Armstrong charged and banned

[Andrew_P]

Im actually past caring now !

As with a lot of sports if cycle racing had never gone proffesional, the problems wouldn't have arrisen.

I'll enjoy the racing for what it is, knowing full well the playing field will never be level and cheating still exsists.

Go to any hardcore Gym to see even non competitive people doping.... I can spot most sports people who have taken some form of Steroid or Growth enhancement I was naming Linford Christie long before the positive. In endurance sports they are much harder to spot because they need other types of enhancement..

 

[Alun]

Go to any hardcore Gym to see even non competitive people doping.... I can spot most sports people who have taken some form of Steroid or Growth enhancement I was naming Linford Christie long before the positive. In endurance sports they are much harder to spot because they need other types of enhancement..

I can't believe that it is only cycling that has dopers, there were a lot of non cyclists in Operation Puerto who were never identified. At least cycling is trying to address it's doping problem.

 

[lukesdad]

cyclists were 'enhancing' performance long before the sport went pro.

Ah! apparently there is cheating and there is CHEATING tho hence this thread

....have you not bothered to read the whole of the thread either ?

 

[yello]

Ah! apparently there is cheating and there is CHEATING tho hence this thread

Indeed. There is individual doping, there is encouraging/cajoling others to dope, and there is supplying the dope. Each ought be treated separately and punished accordingly. Armstrong's allegedly got a full house.

 

[smutchin]

Millar is now on the shortlist, are you sure Brailsford is trying to prevent him riding?

Brailsford has for a long time been actively campaigning for stronger penalties for confirmed dopers, and has publicly stated his support for the BOA's lifetime ban, so yes, he has indirectly tried to prevent Millar riding. However, he has also said:


"My job is to pick the fastest team, the best team that can win that race in London. It is not my job to decide if somebody is eligible or not... I will get shown a list of people who are eligible, then I will look at performance and decide who is most likely to get the result and I will pick them."

It's a win-win for Brailsford. If Millar's performances justify selection, then Brailsford can pick him with impunity without being seen to go against his strongly stated principles. He seems to take a pragmatic view. Nothing wrong with that. It's fine for Chris Hoy to say explicitly that he doesn't think Millar should be eligible but Hoy doesn't have the responsibility for picking the team that's widely expected to win gold. And Hoy obviously doesn't feel the need to be diplomatic about it either, the sanctimonious prig.

Imagine if Brailsford left an in-form Millar out of the team and GB didn't win the road race... No one would care much about his principles then. They still might not win the road race, but at least no one will be able to blame Brailsford for standing on his principles.

d.

 

[Alun]

Brailsford has for a long time been actively campaigning for stronger penalties for confirmed dopers, and has publicly stated his support for the BOA's lifetime ban, so yes, he has indirectly tried to prevent Millar riding. However, he has also said:


"My job is to pick the fastest team, the best team that can win that race in London. It is not my job to decide if somebody is eligible or not... I will get shown a list of people who are eligible, then I will look at performance and decide who is most likely to get the result and I will pick them."

It's a win-win for Brailsford. If Millar's performances justify selection, then Brailsford can pick him with impunity without being seen to go against his strongly stated principles. He seems to take a pragmatic view. Nothing wrong with that. It's fine for Chris Hoy to say explicitly that he doesn't think Millar should be eligible but Hoy doesn't have the responsibility for picking the team that's widely expected to win gold. And Hoy obviously doesn't feel the need to be diplomatic about it either, the sanctimonious prig.

Imagine if Brailsford left an in-form Millar out of the team and GB didn't win the road race... No one would care much about his principles then. They still might not win the road race, but at least no one will be able to blame Brailsford for standing on his principles.

d.

From what you said here, when Millar was already on the "long" list:

"From what Brailsford has been saying, they may still find a way to avoid selecting Millar anyway, so it was probably all a massive waste of time. "

I thought that you might have been suggesting that Brailsford was still trying to prevent Millar from riding for reason other than selecting the best team.

 

[smutchin]

I thought that you might have been suggesting that Brailsford was still trying to prevent Millar from riding for reason other than selecting the best team.

All I meant was that Brailsford could come up with a legitimate reason for leaving Millar out of the team if he really wanted to.

Competition for places is pretty fierce, after all, and selection for the cycling team is entirely discretionary. It's not like on the running track where it would be almost impossible for selectors to leave Dwain Chambers out if he ran inside the qualifying time (which he has so far failed to do anyway #schadenfreude). There is no "qualifying time" for road cycling.

d.

 

[yello]

Sorry, I've stumbled into the wrong thread. I thought this one was about the Lance Armstrong doping charges

Seriously guys, isn't there already a Millar/Olympics one?

 

[smutchin]

Sorry. <slaps own wrist>

d.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I can't believe that it is only cycling that has dopers, there were a lot of non cyclists in Operation Puerto who were never identified. At least cycling is trying to address it's doping problem.

I agree completely, which is exactly why it's imperative that Armstrong issue doesn't keep hanging over the sport. There were allegedly some top Spanish footballers and a leading young Spanish tennis player on the Puerto list. I think we all know who the latter was... although as there is no other evidence in his case apart from his bizarrely overdeveloped arm, we can't really name him.

 

[Noodley]

I think we all know who the latter was... although as there is no other evidence in his case apart from his bizarrely overdeveloped arm, we can't really name him.

Nadal, was it not?

 

[threebikesmcginty]

Ad break...

 

[Red Light]

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest/346046/tour-de-france-1999-2008.html Written in 2008 - Wouldn't look too good stripping out LA, but you could also argue that the crosed out ones 99 - 2005 is a little damning to LA, if he was clean his miracle storyline would be incredible..

Its interesting that doping seems to stop dead the moment LA stops competing - perhaps all those people doping while he was racing was because it was the only way to keep up with him. And if your theory is correct it means Cadel Evans must have doped to be up there with them too.

But you present an interesting option for WADA. The new rule is if you've won the race you must have doped. That should introduce a fascinating new game of strategy into competitive cycling. How far down the finishing order do you have to position yourself to be the first one left after all the ones in front have been eliminated for doping?

 

[rich p]

Its interesting that doping seems to stop dead the moment LA stops competing - perhaps all those people doping while he was racing was because it was the only way to keep up with him. And if your theory is correct it means Cadel Evans must have doped to be up there with them too.

But you present an interesting option for WADA. The new rule is if you've won the race you must have doped. That should introduce a fascinating new game of strategy into competitive cycling. How far down the finishing order do you have to position yourself to be the first one left after all the ones in front have been eliminated for doping?

Do you actually follow pro cycling? You seem to know very little about it if you don't know of the cyclists that have been nailed since Armstrong retired.

 

[Red Light]

Do you actually follow pro cycling? You seem to know very little about it if you don't know of the cyclists that have been nailed since Armstrong retired.

Did you read the article that was linked? Thought not!