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Roberto Heras preparing for 2010 Come-back ?

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Former Vuelta a España winner preparing for mountain bike stage race

Former Vuelta a España winner Roberto Heras will return to compete for the second time in a challenging Costa Rican mountain bike stage race. The Spaniard will race La Ruta de los Conquistadores on November 11-14, when he hopes to better his seventh place overall finish of 2008.

Heras underestimated the challenge of La Ruta last year and intends to improve his performance this year.

"Participating in 2008 was a wonderful experience. I brought wonderful memories back with me to Spain," said Heras. "... this year I want to be fully prepared for the race. As for last year, I barely had time to train."

The 2008 La Ruta was dominated by Costa Ricans including a win by Federico Ramírez Méndez. His compatriots, Paolo Montoya Cantillo and Enrique Artavia Cedeño, rounded out the top three, and the first foreigner was Thomas Dietsch of France in fourth.

The 35-year-old Heras won the Vuelta a España (Tour of Spain) four times. He still holds the title for the first three (in 2000, 2003 and 2004), but for the fourth win (in 2005), he was disqualified for taking EPO.

In his road career, Heras raced for Kelme-Costa Blanca, Liberty Seguros-Würth and US Postal Service teams. As part of the latter, he raced with Lance Armstrong.

At this year's La Ruta, Heras will face the usual strong Costa Rican contingent as well as the entire MonaVie-Cannondale team, which will be sending seven riders.
 
Jul 28, 2009
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auscyclefan94 said:
i know mate, but all these guys have done and will do is bring bad press to the sport and tarnish the sports reputation.

I agree, at this rate people will start thinking cycling is full of dopers.
 
Jul 11, 2009
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I thought he had enough after getting beaten on his first comeback.
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Heras @ Red Bull F1 cycling team

Red Bull valora entrar en el equipo ciclista de Alonso
August 27 - 03:09 pm
tires-flyer-blank.jpg


While he ponders and prepares for his departure to Ferrari, Fernando Alonso is continuing to work on his passionate gamble: a cycling team. His plan hasn’t changed since the start, writes José Carabias of LaRioja.com .

It will be with Alberto Contador, or it won't be at all. Familiar with a variety of multinational companies, the driver has been met with positive answers in an age when it’s an arduous task to find companies who are willing to invest in cycling.

One interested partner is Red Bull, whose Formula 1 team has leapt forward in quality this year, with drivers Vettel and Webber both fighting for the championship. The leading name in energy drinks is considering becoming the principal investor in Alonso’s cycling team.

One of the main disadvantages the Asturian encountered when he hatched the idea of building a team was the return on advertising. The investment involved is €16,000,000 to €17,000,000, and on the cycling horizon there were no sponsors ready to pay such a sum.

Nevertheless, Alonso’s relationships with top-level multinational companies who seek the support of Formula 1, together with the fact that the Asturnian driver himself is central to the project, have awakened interest in the market.

Red Bull is considering sponsoring the project, although Alonso, twice the world champion, has contacted other companies who have shown some interest.

Skoda, one of the sponsors of the Tour de France, offered him the possibility of €4,000,000, plus all the cars that the team needs. The same happened with a bicycle brand (€3,000,000 plus the supplies needed to compete).

The inititive is hitting a barrier, however, that will surely postpone its birth until 2011. Alberto Contador, two-time winner of the Tour (2009 and 2007) and the best cyclist in the world, has a contract in force for one more year with Astana, through an entity called Olympus. Participating in it are both Johan Bruyneel (current director of the team) and the government of Kazakhstan.

Bruyneel and Armstrong

Bruyneel will move from Astana next season in order to form Lance Armstrong’s new team, RadioShack. And Contador is, these days, negotiating with the Kazakhs for an exit from the team. Armstrong is going to take the principal riders who have contributed to making Astana an impenetrable force in the Tour. Klöden, Leipheimer, Zubeldia and Popovych want to go with Armstrong, but they but they have contracts. Paulinho, faithful to Contador, was free and has signed with RadioShack.

The winner of the Tour is afraid to remain on the scene without qualified personnel for next summer, in the event that everyone finally abandons Astana. And furthermore, there’s the subject of Vinokourov. The Tour banned the Madrileño last year due to the Kazakh's positive drug test in 2007. And Vinokourov has returned to the peloton. He will ride the Vuelta, which starts on Saturday in Holland.

Contador’s support riders fear the consequences of breaking contracts unilaterally. They also doubt that Alonso can put together a cycling team in scarcely four months time, and start riding as early as next January. Offers are also being fielded from Garmin, who are offering him a salary of €4,000,000, and from Eusebio Unzué’s Caisse d’Epargne, who are looking for a secondary sponsor to finance the scheme.

“Alonso appeals to us”

“What we find most appealing is going with Fernando Alonso, because it’s a serious plan and cycling needs a breath of fresh air,” say Contador’s advisors. The cyclist is still thinking about a third option, which fits together all the pieces of the puzzle: staying for another year at Astana and giving Fernando Alonso time to form his team definitively for 2011.

(a pilot will be set up come winter with experianced riders for a 2010 Red Bull start) Is this the Heras ? > there are lots of other riders to bring in play here > Sevilla, Mancebo, Rujano ??

[www.albertocontadornotebook.info]
[www.biciciclismo.com]
 
Heras didn't dope much more than anyone else, and was a great racer no matter how one looks at it. Plus, listen to any interview with him, and he's not some arrogant jerk, he's quite friendly and pretty contrite about his past.

When his 2-years were up, he wanted to sign with another team, but the UCI forbid him with signing with any PT team. He tried to even sign with a Continental team, but was only offered poor contracts with no guarantees, and he said he'd probably retire. A lot of people felt he was being blacklisted from the sport.

He rode in the folding bike championships and was subjected to people yelling "doper" at him most of the time. He and his helpers thought he won the race and was a lap ahead of everyone, but was 2nd, and accepted it.

In interviews early this year Roberto said he would love to come back, if someone would have him. He also said he thought Lance could win the Tour again, and was the best team leader he ever rode with. He said training with Lance was as hard as being in any race, and his time at USPS was great. I don't know if Roberto saw the future of Radio Shack, but he certainly left the door open. And if they are considering hiring Floyd Landis...

I do think he doped, there's no doubt about it. But he was one of the most beautiful climbers to watch, and had a go-for-it style that I greatly admired. I'd love to see the guy back, provided he can keep himself out of trouble.
 
Jul 31, 2009
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"Shack" needs to bring Iban Mayo Back! He was done wrong from the start. His sample was positive once and negative 3 times. That makes no sense at all. Plus that French Lab is trash.
 
Armstrong has been quoted saying that he "doesn't like Mayo" likely because he was one of few riders that would attack him just for the sake of it, and not simply go with the flow of the Postal Blue train. He also referred to Pantani as a "little sh!t starter", likely for the same reason.

I personally would love to see Mayo's return having enjoyed his aggressive climbing style in the past. The circumstances surrounding the testing of his samples was indeed questionable and sketchy.
 
Jun 26, 2009
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Plus, listen to any interview with him, and he's not some arrogant jerk, he's quite friendly and pretty contrite about his past.

I do think he doped, there's no doubt about it. But he was one of the most beautiful climbers to watch, and had a go-for-it style that I greatly admired. I'd love to see the guy back, provided he can keep himself out of trouble.

Agree with this. He seems like a pretty chill kind of guy and if you like to watch good climbing he certainly fit the bill.

Don't know anything about "folding bike championships" so I shouldn't comment but from the photos above it looks rather demeaning, especially given Heras' past achievements and abilities. Someone subjecting themselves to such a spectacle must really love cycling and I tip my hat to that
 
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Heras didn't dope much more than anyone else, and was a great racer no matter how one looks at it. Plus, listen to any interview with him, and he's not some arrogant jerk, he's quite friendly and pretty contrite about his past.

When his 2-years were up, he wanted to sign with another team, but the UCI forbid him with signing with any PT team. He tried to even sign with a Continental team, but was only offered poor contracts with no guarantees, and he said he'd probably retire. A lot of people felt he was being blacklisted from the sport.

He rode in the folding bike championships and was subjected to people yelling "doper" at him most of the time. He and his helpers thought he won the race and was a lap ahead of everyone, but was 2nd, and accepted it.

In interviews early this year Roberto said he would love to come back, if someone would have him. He also said he thought Lance could win the Tour again, and was the best team leader he ever rode with. He said training with Lance was as hard as being in any race, and his time at USPS was great. I don't know if Roberto saw the future of Radio Shack, but he certainly left the door open. And if they are considering hiring Floyd Landis...

I do think he doped, there's no doubt about it. But he was one of the most beautiful climbers to watch, and had a go-for-it style that I greatly admired. I'd love to see the guy back, provided he can keep himself out of trouble.

i remember the UCI said after your two year ban you couldn't sign for another PT team for another two years. Seems the only rider that thi actually affected was Heras all the others can come back with no problems at all.

Always liked Heras and still thought it was strange he would take EPO when he knew there was a test for it and he was the leader so would be tested
 
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sherer said:
i remember the UCI said after your two year ban you couldn't sign for another PT team for another two years. Seems the only rider that thi actually affected was Heras all the others can come back with no problems at all.

Always liked Heras and still thought it was strange he would take EPO when he knew there was a test for it and he was the leader so would be tested

same with Di Luca, but I guess they think they can close their eyes and nobody will see them.
 
Keep in mind that there have been many riders over the last decade that microdosed EPO and got away with it because they were under the limits, using newer types of EPO harder to detect, or masking it well.

It does seem odd though because Heras was barely over the limit. There was even a discrepancy with his B sample. So it's hard to imagine that someone who was well on his way to winning that race, and had passed all tests up to that point, why would he take an extra boost? Other than he expected to just get away with it.
 
May 6, 2009
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Alpe d'Huez said:
Heras didn't dope much more than anyone else, and was a great racer no matter how one looks at it. Plus, listen to any interview with him, and he's not some arrogant jerk, he's quite friendly and pretty contrite about his past.

When his 2-years were up, he wanted to sign with another team, but the UCI forbid him with signing with any PT team. He tried to even sign with a Continental team, but was only offered poor contracts with no guarantees, and he said he'd probably retire. A lot of people felt he was being blacklisted from the sport.

He rode in the folding bike championships and was subjected to people yelling "doper" at him most of the time. He and his helpers thought he won the race and was a lap ahead of everyone, but was 2nd, and accepted it.

In interviews early this year Roberto said he would love to come back, if someone would have him. He also said he thought Lance could win the Tour again, and was the best team leader he ever rode with. He said training with Lance was as hard as being in any race, and his time at USPS was great. I don't know if Roberto saw the future of Radio Shack, but he certainly left the door open. And if they are considering hiring Floyd Landis...

I do think he doped, there's no doubt about it. But he was one of the most beautiful climbers to watch, and had a go-for-it style that I greatly admired. I'd love to see the guy back, provided he can keep himself out of trouble.

Is there any reason why he got 'blacklisted'?
 

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