The Cycling Thread

Dr Johnny Fever

Eggplant and Teal
Apr 11, 2012
21,234
5,518
Lower Left Coast
Rabobank leaves pro cycling... wow

That's huge. They are willing to honor their financial commitment to the teams next year but don't want their name anywhere in the public eye. Ouch.

I think the sport is at a turning point. Three strikes and you are out. Festina, Puerto, Postal. If they don't make huge changes (out with Pat and Hein, maybe out with the UCI altogether) the sport will likely get dropped from the Olympics and have even fewer fans than they now have. It's time for bold action on the part of those who care about saving the sport.
 

tobo

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
2,564
20
Another disaster for Dutch cycling: the notes of a former PDM soigneur reveal that 8 out of 9 riders who participated in the TdF of 1988 used cortisone, testosterone and blood transfusions. Steven Rooks, Gert-jan Theunisse, Adrie van der Poel, Andy Bishop, Marc van Orsouw, Rudy Dhaenens, Jörg Müller and Peter Stevenhaagen used banned substances. The only one who didn't participate was Gerrie Knetemann, but "de Kneet" abandoned the TdF during the 6th stage after he broke his clavicle.

Meanwhile, Thomas Dekker has announced that he will make a full confession about his doping past. ''As member of Team Garmin-Sharp and their policy and values, as Dutch rider and member of the Dutch federation, as ex-doper who served a 2 years suspension and as supporter of clean cycling: I announce that I will testify and fully cooperate with the Dutch Anti-Doping Authority to help further clean the world of cycling. Therefore I choose to give the full extent of my knowledge, names, dates and details."
 

tobo

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
2,564
20
Danish cyclist Rolf Sörensen has admitted using EPO and Cortisones during his career. His most prolific victories were Liège-Bastogne-Liège (1993) and Ronde van Vlaanderen (1997). Sörensen claims that he bought the stuff himself and never got any help from his team. The Dane was pro from 1986 until 2002 and raced for GB-MG, Rabobank and CSC-Tiscali among others.

So, Erik Dekker, when will you finally come clean?
 

The Imp

5-14-6-1
Jul 8, 2003
3,891
22
Copenhagen, Denmark
As a card carrying member of the "Rolf er ren" comminuty, I'm shocked and shaken by his announcement!

(Rolf er ren [Rolf is clean] was a some-what toungue-in-cheek movement amongst the Danish populace to oust him as a doper. The word "Ren" also means reindeer, in Danish, so...

8118777748


http://gratisupload.dk/vis_billede/690358/

Or look "rolf er ren" up on facebook, the better pictures are in there, really.
 

tobo

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
2,564
20
What a shocker. They all doped to the max back in those days.
 

tobo

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
2,564
20
Who would've thunk :laugh:
Any pro who has been on ONCE's payroll doped. Thanks for nothing, Manolo Saiz.
 

Epsilon

#basta
Oct 26, 2002
48,464
369
South Cackalacky
I still don't think Jan got as much out of doping as most of his contemporaries, simply because he was too lazy to train hard enough for it to fully pay out.
 

tobo

Registered User
Jun 28, 2011
2,564
20
Yup. Every spring, we heard the same old story: "Jan has been partying this winter, look at his butt, it's way too fat."
 

Dr Johnny Fever

Eggplant and Teal
Apr 11, 2012
21,234
5,518
Lower Left Coast
I still don't think Jan got as much out of doping as most of his contemporaries, simply because he was too lazy to train hard enough for it to fully pay out.

I don't think Jan needed to get as much out of doping as LA or some others. Not everybody benefits the same from it. LA went from being a one day rider to winning 7 tours. Jan was already that level of stage racer.

Now I don't disagree that Jan could have been better than he was had he trained more religiously. But he truly was a naturally gifted beast from the beginning. Without anybody doping it's Jan who wins 7 Tours and LA wins a couple of stages.

It's too bad all of this had to happen. Jan was (is still?) a popular champion in Germany. He would have been a very popular champion world wide had there been no doping at all.

edit: I don't mean to imply Jan could have competed at the highest level without doping because clearly nobody can. Just that his benefit was far less than what LA or some others got from it.
 
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