Doping

Ah thanks, Hippy.

Doesn't the UCI have a no-needles policy? Or is that more of a guideline than a rule?

let's not open a can of worms here

It's like Lasse Viren for the modern age

http://cycling.today/michele-ferrari-handed-18-month-prison-sentence/

Bet he doesn't spend a single night behind bars.

Someone else tweeted "probation" which I presume is some kind of suspended sentence.

It's the Italian legal system, it takes years to get through the process of being charged, going to trial, being convicted, appealling against the conviction, the counter-appeal and on and on. He'll continue working through intermediaries, like his son, in the interim.

Dragging it back to Valverde (sorry was on holiday last week) while watching him beast it up the final climb on the queen stage in the Volta, dropping everyone seemingly with ease the commentator uttered something like "this is unbelievable" and all the warning bells were going off in my head.

dragging it back to facts not suspicions: as yet, there have been no positive samples from el imbatido. you think it's because of a flawed testing system?

Drug testing in Spain, for Spanish athletes you say ?

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2016-03/wada-statement-on-compliance-of-watch-list-national-anti-doping-organizations

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/38928615

Maybe there's a reason some Spanish riders romp up the hills in their national tours, but get dropped outside of their own country ?

This is the country where the then Prime Minister said Contador should serve no ban the day before the Spanish Anti-Doping Agency were to announce their punishment for his clenbuterol positive. It's as much cultural as a flawed testing system.

Look at the Tour of Catalunya recently, Movistar clearly break the rules, the commissaires accept this but hand out the wrong punishment which then has to be corrected overnight by the UCI.

He served a two year doping ban earlier in his career. Flawed testing system? Of course it's flawed. It catches people but you think it catches 100%? Good for you.
It just "looked" dodgy. He flew up that final climb like it was nothing. I've read a few books on what it feels like when you're juiced. The look on his face, speed he turned over the pedals, seemingly skipping up the mountain, commentators blown away. It had all the trade marks of the olden days. Just my opinion though. If he keeps it up all season and doesn't get popped, I'll reconsider.

get dropped outside of their own country

;)

things seem to have bettered by now, at least in the bureaucratic realms where paper tigers roam:

https://www.wada-ama.org/en/media/news/2017-03/wada-removes-spain-from-the-list-of-signatories-deemed-non-compliant-with-the

you think it catches 100%? Good for you.

no, I don't. and I understand your sentiment perfectly. he kept it up last season, and the season before, etc. and did not get popped (yet). we'll see.

He must be innocent, he was once called 'the future of cycling' by Mr L. Armstrong.

That was Ivan Basso.

http://autobus.cyclingnews.com/road/2005//tour05/?id=results/tour0510

OK, he said 'a guy like him could be the future of cycling', but hey ...

Ah, he was hedging his bets.

IAAF announces Olympic marathon gold medalist Jemima Sumgong (Kenya) tested positive for EPO in an out-of-competition test.

https://twitter.com/ChrisChavez/status/850118000585912320

It appears this result is not a surprise at all, from the small amount of reading I did on this story.

I think you have to be really careful to look at performance as a form of proof of doping. That is what the shitheads at the clinic do, and trolls on Twitter, and use, for example, ascent times from twenty years ago against ascent times today and draw definitive conclusions from that.

So ignoring every other variable, from bike weight, bike technology, weather conditions, state of the road, and how many km they have raced getting to that climb.

I mean Gilbert rode away from an elite field and soloed to a Flanders win from 55k out. At 35 years of age. On the surface that sounds unbelievable, but Gilbert has said he didn't intend to and two significant crashes hampered the chasing efforts, taking out four main contenders in the process.

Mind its very hard to look at Valverde and not feel suspicious

This post contains an awful lot of words compared to the norm on this forum.

Post doping. Trufax.

Mind its very hard to look at Valverde and not feel suspicious

a bit like Phil Gil in 2011, indeed ;)

I've never failed a test.

Gilbert is 34. Turns 35 during the Tour.