Doping

I don't keep up with these threads much anymore, but... Wait, did people really think Ryder was squeaky clean? Do you think the peloton did? Omerta? Wtf are you guys on about?

Even I, a reluctant fanboy, was questioning his past in 2010 (I even asked Andy about it, and he was pretty clear that he felt he was clean then, but wouldn't be willing to take a stance regarding his US Postal days). If a knowledgeable gentleman like AndyP, and a total idiot like me, were both skeptical, wtf were you guys doing? Is it simply because he didn't stand up in 2008 (or earlier) and take a punch in the face before anyone else was? When many were (and it would seem, still are) doping? Or should he have done it once he started performing well (presumably) clean? Because that's what we as fans want - riders who are winning great races, or even performing well, while clean, to say: "Fuck it, I did dope everyone - take this away."

Well we're lucky to have you about.

It's less the fact he doped and more the manner of it coming out, and Vaughters' subsequent duck-and-run reaction to it. I've listened to Vaughters a lot, I had a lot of respect for him and quite frankly what I'm seeing now is spin, is a PR exercise and suddenly I'm questioning the solidity of his team's anti-doping stance, considering Ryder's extensive doping and his win in the Giro last year. Did he do it clean? I seriously doubt it.

And the anecdote I cited, which Dan sneered at, was Vaughters riding for Credit Agricole. His team manager told him not to dope, even refused to let him to feign a knee injury to get a TUE so hge could have a cortisone injection for a wasp sting, instead let him retire from the TdF. And after, despite having a contract for the next year, despite the manager not wanting him to dope, because of the 'beads of sweat' on his manager's brow, he doped. Again. Read the interview I linked to, read the spin Vaughters puts on his doping at Credit Agricole and then think about the situation of Ryder at Garmin. Why should we assume that Ryder is clean now, that he stopped doping in 2003, that he only did it briefly?

Just like every rider who gets busted only tries it once.

So fuck it, yes Ryder should have fessed up, Vaughters should have been open about it, Ryder should have served a ban when he did, rather than getting fingered by Rasmussen and then all this spin to try to lessen the impact of the revelations.

Basically its made me doubt the whole philosophy of Garmin, which was a team I liked and respected. And the knock on from that is it makes me doubt the new era of clean cycling we're supposed to swallow.

So maybe that explains the hand-wringing, sorry it bothers you so much Dan. Maybe you should engage in a debate rather than taking your usual patronising potshots from the sidelines. It's not the first time is it, in this thread or others. For the record it's not pre-planned but a genuine and personal, subjective reaction to the situation. Opinions so they say, are like arseholes: I have one and have given it, at the moment you're just being one.