Sergio Henao

[DirtyWorks]

Reality check #1: S. Henao is not even close to being the top guy at Sky. He wasn't even the top Colombian at Sky until this year.

Did you even look at his results? He's good on his own!

The Colombian cycling federation doesn't have the money to try to dope a nobody,

Again, he's hardly a nobody. He's got really good results.

And, doping in 2014 is not expensive. I'm not sure why that idea continues to prosper.

Lance had US cycling backing him

Well, you need to check out the management structure at BC/Sky then because it's identical to USPS.

You should also probably check this out as Lance was doped as a teenager by Chris Carmichael in the 90's. http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dope-and-glory-10-04-2001/

Reality check #5: UCI has new management. They want to at the LEAST to seem to be cleaner than the previous regime.

Do they? You'd think they'd take a greater interest in Henao's scores if that were true.

 

[BYOP88]

And the naughty things haven't happened with his cousin either.

To be fair, I don't know what Sky would have done if the agent hadn't leaked it to the press. I can only surmise that something happened to cause the agent to feel that a leak to the press would somehow help his client. The only guess I can make is that maybe the agent felt Sky were getting ready to throw Henao under the bus, and this was a preemptive action to put the spotlight back on the team itself.

We really need to hear more from Sergio or the agent, but I'm guessing SH probably won't say much as long as he's still under contract to Sky.

edit-
For me, the biggest question in all this is the agent's motivation to tell the press. I see no reason why Sky wouldn't have conducted the research in private, simply not raced Henao, told the public he was injured/special training camp for later goals/etc and never told anybody anything about strange test values. There's little reason for the team to want to bring down suspicions or questions on themselves.

His cousin doesn't live so far up the mountain.

 

[Justinr]

IF SKY's concern was legitimate on Henao's OCTOBER anomalies-the most logical approach to the matter was to prevent him from racing since the time of the incident and have the so called "study" started back then-but nonetheless he was allowed to compete up to Oman-then the team decides to bench him-that's the matter in question. IMO Sergio either showed more "serious anomalies" AFTER Oman, so SKY recurred to the OCTOBER issue to justify his removal from the team and make it appear an internal decision- OR Sergio and his agent have issues with the SKY management to the point that he was benched "purposely", which forced the OCTOBER issue to be leaked to La Gazzetta, as a vendetta/blackmailing response to the matter.

bottom line is - the more I think about the issue- the more convinced I am about the OCTOBER test to be an scapegoat for a serious problems at SKY's management level with riders being "uncertain" of circumstances and panic spreading among the personnel...

Well what we don't know is when Sky got to see the OCTOBER results. One thing is for sure it would have been very late in OCTOBER that he as tested as he was in Europe until about the 19th/20th apparently - who's to say they didn't get the info until Jan / Feb? That detail hasn't been released so everything around it is pure speculation.

 

[TheGame]

There is a reason why I call these "conspirations". They are conspiracies that are so full of it, they are constipated...
Reality check #1: S. Henao is not even close to being the top guy at Sky. He wasn't even the top Colombian at Sky until this year. Why would Sky care for someone that is not British or Australian? No point of spending all this money to try to cover up for him (unless you throw in that this is for Froome, not Sergio).

This is incorrect. Sergio is in the core circle at Sky with Wiggins, Froome, Porte et al.

The rest of your argument may be very good, but I stopped reading because your first point was wrong.

 

[EnacheV]

Very good, let him rest 2 months, he will storm Vuelta

P.S. With Wiggins pull out of Catalunya i would like to see him race here after a blitz scientific study will confirm that all is ok.

 

[Benotti69]

IF SKY's concern was legitimate on Henao's OCTOBER anomalies-the most logical approach to the matter was to prevent him from racing since the time of the incident and have the so called "study" started back then-but nonetheless he was allowed to compete up to Oman-then the team decides to bench him-that's the matter in question. IMO Sergio either showed more "serious anomalies" AFTER Oman, so SKY recurred to the OCTOBER issue to justify his removal from the team and make it appear an internal decision- OR Sergio and his agent have issues with the SKY management to the point that he was benched "purposely", which forced the OCTOBER issue to be leaked to La Gazzetta, as a vendetta/blackmailing response to the matter.

bottom line is - the more I think about the issue- the more convinced I am about the OCTOBER test to be an scapegoat for a serious problems at SKY's management level with riders being "uncertain" of circumstances and panic spreading among the personnel...

Could well be onto something there.

 

[DirtyWorks]

For me, the biggest question in all this is the agent's motivation to tell the press. I see no reason why Sky wouldn't have conducted the research in private, simply not raced Henao, told the public he was injured/special training camp for later goals/etc and never told anybody anything about strange test values. There's little reason for the team to want to bring down suspicions or questions on themselves.

Brailsford's JTL response basically threw JTL under the bus.

 

[TourOfSardinia]

Brailsford's JTL response basically threw JTL under the bus.

but keeps him paid... hush

 

[Kokoso]

Oh well. I need to learn more about this. It has been brought many times in the past about the high blood cell counts in Colombia. But we need to differentiate between doping and altitude living parameters.

I believe that he is talented, I just don't know how much.

For example Sherpas in Nepal are living at altitude, but they don't have higher haematocrit. Adaptation on the altitude is in something else. I don't see why, in case of Colombian indians, it should be different.

 

[Kokoso]

Taken from Sky Facebook!

"they simply do all the little things better than anyone else, focusing on the details that matter."

And they wonder, when asked whether they did a Vo2Max test on Froome and the answer is, no, people just find it incredulous!

Or when asked why 'marginal gains' worked so well on Wiggins, Froome, Rogers, Porte and not the super talented EBH, they mumble....

And did some fan said that od some official? That's quite a difference. Why should EBH be "super talented"? It's a bit stretched.

 

[neineinei]

And did some fan said that od some official? That's quite a difference. Why should EBH be "super talented"? It's a bit stretched.

Where is that graph again...here:

 

[Kokoso]

Where is that graph again...here:

It has been said there that it's approximation. I don't know why to believe to some approximation of cyclesportmag?
And look where JTL is - it's completely wrong. So I don't see why anybody else should be placed right there.

 

[argyllflyer]

Where is that graph again...here:

The magazine made that up ffs.

 

[Netserk]

It has been said there that it's approximation. I don't know why to believe to some approximation of cyclesportmag?
And look where JTL is - it's completely wrong. So I don't see why anybody else should be placed right there.

JTL isn't there....

 

[Kokoso]

JTL isn't there....

My apologies then. Thought TL is him.

 

[hrotha]

My apologies then. Thought TL is him.

No, that's Thomas Löfkvist. Another talented youngster who only went backwards at Sky.

Then again, maybe it's time to finally take a good look at HTC.

 

[Kokoso]

No, that's Thomas Löfkvist. Another talented youngster who only went backwards at Sky.

Then again, maybe it's time to finally take a good look at HTC.

If Lövkvist is what we call talented, then almost everybody is.

 

[hrotha]

If Lövkvist is what we call talented, then almost everybody is.

Not everybody has Löfkvist's results at 24.

 

[Netserk]

If Lövkvist is what we call talented, then almost everybody is.

I'd like to see 'everybody' do as he did as 20 years old.

 

[Kokoso]

So you guys are Scandinavian?

 

[Netserk]

So you guys are Scandinavian?

Yes, Danes loves to hype Swedes. Moreover I'm extremely nationalistic unlike you. And hrotha is ofc Swedish.

Fact is that there was quite some hype about him from 2005-2008.

 

[Kokoso]

Fact is that there was quite some hype about him from 2005-2008.

I'd think so because he has never had have such great results.

 

[DirtyWorks]

I'd think so because he has never had have such great results.

That's being pretty hard on Mr. Lofkvist's and his performances over his now long pro cycling career.

http://www.procyclingstats.com/rider.php?=&id=140310&season=2014

 

[Kokoso]

Where is that graph again...here:

Graph is one thing and actual results another. Today super talented EBH did not deliver - again.

 

[Netserk]

I don't know if you have noticed, but the graph is from 2010. EBH was the talent together with Sagan. Sure he's almost mediocre now, but hindsight is always hindsight...