Good ol' Bjarne...

[bicycles_rule]

Old people always think their generation was harder working and more respectful.

they are usually right. that's called progress. i'm proud to be a lazy, disrespectful punk.

but bjarne is about 100 years ahead of his time

 

[Berzin]

Do you have a source for the 56%?

In his biography he writes he never recorded more than 54%.

You mean a link? No, I don't.

It's a figure I recalled from an old article in Cycling News magazine when they published the hematocrit levels of the riders who were being treated by an Italian doctor who had his house raided b the cops.

Maybe someone could help both of us out here, because I forgot the good doctors' name as well as the specific scandal he was caught up in.

 

[JPM London]

You mean a link? No, I don't.

It's a figure I recalled from an old article in Cycling News magazine when they published the hematocrit levels of the riders who were being treated by an Italian doctor who had his house raided b the cops.

Maybe someone could help both of us out here, because I forgot the good doctors' name as well as the specific scandal he was caught up in.

The figure of 56 (.3 as far as I recall) comes from the Conconi files from the Ferarri case in the late nineties. It was made public in the Danish tv-program Tavshedens Pris in 99 - it should still be available on the dr.dk website, although no subtitles to aid those without Danish language skills I'm afraid.

It's correct that in his new book Riis says he's only aware himself of having tested to 54%. He also notes that he cannot say if the documents have any validity to them, but he does not refute them completely - which he does with some claims in the book.

To me this says that he was indeed doped by Conconi, but that these documents were not something he had knowledge of - they were more likely Conconi's own for his purported research for an EPO test using the infamous 23 "amateurs". To me it also seems Riis's lack of knowledge of these figures points to the 23 "amateurs" not directly knowing of each others involvement and that Conconi probably financed (and made a profit from) the whole thing from two sources: CONI's investment in the "research" and the riders/skiers/etc payment for their programs.

Another interesting thing that Riis has said before, but have also written in his book is the role of Cecchini. Riis claims, and personally I see no reason not to believe it, that Cecchini did not aid him in doping in any way, but rather warned Riis to be careful. It seems he knew very well what was going on, and most likely who did it, but was not involved in the shady business himself.

Riis also explains in the book (sorry this seems to get a bit long-winded now) that when he started at Ariostea he found out that the Italian teams were far ahead when it came to all parts of cycling and approached everything very professionally. It was here they had two doctors attached to the team, one Cecchini another Ferrari. It took Riis a while to figure out how things worked and that riders worked with one of the doctors, not both. Riis himself chose to work with Cecchini as he seemed more genuinely interested on a personal level. That also leads me to believe that Riis doping connection mainly was Conconi - although it seems he did not have a fixed connection throughout.

 

[_yngve_]

I'm not even sure what a 'strawman' is, I just hear it getting thrown around constantly in this forum. What the h*ll is a 'strawman'?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw_man

From Wiki:
5. Oversimplifying an opponent's argument, then attacking this oversimplified version.

Aha! I seem to be guilty as charged. I can see why it's thrown around the forum so much now.

And I'm now a little bit smarter...

 

[Magnus]

The figure of 56 (.3 as far as I recall) comes from the Conconi files from the Ferarri case in the late nineties. It was made public in the Danish tv-program Tavshedens Pris in 99 - it should still be available on the dr.dk website, although no subtitles to aid those without Danish language skills I'm afraid.

Links for the programs:
http://www.dr.dk/Sporten/Cykling/2007/03/30/140430.htm