Is Walsh on the Sky bandwagon?

[martinvickers]

I'm sitting at the foot of L'alpe D'huez - riding my bike and following the sport I love; Froome is a mutant freak doping experiment- I have reached the end of my tether with ****s like you- so **** off

don't care where you're sitting, nor frankly much about your tether. Stop the abusive posting.

 

[SundayRider]

'David Walsh: Oh yeah. I do find it compelling in its way, but it’s a kind of a sick world. I watch it and then I don’t feel good having watched. I wish I had the discipline to completely switch off.'

Kind of ironic that Walsh felt this way about the '07 Tour, when most of the clinic feel this way about this years race.

 

[sniper]

on Dutch tele recently DW was incredibly clear that if you were a journalist in the early 2000s and you were suspicious about Armstrong's doping, the last thing you would do was to go and ask Armstrong himself about it.

1/2:Spent an hour with Froome at lunch, talked doping allegatiions, Kenya, organisational talents brother Jeremy, the danger of fish oil.

 

[hrotha]

You guys make it sound like we're just an angry mob turning on Walsh, French Revolutionary Terror style. But for months we've gone from being fans to raising an eyebrow and then to questioning why he was saying things the Walsh we knew wouldn't say. It's been a very gradual shift. Many of us gave him the benefit of the doubt for a while but have been let down since.

This isn't an irrational undercurrent of hatred. This was a rational process that's taken months now.

 

[SundayRider]

You guys make it sound like we're just an angry mob turning on Walsh, French Revolutionary Terror style. But for months we've gone from being fans to raising an eyebrow and then to questioning why he was saying things the Walsh we knew wouldn't say. It's been a very gradual shift. Many of us gave him the benefit of the doubt for a while but have been let down since.

This isn't an irrational undercurrent of hatred. This was a rational process that's taken months now.

Exactly, Walsh has gone from, 'I hope they are not doping' - 'I don't think they are doping' too 'I will block anyone on Twitter who asks me if I think there is any suspicion at all'

 

[Logic Al]

Isn’t it just what he thinks though? Or at least what he’s prepared to write (journalists need ‘evidence’ more than forumites on the Clinic)?

He could well be wrong, he may know he can be wrong

Just the accusations that he’s abandoned his morals and joined the dark side are a bit far fetched. If he thought Froome/Sky was doping he’d expose it like he did with Armstrong, people don’t generally turn 180 degrees.

 

[SundayRider]

Isn’t it just what he thinks though? Or at least what he’s prepared to write (journalists need ‘evidence’ more than forumites on the Clinic)?

He could well be wrong, he may know he can be wrong

Just the accusations that he’s abandoned his morals and joined the dark side are a bit far fetched. If he thought Froome/Sky was doping he’d expose it like he did with Armstrong, people don’t generally turn 180 degrees.

Yes his articles are not necessarily what he truly 'believes'. However it is the tone of his tweets that concerns me. The fact that Froome has but in two performances that match the 'EPO era' and Walsh has not mentioned this at all.

 

[bewildered]

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt until at least after the Tour, it can take time for something he is willing to write about to materialise

 

[SundayRider]

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt until at least after the Tour, it can take time for something he is willing to write about to materialise

He will never write something bad about Froome, without a positive test or an admission, both of which seem extremely unlikely.

 

[kaffenback]

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt until at least after the Tour, it can take time for something he is willing to write about to materialise

That's my position too but I hate to admit it.. I am worried he has turned to the dark side. Can't believe it but the signs aren't good.

 

[SundayRider]

I'd give him the benefit of the doubt until at least after the Tour, it can take time for something he is willing to write about to materialise

He's made that 'human connection' with Froome now though much the same way that Liggett did with LA, for example.

 

[mikehammer67]

He will never write something bad about Froome, without a positive test or an admission, both of which seem extremely unlikely.

he can't even hint without evidence

 

[sniper]

he can't even hint without evidence

he couldn't just hint in the case of armstrong either.
which is why he started doing some serious investigative work.

now he's happy just sitting in sky's PR box, on the bandwagon.

 

[simo1733]

If he marched in and started accusing and F ing and Blinding like Kimmage does, then he would be off the bus on day one.
If he really wants to learn about Sky he has to stay close to them.

 

[AICA ribonucleotide]

Walsh isn't as smart as everyone thinks he is.
What does he expect to see turning up a few days of the year with team Sky?

He is being used by Sky as good PR and he doesn't even realise it.

And we all know what Froome thinks of him

 

[horsinabout]

It's available now:

http://www.sporza.be/cm/sporza/vide.../ViveLeVelo_17juli/MV_130717_VLV_tafel_Lieven

My theory on Walsh is that his bravery going after LA was and always has been over rated. Real bravery is when you do something to challenging a corrupt system and you have everything to loose. What did Walsh really have to loose going after LA?. He had a news paper that supported him and made money out of helping to bring LA down by writing books on all the doping dirt, that the cycling population had an appetite to read. He had sources aplenty as LA was running a dysfunctional doping system, where other team mates were getting hurt, not paid properly, let down or what ever – they had revenge.

Now we see that his lack of independence with Sky is ridiculously obvious to say the least. If Walsh asked too many probing questions he would not have the privilege of being embedded with sky, this could be interpreted as him fighting from the inside. It could also be argued that if Walsh had any real integrity he could have resigned.

Just to ask the question from those who left Sky “did you see any doping” answer “no” this = no doping is ridiculous.

Questions a ten year old may ask....

When you joined Sky what sort of contract did you sign?

Did the contract you signed have within it a none disclosure clause or agreement?

May I have a copy of your contract to establish the facts?

 

[bewildered]

If he marched in and started accusing and F ing and Blinding like Kimmage does, then he would be off the bus on day one.
If he really wants to learn about Sky he has to stay close to them.

This. And Sky have learned from LA not to give people an incentive to talk. there is no Bassons like eureka comment (yet) and no Emma O'Reilly, which I doubt there will be. He is not stupid and must be aware that there are very legitimate questions to be asked but nothing more than that at present. If he asks them, his employer won't print them anyway, he will be fired by the ST and Sky will close his access. Sky are smart and are not loose cannons like LA, even if it may look like they might be following the LA recipe for success. If he doesn't appear to be writing fairly about them in their eyes, they will close off his access.

So, I wouldn't read anything into his stance just yet.

 

[sniper]

This. And Sky have learned from LA not to give people an incentive to talk. there is no Bassons like eureka comment (yet) and no Emma O'Reilly, which I doubt there will be. He is not stupid and must be aware that there are very legitimate questions to be asked but nothing more than that at present. If he asks them, his employer won't print them anyway, he will be fired by the ST and Sky will close his access. Sky are smart and are not loose cannons like LA, even if it may look like they might be following the LA recipe for success. If he doesn't appear to be writing fairly about them in their eyes, they will close off his access.

So, I wouldn't read anything into his stance just yet.

he's said explicitly and on several occasions already that he thinks sky are clean.
his stance is quite unambiguous.

 

[gooner]

he's said explicitly and on several occasions already that he thinks sky are clean.
his stance is quite unambiguous.

You make it sound like Walsh is too stubborn on all this.

From an interview in April.

I've really enjoyed my time with them, and from what I've seen I've got the impression that this team does not have a doping programme, in my view.

That isn't to say that some rider in the team maybe freelancing on an individual basis, or maybe more than one is behaving independently of the team, but it's not team organised.

So, if anyone out there has proper evidence about Sky cheating, well, I'm a journalist and I would love to hear it.

From an interview on CNN in the week leading up to the Tour.

"They say they're clean. I've seen nothing to make me suspicious that they're telling a lie when they say they're clean, though that doesn't mean that things couldn't be happening behind my back.

"The conclusion I've come to given the time I've spent with them is that they certainly don't have an organized doping program within the team."

Walsh doesn't rule out the possibility that things maybe happening away from him or that a rider maybe doing something independently of the team. He has seen nothing to suggest there is a team wide programme going on. He can only go on what he sees. This is pretty much my opinion as well.

 

[sniper]

You make it sound like Walsh is too stubborn on all this.

From an interview in April.






From an interview on CNN in the week leading up to the Tour.



Walsh doesn't rule out the possibility that things maybe happening away from him or that a rider maybe doing something independently of the team. He has seen nothing to suggest there is a team wide programme going on. He can only go on what he sees. This is pretty much my opinion as well.

to say he has seen "nothing" is quite jawdropping.
does Leinders ring a bell?
Sky meeting up with ASO, another big red USPS flag that walsh has missed or is unwilling to report critically on.

 

[Benotti69]

You make it sound like Walsh is too stubborn on all this.

From an interview in April.

From an interview on CNN in the week leading up to the Tour.

Walsh doesn't rule out the possibility that things maybe happening away from him or that a rider maybe doing something independently of the team. He has seen nothing to suggest there is a team wide programme going on. He can only go on what he sees. This is pretty much my opinion as well.

Why did Walsh call out Contador based on the speed Contador was doing up climbs and ignore Froome's times up climb beating the oxygen vector doped guys?

Dosen't add up.

Walsh has stated with Armstrong he stopped being a fan with a typewriter. Seems like he has gone back to being a fan, quite a naive one.

 

[goggalor]

If he marched in and started accusing and F ing and Blinding like Kimmage does, then he would be off the bus on day one.
If he really wants to learn about Sky he has to stay close to them.

True, let's wait for his Sunday piece. If he's been undercover this whole time at Sky I take my hat off for him.

 

[thehog]

Why did Walsh call out Contador based on the speed Contador was doing up climbs and ignore Froome's times up climb beating the oxygen vector doped guys?

Dosen't add up.

Walsh has stated with Armstrong he stopped being a fan with a typewriter. Seems like he has gone back to being a fan, quite a naive one.

I wouldn't say naive.

He is staying at the Tour at the expense of Sky.

I'm sure the hotels are much better than back in the day as hack sports journalist on 'pay per column' salary.

 

[hfer07]

Walsh meets with Brailsford in Tenerife & get down to business:

Brailsford-without any hesitation, or remorse- just tells him the entire truth, about the know, how, when, where, by whom, the logistics & the products used by SKY to achieve the successful results. Then explains two options for him after the truth was revealed---either to go to war against the SKY empire where he has no chance at all to succeed & can be hell for him to find a job in the UK- OR-join them & make good money along the road by making statements from time to time to back them up on the "clean record & approach" of the team....

 

[zlev11]

I wouldn't say naive.

Jingoistic.