Retesting
As most of you know by now, the AFLD is currently retesting inconclusive tests stemming from the Tour this summer. Currently Ricco', Piepoli and Schumacher have been caught with their pants down. Prudhomme says that several tests are ongoing, and that he expects at least one or two of them to come back positive. Comments like that makes everyone wonder who those guys might be. I'm no exception. F Schleck springs to mind naturally, we all know he's been up to some dodgy things the last few years. Ah, yes, of course, I totally forgot, he paid 7000 euros for advice on his training, not doping. That's the way it is I guess, everyone pays that kind of money to just talk with a guy. Never mind he's a gyneocologist. Sorry Fränck, I'm not buying it. I'm not buying it at all... But okay, Schleck aside. Of course, I really hope they get Valverde, Evans and those guys, but I don't think they will. I don't think any Euskaltel riders will be caught either, but you never know. There's no denying that doping has been rife at Euskaltel, just like at any other team the last decade, so I can't say I'm completely relaxed. Though, there are more and more clean riders on Euskaltel these days, so at least there's a light in the end of the tunnel. I hear Valjavec of Ag2r has returned some suspicious doping tests, and these tests are allegedly being retested as I speak, but I'm not convinced. Every cycling-related webiste on the net come up with their own names, so it's hard to know who to trust. Yesterday I read that three CSC riders are having their blood tested for CERA, but, then again, they're purely rumours. I'd love to hear your views on this whole thing.
5 comments:
¿My vision? As you, I'm not completely relaxed. I think that Euskaltel rider are out of this movement, but you never know all the variables. I haven't seen any exhibition from an Euskaltel rider (like Saunier's exhibitions, Schumacher's exhibitions, or Sella's exhibitions) and I think that they know that this is more than a normal team and all that it means. I prefer to think about Paris-Tours with Koldo and Lombardia with Samu.
Laiseka
As you, I hope they nail Valverde once and for all. Other than him, I don't really have any other riders that I feel 100% sure is doped. But I'm glad they got Schumacher, I think everybody knew there was something fishy about him...
7000€ would only have bought Schleck one pill from Fuentes. And there is no concrete evidence of Valverde doping any more than anyone else. Please don't point the finger until you have real evidence.
I can't say for sure that Valverde was doped in 2008 for example, but I feel VERY confident that he was involved in Operation Fuentes. How he managed to go free is a mystery to me, but I suspect it has something to do with the lame anti doping handling by the Spanish cycling federation. In Italy and Germany they crushed their biggest stars to dust, in Spain they just let him go, a disaster... Who else can "Valv 18" be??? It's so obvious...
Valverde is not doped anymore, I am sure of that.
Rumours are going on Sastre, Voigt, Arvesen, O'Grady, F. Schleck and Cancellara of CSC and indeed Valjavec and some vague rumours about Efimkin of AG2R. Another rider of Gerolsteiner (Kohl?) is suspicious too.
And of course the 30 new blood transfusion riders have to be caught yet.
It must all come from Armstrong, so that he has no competitors left :D
Btw it would be a pity if Schleck was really doped. I mean, 7000 is not that big an amount in cycling. He could be right. He could have joined Basso in going to Fuentes, but only for advices indeed. And if he took advices of Fuentes for a year, 7000 would be a fair price indeed. Schleck just doesn't look as a doped rider, like Valverde did some years ago, like Ricco did, like Sella and Schumacher did. It is one of the last top riders which I really like actually (out of Euskaltel that is). Another rider I really love is Leipheimer (Cannot do anything about it, but he is a good guy) and next year also Armstrong.
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