Whatever the outcome, it will leave a bad taste well after the Tour is over. I had high hopes for this tour and hoped it was past the worst of the drug suspicion. I think it might be better for the overall Tour, if Rasmussen was not the winner in Paris. I have sympathy for Millar's comments - oh well time to cheer for Contador ot Evans.
Rasmussen Drug Investigation!
- Thread starter gavintc
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Chris James
Über Member
- Location
- Huddersfield
To be honest, I am a bit bored of the Rasmussen innuendo. On a separate website (sorry can't post the link as I have forgotten where I have read it, it may have been the Millar Diaries on Biycling.com) David Millar was sympathising to a degree with Rasmussen saying that the UCI method of filling in the whereabouts form is archaic. You have to post it by mail and you get no confirmation that they have received it. Millar said hat he had been told off for not notifying them when he had and that now he phones to ask if they have received the form. He suggested that the UCI follow the British 'best practice' otherwise arguments about missing tests will be inevitable.
As far as the blood bags accusation is concerned, it is so old now that we can never know what actually happened. In any case, at that point it seems that most fo the peleton were on the juice. Rasmussen has been tested a fair bit recently and nothing has come up. Until he fails a test then he must be assumed innocent.
On a separate note, ignroing the drug stuff, I would quite like Rasmussen to win the Tour. It is high time that a pure climber won and his performances so far in the Alps, Pyrenees and the time trial have been worthy of the yellow jersey.
As far as the blood bags accusation is concerned, it is so old now that we can never know what actually happened. In any case, at that point it seems that most fo the peleton were on the juice. Rasmussen has been tested a fair bit recently and nothing has come up. Until he fails a test then he must be assumed innocent.
On a separate note, ignroing the drug stuff, I would quite like Rasmussen to win the Tour. It is high time that a pure climber won and his performances so far in the Alps, Pyrenees and the time trial have been worthy of the yellow jersey.
Haitch
Flim Flormally
- Location
- Netherlands
Speaking on Dutch TV last night, Pat McQuaid said Rasmussen had missed two out-of-competition tests, had been sent a cautionary letter and warned that missing a third test would "lead to a procedure" (whatever that might mean). As far as McQuaid was concerned, Rasmussen had done nothing wrong, broken no rules and the regulations allowed him to enter any race he wanted to. He also said Rasmussen had been tested out of competition since being cautioned and tested several times during the Tour. All tests were negative.
On another note, the Rabobank manager said in a newspaper interview that Rasmussen rode under a Mexican licence (his wife is Mexican and he lives and trains in the country for part of the year) and was therefore ineligible to ride for the Danish team anyway. Linking the missed tests to being dropped from the national team, said the manager, was a complete red herring.
On another note, the Rabobank manager said in a newspaper interview that Rasmussen rode under a Mexican licence (his wife is Mexican and he lives and trains in the country for part of the year) and was therefore ineligible to ride for the Danish team anyway. Linking the missed tests to being dropped from the national team, said the manager, was a complete red herring.
Blonde
New Member
- Location
- Bury, Lancashire
Chris James said:
Yes, he said something along those lines on ITV4s' coverage of the tour.
As you say, until proved guilty... with being the yellow jersey holder he is currently being dope tested every day.
This whole thing reminds me of politics - only when someone becomes a politician does what they may or may not have done in the past (that may not even be relevant to what they are doing now) become publically scrutinised. IMO Rasmussen is being publically shamed for something he may have done ages ago and that doesn't really have any relevance to what he is doing on the tour at the moment.
the american boy has gone public twice with the story but off the record
once to velo news...not long after it happened and once again to Walsh
it was only after the 'trust me' bit that he went fully public
Rasmussen went mental at him due to the costs and he was hacked off at the time due to a number of tgheings (you can read the article on the velonews website)
This is not rocket science
these guys have agents and team managers...Festina happened in 1998, journos have been snooping in bins for years and the current tour champion is eh....not the tour champion...or is he???
in this environment if you are going to be a contender do you not think that you might send your whereabouts recored delivery (or danish/mexican equivalent)...if you're going to get banned because they have no record of it and lose your pay and get a 2 year ban (+ 2 on Pro Tour)...do you not think that is as important as getting the miles in
Everyone knows that the time to knock back the 'goods' is not during races but in your training periods...out of competition tests are if anything more important than in competition tests
at least with the grief he's (Rasmussen) getting the tide appears to be turning.....
once to velo news...not long after it happened and once again to Walsh
it was only after the 'trust me' bit that he went fully public
Rasmussen went mental at him due to the costs and he was hacked off at the time due to a number of tgheings (you can read the article on the velonews website)
This is not rocket science
these guys have agents and team managers...Festina happened in 1998, journos have been snooping in bins for years and the current tour champion is eh....not the tour champion...or is he???
in this environment if you are going to be a contender do you not think that you might send your whereabouts recored delivery (or danish/mexican equivalent)...if you're going to get banned because they have no record of it and lose your pay and get a 2 year ban (+ 2 on Pro Tour)...do you not think that is as important as getting the miles in
Everyone knows that the time to knock back the 'goods' is not during races but in your training periods...out of competition tests are if anything more important than in competition tests
at least with the grief he's (Rasmussen) getting the tide appears to be turning.....
blonde
testing at race is irrelevant
you make sure whatever you are doing is either non-detactable, you mask it or you microdose, or you know the testers are corrupt
you should not be getting caught...
everyone knows winners get tested..its the double bluff
nobody as festina got caught...do you onow how much these guys were taking??? and how many races they won??
catching them in the pyranees, mexico or Soputh America is the best way to get them
testing at race is irrelevant
you make sure whatever you are doing is either non-detactable, you mask it or you microdose, or you know the testers are corrupt
you should not be getting caught...
everyone knows winners get tested..its the double bluff
nobody as festina got caught...do you onow how much these guys were taking??? and how many races they won??
catching them in the pyranees, mexico or Soputh America is the best way to get them
Blonde
New Member
- Location
- Bury, Lancashire
Yes, but what happened to innocent unless proved guilty? We can only go on results, and if there aren't any for a particular time period, I can't see the point in speculating. Assuming that everyone is using drugs unless proved innocent may of course be true, but assuming that is not very scientific and damages the reputations of those who are not using them. If we assume that every one is using drugs than what is the point in anyone bothering to be 'clean'?
Seems everyone's baying for Rasmussens's blood (no pun intended!) and yet the second placed rider, formerly of Liberty Seguros, potentially implicated in OP and former protege of Manolo Saiz is squeaky clean? By the same standards - the Astana boys are tarred with the same brush and seen as villains of the piece? I'm getting tired of the English-language press' boring vendetta. This is the first time in years I've actually been bothered about watching the Tour into the third week, because normally it's been a boring procession for the last seven years. If you guys want to speculate imponderables about what has probably been the best tour to watch in years - go ahead, but I'm firmly in the 'innocent 'til proven guilty camp' on this one.
monty/blone
the current procedures are a bit like clothing blood checks for axe murderers...if you're a successful axe murderer you are going to be covered in blood...if you know that you are going to be inspected for blood on your clothes it would be in your interest to make sure it wasn't there and clean up asap
one way to try and circumvent this from the testers would be be to arrive unannounced and catch the axe murderer fresh from the kill
one way to try and circumvent this by the axe murderer would be to make sure they didn't know where you were and so couldn't
and here we are with Rasmussen
4 tests 2 from UCI 2 from Danish...so technically he's off the hook until the next one but we all know that the arbitrary limit of 3 has been breached but because its two seperate testing organisations he's 'clean'
link that with his bulls blood history...et voila
the tour could do without it
the current procedures are a bit like clothing blood checks for axe murderers...if you're a successful axe murderer you are going to be covered in blood...if you know that you are going to be inspected for blood on your clothes it would be in your interest to make sure it wasn't there and clean up asap
one way to try and circumvent this from the testers would be be to arrive unannounced and catch the axe murderer fresh from the kill
one way to try and circumvent this by the axe murderer would be to make sure they didn't know where you were and so couldn't
and here we are with Rasmussen
4 tests 2 from UCI 2 from Danish...so technically he's off the hook until the next one but we all know that the arbitrary limit of 3 has been breached but because its two seperate testing organisations he's 'clean'
link that with his bulls blood history...et voila
the tour could do without it
Blonde
New Member
- Location
- Bury, Lancashire
But if there was a known problem then he should not have been allowed to ride the tour. It's that simple. If there is no problem (which there obvisouly isn't, or he would not have been allowed to ride) then this situation should not have been made into a big issue. It's all this fuss over "nothing" (nothing that can be proved either way, in which case, it is nothing) that I find most irritating. If nothing was done about his going AWOL at the time it was known, then he should be left alone now.
IMO The UCI and Danish Fed made a mistake in not following correct procedure at the time, but hopefully they will learn from this so we don't get a repeat performance, saving a lot of red faces all round.
IMO The UCI and Danish Fed made a mistake in not following correct procedure at the time, but hopefully they will learn from this so we don't get a repeat performance, saving a lot of red faces all round.
Haitch
Flim Flormally
- Location
- Netherlands
I can't help thinking that if Rasmussen were French none of these stories would have made the press. There have been lots of comments here in recent days from riders of various nationalities who think missing an out-of-season test is an everyday event. Rasmussen was actually one of four, I think, Rabobank riders who received a similar caution from the UCI this year.
Chuffy
Veteran
- Location
- On the banks of the Exe
Somehow that doesn't make it feel any better...Alan H said:
But, like Blonde, I can't help but think that this is as big and bad as the press chose to make it. The current climate is pretty grim, with everyone terrified of the next scandal, but that's not a good enough excuse to spit-roast the Chicken without following due process, which does not allow for throwing him off the Tour.
In an way I'm glad that riders in the TdF are still being caught, sorry it's Vino but surely it's no big surprise to anyone. It can only be good news that people who are trying to cheat the system, their fellow riders and us, are being found out and shamed. Just watch the race and we all know that there are plenty of them juiced up out there. Somehow, I don't think that Vino will be the last one this year and as far as I'm concerned, let's see some more getting done.