Blood passports: Finally

Chips Lovell

Looks like we're at last going to see some results from the blood passports programme. I'd be very interested to see just how many people are named.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Looks like we're at last going to see some results from the blood passports programme. I'd be very interested to see just how many people are named.

It'll be interesting to see indeed. Wonder if there'll be any (or many!) from Garmin and Columbia?

Junior

Strange how it's down to the teams to punish the riders, do the UCI not feel the evidence is strong enough to ban them ?

Chips Lovell

Junior wrote: »

Strange how it's down to the teams to punish the riders, do the UCI not feel the evidence is strong enough to ban them ?

That refers to provisional suspensions, i.e. the time between when the positive is announced and disciplinary proceedings end.

lukester

Interesting regarding LeMond's comments how Trek/LA's approach is to go on the attack, at the slightest whiff of criticism. Nothing new there, but all LeMond has pointed out is common knowledge regarding Ferrari.

alfalad

lukester wrote: »

Interesting regarding LeMond's comments how Trek/LA's approach is to go on the attack, at the slightest whiff of criticism. Nothing new there, but all LeMond has pointed out is common knowledge regarding Ferrari.

I must ask him about it so when he is over in two weeks to do a charity cycle in Clare/Limerick that i'm doing!
If i do some research on it i may even be able to have a conversation with him without him knowing I haven't a clue!!

petethedrummer

alfalad wrote: »

I must ask him about it so when he is over in two weeks to do a charity cycle in Clare/Limerick that i'm doing!
If i do some research on it i may even be able to have a conversation with him without him knowing I haven't a clue!!

LEMOND?????? What cycle is this?

alfalad

petethedrummer wrote: »

LEMOND?????? What cycle is this?

http://www.bdo-getback.com/

He did it last year as well. He has a similiar charity in the states as well as far as i know and hence was glad to help. Sean Kelly did it last year as well, but not this year as far as i know!

petethedrummer

Tremendous, I'm gonna make my way down to this. I'm a bit of a Lemond fan-boy.

alfalad

petethedrummer wrote: »

Tremendous, I'm gonna make my way down to this. I'm a bit of a Lemond fan-boy.

I'm sure you can still enter if you fancy raising a bit of money. I have a professional photo form last year taken with him and Kelly. Was cycling with Kelly for the last 15km of it last year and was good laugh. Lemond will do a speech after as well at the BBQ and spends ages chatting to people!

Chips Lovell

The more I think about this, the more I reckon it will be second tier riders that are going to get busted. I've a suspicion that the top guys can afford the best doctors, who'll make sure nothing odd shows up on their blood profiles.

alfalad wrote: »

Lemond will do a speech after as well at the BBQ and spends ages chatting to people!

I'd say Greg has been tucking into the barbeques more than Sean over the past few years.

Junior

el tonto wrote: »

I'd say Greg has been tucking into the barbeques more than Sean over the past few years.

I'd say Greg and Stephen Roche have been tucking into a fair few bbq's together considering the size of the two of them..

Chips Lovell

Junior wrote: »

I'd say Greg and Stephen Roche have been tucking into a fair few bbq's together considering the size of the two of them..

Still, neither has approached Merckxian girth just yet

lukester

el tonto wrote: »

Still, neither has approached Merckxian girth just yet

He certainly is king of the gourmands.

Chips Lovell

lukester wrote: »

He certainly is king of the gourmands.

The cannibal.

alfalad

el tonto wrote: »

I'd say Greg has been tucking into the barbeques more than Sean over the past few years.

Well he certainly a far bigger version of his once self!!

Junior

Doping: Bernhard Kohl to sue L'Equipe, claims he was misquoted in interview, never referred to "top 10 riders in the TDF" via @cyclingfans

Chips Lovell

15 names being announced tomorrow. At this stage, I'll believe it when I see it.

lukester

el tonto wrote: »

15 names being announced tomorrow. At this stage, I'll believe it when I see it.

They certainly are dragging it out.

Monday, no wait- Tuesday. I mean Wednesday. Erm, can we get back to you?

RobFowl

el tonto wrote: »

15 names being announced tomorrow. At this stage, I'll believe it when I see it.

Expect a number of withdrawals from the tour as a result of "knee injuries" :rolleyes:

petethedrummer

Yes this really is getting annoying, JUST BLOODY NAME THEM!!!!!

RobFowl

Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta states that Denis Mencov, Ivan Basso, Franco Pellizotti and (already caught) Antonio Colom are on the list of riders with suspected blood values
(saw this on the cyclingnews forum)

TinyExplosions

petethedrummer wrote: »

Yes this really is getting annoying, JUST BLOODY NAME THEM!!!!!

Fine then:

1. Alberto Contador
2. Alejandro Valverde
3. Christian Vandevelde
4. Jens Voight
5. Fabian Cancellara
6. Frank Schleck
7. Tom Boonen
8. Heinrich Haussler
9. Damiano Cunego
10. Denis Menchov
11. Lance Armstrong
12. Danilo DiLuca
13. Ivan Basso
14. Yaroslav Popovich
15. Levi Leipheimer

-please note, this is not an actual list...

Chips Lovell

RobFowl wrote: »

Russian newspaper Nezavisimaya Gazeta states that Denis Mencov, Ivan Basso, Franco Pellizotti and (already caught) Antonio Colom are on the list of riders with suspected blood values
(saw this on the cyclingnews forum)

Saw that alright. Very interesting if true, but I'd be wary about the Russian press.

RobFowl

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Fine then:

1. Alberto Contador
2. Alejandro Valverde
3. Christian Vandevelde
4. Jens Voight
5. Fabian Cancellara
6. Frank Schleck
7. Tom Boonen
8. Heinrich Haussler
9. Damiano Cunego
10. Denis Menchov
11. Tiny Explosions
12. Danilo DiLuca
13. Ivan Basso
14. Yaroslav Popovich
15. Levi Leipheimer

-please note, this is not an actual list...

Fixed it

Funkyzeit

RobFowl wrote: »

states that Denis Mencov,)

Wasn't there some report/rumour about Menchov in the last couple of months. I vaguely remember Harmon and Kelly talking about it during the Giro ?

RobFowl

Funkyzeit wrote: »

Wasn't there some report/rumour about Menchov in the last couple of months. I vaguely remember Harmon and Kelly talking about it during the Giro ?

He's rumoured to have links with the haemotransfusion clinic in Germany (same one Kloden is supposed to have attended)

Chips Lovell

RobFowl wrote: »

He's rumoured to have links with the haemotransfusion clinic in Germany (same one Kloden is supposed to have attended)

Actually Menchov's rumour was in relation to Humanplasma in Austria. Kloeden was linked to the Freiburg Clinic in Germany. (I'm such a doping nerd).

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Actually Menchov's rumour was in relation to Humanplasma in Austria. Kloeden was linked to the Freiburg Clinic in Germany. (I'm such a doping nerd).

fyp

RobFowl

el tonto wrote: »

Actually Menchov's rumour was in relation to Humanplasma in Austria. Kloeden was linked to the Freiburg Clinic in Germany. (I'm such a doping nerd).

Must set one up here , anytakers !!!
you'll be flying on the boards spins.
Might even do a special rate for the next kipure TT

RobFowl

Finally
http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails.asp?id=NjM5OA&MenuId=MTYxNw&LangId=1&BackLink=%2FTemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI5%2Flayout.asp%3FMenuID%3DMTYxNw%26LangId%3D1
Following the announcement made by UCI President Pat McQuaid in Paris on 10 June, and after having informed all the parties concerned (riders, National Federations, teams, National Anti-Doping Organisations and the World Anti-Doping Agency), the International Cycling Union announces that disciplinary procedures have been requested against the following riders for apparent violation of the Anti-Doping Rules on the basis of the information provided by the blood profile in their biological passports:

• Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (ESP)
• Pietro Caucchioli (ITA)
• Francesco De Bonis (ITA)
• Ruben Lobato Elvira (ESP)
• Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (ESP)

The UCI emphasises that these proceedings are being initiated as a result of the recommendations of the independent experts appointed when the biological passport programme was launched.

Since the introduction of this new programme, the regular analysis of individual profiles has not only led to the proceedings described above, but has also confirmed the result of sample analysis for riders who have tested positive for prohibited substances such as EPO and CERA and has allowed increasingly effective targeting of riders for out-of-competition anti-doping controls.

However, an assessment of the first year of the era of the biological passport would not be complete without mentioning the very encouraging fact that the overall analysis of the individual profiles of some 840 riders in the programme shows that a very large majority of their profiles do not display any anomalies.

The UCI is confident that the information obtained from the new approach, based on the indirect detection of doping practices, will greatly reduce the possibility of that cheating in the future by any athlete who decides to disrespect the rules of the sport remains undetected.

Furthermore, the UCI is aware that today's announcement is a very important step in the battle against doping. The UCI is proud, once more, to be the pioneering international federation in this field. After the introduction of blood tests in 1997 and the EPO detection test in 2001, it is now through the biological passport that the UCI is confronting the scourge of doping.

Although times are still difficult, this new step in anti-doping represents the dawn of a new future for cycling and sport in general. With this in mind, the UCI congratulates those who provided the inspiration for this groundbreaking initiative and also thanks all parties who have contributed to developing the biological passport (teams, organisers, riders and associations as well as scientific and sporting bodies) and who still offer their full and continuing support.

Each rider mentioned above shall be accorded the right to the presumption of innocence until a final decision has been made on this matter. Under the World Anti-Doping Code and the UCI Anti-Doping Rules, the UCI is unable to provide any additional information at this time.



UCI Press Service

zzzzzzzz

RobFowl wrote: »

• Igor Astarloa Ascasibar (ESP)
• Pietro Caucchioli (ITA)
• Francesco De Bonis (ITA)
• Ruben Lobato Elvira (ESP)
• Ricardo Serrano Gonzalez (ESP)

Who?

Junior

Names have been named, apparently. Astarloa, R Serrano, Caucchioli, De Bonis and Lobato

http://twitter.com/cyclesportmag/

lukester

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Who?

Thinking exactly the same. And that this is either just a UCI PR stunt, or that they trimmed the list.

Chips Lovell

Very much a damp squib. Milram let Astarloa go last year because of "irregular blood values". Lobato doesn't even have a team this year. Caucchioli's been laregly anonymous in recent years.

Chips Lovell

aidan.offbeat wrote: »

Who?

Astarloa is a former world champion. But he's done shag all in recent years.

Chips Lovell

Anyway, suspicions confirmed.

el tonto wrote: »

The more I think about this, the more I reckon it will be second tier riders that are going to get busted. I've a suspicion that the top guys can afford the best doctors, who'll make sure nothing odd shows up on their blood profiles.

TinyExplosions

el tonto wrote: »

Anyway, suspicions confirmed.

You should think of a career in this sorta thing

ednwireland

woohoo everyones clean :rolleyes:

Zipp101

TinyExplosions wrote: »

Fine then:

1. Alberto Contador
2. Alejandro Valverde
3. Christian Vandevelde
4. Jens Voight
5. Fabian Cancellara
6. Frank Schleck
7. Tom Boonen
8. Heinrich Haussler
9. Damiano Cunego
10. Denis Menchov
11. Lance Armstrong
12. Danilo DiLuca
13. Ivan Basso
14. Yaroslav Popovich
15. Levi Leipheimer

-please note, this is not an actual list...

I would have agreed with you 2 or 3 years ago but a lot of these guys have had close shaves in the past and are under a lot of pressure both from media and testing systems.IMO the list will be full of middle-of-the pack chancers who wouldn't neccessarily be under such intense scrutiny.Wouldn't be surprised if it looked something slightly more like this(roughly..maybe):

1.Rinaldo Nocentini
2.Tony Martin
3.Luis Leon Sanchez
4.Vladimer Efimkin
5.Tadev Valjavec
6.Thomas Dekker
7.Nicholas Roche
8.Simon Gerrans
9.Tyler Farrar
10.Pippo Pozzato
11.Yauheni Hutarovich
12.Martin Maaskant
13.Robert Forster
14.Laurens Ten Dam
15.Random Euskatel rider(there is plenty of those)

zzzzzzzz

el tonto wrote: »

Astarloa is a former world champion. But he's done shag all in recent years.

I know that alright, but he's not even on a pro tour team this year...

RobFowl

el tonto wrote: »

The more I think about this, the more I reckon it will be second tier riders that are going to get busted. I've a suspicion that the top guys can afford the best doctors, who'll make sure nothing odd shows up on their blood profiles.

Looks to be true unfortunately. 2 absolute nobodies, 2 has beens and a middling rider.

Trojan

I don't know if this was mentioned earlier but don't want a new thread for it.

I'm really sad to see Hamilton has retired. Call me naive but I always had time for the guy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jun/16/tyler-hamilton-drug-ban

Chips Lovell

RobFowl wrote: »

Looks to be true unfortunately. 2 absolute nobodies, 2 has beens and a middling rider.

Yep, and what really gets to me is that we're no doubt going to be told that we will have the cleanest Tour de France in years because the Blood Passport works and all the cheaters have been caught. It works... a bit... but anyone who knows the sport isn't being fooled.

Chips Lovell

Trojan wrote: »

I don't know if this was mentioned earlier but don't want a new thread for it.

I'm really sad to see Hamilton has retired. Call me naive but I always had time for the guy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jun/16/tyler-hamilton-drug-ban

Gutsty rider, yes. But probably the world's stupidest doper.

RobFowl

Trojan wrote: »

I don't know if this was mentioned earlier but don't want a new thread for it.

I'm really sad to see Hamilton has retired. Call me naive but I always had time for the guy.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2009/jun/16/tyler-hamilton-drug-ban

He's unfortunate this time but there's a bit of payback for all the legal crap he set off after been caught blood doping. Still 8 years is the minimum ban he could have been given.
I do hope he gets better though. At the end of the day its only sport and he's lost his marrage , health and job. Have to feels some sympathy for the guy.

lukester

I do feel some sympathy for him. I don't buy the depression medication story though.

Yes, he may suffer from depression. No, I don't believe he absent-mindedly took drugs containing banned substances.

Funkyzeit

First 5 riders to violate passport:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-names-first-five-biological-passport-violators

RobFowl

http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/anti-doping-expert-parisotto-speaks-on-blood-passport

Interesting !!
Sound very much like more to come on this