Beltran and TdF
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theShiba posted 7 weeks ago.
Can we get a link for this story? I believe you... just want to read more.
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Anton posted 7 weeks ago.
try this: http://www.velonews.com/article/79951/beltr%26aacute%3Bn-case-casts-pall...
Saw a great interview with David Millar, who's clean now, having been caught and suffered through a suspension. He says it's unrealistic to expect that you won't have guys failing drug tests. Some will still try and he believes, now, all of them will be caught if they do. It really looks like they are trying to clean themselves up (knock on wood.)
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kylie posted 7 weeks ago.
I've got your back Anton... ;)
Here is the link he gave above: http://www.velonews.com/article/79951/beltr%26aacute%3Bn-case-casts-pall-over-tour
edit: woah... for some reason velonews even knows what to do with the broken off link from Anton... guess it is smarter than me :)
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Joe_H posted 7 weeks ago.
glad that they are treating like a crime - it is fraud/fixing and really has some teeth so it can scare folks from cheating
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theShiba posted 7 weeks ago.
It's sad, but what Millar says is true. There will always be those in professional sports who are looking to get ahead. Wherever there are world class athletes, there is always going to be someone who tries to get their edge pharmacologically. It's just a fact, and I agree that there should be the maximum amount of testing possible to discourage this, and to catch those who are looking for an unfair advantage.
The sad thing, and I think the point that the riders are trying to make, is that the average person doesn't understand why doping is so prevalent in cycling. Not that there are a lot of average Joes following cycling, but they DO hear about it on the news. When people hear about this they are going to say, "oh, yeah, THAT again... cycling's nothing but a bunch of steroid thumpers." They don't understand the motivations for cyclists using EPO boosters, much less the actual effect that this kind of "doping" has on a athlete.
I am not condoning the use of EPO, but I think that it is important to understand the context, and the "benefits" of the drug before passing judgment on the users. Certainly it should be outlawed in cycling, but I see boosting one's red blood cell count in a 20+ day endurance event to be entirely different from using anabolic steroids in baseball, for example. That doesn't make it right, but it changes the way the public views what is happening. Certainly other sports have as much higher usage of drugs which are much more harmful that EPO, but these sports have either refused to crack down on the usage, or are simply ignoring its use because of the bad press. Cycling is taking a huge risk by putting their testing so well out in the public, as it's not exactly popular to hear about doping. That said, they should be applauded because, unlike other sports, they are willing to confront the problem head-on (apply directly to the forehead), detractors be damned.
Woah 5 years and 75,000 euro for doping. I'm glad actually hopefully this stern of punishment will dissuade riders from doping. Think anyone else will get caught this year?
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