UCI: Italian Giro top favourite will be Bio-pass exposed in hours

[Roland Rat]

That also solves Liquigas's team leadership issues.

 

[theswordsman]

Not the same. Usually they announce suspicious and say they'll examine them. This time they're saying they'll name names and press charges. I think this one is for real.

I agree. They had sufficient evidence to send out the letters asking for a medical explanation. The riders had thirty days to respond, and they should have a pretty good idea about the quality of their excuse. The UCI has had time to evaluate the response, and I would guess that some of the leaks are due to the riders own activities. The timing issue for the announcement was because McQuaid was asked at the race Saturday. But I believe that, finally, this is the start of the process, rather than just targeted testing. And I hope that since the UCI delayed all of this so they could make sure all the legal angles are covered, that this won't just end up in the courts.

I'm especially interested to see what happens in countries where doping is illegal - will guys name names and cut deals for a lighter sentence?

 

[Barrus]

That also solves Liquigas's team leadership issues.

Not exactly, Nibali is rumoured to replace him

 

[joy118118]

Pellizotti confirms

 

[El Imbatido]

That also solves Liquigas's team leadership issues.

So what now?

Basso for Giro?
Nibali & Krueziger for Tour with Basso the super dom?
Nibali & Krueziger for Vuelta

Or do they go the other way and just sub a leader for a leader and go:

Nibali/Krueziger for Giro?
Basso for Tour?
Nibali/Krueziger (ie. the one who didn't lead at Giro) for Vuelta?

 

[ak-zaaf]

Basso doesn't have any confidence after the Romandy ITT, so there goes the strongest team =/
/nm, Nibali is in. He did ok in the Ardennes, but isn't going to be good enough I think.

 

[Moondance]

Exactly the opposite of my feelings.
Bye bye Franco. Hope to never see you again.

Oh, I completely agree that the dude should get banned... It's just I never really thought he was a doper. He performance timeline at the Giro showed relatively slow but coninuous growth. I thought he was developing; but apparantly it was his doping skils that were being honed, not his climbing abilities.

 

[ak-zaaf]

Oh, I completely agree that the dude should get banned... It's just I never really thought he was a doper. He performance timeline at the Giro showed relatively slow but coninuous growth. I thought he was developing; but apparantly it was his doping skils that were being honed, not his climbing abilities.

Krohnplatz 2008 is when I solved the case ;p

 

[El Imbatido]

Pellizotti confirms

Thanks for the link.

Basso doesn't have any confidence after the Romandy ITT, so there goes the strongest team =/
/nm, Nibali is in. He did ok in the Ardennes, but isn't going to be good enough I think.

The link provided by Joy says that Nibali will lead Liquigas. So that solves that. Back to the other four.......

 

[issoisso]

Oh, I completely agree that the dude should get banned... It's just I never really thought he was a doper. He performance timeline at the Giro showed relatively slow but coninuous growth. I thought he was developing; but apparantly it was his doping skils that were being honed, not his climbing abilities.

The way I see it: he was always on drugs, but steadily improved his performance, as most riders do. He didn't find any "new drugs" at any point.

I always thought of him like Chioccioli, who did the same. Except at this point in his career, Chioccioli wasn't caught, won the Giro, then started devolving steadily.

 

[jens_attacks]

edited by mod

 

[karlboss]

Is anyone else impressed that this is a bio passport violation and not a positive test? Has the bio-passport finally started to work?

 

[Ferminal]

Wow -1 on Giro excitement. AND there goes my bet on Pellizotti, silly me not to wait until the frantic final week doping announcements are over.

Now it's down to Cuddles in a revenge match against Saustre. Vino to make the podium.

Liquigas down the gurgler, get Kelly aka Sagan in the team please

TTT is a more interesting prospect now (from the point of view of the GC contenders).

 

[python]

is the criteria when they catch someone i dont care about - it's working ?

 

[Barrus]

Is anyone else impressed that this is a bio passport violation and not a positive test? Has the bio-passport finally started to work?

I find myself worrying and wondering whether it will hold up in court. This will make for some interesting jurisprudence

 

[El Imbatido]

Article is up at velonation:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4...uspicious-UCI-Biological-Passport-values.aspx

 

[issoisso]

So, whenever Menchov finally gets suspended for the humanplasma case, does Sastre win last year's Giro?

 

[Cerberus]

Article is up at velonation:

http://www.velonation.com/News/ID/4...uspicious-UCI-Biological-Passport-values.aspx

" Suspicions were raised during last year's Tour de France when he reportedly returned peculiar blood values, and he has been monitored since then. There he won the King of the Mountains competition."

Well, so much for "no positives in the Tour".

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

So, whenever Menchov finally gets suspended for the humanplasma case, does Sastre win last year's Giro?

Since the Austrians closed the Humanplasma case, it looks like Menchov gets off scot free, much like Valverde.

Don't really like that either, but what can we do?

 

[ak-zaaf]

So, whenever Menchov finally gets suspended for the humanplasma case, does Sastre win last year's Giro?

Not caught in that race, is keep the win. Thankfully.

 

[issoisso]

The Pellizotti case has been confirmed to have been from a test taken on the eve of the Tour.

 

[Fourier]

So, whenever Menchov finally gets suspended for the humanplasma case, does Sastre win last year's Giro?

I was thinking the same thing. Menchov should have been popped months ago. But I don't think that the 2009 Giro Podium could possibly take any more changes, that would undermine the credibility of this year's edition.

 

[Frosty]

Not sure where it all stands. Wasnt Astarloza allowed to keep his stage even though he was found to have tested positive before the tour? If Pellizotti's dodgy readings were before the tour but not during then doesnt this put him in the same category. If some of the ones that showed doping were during the tour though then that would be different.

As far as the Giro 2009 goes, all the dodgy tests seem to have been after that time so i dont think this changes that result. Be interesting to see the actual data though.

 

[Cobblestones]

I'm impressed. An actual ban based on the bio passport. Can we see the values please? I assume it will go to CAS at one point, so why not make it public right away, so we can see. Is the UCI going for a two-year ban with this?

Any news on the other riders? I assume Franco is the highest profile, so the Russian wont be Menchov.

 

[Straßenrennen]

Supergas are down one gc man... now we know why they had 4 of them.