Quote of the Week!

[Steel4Ever]

Italian anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri:

"There’s always a grandmother, a fillet or something else."


chuckle chuckle

 

[JPM London]

I also quite liked:

“It’s called family doping,” Torri said. “It’s unbelievable.”

 

[Anonymous]

Walsh:...........

"You've now got Contador and Mosquera both in trouble and you have to think that this sport is going nowhere."

 

[loydfloyd32]

Thomas Lövkvist:

"Nästa år är jag en av favoriterna till totalen"
"Next year I'm one of the GC contenders"

regarding next years Tour de france.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

Thomas Lövkvist:

"Nästa år är jag en av favoriterna till totalen"
"Next year I'm one of the GC contenders"

regarding next years Tour de france.

Haha! That gets my vote....No wonder he will be a contender after Clentador is gone, Mosquera is gone, and Ricco will be gone as well. Lovkvist sees opportunities!

 

[Polish]

Italian anti-doping prosecutor Ettore Torri:

"There’s always a grandmother, a fillet or something else."


chuckle chuckle

That is a great quote.

Up there with Yoann's "Tree in the Forest" and Alberto's "Doping is Gone"

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

PMartens83
Shame on you Ettore Torri. You blame all cyclist of being dopers. you´re only talking with criminals and think everyone is like this.i sayNO

 

[Boeing]

That is a good one.

I like David Walsh as well: "The one thing that really should bother right minding thinking people is that no one cares for honest men getting screwed. The journalists don't care, the race officials don't care, the sponsors don't care, and sadly you have to say that the public don't care. That's always been the issue for me."

word

 

[smittyjs]

My Favorite

“I've just met with Alberto Contador and I have no reason not to believe in him,” Riis told the Danish website DR.DK.

Riis, just look in the mirror and then you'll know why.

 

[ergmonkey]

“I've just met with Alberto Contador and I have no reason not to believe in him,” Riis told the Danish website DR.DK.

Riis, just look in the mirror and then you'll know why.

Oh, come on, I actually liked that quote. Clever; great issue-dodging. Did Riis say "I believe in Contador"? No. Did Riis say "the evidence against Contador is bogus"? No. Riis really just said that in meeting with Contador, Contador didn't give an affirmative reason to distrust him. Whenever Riis gets tired of all of this Team Director nonsense, I really hope he'll come practice law with me.

 

[Hugh Januss]

Oh, come one, I actually liked that quote. Clever; great issue-dodging. Did Riis say "I believe in Contador"? No. Did Riis say "the evidence against Contador is bogus"? No. Riis really just said that in meeting with Contador, Contador didn't give an affirmative reason to distrust him. Whenever Riis gets tired of all of this Team Director nonsense, I really hope he'll come practice law with me.

He is definitely greasy enough to make a good lawyer, and I say that with all due respect.

 

[hrotha]

De la Fuente: "If you cross the line a little, you're caught. That much is becoming clear."

 

[smittyjs]

Yes, his quote is so very Bill Clintonesqe....

 

[Christian]

"There’s always a grandmother, a fillet or something else."[/SIZE]

... or a piece of candy from South America.

Who was that again, I forgot? Wasn't he actually able to prove that he got whatever substance he had in his body from a piece of candy his aunt gave him? Does anyone recall the rider and the exact story?

There was a German runner who blamed it on his toothpaste once ... but forgot his name too!

 

[L'arriviste]

... or a piece of candy from South America.

Who was that again, I forgot? Wasn't he actually able to prove that he got whatever substance he had in his body from a piece of candy his aunt gave him? Does anyone recall the rider and the exact story?

There was a German runner who blamed it on his toothpaste once ... but forgot his name too!

Gilberto Simoni. Cocaine.

 

[Christian]

Gilberto Simoni. Cocaine.

Thanks, but he was actually able to prove that, right? But then again cocaine might not be that performance-enhancing.

Found the German runner's name by the way: 1992 olympic gold medalist Dieter Baumann

 

[BroDeal]

Thanks, but he was actually able to prove that, right? But then again cocaine might not be that performance-enhancing.

He missed the 2002 Giro, which he probably would have won.

I also seem to recall that Simoni tested positive for cocaine metabolites earlier. That time he blamed it on lidocaine from dental operation. The most likely explanation is that he along with many other Italian pros at the time were into recreational cocaine use.

 

[TubularBills]

... or a piece of candy from South America.

Who was that again, I forgot? Wasn't he actually able to prove that he got whatever substance he had in his body from a piece of candy his aunt gave him? Does anyone recall the rider and the exact story?

There was a German runner who blamed it on his toothpaste once ... but forgot his name too!

Here's a letter sourced from CN at the time that references the excuses du jour (unfortunately unsourced but should be easy to find) - It also reads a lot like the current threads, Nothings changed:

Banned for Life

Mapei suggested a year ago that the rider's UCI points be eliminated if a rider was found to be doping. Guess what, nobody listened and now we have lost the largest and best funded team in cycling. It was only because of the good graces of Joe Montgomery that Saeco still rides Cannondales. We are talking about very big money turning its back on our sport.

How many sponsors throwing up their hands does it take before the message sinks in. Drugs drag the sponsor's name though the mud. Remember Festina? They were very happy to be associated with Zulle, Virenque etc... Sure they were.... When Gilberto Simoni sucked on a cough sweet brought to him by his grandmother he should realize that he was taking a drug. Simoni's suggestion that he must have gotten cocaine from the dentist was shot down as soon as he spoke. While the list of banned substances is indeed long, taking cough drops from Colombia, England or Timbuktu is borderline insanity. Self medication is a no-no. He should know that just as well as Ullrich in the German disco as he popped pills that it would be detected. They deserve to be stripped of their tours past and present for being so utterly stupid. That Deutsche Telecom would even entertain the idea that they are picking up Garzelli is beyond me. He's as daft as them.

As to Garzelli, I suspect that if Bob Ilchik or I were to eat all the foods he ate, neither of us would test positive for a steroid masking agent. Probenecid is not found in candies, it's not found in hamburger and it's certainly not found in bread. It's found when some bozo takes a drug, orally, rectally or by injection. Geez, maybe he got it off the toilet seat. Strewth!

While I agree that genetic testing can be used to determine which drugs will work in which body (look at Variagenics in Cambridge , MA), suggesting that we test athletes to grade them on what level of drug is beneficial is quit frankly ludicrous. Some drugs don't work in some folks, so by your standard we should forgive them for taking the drug as it had no effect on him/her. Same goes for pseudoscience herbal stuff with precursors of steroids or any other banned substance. If in doubt don't take it!

It's simple.

If the drug ain't in their system, then they didn't take a drug. I don't give a damn if the rest of society wants to poke, prod or inject monkey poop, widgets, rocks or narcotics up every orifice they have. They are not professional or national level athletes who derive their income from riding a bike. They are not subject to drug tests as part of their normal job. They don't agree to abide by the rules of a sport that they derive their income from. They don't owe sponsors value for money. When they sign the dotted line they have to abide by it. Same as you and I bob. Our driving license requires us to abide by other rules. Don't be drink driving etc. Don't speed etc. We break the rules we suffer the consequence.

To be a professional they have to act professionally. The rules are the rules. Abide by them. Tammy Thomas deserved what she got. I don't know her from a hole in the wall by the way, but she was let off once for a similar infraction but she still didn't cotton on. Perhaps it will cause others to think otherwise before they try to take the easy way out like she did.

To suggest that we apply rules loosely or look the other way, when there is simply no other way of getting a drug in your system other than by taking it, is to perpetuate the nonsense that we read about week after week. Taking drugs is not, I repeat not a normal activity. It's a conscious act whether performance was enhanced or not. It simply demonstrates intent to enhance. No doubt some genius could demonstrate a placebo effect too.

Cycling is just making it to the big time, as could be witnessed in the local racing here in New England this year. Don't let a few stupid or rotten apples ruin the sport. Kick 'em out. They can all get jobs as baseball players, wrestlers or pornstars! They don't drug test.

Ross Kennedy
Concord, MA USA
Monday, September 16, 2002

 

[TubularBills]

Found a much better reference, this ones loaded with excuses:

http://www.cadencenutrition.com/pics/downloads/Doping_97_101.pdf

 

[Anonymous]

PMartens83
Shame on you Ettore Torri. You blame all cyclist of being dopers. you´re only talking with criminals and think everyone is like this.i sayNO

Problem is Mr. Torri KNOWS more than you do. He also talks with others in law enforcement and clean cyclists, when they can be found. Say what you like. We need more people like him. In Spain, in the USA, in Austrailia, in Belgium, in (fill in the country name).

 

[hrotha]

Problem is Mr. Torri KNOWS more than you do. He also talks with others in law enforcement and clean cyclists, when they can be found. Say what you like. We need more people like him. In Spain, in the USA, in Austrailia, in Belgium, in (fill in the country name).

I understand Martens, I mean, if I were clean I'd be ****ed off by what Torri said, but I wonder why riders are not so outspoken when it comes to talking about dopers?