Doping

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.

We're lucky we have you here.

Your position is that those who were caught and come back are fine. You realize that they probably would never have said anything had they not been caught? The entire anti-doping stance taken by those like Millar is premised on the actions of others. It was not a decision he made - it was a reality he had to live. But nonetheless, because he was caught, his results in the last few years are not questionable? It doesn't make sense to me.