Nicole Cooke attacks drug cheats in the womens peloton

[mountainrman]

Nicole cooke (my favourite rider) retires but in her statement on her website she describes doping in the womens peloton - and how the mens scandals ruined womens cycling. Well worth reading.

http://www.nicolecooke.com/index.ph...ement-statement&catid=1:latest-news&Itemid=18

Sad day.

 

[LutherB]

I always liked her too. It's a shame she's retired but she's done herself proud i think. Loved the slamming of the naughty boys hehehe.

 

[coinneach]

OMG that makes painful reading!
Not like me to agree with mountainman but must thank him for this link & comments.
Doesn't give one much faith in cycling cleaning itself up...little wonder she has packed it in.
I read Victoria Pendeltons autobiography over Xmas and she was almost as bitter at the lack of support from British cycling and the chaotic state of that organisation.
Not the image they (BC) try to give out (and no doubt they treat men better than women BUT both quite eyeopeners)

 

[tofino]

Name names

She's obviously got the goods on a few folks. She should be naming names.

The non-payment of salaries and her "difficult" rider story is something people should remember when other riders are labeled the same way.

 

[Benotti69]

Nicole Cooke worked with a medical person (whose name escapes me at moment) who has was involved in a doping scandal but was subsequently cleared on appeal.

I would like to think that Cooke was clean, but not sure she was. He years not working with the guy meant no or very few wins.

Edit:

Found what it was I was looking for;

Fabio Bartalucci was the doctor involved when Italian Police raided the hotels of riders in San Remo during the evening after Stage 17 of the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Numerous banned substances were found.

If I remember correctly Bartalucci worked with Cooke for the Beijing win her Worlds win.

I hope I am wrong, but in cycling working with a dodgy Doctor only means 1 thing.

 

[LutherB]

I hope she was too - i'm running out of people to like and admire in this damned sport!

 

[coinneach]

She's obviously got the goods on a few folks. She should be naming names.

The non-payment of salaries and her "difficult" rider story is something people should remember when other riders are labeled the same way.

She does name names (but only ones who have confessed)
There is a law against libel, unless you can back it up with 2 witnesses, so she needs to be a wee bit careful.
I'd hate her to be sued and end up even more poverty stricken than she is now.
Who'd advise their daughter to take up cycling with this testimony!

 

[86TDFWinner]

To everyone(serious question): Is she accusing(cyclist) Kristin Armstrong here?

 

[blackcat]

Nicole Cooke worked with a medical person (whose name escapes me at moment) who has was involved in a doping scandal but was subsequently cleared on appeal.

I would like to think that Cooke was clean, but not sure she was. He years not working with the guy meant no or very few wins.

Edit:

Found what it was I was looking for;

Fabio Bartalucci was the doctor involved when Italian Police raided the hotels of riders in San Remo during the evening after Stage 17 of the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Numerous banned substances were found.

If I remember correctly Bartalucci worked with Cooke for the Beijing win her Worlds win.

I hope I am wrong, but in cycling working with a dodgy Doctor only means 1 thing.

the top women are like the men. Cooke is a hypocrite. And the trackies from GB and Australia. talking women here. Men manifestly so.

 

[sniper]

compelling stuff.
always a good day for cycling when somebody comes out of the woodwork.

 

[sniper]

the top women are like the men. Cooke is a hypocrite. And the trackies from GB and Australia. talking women here. Men manifestly so.

regardless, this is a strong statement that might get some attention in the UK and wake up some sleeping dogs.
i just don't like how she comments on hamilton.

 

[sniper]

ok, she is a hypocrit:

I know Brad Wiggins and Mark Cavendish who have followed me onto the continent have rightly had lots of publicity for their successes and that has done an awful lot for the participation in cycling of both sexes.

and now that I think of it: why is she picking on Hamilton? Could have picked on Millar all the same.

 

[coinneach]

Nicole Cooke worked with a medical person (whose name escapes me at moment) who has was involved in a doping scandal but was subsequently cleared on appeal.

I would like to think that Cooke was clean, but not sure she was. He years not working with the guy meant no or very few wins.

Edit:

Found what it was I was looking for;

Fabio Bartalucci was the doctor involved when Italian Police raided the hotels of riders in San Remo during the evening after Stage 17 of the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Numerous banned substances were found.

If I remember correctly Bartalucci worked with Cooke for the Beijing win her Worlds win.

I hope I am wrong, but in cycling working with a dodgy Doctor only means 1 thing.

Maybe we could get Oprah to interview her to find out the full truth!

Actually, what she says rings true to me, and she does admit to being tempted.
As for Hamilton and others getting paid on the way up and the way down seems like a pretty accurate and pithy description to me.

 

[Mellow Velo]

I see the happy gang have arrived to p*ss on something positive.
A quite sickening level of negativity and instant hostility.
Never does for a pro to rain on their self-gratifying parade.

 

[reginagold]

She's also not too keen on Armstrong -

Cooke said: "When Lance cries on Oprah later this week and she passes him the tissue, spare a thought for all those genuine people who walked away with no rewards - just shattered dreams. Each one of them is worth a thousand Lances.

"I have ridden through the time of Lance and all of the dreadful tragedy that the abuses surrounding him have brought to my sport."


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-21020211

 

[pmcg76]

Nicole Cooke worked with a medical person (whose name escapes me at moment) who has was involved in a doping scandal but was subsequently cleared on appeal.

I would like to think that Cooke was clean, but not sure she was. He years not working with the guy meant no or very few wins.

Edit:

Found what it was I was looking for;

Fabio Bartalucci was the doctor involved when Italian Police raided the hotels of riders in San Remo during the evening after Stage 17 of the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Numerous banned substances were found.

If I remember correctly Bartalucci worked with Cooke for the Beijing win her Worlds win.

I hope I am wrong, but in cycling working with a dodgy Doctor only means 1 thing.

Except when it comes to Greg LeMond, eh Benotti???

 

[mountainrman]

ok, she is a hypocrit:


and now that I think of it: why is she picking on Hamilton? Could have picked on Millar all the same.

She did not pick on Hamilton - she simply made a comparison that he will make more from his book on how he cheated - currently topical - than she did in a lifetime of honest riding.

I doubt very much that millar made as much from his book, but clearly he made far more from riding.

The most worrying thing she said is the collapse of womens racing And I quote - that the " highest profile womens event has neither sponsor nor route for this year"
All seemingly fallout from the scandals in mens doping. All very sad.

 

[The Hitch]

ok, she is a hypocrit:


and now that I think of it: why is she picking on Hamilton? Could have picked on Millar all the same

Man are you trigger happy. Lord knows im the first to hold it over someone when they start declaring they know which riders are clean ( and when it conveniently turns out to be their compatriots)

But she is not doing that. she says that their successes have inspired people to get on their bikes, and in her country it certainly has.

She does not put it in the paragraphs about doping but in in the paragraphs about cycling.
You say that the word "rightly" suggests she thinks they are clean, and we dnot know that but if its the case she is entitled to her opinion. She is not trying to force it on anyone ellse or convince anyone. So what's the problem?
And that's assuming your assumptions are correct in the first place.

Id agree one might ask why she doesn't mention millar, but there's a logical answer for that- hamilton is the one been appearing in the news the most with the lance scandal. Its the first name.that comes.to.mind for.most.

 

[happychappy]

Except when it comes to Greg LeMond, eh Benotti???

Doctor Doctor! What will it take for me to win the 1989 Tour de France?!

 

[coinneach]

Nicole Cooke worked with a medical person (whose name escapes me at moment) who has was involved in a doping scandal but was subsequently cleared on appeal.

I would like to think that Cooke was clean, but not sure she was. He years not working with the guy meant no or very few wins.

Edit:

Found what it was I was looking for;

Fabio Bartalucci was the doctor involved when Italian Police raided the hotels of riders in San Remo during the evening after Stage 17 of the 2001 Giro d'Italia. Numerous banned substances were found.

If I remember correctly Bartalucci worked with Cooke for the Beijing win her Worlds win.

I hope I am wrong, but in cycling working with a dodgy Doctor only means 1 thing.

Well, you are certainly right in part. Here's a bit from the Independent newspaper in 2008:

""And he took me to see a doctor he'd worked with before with other athletes, Fabio Bartolucci, and he was able to offer advice and guidelines on how I could try and progress. And things started progressing. They were going OK – still not great – but then in March Fabio took on my coaching as well, and with his medical knowledge he was able to really help prescribe the training for my needs and my limits. And since then it's all been going well. It is a big turnaround. I think it's because I really believed in my dream and really wanted to make it happen and didn't give up when perhaps I might have done."

I see this doctor has been working with Sky from 11-12, yet I don't recall any discussion of him on the Sky thread (OK, it is easy to miss something there). How deeply was he involved in doping?

 

[blackcat]

I see this doctor has been working with Sky from 11-12, yet I don't recall any discussion of him on the Sky thread (OK, it is easy to miss something there). How deeply was he involved in doping?

^as deep as the plunger on the hypodermic

 

[PCutter]

The most worrying thing she said is the collapse of womens racing And I quote - that the " highest profile womens event has neither sponsor nor route for this year"
All seemingly fallout from the scandals in mens doping. All very sad.

Womens cycling was in a hopeless position re sponsorship and races before the Lance scandal and it is in a hopeless position after the scandal. The problems of lack of TV coverage and sponsorship for womens cycling has far deeper roots then fallout from male drug takers.

Womens cycling revolves around the Olympic calendar with teams disappearing the year after the Olympics and others re-appearing in the lead up to the next Olympics.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

I see the happy gang have arrived to p*ss on something positive.
A quite sickening level of negativity and instant hostility.
Never does for a pro to rain on their self-gratifying parade.

And I would add to that ignorance.

What Cooke states in her piece is the sad reality of Pro Cycling - it is not just confined to women racers, although they suffer a lot more.
Cookes piece is a sad yet accurate assessment of where the sport is.

 

[Markyboyzx6r]

So I see Nicole Cooke's heartfelt and honest appraisal of her career and how she rejected drugs and suffered as a result is now being spun, Clinic style, to show that there were doping connections to her?

Right, okay. I suppose she had to be doping... she IS British after all. She's part of our giant lizard conspiracy.

I wish Nicole Cooke a happy retirement and I hope the memories of the Worlds and Olympics remain happy ones for her, unsullied by her experiences on the women's tour. She deserved better treatment than she got in her professional career, but she should be very proud of what she achieved.

 

[sniper]

And I would add to that ignorance.

What Cooke states in her piece is the sad reality of Pro Cycling - it is not just confined to women racers, although they suffer a lot more.
Cookes piece is a sad yet accurate assessment of where the sport is.

true, yet I don't subscribe to her criticism of Hamilton. Hamilton got caught and did his job (naming suppliers, etc.), althogh admittedly with some delay.

There are others in the present-day peloton whom she c/should have picked on, guys who are still riding / DS-ing and are getting away with Riis-esque confessions.