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When is the smackdown on Chris Horner?

Seriously why does this guy talk so much smack?

“Never seen it on the team. Never heard about it. Never seen it,” Horner told VeloNews Monday afternoon. “It’s just disappointing, everything you see, everything you read.”

Horner has raced for Bruyneel since 2008, first with Astana, then on to RadioShack in 2010 and RadioShack-Nissan in 2012. Bruyneel last week stepped down from his position at RadioShack-Nissan in light of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s investigation into Lance Armstrong, which painted the two of them as the masterminds of an unprecedented doping conspiracy that accounted for Armstrong’s seven Tour de France wins.

“I didn’t see anything that was unbelievable. When you’re reading it now about he past, it’s hard to take and bad news,” Horner said of his time under Bruyneel, with two seasons alongside Armstrong. He said he never saw Armstrong dope in that time, and also that, while Armstrong posted strong results, Horner never saw any “unbelievable” riding from the Texan.

Earlier this summer, Horner said he didn’t believe that Armstrong cheated, though in 2007 he hinted that there was more to Armstrong’s team’s dominance than just bread and water, wondering just how a team — though he never said Armstrong’s, outright — could finish mountain stages with a cadre of riders around its leader.

“It is impossible to ride the front with your whole team and get to the final climb with most of your team still on the front — and be ready to come back and do it day-in and day-out,” he told cylingnews.com in 2007.

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/10/news/horner-says-he-never-saw-doping-on-bruyneel-teams_261673
 
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If there is any justice, he'll have to answer for the doping he did on home soil back in the day.

Think Superweek during the mid-90's. A quote from Horner told directly to a rider who rode against him during that time-"It's not cheating if everyone is doing it".

That would turn out to be the motto for most of his professional career.
 
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dude is like the anti-Forrest Gump of cycling. He's just as dumb, just as nice, but unlike the accidentally lucky Gump, he always picks the wrong course of action. He badmouthed Lance for year, to his own peril; finally, he hitches his horse to that wagon, only it's no longer a wagon...it's the Titanic. Sometimes being dumb just doesn't work out. Most times, really. Forrest Gump just happens in books and movie adaptations of said books..
 
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Cookster15 said:
I lost respect for Horner when he joined Discovery at 36 years of age and by 37 years of age (2009) he developed into the "self proclaimed 2nd best climber in the world". He seems like a nice bloke and popular with team mates but seriously :(

Fixed that for ya ;)
 
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Cookster15 said:
I lost respect for Horner when he joined Discovery at 36 years of age and by 37 years of age (2009) he developed into the "2nd best climber in the world". He seems like a nice bloke and popular with team mates but seriously :(
halamala said:
Chris Horner

Tour of California 2011, Stage 4, Final climb Sierra Rd


Elevation / Höhenmeter [m] : 532 m
Distance / Streckenlänge [Km] : 5.63 Km
Time in seconds / Fahrzeit in Sekunden [sec] : 1004 = 16 min 44 sec = 16:44
Weight rider / Gewicht Fahrer [kg] : 63.5 kg
Weight bicycle, clothes etc. / Gewicht Fahrrad [kg] : 8 kg

Grade / mittlere Seigung : 9.4 %
Average speed / mittlere Geschwindigkeit : 20.1 Km/h
Total weight / Gesamtgewicht : 71.5 kg

Power : 434.7 Watt
Power / kg : 6.8 Watt / kg


Source: [ http://www.rst.mp-all.de/bergauf.htm ]
toc-2011-stage-4-horner-sierra-road.png

T: 16:58
P: 434.4
C: 73.6
A: 548.0
D: 4.24
E: 442:2
 
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Chris, as most of you would agree, has always been a likeable fellow. I have met him on several occasions. For what it's worth, he was a great believer in cycling having turned a corner after Rasmussen/men in black summer. He claimed that the peloton had cleaned up and that his improving results were due to this. He claimed if you studied his figures for several years there was no big improvement on his part (I have no idea if this is true or not so open to being told otherwise). Having watched him compete with the best in the world in April-May and then being easily dropped in July by the same guys I always thought he was telling the truth - that he kept steady while others made massive leaps forward just when it mattered.
Something else he told me, which was of interest to me at least, is that he didn't work with any coaches - no links with the likes of Ferarri, Fuentes etc. That in itself would be unusual for a top-level doper as the coach/mentor is normally the key link in the doping chain with USP/Discovery/Radioshack riders.
Maybe he lied to me, maybe he was turned by the money or maybe he really is just the one nice guy who kept himself to himself and ignored all the BS around him.
If guilty, it seems strange to me that the USADA dished up no dirt on him whatsoever or that he hasn't felt the need to confess before someone else does it for him. His team mates who testified did so because they had too, why wasn't Chris compelled to do likewise?
I retain some hope that he told the truth.
That doesn't mean to say I believe him in saying what he is saying now - I'm sure he knew fine well what was going on but chose to ignore it. A Shack contract that forbids speaking out about it perhaps?
 
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I bet he is a nice guy.

He didn't work with Armstrong until after the relevant period, so wouldn't have had to testify.

Looking at his 2010 season under Bruyneel, to say that it's hard to believe he was clean is an understatement.

Public backing of Armstrong is also telling, as noone in the pro peloton would be under any illusions.
 
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taiwan said:
I bet he is a nice guy.

He didn't work with Armstrong until after the relevant period, so wouldn't have had to testify.

Looking at his 2010 season under Bruyneel, to say that it's hard to believe he was clean is an understatement.

Public backing of Armstrong is also telling, as noone in the pro peloton would be under any illusions.
He's a nice guy, but he's a sellout. I think he can be a great commentator, but he has compromised his future as a broadcaster even more with his behavior. I wouldn't be surprised if Lance paid him out.
 
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131313 said:
dude is like the anti-Forrest Gump of cycling. He's just as dumb, just as nice, but unlike the accidentally lucky Gump, he always picks the wrong course of action. He badmouthed Lance for year, to his own peril; finally, he hitches his horse to that wagon, only it's no longer a wagon...it's the Titanic. Sometimes being dumb just doesn't work out. Most times, really. Forrest Gump just happens in books and movie adaptations of said books..

^^^ This ^^^

Lost any respect I had for him when he joined up with LA/JB
 

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