the Black Sheep of the peloton

[classicomano]

So whatever happened to Dario Frigo? After 2005 he just vanished, never heard of him since.

 

[IndianCyclist]

Feel free to add.



* Ricardinho Ricco, the most hardcore doper of them all. Everybody had stopped doping but not this one. What a bad guy. Bad bad Riccardo.
Riccardo does a tell nothing, trains hard for two years and just seems not to be able to transfuse himself properly after all those years.

When the peloton speaks of doping they actually mean Ricco.

Not the most hardcore doper just the most stupidest ever. Hardcore dopers existed before 1997 rule of 50%.
Very true that statement as otherwise its just supplements

 

[Zam_Olyas]

Bbc

A look back at the life of cycling's most controversial figures, Marco Pantani. Fifteen years since he won the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France we examine his tragic career.

Video starts at 3 min 45 sec

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episod...ing_Marco_Pantani_The_End_of_a_Troubled_Road/

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

We continue with the totally not biased media:
http://velonews.competitor.com/2013...-why-battaglins-giro-stage-win-matters_285537

The Giro d’Italia was spared a potential awkward moment on Tuesday when 23-year-old Enrico Battaglin, of the UCI Pro Continental team Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox, won stage 4 into Serra San Bruno, finishing ahead of Fabio Felline (Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela) and Giovanni Visconti (Movistar) for an all-Italian sweep of the day’s top spots.

Just moments earlier, it appeared as though Italian Danilo Di Luca, of Vini Fantini-Selle Italia, might take the stage win. The rider known as “The Killer” launched an audacious attack on the second and final rated climb and drove to the finish line with young rider Robinson Chalapud (Colombia). The pair pushed over the summit with nearly 20 seconds on the main group, but they were caught with 600 meters to go.

In the chaos that followed, across wet and slippery stone slabs, Battaglin timed his sprint to perfection to upset the sport’s biggest names, including race leader Luca Paolini (Katusha).

An underdog had won, and perhaps equally important, Di Luca had not.

Had Di Luca won, it would have forced the Giro, and the sport of pro cycling, to take yet another long look in the mirror, and open another examination of the ghosts of its past, and those still haunting the present.

Di Luca, 37, won the Giro in 2007, and finished second overall in 2009. He also served suspensions during both of those seasons — in 2007, for prior involvement with Italian doping doctor Carlo Santuccione, and in 2009, when he tested positive for using the blood-booster CERA during that year’s Giro.

Di Luca also delivered a urine sample during his 2007 Giro victory that reportedly recorded the hormone levels of a small child, dubbed “pipi degli angeli” (angel’s pee), a sign of the use of masking agents. However he ultimately was cleared for that offense, with Italian Olympic Committee anti-doping officials admitting there was “not a sufficient degree of probability” for a doping conviction. He was able to keep his 2007 Giro title, though he was stripped of his 2009 second-place finish.

“He punched the Giro d’Italia in the stomach in 2007 and almost did it again in 2009,” former Giro d’Italia race director Angelo Zomegnan famously said on Italian television.

After serving a suspension, Di Luca returned in 2011 with Katusha, riding for no salary. He rode last year with Acqua & Sapone, and only opened his 2013 campaign after signing with Vini Fantini in late April.

Bad bad di Luca!

 

[hrotha]

While it's true that Di Luca is ridiculous, the double standards are baffling.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

While it's true that Di Luca is ridiculous, the double standards are baffling.

That is why i like to defend him just to take the ****.

 

[tweak37]

While it's true that Di Luca is ridiculous, the double standards are baffling.

Double standards? It seems to me that in recent years (all cases after Puerto really) there is generally very little sympathy for doping users returning into competition. See also Vino, Ricco, Rebellin... With the possible exception of Contador, for obvious reasons.

 

[Cimber]

Double standards? It seems to me that in recent years (all cases after Puerto really) there is generally very little sympathy for doping users returning into competition. See also Vino, Ricco, Rebellin... With the possible exception of Contador, for obvious reasons.

Frank Schleck and Contador are different though. They werent nailed for doping (In Berties CAS even ruled that dope was very unlikely as the source of clen). Not saying they didnt/arent doping, just saying why their return was (in the case of Bertie) and will (in the case on Frank) be regarded differently.

 

[tweak37]

Frank Schleck and Contador are different though. They werent nailed for doping (In Berties CAS even ruled that dope was very unlikely as the source of clen). Not saying they didnt/arent doping, just saying why their return was (in the case of Bertie) and will (in the case on Frank) be regarded differently.

Yes, I agree, that's what I meant with obvious reasons.