Most memorable doped perfomances?

[palmerq]

I have to respectfully disagree with your commenting of 'armstrong was slightly better as an athlete'...I think Jan was far more naturally talented as a rider than LA, and was genetically superior for racing a bike. Where Armstrong had the advantage was his fastiduous preparation (can read 'anal') and single-minded drive to kill the competition. ...not to mention surrounded by minions that were there solely to put Lance to the fore.

i think being stronger in the head like lance was makes him a better athlete.. The mind is a very large part of all sports, so to me that makes him a better athlete... could be true ullrich was better physically I dont know, but have jan with equal doping to lance and I think lance wins nearly every time...

I think lance had the whole team to help him dope and jan just had to do it himself which is not so easy.



also Di Luca at the giro in 2009 was pretty good it provided great entertainment for quite a few of the mountain stages and the start to the final time trial was pretty good to :S

 

[slartiblartfast]

Pantani attacking 3 times on the Alpe d'Huez during the 1997 tour. Ulrich was the last to be dropped with 10km to go. For some reason winning times on the Alpe d'Huez climb were lower during the 1990's than for any decade before or since.

The way Landis rode staight past Stuey O'Grady during the 2007 tour stage to Morzine was also unbelievable.

 

[ulrikmm]

Sprinter Djamolidine Abdoujaparovs mountain stage win in the 1996 Tour.

It looked s o w r o n g to see this locomotive thundering u p a mountain to take the victory.

 

[craig1985]

Basso, whole Giro 2006. Absolutely ridiculous.

AC Verbier 2009. Every time trial, AC has ever won.

I should also include José Enrique Gutiérrez aka the 'Buffalo' coming 2nd in the 2006 Giro, ahead of guys like Gilberto Simoni.

 

[SiAp1984]

Sprinter Djamolidine Abdoujaparovs mountain stage win in the 1996 Tour.

Always wondered about this one. Is there any video material out there? Started watching the tour the year after (Ullrich) and only read about the stage you mentioned on CN.

Craig, right, Gonzales is a good example, too. Even Pevenage was stunned about it back then.

I am not sure, but if I remember correctly, I laughed about Bettinis second WC in Stuttgart. If I remember correctly, he attacked and worked all day long and still was able to sprint out Zabel and Valv(Piti)... For me, Bettini is the AC of the one-day-racers (never liked him). Would have loved him to get caught...

 

[laziali]

1. By far the most ludicrous was Gabriele Colombo (Gewiss) at the '96 Milan San Remo

2. Indurain and Leblanc at Hautacam in the rain

3. Contador as Spanish TT champion

4. Bruyneel hanging onto Mig in the Tour

 

[craig1985]

Bruyneel isn't called 'The Hog' for nothing...

He also came 3rd at the '95 Vuelta as well.

 

[Lanark]

A fairly recent one would be Santiago Perez in the 2004 Vuelta. He was a fairly unkown guy, a couple of good results, but unless you were paying specific attention to him, you probably wouldn't know him.

He lost a lot of time in the early stages, but after Calar Alto he got on fire. On the stage to the Alto de Monachil he had a VAM of 1878 in the last 5K, even better than Contador's performance on Verbier in 2009! The next day he destroyed the competition in a mountain time trial to Sierra Nevada. He dropped Heras in every mountain stage after that (reaching an incredible VAM of 2067(!) on the last 6.5km of the Puerta de Navacerrada,) and won the final time trial. It's a small miracle that Heras won that Vuelta, but that was mostly because Santi Perez lost too much time in the early part of the race.

Obviously, a couple of days after the Vuelta it became clear he was caught with blood doping, like his teammate Hamilton, but still, a fantastic performance, I've rarely seen anyone race up a mountain like that after the introduction of the EPO-test.

 

[Roninho]

i think being stronger in the head like lance was makes him a better athlete.. The mind is a very large part of all sports, so to me that makes him a better athlete... could be true ullrich was better physically I dont know, but have jan with equal doping to lance and I think lance wins nearly every time...

If you include mental aspects as part of athlete, then yes. It is well known that Lance was mentally very strong and had the will to train a lot. Purely physically all experts seem to agree that Jan was the better of the two.

I am a big Jan-fan, but looking back at his career the only years he truly was in great shap were in '96/'97 and 2003 (?, the bianchi year). And in the bianchi year he actually was sick in the first week. Just a shame.

 

[ulrikmm]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SKxC1ak332k

From Danish televison TV2.

 

[flicker]

Always wondered about this one. Is there any video material out there? Started watching the tour the year after (Ullrich) and only read about the stage you mentioned on CN.

Craig, right, Gonzales is a good example, too. Even Pevenage was stunned about it back then.

I am not sure, but if I remember correctly, I laughed about Bettinis second WC in Stuttgart. If I remember correctly, he attacked and worked all day long and still was able to sprint out Zabel and Valv(Piti)... For me, Bettini is the AC of the one-day-racers (never liked him). Would have loved him to get caught...

I wonder how many wins Bettini got clean, very few I will bet.

 

[SiAp1984]

Thanks. Very interesting.

Antoher suspicious performance:

Jens Voigt cracking Leipheimer and Kasheshkin in the Deutschland Tour 2006 at the Arlbergpass and, among others, Leipheimer and Gesink 2007 at the Rettenbach Ferner.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

To be fair to the Rettenbachferner performance, it may have been quite ludicrous-looking, but it is worth noting that David López beat him from the break; Robert Gesink was 21 and only 8 seconds behind, Cunego was riding for form before the Vuelta and had won the previous stage, Voigt beating Ten Dam and Bertagnolli up a HC climb isn't a huge shock, and the Rettenbachferner climb was less than a month after Leipheimer had raced to the podium of the Tour de France (yes, Voigt had also done the Tour, but he wouldn't have expended as much energy as Levi in a domestique role, and of course the Deutschlandtour was his home race that he'd desperately want to show in). In fact, you could almost argue that a doped-up Pfannberger was the most inexplicable rider for Voigt to crack in that performance.

 

[Skandar Akbar]

I've stated in another thread that I'm currently review the "Cyclism" Tours of the great Sir Lance, and I've been able to find moments where I just shake my head, not only at the performances but at the commentary.

What stands out is Paul Sherwen, who continually claims that post-cancer Armstrong lost 20 pounds, which is why he can climb the way he does.

Meanwhile, as I'm watching and listening I'm thinking "HemAssist, HemAssist, HemAssist".

Paul Sherwen was an excellent racer in the 70's and 80's and it is easy to sit and throw stones with our doper avatar in anonimity. I think his experise in the sport is beyond reproach and I hope we can put down the hate and at least agree on that.

I was rewatching my 2001 tape of Alp d Huez and his astute commentary added valuable insight into this performance by the most prolific tour rider ever. Paul said that Lance had a special mountain bike with a special fork that day, as well as special gearing. He also touched on the super spinning technique Lance learned from big Mig, though Mig was probably doped to spin like that.

So the special gears and fork and special spinning technique makes the dominance even more special. Even the extra special help of losing 20 pounds added to the dominance. I thought he lost 40 pounds but who is counting. Paul and Phil are the best, and Bob Roll adds insight that you forumites can only hope to understand. It all adds up to something special.

 

[luckyboy]

lol .

 

[Benotti69]

paul sherwen was an excellent racer in the 70's and 80's and it is easy to sit and throw stones with our doper avatar in anonimity. I think his experise in the sport is beyond reproach and i hope we can put down the hate and at least agree on that.

I was rewatching my 2001 tape of alp d huez and his astute commentary added valuable insight into this performance by the most prolific tour rider ever. Paul said that lance had a special mountain bike with a special fork that day, as well as special gearing. He also touched on the super spinning technique lance learned from big mig, though mig was probably doped to spin like that.

So the special gears and fork and special spinning technique makes the dominance even more special. Even the extra special help of losing 20 pounds added to the dominance. I thought he lost 40 pounds but who is counting. Paul and phil are the best, and bob roll adds insight that you forumites can only hope to understand. It all adds up to something special.

+1 lol.....

 

[Bike Boy]

A fairly recent one would be Santiago Perez in the 2004 Vuelta. He was a fairly unkown guy, a couple of good results, but unless you were paying specific attention to him, you probably wouldn't know him.

He lost a lot of time in the early stages, but after Calar Alto he got on fire. On the stage to the Alto de Monachil he had a VAM of 1878 in the last 5K, even better than Contador's performance on Verbier in 2009! The next day he destroyed the competition in a mountain time trial to Sierra Nevada. He dropped Heras in every mountain stage after that (reaching an incredible VAM of 2067(!) on the last 6.5km of the Puerta de Navacerrada,) and won the final time trial. It's a small miracle that Heras won that Vuelta, but that was mostly because Santi Perez lost too much time in the early part of the race.

Obviously, a couple of days after the Vuelta it became clear he was caught with blood doping, like his teammate Hamilton, but still, a fantastic performance, I've rarely seen anyone race up a mountain like that after the introduction of the EPO-test.

+1 Perez riding was just ridiculous. Had the same feeling when I saw Sella riding the dolomites in 2008.

 

[Ingenerius]

I

f a party was being organized with a few cyclists and the words "Whitey & Stuey will be there" then it meant "lock up your daughters and gear". Those blokes have an awesome reputation in europe for getting on it and riding the next day. They were well into the PEDs also..... Ask Garmount about the Aussies. Please don't ever use the world clean & Matt White in the same sentence....

The above post from theHog in the Matt White thread reminded me of this from O'Grady:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjeAVmYTU_g&feature=related

 

[yourwelcome]

For me there is one stand out one because of the context both at the time and since...

Floyd Morzine 2006.

I was amazing TV at the time and it's been the most ridiculous Soap Opera since. Nothing comes close for me.

Yes - surely the number one icon in this list for the reasons you listed.

Plenty of other unbelievable rides but this one is a relatively rare combination of exceptional drama on the road and clear evidence of doping on the actual day.

 

[Granville57]

Which ride stands out in your mind as being the most unbelievable performance. Assuming the said rider wasn't caught at the dope contol afterwards, we'll just have make some assumptions

For me there is one stand out one because of the context both at the time and since...

Floyd Morzine 2006.

I was amazing TV at the time and it's been the most ridiculous Soap Opera since. Nothing comes close for me.

Yes - surely the number one icon in this list for the reasons you listed.

Plenty of other unbelievable rides but this one is a relatively rare combination of exceptional drama on the road and clear evidence of doping on the actual day.

I wasn't sure from the OP as to whether or not Stage 17 to Morzine fit the criteria (define: afterwards )

Otherwise I certainly would've loudly proclaimed, Close the thread! It's over!

 

[Martin318is]

A little help back in the peloton goes a long way. E.g., in Tyler's long solo win in the 2004 TDF, he clearly had certain powerful allies on other teams holding back attacks. A broken collarbone earlier in that race had eliminated TH from the overall.

Not according to Eric Zabel, in Hell on Wheels he said that evening that he asked guys in the bunch what was happening and they said that Tyler was up the road and groups of up to 10 riders kept trying to get to him - they'd get 2mins off the front of the field and then get sucked back in. Doesn't sound like the pack was soft pedalling to let him go...

 

[Maxiton]

Not according to Eric Zabel, in Hell on Wheels he said that evening that he asked guys in the bunch what was happening and they said that Tyler was up the road and groups of up to 10 riders kept trying to get to him - they'd get 2mins off the front of the field and then get sucked back in. Doesn't sound like the pack was soft pedalling to let him go...

Yeah, I think that was the performance where Zabel strained the bounds of omertà by quiping afterwards, "I've seen a lot of things in cycling, but that was really over the top!"

 

[Martin318is]

yep thats the one.
From what I recall he had decided not to carry a radio because he expected to be dumped early by the leaders and was going to ride his own pace. He caught the field in the valley after the second last descent and then got caught up on the days story by the riders around him.

Everything about the way he told it said he was confident Tyler was on something.

(Its also interesting that that same performance was going to be the basis of an iMax film about the brain and pain tolerance etc and it then got canned because of Tyler's later positive test)

 

[Granville57]

yep thats the one.
From what I recall he had decided not to carry a radio because he expected to be dumped early by the leaders and was going to ride his own pace. He caught the field in the valley after the second last descent and then got caught up on the days story by the riders around him.

Everything about the way he told it said he was confident Tyler was on something.

(Its also interesting that that same performance was going to be the basis of an iMax film about the brain and pain tolerance etc and it then got canned because of Tyler's later positive test)

Yeah, my understanding was that they were filming Tyler's whole Tour (maybe not?) and then events unfolded that were more than the filmmakers could've hoped for. But then...

Here's a sample
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EsWJgU9GmA

 

[Merckx index]

Tyler was up the road and groups of up to 10 riders kept trying to get to him - they'd get 2mins off the front of the field and then get sucked back in. Doesn't sound like the pack was soft pedalling to let him go...

No, it sounds like they were hard pedalling (on occasion) to let him go.