The Spanish Pharmada

[Moose McKnuckles]

I think the case can be made for suspending the Spanish federation from international competition.

Contador
Valverde
Sevilla
Heras
Fullana
Mancebo

etc.
etc.

Has a single Spanish champion, other than Sastre, not been sanctioned or suspended?

 

[icefire]

Freire .

 

[Paco_P]

I think the case can be made for suspending the Spanish federation from international competition.

Contador
Valverde
Sevilla
Heras
Fullana
Mancebo

etc.
etc.

Has a single Spanish champion, other than Sastre, not been sanctioned or suspended?

I think this smacks of stupid jingoism. Why not suspend the US cylcing federation...

Armstrong
Landis
Hamilton

Or the Italian one

Pantani
Basso

Or the etc...

The reason there are so many Spanish cyclists that get caught doping is that there are a lot of Spanish cyclists.

 

[Arnout]

Beloki, Freire, Indurain, Olano, Anton, Samuel Sanchez, Rodriguez.

 

[SiAp1984]

Wasn't Beloki - like AC - among the Fuentes Fifty?

 

[python]

Has a single Spanish champion, other than Sastre, not been sanctioned or suspended?

u sound like phat'n Not Quite... i expected better of u
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcquaid-criticises-spanish-government

 

[JRTinMA]

u sound like phat'n Not Quite... i expected better of u
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/mcquaid-criticises-spanish-government

"We have, over the past month for instance, sanctioned four big Spanish riders; that started with [Oscar] Sevilla, and then in recent days includes Mosquera, David Garcia Dapena and today, [Margarita] Fullana," McQuaid told reporters.

I feel like there was one other Spanish rider sanctioned. I guess both Pat and I forgot that one guy, what's that lil' dopers name...

 

[Kennf1]

"We have, over the past month for instance, sanctioned four big Spanish riders; that started with [Oscar] Sevilla, and then in recent days includes Mosquera, David Garcia Dapena and today, [Margarita] Fullana," McQuaid told reporters.

I feel like there was one other Spanish rider sanctioned. I guess both Pat and I forgot that one guy, what's that lil' dopers name...

Probably some nobody who's never won a GT (or five).

 

[Libertine Seguros]

But they hadn't sanctioned him in the last month. It was before the last month, and then they kept it under wraps, because the UCI are just as bad as RFEC.

As for Spanish champions who've not been sanctioned, the current Spanish national champion is José Iván Gutiérrez. Any dirt on him? The one before him was Rubén Plaza. He's not been sanctioned (though should have been). The TT champion is Luís León Sánchez. He's not been sanctioned. Apart from María Isabella Moreno I can't think of any Spanish women's cyclists to have been sanctioned, so Joane Somarriba must surely count as a Spanish champion not to have been sanctioned.

 

[indurain666]

Moose, what you heard about google and wikipedia? Before beginning an idiotic thread like this do some research first. In case you are wondering what research is, you can also google that

 

[hrotha]

The worrying bit about Spain is not that Spanish riders test positive. The worrying bit is that the federation and sports authorities readily jump to defend the likes of Contador when something like this happens. I wouldn't ask them to crucify him right away, but a simple "We'll wait for the outcome of the investigation before we make any comments on this issue" would do.

Some people will argue they're supposed to defend Spanish cyclists, but maybe they should consider defending all those clean Spanish cyclists (they exist... I suppose) that are driven away from the sport by the cheaters.

 

[Vonn Brinkman]

The worrying bit about Spain is not that Spanish riders test positive. The worrying bit is that the federation and sports authorities readily jump to defend the likes of Contador when something like this happens. I wouldn't ask them to crucify him right away, but a simple "We'll wait for the outcome of the investigation before we make any comments on this issue" would do.

Exactly if a belgian gets caught he is crucified. Or a Dutch, or a German for that matter. The Italians have their houses raided regularly. The Spanish federation is dangerous because they allow their dopers to roam freely. I am happy they let Valverde roam, however , since I could enjoy his riding for the last couple of years.

 

[Christian]

Remember the Valverde "investigation"?

The minister of sports said: "Valverde did not dope". End of investigation.

Their stand on doping is pretty ridiculous.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Moose, what you heard about google and wikipedia? Before beginning an idiotic thread like this do some research first. In case you are wondering what research is, you can also google that

Ow! That's a bit of a harsh dig on the Moose...

Nonetheless, what about Pat McD*ck blaming it all on the Spanish governing bodies? I somehow thought that the UCI had a bit of territory to cover there, that they were to oversee doping controls in the large sphere (and apparently they're well funded by private donations - snicker).

Pretty easy to say the neighbours should be keeping an eye out for anything untoward, but if you came up with the passport that's supposed to end the doping issue shouldn't you actually be doing that?

This guy can't himself from looking like a pud...

 

[sartoris]

I think the case can be made for suspending the Spanish federation from international competition.

Contador
Valverde
Sevilla
Heras
Fullana
Mancebo

etc.
etc.

Has a single Spanish champion, other than Sastre, not been sanctioned or suspended?

Gosh, you're a fri**in bigot.

 

[offbyone]

I think this smacks of stupid jingoism. Why not suspend the US cylcing federation...

Armstrong
Landis
Hamilton

Or the Italian one

Pantani
Basso

Or the etc...

The reason there are so many Spanish cyclists that get caught doping is that there are a lot of Spanish cyclists.

Spain does seem to turn a blind eye to doping by their athletes. I think it is a fair topic.

Say what you want about the US stance, but I believe the US has taken an appropriate and strong response to the recent Armstrong allegations. The contador case is a bit fresh to make a judgment on, but I certainly didn't think spain reacted appropriately to valverde.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

Gosh, you're a fri**in bigot.

How so? How does that make him a bigot? I'm assuming you know what 'bigot' means, but that may be presumptuous...

 

[DAOTEC]

I love the title of this thread !

 

[khardung la]

The worrying bit about Spain is not that Spanish riders test positive. The worrying bit is that the federation and sports authorities readily jump to defend the likes of Contador when something like this happens. I wouldn't ask them to crucify him right away, but a simple "We'll wait for the outcome of the investigation before we make any comments on this issue" would do.

Some people will argue they're supposed to defend Spanish cyclists, but maybe they should consider defending all those clean Spanish cyclists (they exist... I suppose) that are driven away from the sport by the cheaters.

+1

Exactly what I think. The key from my point of view is that the sport authorities are politicians with ******* interests. Everything is many times about politics in Spain.

Other than that I think Spanish riders are doping, as much as almost anywhere else (there are probably some nice exceptions). But one can read with shame in As or Marca the opinion of hundreds of "supportive" fans and authorities blaming UCI, the French or the first quality meat of the North of Spain. Sad.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I do think Spain are the dirtiest country (doping) but that is not to say we should start stereotyping all spanish riders as being dopers or cheats. other countries are bad as well but I think the spainish authortites close a blind eye to some of the "happenings" in spanish cycling.

 

[icefire]

I do think Spain are the dirtiest country (doping) but that is not to say we should start stereotyping all spanish riders as being dopers or cheats. other countries are bad as well but I think the spainish authortites close a blind eye to some of the "happenings" in spanish cycling.

Spanish authorities closed a blind eye on such "happenings" as the financial crisis. Why should cycling be any different?

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

This has nothing to do with stereotyping Spanish people as a whole. It has to do with the disastrous state of their cycling program. Spanish champions are routinely busted for drugs. Junior riders are caught doping. The governing body is complicit.

Contador, Valverde, Mayo, Heras, etc., etc.

I know some of the duller knives in this board's drawer have concluded that I'm a bigot for bringing this point up. But again, I've acknowledged that similar problems exist in other countries, though perhaps not at this level. At least investigations mean something outside of Spain.

 

[ultimobici]

This has nothing to do with stereotyping Spanish people as a whole. It has to do with the disastrous state of their cycling program. Spanish champions are routinely busted for drugs. Junior riders are caught doping. The governing body is complicit.

Contador, Valverde, Mayo, Heras, etc., etc.

I know some of the duller knives in this board's drawer have concluded that I'm a bigot for bringing this point up. But again, I've acknowledged that similar problems exist in other countries, though perhaps not at this level. At least investigations mean something outside of Spain.

Compare Spain with the US. Spain has 150+ pros in the Pro Tour & Pro Continental ranks versus the US's 50 or so. Three times the pros, yet the US manages to have how many sanctioned riders?

The solution is not to condemn one country or another, but to remove ALL individual federations from the sanctioning of offences. That way there are no vested interests, no "looking after" individuals either favourably or unfavourably.

Couple that with dismantling the UCI entirely. The whole lot has to go. It is rotten to the core. Not just McQuaid, but ALL those involved who haven't had the balls to speak up about bribes, hushing up affairs & running roughshod over all and sundry.

I can see cycling being booted out of the Olympics before too long if wholesale change is not instituted, now.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

Compare Spain with the US. Spain has 150+ pros in the Pro Tour & Pro Continental ranks versus the US's 50 or so. Three times the pros, yet the US manages to have how many sanctioned riders?

I don't know the answer to that question. How many?

 

[L'arriviste]

I don't know the answer to that question. How many?

I don't like this nationality argument because it doesn't really lead to an appreciable outcome. In terms of US riders within the same European pro circuit as Spain, I guess at five positives / admissions of banned substance use. Not counting actual sanctions, amateurs or US/Latin America circuit.

US:

Papp
Landis
Hamilton
Armstrong
Andreu

ES:

Dueñas
Beltrán
Astarloza
Serrano
Guerra
Nozal
Colom
Pérez
Astarloa
Vila
Pecharroman Fabian
Peña
Torres
Mayo
Pastor
Osa, U
Osa, A
Grau
González, A
González, S
Hernandez
Pérez
Landaluze
Heras
Manzano
González de Galdeano
Delgado
de la Cruz
Del Olmo
Dominguez
Etxebarria
Hierro
Elorriaga
Maynar
Redondo
Fernández de la Puebla
Vazquez Hueso
Rosendo Prado
Lobato Elvira
Mosquera
García da Peña
Contador

Subject to the constraints, did I miss any?