Sshhhhh!! it's the secret Pro !

Morrisseeee

The Secret Pro (bookface)
The Secret Pro (twitter)

godtabh

Morrisseeee wrote: »

The Secret Pro (bookface)
The Secret Pro (twitter)

very public for something so secret. Who is it meant to be?

Hmmzis

Morrisseeee wrote: »

The Secret Pro (bookface)
The Secret Pro (twitter)

Is he The Stig's cycling cousin?

Morrisseeee

A new concept that will be a regular feature for the 2013 season on CyclingTips is "The Secret Pro". A monthly column where a high profile World Tour rider has agreed to speak his mind, while remaining completely anonymous. His diaries will be written by a ghost-writer as a safeguard for total anonymity.

His identity is known to only three people: the Pro, the ghost writer, and myself. The writer and myself carry cyanide tablets in case there is a leak, and the pro will ride off into the sunset and will never be heard from again.

What we will hear about is the inside scoop of what the pros are talking about. The things that matter to them, but cannot say publicly. The things that they cannot tell journalists for fear of repercussion. This is where you’ll hear these ramblings.

I can tell you a few things, but I won’t divulge any more. He is a Pro within the ranks of the top teams in world cycling. He has raced multiple Grand Tours, Classics and World Championships, and finished highly in some. We can also tell you that he will be frank and up-front with his opinions and views. He will tell it like it is, without fear or favour, because nobody will know who he is…

Flandria

Possibly Adam Hansen. If so, he would be the first Aussie to ever keep a secret...

jinkypolly

Why is he anonymous? Surely with the current climate in pro cycling voicing opinions is to be promoted not hidden away like a little kid telling tales. The anonymity doesn't add to it, it in fact reduces it's relevance to just another opinion in an ocean of them.

MTFU.

Morrisseeee

His first post

I'm guessing the more he 'talks' as the season unfolds it'll just be a matter of putting 2-&-2 together.

Kimmage isn't too impressed !!

Paul Kimmage ‏@PaulKimmage
Have just read the first instalment of @IamtheSecretPro blog on Cycling Tips. To summarise: Journalists are basically tossers...

jinkypolly

Doping is pretty much gone from the peloton dontcha know.

Plus it seems like these old-school do-gooder journalists, some weren’t very good riders when they rode anyway. They don’t see all the training we do now and all the support we have, and can’t seem to get their heads around the fact that things have changed, and maybe don’t want to believe things have changed. Maybe it’s not possible in their own heads that change is possible, so they choose not to see or believe it. They’re not in the inner sanctum and don’t know the insides of a team, or how it really works. They might have stayed on a team camp or something, but they seem to come across quite bitter.

Now where have we heard that before?

thebouldwhacker

Looks like he Is copying the secret footballer idea is all.

dubmess

Definitely secret footballer copy... which means it's all a long winded way of releasing a book for next Christmas...

niceonetom

I read that piece earlier and it's being nagging at me since.

Read it though again and ask what parts of it couldn't have been said without that veil of anonymity? None of it except the pathetically thinly disguised slurs on Kimmage. The rest of it is entire in line with the THE NEW OFFICIAL NARRATIVE - the one that's been agreed upon by the powers that be and is now oft repeated by everyone from Pat to Brailsford, to Stuart O'Grady to (hilariously) Chris Horner etc. etc.

New era, things have changed, we didn't see nothing then and there's nothing to see now stuff. Clearly many of the older riders are happy to portray themselves as utterly oblivious morons in the hope that we'll reciprocate by being utterly credulous morons.

Well no. No. Anyone whose made it this far in the story of professional cycling without walking away is disgust is no naive little ingenu. And treating us like mugs with embarrassing nonsense like this achieves nothing. Better these guys say nothing that this.

And the bit about "these old-school do-gooder journalists" is truly fcuking obnoxious though. No, Kimmage was not a great Pro, and he'd be the first to admit that. He didn't have the talent of Roche or Kelly. But so what? Is speed in any way related to being right?

kincsem

jinkypolly wrote: »

Now where have we heard that before?

Is it the "Its not about the bike, its about the drugs" cyclist?

Flandria

I have been re-working the Mayan calendar in a bid to track down the tumultuous date in 2006 when the entire pro peloton stopped doping en masse. I haven't yet arrived at the precise moment but I did find an old manuscript...

"And lo, the riders had slain the yellow beast and they could ride slower. Rejoice! they cried, 'for we are clean - clean at last!' And they washed in the River of Bjarne, and their souls were indeed clean..."

The Book of Bottle, 3:16

velo.2010

"There's less doping in cycling now"

Thats a line we hear a lot of these days from a lot of corners. I wonder though - does it means there are less guys doping or there are a similar amount of guys doping but with less drugs, ie microdosing? If its the latter then nothing has really changed.

Anyway. my guess ^^^ is that its Gilbert. Rainbow cap might be too obvious though

godtabh

Just read this months installment

This caught my eye

The honest truth is that none of this really disrupts the mood of the pro peloton. There’s always going to be another doping scandal and I think everyone accepts that. It sounds like there’s going to be more coming in the near future, as much as I wish it wasn’t the case

I wonder what's that about

Lumen

It can't be Nico Roche, all the apostrophes are in the right places.

RobFowl

godtabh wrote: »

I wonder what's that about

It's Puerto (ongoing)
the Itialian pharmacy one (about to blow up)
or the Aicar one which is rumbling in the backround

ThisRegard

Looking at his cap in the pic, he's obviously a world champion.

RobFowl

ThisRegard wrote: »

Looking at his cap in the pic, he's obviously a world champion.

Or a complete Fred ;-)

(I've World champion stripes on my Belgian champions kit though so my opinions are therefore super valid)

godtabh

RobFowl wrote: »

It's Puerto (ongoing)
the Itialian pharmacy one (about to blow up)
or the Aicar one which is rumbling in the backround

I knew about the first one so didn't think it referred to that. Must read up on the other two

Flandria

RobFowl wrote: »

It's Puerto (ongoing)
the Itialian pharmacy one (about to blow up)
or the Aicar one which is rumbling in the backround

Can't be AICAR as everyone knows it's undetectable...;);)

crumliniano

Jeez, you'd think they'd have gotten a ghost writer who can speak and spell in English!

I know that it comes with the territory of being a professional bike rider, but it’s still quite intrusive. I don’t think all people would appreciate that. Maybe the people throwing stones should sit back and thing about that. But we get used to it and it’s part of what we have to do

He comes across as a dumb pr!ck

Plastik

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/05/the-secret-pro-2/

While I’m on the topic of Grand Tours, there’s talk going around the peloton that a former Grand Tour winner who’s about to be taken down for a biological passport irregularities. I can’t say who it is but when the news breaks you’ll know who I’m talking about. You can probably figure it out. It’s a good thing that’s he’s been found out; it shows that the biological passport is doing its job.

TheBlaaMan

Oh, oh.....let's speculate on who the doper is





.........actually, let's not. You don't want to be banned, now. Do you?

Morrisseeee

Unfortunately some of the new stuff is absolute crap. I can’t say exactly what the equipment is for fear of revealing my identity (and upsetting my sponsors – to their credit, they’re being very good about addressing the problems) but let’s just say that my team is thinking about going back to the equipment we had before until they get it right. We can’t afford to take any chances when we’re racing and so much is on the line – especially at the Tour.

..........it's Wiggo

Lumen

"You would have seen many riders on TV jumping up onto the sidewalk to try and move their way up the peloton. Apparently it’s going to be a new UCI regulation that riders will not be allowed to go off the pavement or they’ll be disqualified."

Sidewalk, pavement.

He has to be American. Footpad is pavement in UK and footpath in Australia.

Unless they edited for audience.

Plastik

GT winners that are still riding:
Basso
Cobo
Contador
Cunego
Di Luca
Evans
Garzelli
Hesjedal
Menchov
Nibali
Scarponi
A. Schleck
Valverde
Wiggins

dastardly00

Lumen wrote: »

"You would have seen many riders on TV jumping up onto the sidewalk to try and move their way up the peloton. Apparently it’s going to be a new UCI regulation that riders will not be allowed to go off the pavement or they’ll be disqualified."

Sidewalk, pavement.

He has to be American. Footpad is pavement in UK and footpath in Australia.

Unless they edited for audience.

But his next sentence is:
"You might have even seen me try a few dodgy manoeuvres on the footpath a few times this Classics season"

So maybe not American?

dastardly00

He certainly turned a few heads on stage 6 of the race when he danced away from the rest of us like we were a bunch of juniors.

The race that he is referring to is the Tour of Turkey. That must narrow it down a good bit. Plus he said that he will competing in the TdF.

Quigs Snr

Its all of the above/below. Do I win a prize ?

Plastik wrote: »

GT winners that are still riding:
Basso
Cobo
Contador
Cunego
Di Luca
Evans
Garzelli
Hesjedal
Menchov
Nibali
Scarponi
A. Schleck
Valverde
Wiggins

sconhome

Lumen wrote: »

"You would have seen many riders on TV jumping up onto the sidewalk to try and move their way up the peloton. Apparently it’s going to be a new UCI regulation that riders will not be allowed to go off the pavement or they’ll be disqualified."

Sidewalk, pavement.

He has to be American. Footpad is pavement in UK and footpath in Australia.

Unless they edited for audience.

And 'pavement' is road in American. Might explain some of the dodgy English.

C-Shore

While I’m on the topic of Grand Tours, there’s talk going around the peloton that a former Grand Tour winner who’s about to be taken down for a biological passport irregularities. I can’t say who it is but when the news breaks you’ll know who I’m talking about. You can probably figure it out. It’s a good thing that’s he’s been found out; it shows that the biological passport is doing its job.

I reckon that's completely made up.
The series could be made up for all we know, since there's nothing too revealing so far.

But on the topic of a former Grand Tour winner, it's so vague that it just seems like something controversial to put in for publicity. I suppose it's working.

CaoimH_in

Edit: I'm being speculative and bold. But it's clear enough who he's speaking about.

TheBlaaMan

CaoimH_in wrote: »

Edit: I'm being speculative and bold. But it's clear enough who he's speaking about.

Clear, as in it could reasonably be any of the first five on that list or another 2 or 3 further down it.........speculation ain't good for us.

MPFG

Update on Secret Pro addressing the doubters??

http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/05/the-secret-pro-hoax-or-not/

Inquitus

Guess we'll all know the truth when <insert name from top 5 of list a few posts up> does or doesn't get nailed for Blood Passport violations.

MPFG

Not really on subject but I quite like the spoof UK cycling expert

‏@ukcyclingexpert

Reminds me of last summer in London when most people i work with (who didn't originally want the games mostly because of the expense) suddenly became experts in cycling, sailing, rowing and show jumping....it was hilarious at times when they commented on cycling

daveirl

This post has been deleted.

on_the_nickel

Woah, throws EuropCar under the bus there big time.

I assume there's a thread on who the TSP is?

Edit - found it. http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=82326301. It's definitely an Aussie - "dob"?

MrCreosote

I liked him more when he had the creepy "blinking eyes".

el tel

I wonder who the "elephants" are, the ex grand tour winners whom he refers to as unable to cut it under modern circumstances?

AstraMonti

Schleck and Contador are the two main contenders.

MrCreosote

Valverde and Contador would be two proven cheats and GT winners who have lacked a certain oomph since their return from bans.

el tel

I just hope he was not referring to Cadel Evans who has never really appeared to be superhuman, to me at least.

Shakakan

I wonder who the "elephants" are, the ex grand tour winners whom he refers to as unable to cut it under modern circumstances?

Valverde and Contador would be two proven cheats and GT winners who have lacked a certain oomph since their return from bans.

Yea I thought that about Contador but then he won the Vuelta after he came back from his ban

Beasty

el tel wrote: »

I just hope he was not referring to Cadel Evans who has never really appeared to be superhuman, to me at least.

Maybe he is Cadel Evans;)

Anyway, let's not speculate about who he may be speculating about ....

Morrisseeee

Should we not keep it all in the one thread !?!

Andy Magic

Interesting read, he likes to give out a lot anyway!

Beasty

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Should we not keep it all in the one thread !?!

If you can get me 50 thanks I'll merge it:pac:

Morrisseeee

Beasty wrote: »

If you can get me 50 thanks I'll merge it:pac:

Thanks may be difficult but..............how about >

Beasty

Morrisseeee wrote: »

Thanks may be difficult but..............how about >

Damn you Cap'n! - taking his silver ahead of my thanks ....:mad: