Team Ineos (Formerly the Sky thread)

[sniper]

Really? The team spends months living at altitude in Tenerife and they don't know how altitude effects riders? Really?

sounds like a hastily prepared press statement from sky.
seems after all those blunders they still don't have a decent pr manager.
edit: almost sounds as if pat mcquaid is now working as sky pr manager.

 

[neineinei]

No it's not you - the message is very mixed.

On the CN news article it now says: "The values in question come from a test done in October when Henao was back in Colombia, as part of the UCI’s out-of-competition testing programme."

Two things strike me:
1. October is nearly 6 months ago. Why is this coming out now?
2. The above quote suggests it was a UCA/WADA test but from the same article the UCI are quoted as saying "This is something that has been monitored by the team".

The Sky statement doesn't really say that the test was taken in October, only that Henao went home to Colombia in October.

Sergio Henao was born at altitude in Rionegro, Colombia and lives and trains in the region outside the race season. He returned there in October and had WADA-accredited out-of-competition tests in this period.

To me "This peroid" probably relates to "outside the race season" (over the winter), not "October".

But CN writes

The values in question come from a test done in October when Henao was back in Colombia, as part of the UCI’s out-of-competition testing programme.

which could be a misreading of the Sky statement, or what the Sky spokesperson actually said when CN interviewed him/her.

 

[nevada]

Will be an interesting atmosphere around the Sky bus in Calella next week.

Memories of RadioShach at AToC a couple of years ago.

 

[goggalor]

Another masterfull, if highly suspicious, PR job from Sky... really amazing how you turn what was clearly "suspicious values" into a "the interesting results of our latest tests call for more scientific work from our labs, all for the glory of science...".

yup lol, the whole thing smells

 

[therhodeo]

Busy day in the clinic eh?

 

[Mellow Velo]

The CN articel says so too (now). It was Heano's agent who blabbered to Gazzetta, then Sky released the statement about their upcomming medical research project in Colombia.



http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/sergio-henao-taken-off-sky-roster-due-to-test-anomalies

Be nice if the UCI would give a specific date as to when they were informed.
Chances are they were already in the loop, since Henao was already sidelined.

Ah the old Transparent chesnut eh

Ah the old, "bung it straight on the internet and ignore any protocol" chestnut.

 

[MartinGT]

People need t put pressure on these f@ckers rather than *****foot around them

 

[fraserhughes]

One thing is for sure the way this news is dribbling out with an inconstant (and seemingly changing) story doesn't make Sky look good.

 

[pastronef]

or teams have to deal better with riders' managers and tell them what to say when a newspaper calls
it all comes from Henao's manager answering to Gazzetta

 

[pastronef]

http://decaironman-training.com/201...ing-altitude-natives-in-professional-cycling/

 

[sniper]

or teams have to deal better with riders' managers and tell them what to say when a newspaper calls
it all comes from Henao's manager answering to Gazzetta

walsh says

David Walsh ‏@DavidWalshST 45m

@RobBaer Not sure Rob. My understanding is that Sky removed Henao from competition and his agent then passed on information to Gazzetta.

 

[MartinGT]

walsh says

What a complete ***. As if that happened.

 

[Avoriaz]

What a complete ***. As if that happened.

Why not? The agent told the paper that he had been pulled from competition. It wasn't that he was pulled from competition because the agent told the paper.

Don't necessarily disagree on the first bit of your post though

 

[Avoriaz]

....but it doesn't change the fact that all those quits (Porte, Froome) and now Henao case are highly suspicious.

and not just with Sky. Horner and Evans both failed to finish T-A. Valverde is now out of MSR

 

[webbie146]

and not just with Sky. Horner and Evans both failed to finish T-A. Valverde is now out of MSR

Valverde had no change to win MSR

 

[hrotha]

The bit about Gazzetta knowing first sure changes everything. Hard not to see what followed as damage control on Sky's part.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

and not just with Sky. Horner and Evans both failed to finish T-A. Valverde is now out of MSR

These are unrelated imo. Horner and Evans can't use a sh!it result at this point. They are close to end of the road. Valverde can't win MSR with the current route.

 

[bewildered]

The story appears to be that the UCI don't have any issue with Henao or his tests yet they are 'supportive of [Sky's] programme and the approach to it and to suspend the rider'

Why is the UCI supportive of Henao being suspended? Surely they should have no comment either way if they don't have an issue with the test and it is purely an internal Sky matter only?

 

[sniper]

The bit about Gazzetta knowing first sure changes everything. Hard not to see what followed as damage control on Sky's part.

walsh' understanding is sky first put henao out of competition, then henao's agent leaks to gazzetta.

 

[sniper]

The story appears to be that the UCI don't have any issue with Henao or his tests yet they are 'supportive of [Sky's] programme and the approach to it and to suspend the rider'

Why is the UCI supportive of Henao being suspended? Surely they should have no comment either way if they don't have an issue with the test and it is purely an internal Sky matter only?

indeed.
uci clearly still don't have their antidoping act together.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

The story appears to be that the UCI don't have any issue with Henao or his tests yet they are 'supportive of [Sky's] programme and the approach to it and to suspend the rider'

Why is the UCI supportive of Henao being suspended? Surely they should have no comment either way if they don't have an issue with the test and it is purely an internal Sky matter only?

Because anti doping is not independent from the "sports promoter" and regulator.

Massive conflict of interest. One of the root problems with our sport.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Sounds like Henao may have been doping in the Colombian mountains over the winter when not under Sky's supervision. No mud on Sky here at all although plenty here like to make out that there is.

 

[hrotha]

walsh' understanding is sky first put henao out of competition, then henao's agent leaks to gazzetta.

Yes, but quietly withdrawing someone who's overdoing it is not necessarily a sign of a team doing the right thing, which is the way some people are trying to spin this (including Walsh). It doesn't necessarily mean the opposite either, but still.

 

[Escarabajo]

The bit about Gazzetta knowing first sure changes everything. Hard not to see what followed as damage control on Sky's part.

+1.

Remember what happened to Contador! Had the German media guy not found out about the positive I bet that we would never would have known about it and history would have been different.

 

[thehook]

Froome: Bad back out riding in the snow.
Porte: A good TT guy out of TA. When he could do a TT. Even just for training. After he backs out off Paris-Nice. Screws ASO and now drops out of TA?
Wiggins: Cannot get out of his own way.
Uran: Back to earth. Not so great on the climbs. When he was a dom. or at Giro.
JTL: Still out. No answers.
Henao: Sidelined. A lot of questions still need to be answered?

SKY: A team that preaches science in sport. AKA "we do it better then everyone else" "we train for weeks at altitude" "marginal gains". Needs to do more altitude testing to figure out whats going on? They basically have a Team HQ on Tenefrie!

Porte: "We do 45-60 min at max threshold at altitude" "Nobody sees that,and how hard we train"

If it walks like a duck & quacks like a duck?