Pevenage confesses

[Adamastor]

In today's l'Equipe:

http://www.lequipe.fr/Cyclisme/breves2010/20100708_114827_pevenage.html

Sorry, only in French. Translators, thanks for contribution.

Basically, Pevenage says after 1998 T-Mobile stopped organised doping, but noticed after a few seasons that they were too far behind other teams.

He also says, that riders know exactly, that doping was systematic. As they changed teams, they would talk between themselves and exchange tips.

Interesting reading, although nothing new in all this.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

nothing new in all this,

apart from even more confirmation that many teams (bar USPS) decided to abandon team medical programs for the 99 tour. It was left to individual riders to prepare themselves beforehand, and noone wanted to risk bringing the stuff with them to the tour.

Lance and his "inner" team cleaned up massively on the Ferrari program, as most guys were taking less sh*t, and not taking it during the tour. Lance was just shooting up daily as usual....that's why when the 99 research samples were tested so many of the samples, and those with the most obvious signs of regular and extensive EPO usage were his.

Luck? Deliberate and calculating decision from the Sociopath and his Hog?

 

[callac]

Interesting also how stupidly he got caught. He explained that to communicate with Fuentes, he used to use a pre-paid phone card, but to tell Fuentes about Ullrich's stage win the Giro 2006, the pre-paid card was empty and for once he used his own phone... Fuentes was under watch and Pevenage's number got spotted.

ETA: He also mentions that he knew a lot of Fuentes' clients, and some were at the start of the TDF 2006. He's asking "what's the point of keeping on lying about it today?"... Good question, or should it rather be: what's the point of telling the truth now?

 

[Big Doopie]

Rudy Pévenage demeure critique envers Lance Armstrong, le concurrent de l'époque. «Cette rivalité nous a poussés à faire le maximum pour le battre. On n'était pas des idiots non plus, on connaissait Armstrong avant son cancer. La métamorphose après son retour fut tellement extraordinaire. Je suis toujours convaincu que Jan était nettement plus fort physiquement.»

i thought this part speaks to the arms race and how armstrong was not only an instigator for doping on his team but -- by his actions -- made it impossible for his rivals to ride clean.

Roughly translated:

"...we weren't idiots, we knew armstrong before his cancer. The complete metamorphosis upon his return was so incredible. I will always be convinced that Jan was much stronger physically."

 

[Race Radio]

Pevenage is just bitter. Jan is the most tested athlete in history and has never tested positive.

 

[hrotha]

Well what do you know, it looks like things *could* have changed after 1998.

 

[Big Doopie]

i'm a little surprised by CN's translation of the quote i mentioned above. perhaps they have access to other comments, i don't know. but i am concerned that they do not mention pevenage's clear accusation of armstrong.

 

[Roland Rat]

Well what do you know, it looks like things *could* have changed after 1998.

uh-huh.

*shakes head and sighs*

 

[callac]

A bit different (still french) version from AFP

"Chez T-Mobile, on avait tout arrêté après 1998 et je peux affirmer que notre équipe était vraiment clean dans les années qui ont suivi l'affaire Festina. (...)

In T-Mobile we stopped all after 1998 and I can tell that our team was really clean in the years that followed the Festina affair.

"Avec tout l'argent qu'il gagnait, Jan ne pouvait pas se permettre d'être battu par des coureurs de seconde classe", explique son ancien mentor. "Jan était stressé et il prenait même du poids à cause de ça. Aujourd'hui qu'il ne court plus du tout, il est plus maigre qu'en plein milieu de la saison. Le stress a empoisonné sa carrière".

"With all the money he was making, Jan couldn't afford to lose against second-class riders. Jan was stressed and was gaining weight because of it. Today he doesn't ride anymore and he is thinner than in middle of a season. Stress poisoned his career."

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

i'm a little surprised by CN's translation of the quote i mentioned above. perhaps they have access to other comments, i don't know. but i am concerned that they do not mention pevenage's clear accusation of armstrong.

concerned, but surely you're not surprised?

I'd love to see how many more "hits" cyclingnews.com gets each day during a certain 3 weeks in July, and where those hits come from.

RSH is also a client of cyclingnews.com for advertising and that interactive guide thing that's almost masquerading as an official cyclingnews.com guide.

 

[Anonymous]

Is anyone surprised by these revelations?

The hilarious part for me is the declaration of T-Mobile being 'clean' after 1998. If the doping that went on after 1998 was considered 'clean' then how 'dirty' was was their programme before?

 

[la.margna]

Yes, the cyclingnews version/translation is scandalous, it almsot entirely does not mention the Pharmstrong part... money talks, sadly also here

 

[Polish]

Pevenge doped Jan to Victory in 1997.
Pevenge doped Jan to the Gills in 1998.
Lance was not racing those years....

Lance should be blaming Pevenge for bad influence, not vice versa lol.


And Pevenge doped Jan to the Gills in 2006.
Umm, Lance had stopped racing already.

The Ghost of Armstrong Awesomeness still haunting Rudy in 2006?
boo boo boo boo boo boo boooooooooo

 

[palmerq]

he might be telling the truth about them being cleaner after 98.. if i remember right jan was not so good this millenium except in 2003 when he was on bianchi/coast.. and a few riders seem to turn bad when they joined telekom/t mobile around that time... botero especially performed really badly(I think) and savolldelli didn't have the same success with t mobile.... maybe they were one of the better teams :S

 

[Big Doopie]

The hilarious part for me is the declaration of T-Mobile being 'clean' after 1998. If the doping that went on after 1998 was considered 'clean' then how 'dirty' was was their programme before?

hmmm. the way i read it was that after 1998 they were clean (or at least no team program) until they realized that blood transfusions were being done by other riders/teams to circumvent using epo. at that point pevenage/ullrich got in touch with fuentes in 2003.

this seems to point to: not everything was equal, and having an $800,000 exclusive contract with the preeminent hematologist (ferrari) doping doctor was an immense advantage both in terms of staying ahead of the testing and of your competitors.

 

[hrotha]

he might be telling the truth about them being cleaner after 98.. if i remember right jan was not so good this millenium except in 2003 when he was on bianchi/coast.. and a few riders seem to turn bad when they joined telekom/t mobile around that time... botero especially performed really badly(I think) and savolldelli didn't have the same success with t mobile.... maybe they were one of the better teams :S

I don't think it went that far. Stopping the teamwide doping program is one thing; having everybody ride clean is a quite different one.

I don't see why Pevenage would lie specifically about that, though, but people involved in pro cycling are weird.

 

[squampton]

i thought this part speaks to the arms race and how armstrong was not only an instigator for doping on his team but -- by his actions -- made it impossible for his rivals to ride clean.

Ya cause Lance was likely the 1st person to ever dope in cycling so what choice did they have in that era !!

 

[perico]

Jan was being coached by Cecchini by 2003, and was definitely one of his clients during the 2004 tour when he rejoined T-Mobile. So who knows... Unless Cecch isn't quite as "notorious" as his reputation would have you believe... then I don't buy Rudy's excuse. And I'm a fan of der Kaiser.

 

[Beech Mtn]

It appears that Pevenage is blaming Armstrong not only for Ullrich's need to dope, but also for Jan's weight gain. Funny stuff.

It's interesting that this story is in L'Equipe. I thought they had stopped writing much about doping, including not covering the Flandis allegations. I wonder if this is a prelude to more doping stories to come during this year's TdF?

 

[palmerq]

I don't think it went that far. Stopping the teamwide doping program is one thing; having everybody ride clean is a quite different one.

I don't see why Pevenage would lie specifically about that, though, but people involved in pro cycling are weird.

no I dont think they were clean.. just not as bad for taking drugs as other teams.

 

[Cobblestones]

I don't get it. T Mobile had a team doping program in the 2000s. Remember Freiburg?

 

[perico]

I don't get it. T Mobile had a ream doping program in the 2000s. Remember Freiburg?

The team of Ulle, Vino, Kessler, Gonchar, Guerini, Botero, Klodi, Udo, Elli... cleaner than the rest? It's pretty hard to believe that these guys were riding cleaner than anyone else.

 

[palmerq]

botero was very bad for telekom or t mobile or whatever it was.. Ullrich was on bad form except 2003 when he wasnt on t mobile... I think it is possible that they were cleaner than the rest for a while.. I guess there was some hard doping going on around 2006 though when honchar was there :S

 

[spanky wanderlust]

here's to hoping this is all part of a planned build-up to a full confession by ulle.

 

[Oldman]

I don't get it. T Mobile had a team doping program in the 2000s. Remember Freiburg?

Pevange's admissions will likely coincide up to the statute of limitations. His memory could improve as time goes by and there is a market for the story.