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Mont Ventoux said:How the hell does Menchov not get caught??
Methinks the protection racket favours him. Not good for the outright winner to tarnish a Grand Tour.
Diluca is not a bad rider, and his CERA program made him very dangerous!
So how the heck does Menchov win and escape the doping Police??
BroDeal said:Menchov could have been using straight blood transfusions and little else, certainly not CERA during or immediately before the Giro.
Di Luca likely went down because he is stupid, made a mistake, or was acting on bad information. The $64K question is why he would be using CERA, given that it stays in the body and is detectable for weeks. CERA would seem like a very bad choice to use at any time, racing or training.
It does not make a lot of sense unless Di Luca is as dumb as a bag of hammers. The only thing I can think of is that he was relying on some sort of masking that did not work or for some reason he thought that he would not be tested for CERA.
rolfrae said:Could there have been traces of Cera in stored blood that he was transfusing?
Franklin said:Still begs the question: why Cera after last years drama? Why not Dynepo?
I think it was a case of bad info. He thought this particular type of Cera would be undetectable or that his dope cycle would show him up clean. Or worse, he didn't think about it at all and blindly trusted a dottore.
Mongol_Waaijer said:Turns out Thomas Dekker tested positive for epo on xmas eve.
immediately there were complaints here in Holland along the lines of "why would anyone use epo in the winter" etc.
From what i understand the winter is the time that riders draw blood for in season transfusions.
Are they using epo in the winter to "boost" the blood that is then drained and stored?
And/or are they using it to recover from the loss of blood and stay within bio passport parameters?
Or is this eveidence of year round microdosing?
sgreene said:Clearly there are too many conspiracy theorists out there. Why do people doubt that Alberto Contador is clean? Well, of course it is because he has done impressive things on the bike! Has anyone stopped to think about how many times Contador was tested in the '09 Tour, not to mention in the last 1 1/2 years? When you are winning stages, wearing the leader's jersey and consistently near or at the top of the GC standings in all the major tours, you are going to be tested nearly EVERY DAY. Not a single suspicious thing has ever been found. Do you really think that Johan Bruyneel has the "magic formula" for successfully doping without being caught? On top of his enormous responsibilities as director, this would involve a huge time and money commitment, not to mention the fact that a single slipup would mean the end of everything -- job, reputation, etc. I don't believe it. Conspiracy theorists - you need to get a life!
sgreene said:Clearly there are too many conspiracy theorists out there. Why do people doubt that Alberto Contador is clean? Well, of course it is because he has done impressive things on the bike! Has anyone stopped to think about how many times Contador was tested in the '09 Tour, not to mention in the last 1 1/2 years? When you are winning stages, wearing the leader's jersey and consistently near or at the top of the GC standings in all the major tours, you are going to be tested nearly EVERY DAY. Not a single suspicious thing has ever been found. Do you really think that Johan Bruyneel has the "magic formula" for successfully doping without being caught? On top of his enormous responsibilities as director, this would involve a huge time and money commitment, not to mention the fact that a single slipup would mean the end of everything -- job, reputation, etc. I don't believe it. Conspiracy theorists - you need to get a life!
BroDeal said:Is it even worth responding to morons like this? How many times does it have to be pointed out that a huge number of riders who have been caught have been caught by police investigations but have never tested positive? How few brain cells does it take to come to the conclusion that testing must not be very effective? How often does it have to be explained that there are substances and techniques, including the most important one, autologous blood doping, that are not detectable?
Contador rode for LIberty Seguros, a team with a teamwide doping program. That seems pretty suspicious to me. He was mentioned, according to Werner Franke, in the Operation Puerto documents. Double suspicious. He is now performing at a level equal to that of the the years of unrestricted EPO use, maybe even better. Triple suspicious. Gosh, with the whole Liberty Seguros and Kelme teams on doping programs, how many actually tested positive? Hmmm, maybe the testing does not work so well
Berzin said:If Bruyneel has so much pull with Pat McQuaid, why couldn't he get a ride in the Tour last year?
quarterpounder said:McQuaid already told us that Contador is a clean rider, so I don't think there is any reason to re-test any of his samples.
Berzin said:If Bruyneel has so much pull with Pat McQuaid, why couldn't he get a ride in the Tour last year?
sgreene said:Clearly there are too many conspiracy theorists out there. Why do people doubt that Alberto Contador is clean? Well, of course it is because he has done impressive things on the bike! Has anyone stopped to think about how many times Contador was tested in the '09 Tour, not to mention in the last 1 1/2 years? When you are winning stages, wearing the leader's jersey and consistently near or at the top of the GC standings in all the major tours, you are going to be tested nearly EVERY DAY. Not a single suspicious thing has ever been found. Do you really think that Johan Bruyneel has the "magic formula" for successfully doping without being caught? On top of his enormous responsibilities as director, this would involve a huge time and money commitment, not to mention the fact that a single slipup would mean the end of everything -- job, reputation, etc. I don't believe it. Conspiracy theorists - you need to get a life!
Berzin said:The Italian police-don't they have their hands full with massive political fraud, corruption and the mafia?
I really doubt that Contador will be caught out there-think of the implications of having another TDF champion go down the tubes.
And it begs the question-does he get stripped of his 2009 Tour title if his 2008 Giro samples test positive for CERA?
If Bruyneel has so much pull with Pat McQuaid, why couldn't he get a ride in the Tour last year?
sgreene said:Clearly there are too many conspiracy theorists out there. Why do people doubt that Alberto Contador is clean? Well, of course it is because he has done impressive things on the bike! Has anyone stopped to think about how many times Contador was tested in the '09 Tour, not to mention in the last 1 1/2 years? When you are winning stages, wearing the leader's jersey and consistently near or at the top of the GC standings in all the major tours, you are going to be tested nearly EVERY DAY. Not a single suspicious thing has ever been found. Do you really think that Johan Bruyneel has the "magic formula" for successfully doping without being caught? On top of his enormous responsibilities as director, this would involve a huge time and money commitment, not to mention the fact that a single slipup would mean the end of everything -- job, reputation, etc. I don't believe it. Conspiracy theorists - you need to get a life!
Moller said:This news is no surprise. Isn't an 'open secret' that part of the deal to get Armstrong to ride the Giro was that the '08 samples wouldn't be retested?
Lance didn't confirm his participation in this year's race until Zomegann had made the announcement that they would'nt be tested.
Now that Lance doesn't need to care about a positive for Contador or Astana, its open season.
Condtador may well join the club of riders who have fallen foul of Lance and then gone on to test positive, eg Hamilton, Landis, Herras etc.
Digger said:I honestly have a feeling that AC is going to be hung out to dry by Lance, in terms of the UCI. .
Digger said:I honestly have a feeling that AC is going to be hung out to dry by Lance, in terms of the UCI. .
BroDeal said:Is it even worth responding to morons like this? How many times does it have to be pointed out that a huge number of riders who have been caught have been caught by police investigations but have never tested positive? How few brain cells does it take to come to the conclusion that testing must not be very effective? How often does it have to be explained that there are substances and techniques, including the most important one, autologous blood doping, that are not detectable?
Contador rode for LIberty Seguros, a team with a teamwide doping program. That seems pretty suspicious to me. He was mentioned, according to Werner Franke, in the Operation Puerto documents. Double suspicious. He is now performing at a level equal to that of the the years of unrestricted EPO use, maybe even better. Triple suspicious. Gosh, with the whole Liberty Seguros and Kelme teams on doping programs, how many actually tested positive? Hmmm, maybe the testing does not work so well