BTW, wth is 'snarking'?Do you need a partner and some flavored fluids?
| Partner and flavored fluids: | optional |
| Targets, big and small: | mandatory. |
Posted on 07/24/2007 10:01:18 AM PDT by NittanyLion
The Tour de France was rocked by news that Astana's battered team leader, Alexandre Vinokourov, tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion after Saturday's time trial in Albi. L'Equipe reported on Tuesday afternoon that the Kazakh's blood had shown evidence of a transfusion from another person with a compatible blood type in an analysis done in the Châtenay-Malabry laboratory. The positive test was later confirmed by the Astana team.
Upon receiving the news, the Astana team suspended Vinokourov and quit the Tour de France, according to a statement which read, "According to the ethical code of the Astana Cycling Team, Alexandre Vinokourov has been suspended of the team with immediate effect. The rider asked nevertheless [for] a B-analysis. Informed by the Astana management, the organisers of the Tour de France invited the team to withdraw, [and] was immediately accepted."
(Excerpt) Read more at cyclingnews.com ...
Where is that kid on the Simpson’s that says, “Ha, Ha!”
I suppose this goes to show that unexpected performances are a good indicator of doping. Vino performed fantastically one day, terrible the next, and is great on the third day. Very suspicious...and now confirmed by at least the “A” sample test.
Well, so much for the “good conduct” oath the riders had to sign before this year’s tour.
The shock felt nowhere around the world...
Yep...and while there's no hard evidence (yet), there's a pretty good circumstantial case against Rasmussen as well.
I tend to agree. After the last three days I was immediately suspicious. While people like to attribute wild swings in performance to "heart", "guts", and "determination", my personal experience is that long aerobic workouts are determined to a far greater extent by physiology than emotions.
BTW, wth is 'snarking'?
Do you need a partner and some flavored fluids?
;-)
Gee whiz, you’d think these guys would have more sense than to test the powers that be especially since all riders had to sign a pledge they would not cheat and would forfeit their annual salaries if caught.
I did have suspicions yesterday after seeing Vinokourov rebound to win yesterday’s stage after he cracked so badly in stage 14. It looked just like what Landis did in last years TDF.
The Versus channel was running yesterday’s stage on the tube today but I just noticed they switched to showing the earlier time trials. Damage control?
Just a note that I screwed up the date. This news is from today - not 7/22. Apologies for the error.
I saw this coming after watching his wild performance swings. A shame, he had a brass set to ride after getting torn up like he did................
Supposedly the failed test was from the doping control after the ITT, so maybe they're showing it again due to greater interest...
He was very smooth in the ITT and yesterday he looked like he was getting the rage out of his system for screwing up the previous stage. I wondered if he had over cooked himself the day before he lost all that time. Shame.
Could well be the case. After all of these cheating incidents, I hope Versus doesn’t decide to drop the TDF next year. I’m not a cyclist but have come to really like the sport.
Ping
Didn’t Astana just agree to fund the team for the next ten years because they were ecstatic with the team’s showing so far in the TDF? I bet they are PO’ed to the max now.
BTW, wth is 'snarking'?Do you need a partner and some flavored fluids?
| Partner and flavored fluids: | optional |
| Targets, big and small: | mandatory. |
Yes, Astana’s sponsors had just agreed to a 10-year deal.
Re: your comment about “sophisticated masking techniques”. I was thinking just after learning about Vinokourov today that those who are inclined to cheat surely must have learned from Landis’s mistake last year. I presume they learned to apply the testosterone patch in a different place or for a shorter time or made it smaller or something else to raise the T level but to just below the testing threshold. Vinokourov must be the exception.
I have to admit a certain amount of naivete’ with respect to cycling and the methods used to enhance performance so I’ve a lot to learn about the sport. Still, it is a major disappointment to see how pervasive it apparently is. It is as you say, the teen ager’s lament, “Gee, Mom, everybody else is doing it” but the rest of that answer is, “well, if everybody else is going to jump off the bridge, are you planning to as well”?
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