Tour de France 2007 thread (3 Viewers)

[rettucs]

yeah saw that, its fucking nuts. So is that 3 teams out of the tour ? Is this the last year of this shite ? I though that the whole landis/basso might has gone some way to resolving this but it seems it hasnt. The only hope is that the younger riders are coming through the sport clean and the rest are slowly being found out!

FUUUUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKKk

Fuck you rasmussen you pasty, long-legged, gangley fucking prick. If he had walked when the danish shit first started, it wouldn't have looked half as bad.

Rabbo and Cofidis aren't pulling their teams. Just kicking out the cheats, which is only right and proper.

 

[rettucs]

ok I'm wrong, Cofidis are gone, and Rabbo have been given the option to start today's stage or not. I'm guessing they won't.

 

[nofriendo]

rabbo have told their riders thats its their choice whether to start or not! There was a great photo in the paper today of the start of stage 16. Basically had rasmussen starting off while all the other riders had their sit down. Reading an interview with Kloden and kind of feel sorry for him (as long as he is not implicated), after all this he would possible have been in third with the tt coming up. Whether contador is clean or not at least the winner of the tour will not have a cloud over their head. It would have been awful after all that happened for rasmussen to win the tour, it would have seemed like a victory for the cheats!

 

[rettucs]

rabbos are continuing.

I'd say everyone just wants this to be over now, which is shit. This is one of the sporting highlights of the whole year. It shouldn't be that way.

 

[snap-apple]

One thing hasn't really been talked about much recently. If, as it seems pretty obvious now, alot of the top riders were doping in the 90's and 00's and yet Armstrong still wiped the floor with them... Well, either he's one of the greatest sportsmen in history or, more likely, he was drugged to the gills.

 

[Unicron]

At this point when everyone reckons they're all doping is the crime the fact that they're doping or the fact that they get caught?

 

[magicbastarder]

Well, either he's one of the greatest sportsmen in history or, more likely, he was drugged to the gills.

and managed not to get caught the way the other guys were, despite (reportedly) being the most drug-tested sportsman in history.

 

[nofriendo]

menchov has just dropped out!

 

[shitepipe]

paddy power are refunding all losing bets....

[FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]following the removal of both Michael Rasmussen and Alexandre Vinokourov from the Tour De France, plus at least two entire teams, Paddy Power has decided to suspend outright betting on the event.

We also believe it is unfair for our customers to place bets on an event that is not contested on a level playing field. For this reason we will be refunding all losing outright bets on the winner of the Tour De France after the conclusion of the race . Obviously we will also pay out on the winner himself - if there is anybody left when they get to Paris.

If you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact our customer service team using the details below. [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Helvetica] [/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Helvetica]
Kind regards,

The Team At Paddy Power [/FONT]

 

[nofriendo]

well as long as they pay me when contador wins !

 

[flashback]

Well, either he's one of the greatest sportsmen in history or, more likely, he was drugged to the gills.

As I see it, Armstrong was either an unbelievably good rider, or an unbelievably good rider who was doped and managed to never get caught.


I would also say, that if he did anything, it was blood doping, and he wasn't sloppy with it like a few lads. I dont really think he was injecting anything more than his own blood into himself, along with the usual vits and stuff.

However, I still think he was an amazing rider. I mean... I still think its an amazing sport, with great athletes. Even Rasmussen, he is a great rider. He just fucked up it looks like. People can fuck up. And, they are getting caught. I still think teams have to take more responsibility.


I just want next years Tour to be ok.
Things look pretty bad right now though.

 

[rettucs]

One thing hasn't really been talked about much recently. If, as it seems pretty obvious now, alot of the top riders were doping in the 90's and 00's and yet Armstrong still wiped the floor with them... Well, either he's one of the greatest sportsmen in history or, more likely, he was drugged to the gills.

everyone talks about this, always. People have based their entire journalistic careers on trying to out Armstrong (Ballester, Walsh). They won't rest until they have him.

Just that now the spotlight has shifted from Armstrong to this new batch of cheats. I'm sure Lance is smiling away to himself in his little spider hole in Texas.

 

[rettucs]

well as long as they pay me when contador wins !

'If' Contador wins, which he should, they'll pay out. But, just in case, like all the people who bet on Landis last year, cash in straight away. Remember, Contador was implicated in the Puerto scandal, so theres no guarentees that there won't be more twists to this tale.

 

[rettucs]

As I see it, Armstrong was either an unbelievably good rider, or an unbelievably good rider who was doped and managed to never get caught.


I would also say, that if he did anything, it was blood doping, and he wasn't sloppy with it like a few lads. I dont really think he was injecting anything more than his own blood into himself, along with the usual vits and stuff.

However, I still think he was an amazing rider. I mean... I still think its an amazing sport, with great athletes. Even Rasmussen, he is a great rider. He just fucked up it looks like. People can fuck up. And, they are getting caught. I still think teams have to take more responsibility.


I just want next years Tour to be ok.
Things look pretty bad right now though.

yep, agree with all of this. Armstrong wasn't playing straight, but he was still the most talented rider out there by far. Even early in his career he was a great rider, just great in a different sort of way. He was indisciplined and lacked the tactical guile to be a grand tour contender. Coming back as a mature, leaner rider after his cancer battle, that all changed and he became the rider everyone identifies with.

Discovery are a dodgy outfit. I lost a lot of respect for them when they signed Basso. There won't be a Discovery next year, and it'll be interesting if someone steps in and takes up the reigns, especially considering they'll likely have the Tour champion in their ranks.

Given that Rasmussen isn't actually suspended from riding and that his sacking came about from his lying to his team management, theres nothing stopping another team from signing him. I wouldn't have put it past Discovery to be the ones to do it.

 

[magicbastarder]

there's an article in the current issue of new scientist about endurance athletes; there's a lot of discussion of armstrong, going into the usual stuff like his VO2max, but also stuff i hadn't heard before, such as the fact that his body produces less lactic acid, and that the loss of his testicle could have influenced his metabolism in such a way as to increase his stamina.

 

[flashback]

So, I just had a discussion over lunch about this with a lad who rode track and road in the Olympics.
Basically, my point was, and he agreed, that humans are very variable.
I was not a good rider, by Irish amateur standards, but I was able to do one thing that lots of people said was impossible, and that was ride hard inside my anaerobic zone, at a pulse of 190 - 200, for 90 mins, or longer even.
I would ride out entire TTs usually completely anaerobically.
I always felt guilty about it, since if I was a better rider I wouldnt need to go there, but once I was out on the TT course, it was a case of fuck it, no one is watching my heart rate now, lets go.

Everybody I talked to completely agreed this wasn't doable, so I kept quiet about it and mentioned it to no one.

Like, my point is, that humans vary from individual hugely. Maybe it was to do with his ball, or christ knows what, maybe he produced less lactate, or dealt with it better, but categorically there are differences.
There is no harm in speculating what those differences are, but then when some sports phys guy comes along, and says "X" is not possible without doping or whatever, thats where I get really skeptical. I know I was not doping, and I know I was breaking their rules.

 

[IFF]

think if these thingswith sinkewitz, vinokourov, moreni and rasmuseen went on without us finding out, people wouldn't be over reacting about death of cycling

is it a case of see no evil, hear no evil

also, does anytone think that maybe the blood sample which had the 2 types of blood in it of the cheat vinokourov's cxould be dna tested to find the donor?

 

[rettucs]

there's an article in the current issue of new scientist about endurance athletes; there's a lot of discussion of armstrong, going into the usual stuff like his VO2max, but also stuff i hadn't heard before, such as the fact that his body produces less lactic acid, and that the loss of his testicle could have influenced his metabolism in such a way as to increase his stamina.

he had an abnormally large lung capacity too. Which meant he could process oxygen faster than your average mortal.

 

[magicbastarder]

National teams may return to Le Tour

http://www.rte.ie/sport/cycling/2007/0730/tourdefrance.html

btw, if you lose a spoke, how much extra danger is there of buckling a wheel? a spoke broke today, and i don't know if i was imagining it, but the back of the bike felt a bit more wallowy after.

 

[IFF]

brailsford , the manager of the britain team is going on about how he think they should be one of the national teams

i think he should be tested too