Stefano Garzelli

[Nick777]

I know the board has been dominated with Landis' bombshell in the past few days, but I am surprised nobody has mentioned this yet..
Anyone else surprised at the result last night? Not many people tipped him, if any.
That is the sort of performance that raises my eyebrows.

 

[BikeCentric]

Always been a very solid climber and a specialist at uphill sprint finishes. Rode with Pantani for years on a doped Mercatone Uno squad. Popped for Probenicid in '01 and served 2-year ban. Is probably cleaner than he used to be.

 

[Hillavoider]

he got the right juice for the right job

 

[Martin318is]

Not really surprised. He was way off the pace overall and seemed to be protecting himself a lot on the Zoncolan. Suggested he may have been saving his matches for the Timetrial.

I guess I am more surprised by Basso not doing better. Perhaps it suggests he went deeper on the Zoncolan than his face suggested

 

[Lion of Flanders]

There y'all go again:

"He won therefore he cheated"

Why pay any attention to the race? Many of you race, I would assume. Why not seek satisfaction in your own efforts on the bike? Why pay attention to the pro scene at all when you condemn its winners?

Serious responses only, please. Try to avoid name calling.

 

[ExRower]

agree, sometimes the suspicions go overboard. I mean, yeah, we all suspect Lance and co. But for an ex-doper who was caught before...I would be a bit more lenient.

And, isn't this the beauty of cycling? Digging deep, and finding that little bit of strength you didn't know you had?

Can't anyone appreciate that anymore?

That, my friends, is why we must recognized doping's past to erase it from the sport's future.

 

[Martin318is]

The thing that annoys me these days is the rather ridiculous logic that gets applied when "analysing" these performances. I think that in a way Lemond etc have damaged the fight against doping with the introduction of the theory of VAM and VO2 values being PROOF of doping. It gives the dopers and those with a vested interest a target to obfuscate the reality. Instead of fighting multiple subjective arguments that any person in the street can understand they are instead able to easily refute an accusation based upon VAM and rubbish the acusers.

In this case:

Do we know that Garzelli wasn't focussing specifically for this time trial prior to the Giro? No we don't.

Can we compare against any previous events on the course? Not really because circumstances change - you can't cross the same river twice and unlike track and field there is no requirement for the wind to be within a certain range or the surface to be consistently dry and well packed (as an example of two of the MANY variables)

Can we compare against any specific rider? Not really, because although the GC contenders were desperate to win on the course, they also had worked a LOT harder on previous stages.

Even when we know someone was doping during a specific period, we have no idea what their level or programme was on the day of the performance.

All I am saying is that frankly I have NO idea whether Garzelli was doped at the time of the time trial but what I do know is that without power figures and an honest interview with the rider about their efforts any comparisons are vague at best.

The crucial thing for me (and yes this does partially contradict a lot of what I am saying) is that Garzelli at least looked like he suffered to get there unlike some well known doped performances. The difference in my case is that this does NOT prove to me (or anyone else) that he is clean OR dirty. Its just an observation to add to the pile.

 

[Ferminal]

Unexpected peformance straight after rest day = automatic suspicion.

For good reason.

 

[Nicoper]

He sacrificed his GC on two tough stages leading to rest day. He is in top 5 climbers in this Giro. Nothing surprising in his ride yesterday. He rode smart and saved energy for second part of TT, like John Gadret.

Now start the countdown to thread "'is John Gadret doped'.

 

[Michielveedeebee]

There y'all go again:

"He won therefore he cheated"

Why pay any attention to the race? Many of you race, I would assume. Why not seek satisfaction in your own efforts on the bike? Why pay attention to the pro scene at all when you condemn its winners?

Serious responses only, please. Try to avoid name calling.

very well said
and Garzelli dropped his GC ambitions to go for stage win here he went easy upon Zoncolan in comparison to basso and evans and the day before he also saved himself it's a logical result... I hope

 

[online-rider]

He sacrificed his GC on two tough stages leading to rest day. He is in top 5 climbers in this Giro. Nothing surprising in his ride yesterday. He rode smart and saved energy for second part of TT, like John Gadret.

Now start the countdown to thread "'is John Gadret doped'.

Mmmmmm...I suppose we shud give garzelli the benefit of the doubt. he didn't look doped at the finish, thats to say, if he was they shud have given him some more. And some riders just ride good on gravel

 

[forty four]

There y'all go again:

"He won therefore he cheated"

Why pay any attention to the race? Many of you race, I would assume. Why not seek satisfaction in your own efforts on the bike? Why pay attention to the pro scene at all when you condemn its winners?

Serious responses only, please. Try to avoid name calling.

yeah really you here the most hate for cycling on these forums where the forums are supposed to be full of cyclists and racers who like the sport. go figure a lot of clearly bitter and angry people. at the elite level in sports and particularly endurance sports there will be doping it has to do with the mental states of highly competitive athletes THIS WILL NEVER CHANGE its always been this way and it always will. im all for making cheating as difficult as possible but it will always be with us in sport get over it. the whole oh he doped he went fast today is really getting old. if basso had won same thing etc..etc..