Schumacher, "Out of This World"?

[kennykool]

Well Girofan - I have never thought about it from your perspective!

I just can't get it into my head that if you are a cyclist and you compete in the TdeF then surely you know what a hard time it's had over the last few years, and to risk anything with ANY type of drugs that MAY give you the chance of winning a stage and/or taking the Yellow Jersey then you KNOW you WILL be tested

makes me ask the question....Who is advising these guys???

 

[rich p]

The trouble is that cycling has made cynics of us. If a rider does particularly well we assume he's on the juice and if he does badly we assume he's now off it. They can't win in some ways.

 

[asterix]

makes me ask the question....Who is advising these guys???

Francesco Moser, Luigi Cecchini and Michele Ferrari all advise cyclists, including amongst their clients, Lance Armstrong.

 

[girofan]

Well Girofan - I have never thought about it from your perspective!
makes me ask the question....Who is advising these guys???

Their agents! They get paid no matter what happens. Tony Rominger the ex-pro Swiss rider is an agent for a whole bunch of pro's so if one is caught out and his career terminated he still has a fistfull of willing dupes.

The trouble is that cycling has made cynics of us. If a rider does particularly well we assume he's on the juice and if he does badly we assume he's now off it. They can't win in some ways.

Then it's their own fault for making fools out of the supporters for years!!
If you reduce your credibility by acquiasing to the omerta at the heart of the sport, then you cannot complain if you are tarred with the same brush!!

 

[kennykool]

Francesco Moser, Luigi Cecchini and Michele Ferrari all advise cyclists, including amongst their clients, Lance Armstrong.

Ha Ha - I wondered how long it would be before Ferrari AND Armstrong came into this topic.

Armstrong - Mosts tested athlete on the planet....positive tests.....NONE!

Armstrong worked hard and was dedicated to cycling. Don't believe he would take drugs in a minute!

Cycling has made cynics of a lot of you!

Lets just enjoy what is the greatest Cycle race on the planet

 

[yenrod]

He did a good ride in the Worlds last year !

I'm playing it as I hear it.

 

[rich p]

Armstrong - Mosts tested athlete on the planet....positive tests.....NONE!

Apart from the hushed up one exposed by L'Equipe. He says he's the most tested but it is disputed how often he was actually tested out of comp. But let's not drag this one up again.

 

[Sh4rkyBloke]

I think the most interesting thing from the Armstrong programme was the bit where he basically said (I'm paraphrasing here) "..all the hundreds of little things we do to the bike and outfit make a huge difference. Drugs can't possibly give that sort of return... why would you bother?" it was an interesting observation which seems to make sense.

Yes, Lance had/has a huge ego... but you can't deny he was one of the (if not the) greatest cyclist who has ever ridden a bike.

 

[girofan]

Yes, Lance had/has a huge ego... but you can't deny he was one of the (if not the) greatest cyclist who has ever ridden a bike.

Eddie Merckx anyone? He took drugs also!
Ullrich, Pantani, Beloki, Zulle, Verinque, Heras were all 'on the sauce', but couldn't beat LA!! I wonder why?

 

[kennykool]

They couldn't beat Lance cos they weren't right mentally!

Lance had the right approach to every race mentally, physically AND technically! He trained harder and better than anyone of his competitors. When Ullrich was out taking recreational drugs and smashing up his porsche, Lance was cycling Alpe d'huez 100 times or so!!!!!!! End of story!

Anyway...whose gonna win todays stage?

 

[girofan]

Anyway...whose gonna win todays stage?

The one with the untraceable drug?

 

[Tetedelacourse]

They couldn't beat Lance cos they weren't right mentally!

Lance had the right approach to every race mentally, physically AND technically! He trained harder and better than anyone of his competitors. When Ullrich was out taking recreational drugs and smashing up his porsche, Lance was cycling Alpe d'huez 100 times or so!!!!!!! End of story!

Anyway...whose gonna win todays stage?

Some junkie probably

There are so many grey areas in the drug taking / testing field. It's difficult if not impossible to say with certainty who's clean and who's not, and who has claimed to be clean in the past, Armers included.

I just make my peace with it in that regardless of the drug-taking, it's still an amazing spectacle and still an incredible feat of human endurance.

One thing though - I think you'd have a hard time mooting Armstrong as a better cyclist than Merckxx!

 

[Tetedelacourse]

The one with the untraceable drug?

eg

1. various strands of EPO
2. Homologous blood
3. HGH

 

[Flying_Monkey]

With Schumacher, it wasn't that he won - I am aware of his palmares - but the amount by which he won. But anyway, in the end it doesn't spoil my enjoyment. To paraphrase a great TdF winnner, do you expect them to ride the TdF on bread and water?

 

[Tetedelacourse]

Hinault, right?