11/05/24
May 25, 2007
1996 Tour de France winner admits to doping: - "His admission Friday means the top three finishers in the 1996 Tour have all been linked to doping — and two have admitted cheating."
posted by mr_crash_davis to other at 11:38 PM - 15 comments
Its my understanding that Riis can keep his title as Tour champ because it happended 11 years ago.I commend him for coming clean and offering to turn in his jersey.However the damage has been done long before this.The sport is in serious decline.Many teams and races are being cancelled because sponsors are pulling out.No one seems to know what to do.
posted by sickleguy at 08:56 AM on May 26, 2007
If Landis loses his title, Riis must lose his too, plain and simple. The bottom line is, if you spend everyday riding a bike 100 to 150 miles, you don't need performance enhancing drugs, you need your fucking head examined!
posted by MGDADDYO at 09:48 AM on May 26, 2007
Now that Riis and other a number of his fellow Telekom teamates have admitted to doping during mid 90's, it seems almost certain that Ullrich was doping as well when he won in 1997. It will interesting to see if he comes forward with a similar admission. While it is rewarding to see someone of Riis's stature come forward and admit to doping, I have a hard time giving him an accolades. After all, he's been lying to media, sponsors, fans, and his CSC team for the last 11 years. I'd have been more convinced of his sincerity if he returned his winners jersey and trophy and asked to have his name removed as the official winner of the 1996 Tour. And while everyone is saying cycling is dirty, keep one thing in mind. There were over 150 athletes linked to Operacion Puerto. Only 42 of them were cyclists. Who are the others? Are their sports investigating and trying to clean up their problems? Fact is there are a lot of other sports with similar or worse doping problems than professional cycling. Cycling gets the bulk of negative press because they are trying to do something about it.
posted by BikeNut at 09:51 AM on May 26, 2007
WADA have a limitation of 8 years, so Riis' title is safe. Zabel too, only admitted to doping for one week in '96, so I doubt he will be banned.
posted by afx237vi at 10:58 AM on May 26, 2007
The bottom line is, if you spend everyday riding a bike 100 to 150 miles, you don't need performance enhancing drugs, you need your fucking head examined! mgdaddyo, why even bother posting on a topic when you don't like the sport? I'm with BikeNut, too more emphasis is on cycling because they are trying to do something about the drugs. It should be obvious to everyone that every sport has some involvement.
posted by dviking at 11:49 AM on May 26, 2007
mgdaddyo, why even bother posting on a topic when you don't like the sport? I think mgdaddyo was just being facetious.
posted by NoMich at 12:37 PM on May 26, 2007
Ahh dviking, but I DO like biking. I've got 36,000 miles on my classic Eddie Merckx and although I don't anymore, I raced for years. I stopped riding after I got tired of dealing with self centered little pukes in the bike clubs who had nothing else in their lives but riding their bikes and thinking they were junior Lance Armstrong's. The rest of you non bikers know the type, you're driving down the road and come up to a group riding three wide, and God forbid! they ever consider sharing the road and dropping back into single file. You possessed bike heads need to get off your bikes once in a while, find a girl friend or boy friend, and join the pelleton of life. I still take the Merckx out for a spin a couple of times a week, and it still makes me laugh when one of you guys put all his effort into catching and dropping me. Believe me, it's not as important as you think it is.
posted by MGDADDYO at 03:16 PM on May 26, 2007
mgdaddyo, every sport has their assholes. Weekend warriors that think they're hot shit. Golfers that take three minutes lining up each putt when they shoot 105 for the round, softball players that take the catcher out instead of sliding into home during a meaningless league game..we've all seen that. Personally, my biking is more of the 20 mile variety, I do the occassional sport triathlon, and that is all the biking I need to do. All my training runs are done on dedicated bike trails, so I don't have to worry about you running me off the road! BTW, I never ride in the peloton, as I've seen far too many accidents. If I get in that situation I will drop back a second or two. Of course, that's easy for me as my main goal is finishing, not winning. Lastly, my wife says I can't go find a girlfriend regardless of what you say! Damn woman!
posted by dviking at 06:23 PM on May 26, 2007
Dviking, You're right on the money man, I agree with everything you say. You have to admit, when you hear how Landis talks in his trial and leading up to his trial, it makes you think of the biggest bike dick you've ever ridden with. Now, with Riis coming clean, it just reeks of still another case of all about me. And then, afx237vi tells us the WADA has an 8 year limitation? What kind of bullshit is that? Guilty is guilty. Now, 8 years from now, or 100 years from now. You sound like you have your shit together, good for you. I was worried I was dealing with your typical Neo Nazi bike club drone. Although I'm new here, you will find more than often I'll throw some basic bullshit out, just to stir the pot...., sometimes it will even be total bullshit. This is the net, don't take anything too seriously here. P.S. tell your wife to loosen up a little!
posted by MGDADDYO at 09:18 PM on May 26, 2007
In WADA's defense, perhaps they've enacted the 8 year limitation to encourage more cyclists to come clean. This is a process, the more cyclists from 9+ years ago that come clean, the harder it will be for more recent dopers to ridiculously maintain their innocence, like Landis is doing. Perhaps when it becomes clear that all of the top cyclists (my eyes turn to Texas) are doping, something I firmly believe, the whole thing will finally come crashing down and the sport will be able to clean itself up once and for all. But probably not.
posted by sic at 05:45 AM on May 27, 2007
Paul Kimmage, an ex pro himself, has written an interesting article on it.
posted by Fat Buddha at 04:30 AM on May 28, 2007
Thanks for the article Fat Buddha. Armstrong's actions against Simeoni speak volumes. Why would he be so upset about him breaking the code of silence if he himself wasn't part of the dirty element?
posted by sic at 09:03 AM on May 28, 2007
The dig at Sean Kelly is a little below the belt. It's widely known that Kelly* doped, but that was 30 years ago when doping was endemic and tests amateur, to say the least. It was an accepted part of the sport. Things have changed since then. *In the book "Breaking the Chain", disgraced Festina soigneur Willy Voet tells a story about how Kelly tried to beat a urine test by taking a syringe of his mechanic's piss into the testing room. The problem? Cycling mechanics work long, long hours, and Kelly failed the test because his mechanic had been necking amphetamines to keep him going through the night. Kelly got a 30 day ban. Kimmage is a bitter, bitter man, though. He absolutely hates cycling and cyclists, and by his own admission would rather cover golf. I doubt he's ever written a cycling article about anything other than how cyclists are all dirty, cheating scumbags.
posted by afx237vi at 09:33 AM on May 28, 2007
I'm sure I have seen some complimentary articles on cyclists by Kimmage, I might be wrong though. I thought you were going to say, apropos Kelly switching urine, " the good news is that he is drug free, the bad news is he is pregnant!"
posted by Fat Buddha at 01:23 PM on May 28, 2007
I never quite know how to feel in cases like this. Part of it is "Good for them for coming clean", and the other part is "Cheating bastards, I hope they burn." And I don't even give a shit about cycling. I do, however, give a BIG shit about sports, and any time this shit happens it tarnishes sport in general I think.