually go to prison? (other than on remand awaiting trial/investigation)

The only connected thing I am aware of is a soigneur from TVM going to prison but I don't know what the sentence was.
 
Aug 18, 2009
4,993
1
0
Visit site
Will seriously be interesting to see the whole range of techniques (or 'techniques') used, if the info is eventually 'declassified'. The French tech. director might be right about the wheels that they aren't off the shelf Mavics.
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
Ah yes the wheels. The ones with the mechanisms inside to increase inertia that curiously only work when the British win :D

Ooh, just thought, maybe dark forces within Team GB itself swapped out Pendleton's wheels to standard Mavic ones in the sprint to ensure she lost against Meares, as a punishment for shagging her coach. :D
 
Aug 18, 2009
4,993
1
0
Visit site
...
...
...because for some reason they don't let the engineers who optimised the frame, fork, bars, seatpost, helmet and skinsuit in the wind tunnel, anywhere near the wheels. And Mme Gautheron is being ridiculous when she percieves some caginess around them. :rolleyes:
 
Jun 12, 2010
1,234
0
0
Visit site
JimmyFingers said:
This is old news, ze French talking about magic wheels though, been discussed at length. Our kit is illegal and cheating according to many here.


I've said this before but I,l say it again the "magic wheels" comment is a tongue in cheek comment. The brit team indeed made much effort to keep the wheels covered up but it was . according to a pal of mine track side,( one of the guys who, amongst other things manned a starting gate) nothing more than playing mind games. The French knew this...and hence the reference regards them as "magic wheels" to explain the brits team success is sarcastic. They know full well it had nothing to do with wheels or any other bike component but might be due to some other "preparation" but without anything solid there not about to directly accuse the brit team of doping.
 
Mar 10, 2009
1,384
0
0
Visit site
Mr Pumpy said:
Indeed. There are plenty of examples of British doping in sport, and there is nothing about being British that makes a person less inclined to dope.

I'm pretty comfortable with the performances of the British track team. I wouldnt have the same confidence about Team Sky. That is not to say I believe there to be a doping system in place, but I wouldn't have feelings of surprise if there were.

This. Oh and Makhloufi's performance entirely justified it's skeptical response.
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
The comments of the French technical director did not seem like an attempt at humour. If it was mind games, I think the she fell for it. If your pal is right, it puts some of the rabid comments on this forum in a different light.

It will be interesting to know what it is that has made the difference for the GB track team. Gut feeling, for what it is worth, is that it is not systemised doping, as that is available to most teams. I think there may be a multiplicity of factors, funding, success breeding success and ruthless management by Brailsford being three of them. Marginal gains? More mind games perhaps, all though every example that I've heard has made sense, despite all the derision from some here. Team GB certainly seem to have the funding to employ people to take care of small details.
 
Mar 10, 2009
1,384
0
0
Visit site
DirtyWorks said:
Links please. Plural. As you suggest there are more than one.

The most recent is Bauge with a whereabouts penalty that, oddly enough, the UCI got involved so there was actually a penalty. Are there others?

Do you realize doping is a serious, do-time-in-prison crime in France?


Myth. Supplying and organising doping are jailable offences, use of ped's alone is not.
 
Apr 20, 2012
6,320
0
0
Visit site
Mr Pumpy said:
The comments of the French technical director did not seem like an attempt at humour. If it was mind games, I think the she fell for it. If your pal is right, it puts some of the rabid comments on this forum in a different light.

It will be interesting to know what it is that has made the difference for the GB track team. Gut feeling, for what it is worth, is that it is not systemised doping, as that is available to most teams. I think there may be a multiplicity of factors, funding, success breeding success and ruthless management by Brailsford being three of them. Marginal gains? More mind games perhaps, all though every example that I've heard has made sense, despite all the derision from some here. Team GB certainly seem to have the funding to employ people to take care of small details.
Just a question, do you really believe that crap you post on here? Or are you just a major English fan?
 
A few comments on the articles,
I love how Cameron and other brits seem to be saying the French are mad that Wiggins won the tour. It's so british to think they're so special ( and so specially clean ) , a French person hasn't won the tour in over 20 years, what would make an english person winning the tour different from an american a spanish or an australian? Adding to that, France got more stage wins this year than was even expected, making it a success for french teams, I dont really see what they have to be sour about.

If the french aren't hailing wiggins as the greatest tour winner like the British would like them to, it might just be because Sky won a very very very boring tour in very suspicious fashion if I may add.
 
Jul 17, 2012
5,303
0
0
Visit site
Darryl Webster said:
I've said this before but I,l say it again the "magic wheels" comment is a tongue in cheek comment. The brit team indeed made much effort to keep the wheels covered up but it was . according to a pal of mine track side,( one of the guys who, amongst other things manned a starting gate) nothing more than playing mind games. The French knew this...and hence the reference regards them as "magic wheels" to explain the brits team success is sarcastic. They know full well it had nothing to do with wheels or any other bike component but might be due to some other "preparation" but without anything solid there not about to directly accuse the brit team of doping.

It says much for the French that they level this sort of innuendo considering their lead sprinter has 'served' a ban for missing 3 tests. As someone more vociferous than me asserted here, 3 missed tests equals someone doping. Correct me if I'm wrong.

As for French preparation, isn't it true the French have no World standard indoor velodromes? While we have 4. Maybe there are your magic wheels, instead of training on an outdoor track like the French.

While I respect your experience, I do think that doping levels in the pro-peloton are a good way south of what is generally opinionated here, but a good way north of what joe public think.

At best it is the pot calling the kettle black
 
Apr 23, 2009
121
0
0
Visit site
Well that is new to me, Lemoogle. I've not seen or heard anything to suggest that anybody in Britain is alluding to French sour grapes, although I'm happy to accept it if you can substantiate this claim.

Anyone thinking that would surely be somebody with no history of following cycling, or what we call a Glory supporter. You are quite correct in thinking that it doesn't make sense, although I seem to recall a bit of French bitterness when Lemond won against Fignon (was living in France at the time)
 

TRENDING THREADS