Wiggo's comments on drugs doubters.

[Crackle]

To say Rodgers is over performing now is bollocks, he's a multiple world champion.

Yep, I've told myself the same thing. Logic doesn't always banish unease. Though I have to say today's stage certainly removed a lot of the doubts filling my mind.

 

[BJH]

So Kimmage is essentially peed off Wiggins because he wouldn't let him come on the tour as an embedded journo then

I don't think I would want him there either

So if Sky use anyone who has ever been near a pro team with any links to a team that dopes that's terrible? Yes it would be great if they didn't but sadly almost impossible to do

They have set out to deliver a British champion and hired the best riders in the world of which NONE have any doping convictions and now have the best team and best back up available

I guess it would be almost impossible to eliminate every single link to doping but you can only take a stance on the riders

For DSs that would be almost impossible to find look at who HTC used as sprint coach

But Garmin is ok despite having JV as team manager according to Kimmage?

The only point I accept in his piece is the anti LA point because it does seem like the riders are all scared to comment at the moment so Kimmage has a fair point on that

For the rest it's innuendo and bile from someone who's book I respect but who's attitude I have no time for he comes across as an arrogant pain in the butt who thinks it's his right to be in for the whole of the tour with sky or nothing else

He's bitter and the comments he makes in his book regarding fans and cyclists are disparaging to us all

 

[GrumpyGregry]

I have said numerous times that when a rider is given a win after the event or hears that another rider has doped and doesn't go ape s*** then I question them

Simple. They want to win it on the road, not in an office/courtroom.

 

[Chuffy]

Agreed on all counts. And Sky have just announced an investigation into Leinders. They've stressed that they know he is not involved in anything dubious for Sky (and he isn't involved with Sky at the TdF at all), but they are worried about 'reputational risk'. We'll see what they conclude.

Yeah. Which is a bit late really and would we be having this conversation if DB & co had done due diligence on Leinders in the first place? They're only investigating long after the Twitter bird has flown the coop. Not great.

 

[User482]

I wonder if leading athletes in other drug-tainted sports are subject to the same innuendo and questionning? For example, I make five of the last seven 100 metres olympic champions to be drugs cheats...what sort of treatment has Usain Bolt been given?

Not a rhetorical question, BTW.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I wonder if leading athletes in other drug-tainted sports are subject to the same innuendo and questionning? For example, I make five of the last seven 100 metres olympic champions to be drugs cheats...what sort of treatment has Usain Bolt been given?

Some have noted the lax nature of drug testing within Jamaican athletics, and even so there are quite a few athletes caught - 5 at the national champs in 2009, one of their top sprinters last year... but there certainly isn't the same level of attention paid by the media or fans as for cycling.

 

[User482]

Some have noted the lax nature of drug testing within Jamaican athletics, and even so there are quite a few athletes caught - 5 at the national champs in 2009, one of their top sprinters last year... but there certainly isn't the same level of attention paid by the media or fans as for cycling.

I only referred to Bolt because he's the current champion...it was more of a general point that I perceive there to be a higher level of suspicion aimed at a TdF champion than there is at a 100 metre champion. Yet the drugs records of the TdF and olympic 100 metres in the last 30 years are comparably awful.

 

[thom]

Bradley Wiggins: I can never dope because it would cost me everything

 

[Hont]

Just read that article. Kind of kills the thread really. :-)

 

[Hont]

Unless everyone wants to talk about Usain Bolt. It beats me how someone who runs 2 tenths faster than Ben Johnson is not treated as a complete joke.

For me cycling has a way to go but is addressing its issues, as Wiggins states in that article. So many other sports are not. Athletic sprinting being a very obvious example.

 

[Flying_Monkey]

I only referred to Bolt because he's the current champion...it was more of a general point that I perceive there to be a higher level of suspicion aimed at a TdF champion than there is at a 100 metre champion. Yet the drugs records of the TdF and olympic 100 metres in the last 30 years are comparably awful.

Absolutely, and if anything, athletics has a worse record.

 

[Red Light]

Not really, my point was that when asked simple and direct questions they tended to wriggle and take refuge in the old 'I've never tested positive' line of defence rather than tell an outright lie. Wiggy used to speak up very eloquently about being clean and being hugely pissed off by the impact that dopers were having on the sport, specifically in terms of the way that they screwed up the perception of cycling. That stance was very much appreciated by fans and Wiggy used to have a rep for being outspoken on doping. I think he's blown that now, which is a shame.

I can think of plenty of other athletes who used to speak eloquently about being clean. Until they were caught doping that is. What do you expect them to do? Speak eloquently about their doping regimes? Every cyclist in competition will profess being clean whether they are clean or not.

 

[lejogger]

Bradley Wiggins: I can never dope because it would cost me everything

Thought this was a really good piece.

 

[Chuffy]

Just read that article. Kind of kills the thread really. :-)

Good stuff and nice to hear. There's just enough in there for the #UKPostal twits to latch onto (after all, LA used the 'I'd never dope because of my medical history' line, which was a big hit with his fans) but also lots forWiggy's supporters. For people like me (mildy concerned sceptic but not a cynic) it's reassuring, I just hope he accepts that he needs to keep banging that drum.

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Good stuff and nice to hear. There's just enough in there for the #UKPostal twits to latch onto (after all, LA used the 'I'd never dope because of my medical history' line, which was a big hit with his fans) but also lots for Wiggy's supporters. For people like me (cheering quietly but still mildy concerned) it's reassuring, I just hope he accepts that he needs to keep banging that drum.

and then he will be accused of protesting too much?