When is the smackdown on Chris Horner?

[doperhopper]

Damn, too bad I did not start "Which old fish will squish under Vueltish bus?" thread. I can only feel sorry for poor punters, being ripped off in the name of cleanliness.

In any case, if we read it like "Movement for CREDIBLE cycling takes down full genius horny pappy", it looks rather positive.

 

[roundabout]

Or maybe neither of the 2...

From CN:

He had no problem racing with a bronchitis for what, over one and a half months?

 

[Futuroscope]

I guess they wanted to pull the plug before he really got busted. But why sign him in the first place? I mean they must have suspected/known that he was up to something when they signed him? He must have started getting really reckless.

 

[The Hitch]

Biased reasons? Well I for one still find very hard to swallow that a near 42 year old is good enough to win GTs no matter what the circumstances. Sure this situation may be plausible but overall - especially knowing the recent history of this sport - you can excuse people of being suspicious of a near 43 year old who can still ride for GC in a Grand Tour against the best of guys in their late 20s to early 30s. Statistical outlier? No sorry that doesn't wash.

I still agree 100% with the OPs premise no matter if this weeks circumstance could be legitimate or not.

Its not just that he won the gt. On the face of it that could have happened through luck.

But he won the gt by destroying a stacked field in the mountains, and more importantly posted the second fastest time ever up L'Angliru, despite doing it on the final day (as opposed to 2nd week), not being pushed by competition, and being very relaxed and out of the saddle for the whole climb.

That's what makes it impossible to believe Horner is clean.

 

[blackcat]

Its not just that he won the gt. On the face of it that could have happened through luck.

But he won the gt by destroying a stacked field in the mountains, and more importantly posted the second fastest time ever up L'Angliru, despite doing it on the final day (as opposed to 2nd week), not being pushed by competition, and being very relaxed and out of the saddle for the whole climb.

That's what makes it impossible to believe Horner is clean.

nah, what makes it impossible is like Jens, still being a competent pro at 41.

dislike jens, massive horner homie tho

 

[Hemassist]

A little sad in a way. There is no better way of telling the actual scientific and medical benchmark as to see a halfdead 40+ old man sprinting a mountain.

Let me add "...with bronchitis"

 

[veganrob]

Kinda figured that signing Horner was not going to work out for Lampre. Worked great for Horner though. Got one last big paycheck. What did he have, about 20 race days? He can retire now and say he has never been popped.

Gonna miss the fireworks would have created in the Vuelta though. Bam

 

[argyllflyer]

Unless I misread the article he did nothing illegal and was volunteered to not participate by his team even though legally there would have been nothing wrong in doing so. But he had the tue and in any case he did not actually race on the drugs, even though he was allowed to.

This is like saying someone was found guilyy of robbery when a friend gave them
Permission to break into his house when he was away, in order to borrow some film he had, but they didn't do it anyway cos their parents said - don't do it.

If anything from a doping angle horners chances of getting caught at the vuelta, just fell. And lampres lack of support suggests any doping programme was individual.

Consider you libel Froome at the drop of a hat, your cheek with this post is astounding.

 

[Fortyninefourteen]

I guess they wanted to pull the plug before he really got busted. But why sign him in the first place? I mean they must have suspected/known that he was up to something when they signed him? He must have started getting really reckless.

This exactly.

 

[DirtyWorks]

I guess they wanted to pull the plug before he really got busted. But why sign him in the first place? I mean they must have suspected/known that he was up to something when they signed him? He must have started getting really reckless.

Could have been ASO declining his participation. Remember that ASO has pre-tested athletes before events. I don't know if they are pre-testing at the Vuelta. I genuinely have no clue, so I could be very wrong.

Roundabout is right, the guy was racing with bronchitis for how long? And what about the terrible accident earlier this year? Ignoring the doping, that's a bad year for anyone.

It's an honourable out for him though. It will be interesting to see if a 2015 WT contract materializes. I'm guessing the UCI won't allow it. He can do a Continental Pro victory lap in the Americas. But, really he should just get a clue and hang it up. Another "never tested positive" victory.

No one will be shocked when he's discovered to be positive under retesting circumstances.

 

[Beech Mtn]

<snipped>

It's an honourable out for him though. It will be interesting to see if a 2015 WT contract materializes. I'm guessing the UCI won't allow it. He can do a Continental Pro victory lap in the Americas. But, really he should just get a clue and hang it up.

He ought to retire from competition, stating old age making it too hard to recover from illness, etc and get hired to do TV commentary, starting immediately with the Vuelta. He would be really good at commentary, and most of the English commentators badly need to be put out to pasture (Phil, Paul, Kirby, Quigley)

If he would go on and retire now, he'd have some semblance of a cover story.

 

[IzzyStradlin]

It will be interesting to see if a 2015 WT contract materializes. I'm guessing the UCI won't allow it. He can do a Continental Pro victory lap in the Americas. But, really he should just get a clue and hang it up.

He'll ride if somebody will pay him.

 

[The Hitch]

Kinda figured that signing Horner was not going to work out for Lampre. Worked great for Horner though. Got one last big paycheck. What did he have, about 20 race days? He can retire now and say he has never been popped.

You forget the to the camera speech last year. " I can ride to 45"

 

[BroDeal]

Oh, brother. What is with people acting like Horner tested positive for steroids.This is a simple situation. He used corticosteroids and MPCC policies are designed to prevent riders from racing with an advantage from real or (as is often the case) phony TUEs.

The MPCC policies are a big contrast with those of Team Sky, which feels it is okay to race under the influence of PEDs. People wonder why Sky has refused to join the MPCC. This is why.

The iffy thing about this is that the MPCC has created a peloton a deux vitesses. It is hard to say competition is fair when some teams are able to race while using a variety of PEDs but other teams are not.

 

[Rollthedice]

Or maybe neither of the 2...

From CN:

I would disagree

Horner:“I think I've been on a steady stream of antibiotics since probably about 10 days before the Tour de France. So from 10 days before the Tour until now, I'm sure there's been some kind of antibiotics in my system the whole time."

So, the guy has some sort of health problem for about two months and meanwhile he finishes freaking Tour de France on the 17th place while riding as a dom for half the tour then he goes on to finish Tour of Utah second but somehow needs steroids to compete in Vuelta?

I don't think we can speak about a risk. When they prescribed the medication it was effectively the end of Horner's participation in the Vuelta. But of course there might be other things that we do not know about.

 

[DirtyWorks]

He'll ride if somebody will pay him.

Buried in the JV thread is confirmation both the UCI and ASO are involved in rider selection at the WT team level.

 

[Escarabajo]

He ought to retire from competition, stating old age making it too hard to recover from illness, etc and get hired to do TV commentary, starting immediately with the Vuelta. He would be really good at commentary, and most of the English commentators badly need to be put out to pasture (Phil, Paul, Kirby, Quigley)

If he would go on and retire now, he'd have some semblance of a cover story.

Having Horner as commentator would be one of the funniest things ever.

We would need translation from English to Spanish back and forward.LOL.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

Another "never tested positive" victory.

No one will be shocked when he's discovered to be positive under retesting circumstances.

But it won´t hold forever.
The lie is too big. Was it DiCanio who first spoke?
Anyway. More will come. Books been written. Anti-Doping agencies asking witnesses. History to repeat.
Not as big as LA, but this clown will fall and end up with nothing. The absurd Vuelta 2013 declared with no winner...

 

[TailWindHome]

Oh, brother. What is with people acting like Horner tested positive for steroids.This is a simple situation. He used corticosteroids and MPCC policies are designed to prevent riders from racing with an advantage from real or (as is often the case) phony TUEs.

The MPCC policies are a big contrast with those of Team Sky, which feels it is okay to race under the influence of PEDs. People wonder why Sky has refused to join the MPCC. This is why.

The iffy thing about this is that the MPCC has created a peloton a deux vitesses. It is hard to say competition is fair when some teams are able to race while using a variety of PEDs but other teams are not.

The alternative view is that it is wrong that some riders are having to chose between healthcare and racing because of the marketing group their team belongs to.

 

[Escarabajo]

But it won´t hold forever.
The lie is too big. Was it DiCanio who first spoke?
Anyway. More will come. Books been written. Anti-Doping agencies asking witnesses. History to repeat.
Not as big as LA, but this clown will fall and end up with nothing. The absurd Vuelta 2013 declared with no winner...

If he is nice, it will hold forever just like many have.

 

[Hugh Januss]

But it won´t hold forever.
The lie is too big. Was it DiCanio who first spoke?
Anyway. More will come. Books been written. Anti-Doping agencies asking witnesses. History to repeat.
Not as big as LA, but this clown will fall and end up with nothing. The absurd Vuelta 2013 declared with no winner...

Dude won one race, I give better odds that this happens to Froome or Nibali or Hesjedal sooner.

 

[RiccoDinko]

But it won´t hold forever.
The lie is too big. Was it DiCanio who first spoke?
Anyway. More will come. Books been written. Anti-Doping agencies asking witnesses. History to repeat.
Not as big as LA, but this clown will fall and end up with nothing. The absurd Vuelta 2013 declared with no winner...

He'll always be a champion.

 

[FoxxyBrown1111]

He'll always be a champion.

To some yes. Like LA is a champ to some... still.

 

[the delgados]

Seems to me Horner is the last guy to realize the party is over. He had to be politely escorted out after offering to buy a round for everyone.

 

[ciranda]

But he won the gt by destroying a stacked field in the mountains, and more importantly posted the second fastest time ever up L'Angliru, despite doing it on the final day (as opposed to 2nd week), not being pushed by competition, and being very relaxed and out of the saddle for the whole climb.

Just want to mention that he was pushed real hard by Nibali on Angliru.

Sad that Horner can't start, would have been fun.