Clean cyclists 1990-2010

[smutchin]

He called it a joke, IIRC, because C Van de Velde finished 5th and he regarded him as a domestique. He assumed that he could come back and win it again if CV could do so well.

Exactly. It's not so far-fetched for a theoretically clean Evans and Sastre to both finish ahead of a definitely clean (by then) Vandevelde.

I have no doubt that some were doped but not caught, such as Valverde, and Cobo but Piepoli was caught at the same time as Ricco. Stefan Schumacher and Fofonov also fingered in that one.
Oh, and Manuel Beltran too!

Just reading up to remind myself of what happened, and... oh yeah, now I remember exactly why I lost interest by halfway through... It was that ridiculous stage to Hautacam (stage 10) where Piepoli and Cobo made a laughing stock of the whole race and looked barely out of breath at the finish.

Piepoli and Cobo both left the race after stage 11, along with the rest of the Saunier-Duval team, when Ricco's positive was revealed. Piepoli's positive on stage 10 was revealed a bit later and Cobo was retroactively awarded the stage. Which is a joke.

Pffft.

 

[ohnovino]

Ricco never quite mastered the subtlety needed to be a successful cheat:

 

[Dave Davenport]

Ricco never quite mastered the subtlety needed to be a successful cheat:

Nor did Cobo the way crossed the line with a big grin on the hardest stage of the 2011 Vuelta.

 

[lukesdad]

And how things go full circle , Sastre reverting to domestique for Cobo in 2011. Cobo wasn't fit to clean his shoes.

 

[lukesdad]

In later times I would say Tommy V but I think he's partial to the odd magic champignons !

 

[Dave Davenport]

In later times I would say Tommy V but I think he's partial to the odd magic champignons !

He looks like he's chewing a mouthful most of the time at any rate.

 

[laurence]

That rings a bell - I missed most of the race on my hols that year. So Evans didn't have a go at chasing him and lost the race to Sastre because he was worried that the Schlecks would be dragged along too?

from memory, that's about it. didn't cuddles have a dig near the top? by then, Carlos was laughing all the way to yellow. the others just looked at each other and must have figured Sastre would blow, or fall apart later. the power of yellow kept him in it.

 

[Noodley]

The 'power of yellow' my arse.

 

[smutchin]

That rings a bell - I missed most of the race on my hols that year. So Evans didn't have a go at chasing him and lost the race to Sastre because he was worried that the Schlecks would be dragged along too?

from memory, that's about it. didn't cuddles have a dig near the top? by then, Carlos was laughing all the way to yellow. the others just looked at each other and must have figured Sastre would blow, or fall apart later. the power of yellow kept him in it.

From my reading, it seems CSC did a job on Evans. At the start of the stage, Frank Schleck was in yellow, Evans +8", Sastre +49". Andy Schleck was over nine minutes down, having blown up on the Hautacam stage. After the first climb (Galibier), CSC used O'Grady, Cancellara and Voigt to set a hard pace, isolating Evans from his team. By the top of the Croix de Fer, the yellow jersey group was just 18 riders, including six CSC men, as well as a certain C.Froome. Sastre went on the attack in the first kilometre of Alpe d'Huez. Evans didn't try anything himself until 4km to go, by which time it was too late.

In fact, Evans had probably already lost the race before then - Menchov had been pretty scathing about his failure as supposed favourite to stamp his authority on the race in the Pyrenees. I don't see any real reason to be suspicious about Sastre based on his performance alone.

Froome finished the stage over 11 minutes down. Still, not a bad showing for a neo-pro who didn't even exist until late 2011.

 

[lukesdad]

Had Froome not gone on a break earlier in the stage and been caught by the leaders ? May have been a different stage I seem to remember he had a moment on one of the descent my memory is not as good as it used to be lol

 

[rich p]

So Evans may be clean, even though he admitted visiting Dr Ferrari. Sastre maybe too given that he only won by default from ahead of other dopers.
Hmmm.

 

[smutchin]

Had Froome not gone on a break earlier in the stage and been caught by the leaders ?

Could be. I certainly recall him being involved in a breakaway on one stage but I couldn't possibly tell you which one.

 

[smutchin]

So Evans may be clean, even though he admitted visiting Dr Ferrari. Sastre maybe too given that he only won by default from ahead of other dopers.
Hmmm.

If you can believe Voigt might be clean despite his dodgy connections, you have to admit the possibility that Evans and Sastre might have been clean too...

But I think that for the purposes of this thread, we have to rule out all three - the circumstantial evidence is such that it wouldn't actually be that much of a surprise to anyone if it transpired that any of them were doping after all.

Looking back at the 2008 Tour, I can't believe I ever gave Cobo the benefit of the doubt in the 2011 Vuelta. Short memory.

 

[rich p]

If you can believe Voigt might be clean despite his dodgy connections, you have to admit the possibility that Evans and Sastre might have been clean too...

But I think that for the purposes of this thread, we have to rule out all three - the circumstantial evidence is such that it wouldn't actually be that much of a surprise to anyone if it transpired that any of them were doping after all.

Looking back at the 2008 Tour, I can't believe I ever gave Cobo the benefit of the doubt in the 2011 Vuelta. Short memory.

I just re-read this page from 2011...
http://www.cyclechat.net/threads/vuelta-spoiler.84218/page-8

 

[lukesdad]

The thing about that trio was there ability to suffer with pride, the ability their contemparies lacked in abundance. Not proof that they didn't dope of course, but a good reason for many to hope they didn't .