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Zirbel’s B sample also positive from Velonews.com. Oops, looks like someone tested positive 2 times now, and will be banned for a couple of years. Say goodbye to the career you never really had doper. Don’t let the proverbial door hit you in the arse on the way out. Seems as though, he has read the excuse list though, because just like everyone else who has ever gotten busted (well, almost everyone), he’s got several excuses, all of which are 99.9% lies. Sure there is a small, very small, almost miniscule chance he’s telling the truth, but those chances are not very good. I think it goes back to the old slim and none, and instead of slim just leaving town, slim and none both RAN outta town. Anyone have the over and under on how many doping positives we’ll get this year during the race season once it gets cranked up? How many more times will Boonen get busted for recreational drugs? He does seem to like to snort the powder. My wife has officially jumped off of the Boonen fan wagon, after she found out he was dating a 16 year old girl (well, she’s probably 18 or so now I guess, or getting close to that age). Now, she finds him creepy. She’s moved over to liking Cavendish, or Millar. She has a thing for pale lanky Englishmen. How she ended up with me (swarthy, dark, hairy, Frenchman) I’ll never really know, but I’m not going to question it. She pretty much rocks my world.
Anyway, regardless of doping going on, I’m still pretty psyched for the real season to start. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, spring classics are where it’s at. This is where the hard men (or the best dopers) come into their own. I think I read somewhere the Lancey-poo is going to be riding the Classics this year, which makes me like him, just a little bit. I know, another Lance hater. Don’t get me wrong. I completely respect what he’s done on the bike, and I respect what he’s done off the bike (Livestrong and cancer stuff and things like that), it still doesn’t make me a fan of him though. That’s all I will say about that for now. But, get out there like you did in the old days Lance, and get in the mud, it’ll be good for you. Ride some cobbles. Taste some cow shit from the roads in Belgium. It’s going to be another great Spring season.
Cross Worlds happened this weekend. And I’m disappointed and sad for one Katie Compton, who had cramp issues this weekend, and didn’t finish the race. I feel sad, because she’s is one fucking super fast woman out there, and she’s not yet gotten her World Championship, and this year, she was on FIRE. Vos won, again, which doesn’t surprise me, because after Compton, she’s got the goods as well. Here is hoping that Katie can figure out her leg cramping issues, and come back again next year, and put the smack down on the women ‘crossers of the world. Maybe she needs to pull a “Page” and just pack up camp, and just stay in Europe from late August until World Championships, because it does appear that her cramping issues come up with lots of travel. She doesn’t need to come back to the US to ride National Championships, she’s already proven, time and again, that she can kick the shit out of the women’s fields here (most of the time) without really trying. Stay in Europe Katie, and bring home the rainbow jersey. What I hope she doesn’t do though, is give up, because she seems to be getting stronger every single year (when she’s not cramping). Good luck Katie, here’s hoping you come back stronger next year, and kick the ass that most of us know that you can.
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Sad for Katie too.
the people who are this jaded by the doping that has happened in this sport are just as much of a pain in the ass as those who have tested positive. less complaining, more riding. doping sucks ass. so don’t dope. complaining sucks ass too, and it paints with an awfully broad brush. so, sling the accusations with a touch more delicacy. Just a thought. sorry if I offend any body with this.
Corey,
You are an idiot. The people that complain loudest about doping in cycling are the ones who have been most affected by it, see: $$$$ lost because of these cheating douchebags. I lost thousands, yes thousands, of dollars over my cycling career to guys that were cheating. Some got caught, some didn’t. The ones that got caught pissed me off the most because I would think back to the payout from that particular race and add up the $$$$ I didn’t make. They make the doper or team pay back the prize money when they test positive, but they didn’t pay me the difference.
If you have a job and someone is cheating to get an edge and that edge takes money out of your pocket you would be pissed off too.
The money is important, it does make the world go round after all, but it would have been nice to have actually gotten the placings I worked my ass off to achieve if it hadn’t been for doping cheaters.
Corey, the moment we treat doping like the big elephant in the corner of the room and don’t talk about it or shun the people that do it then we will revert right back to the 80’s and 90’s. These cheats and frauds need to suffer this public humiliation. I hoped and prayed Bissels B sample would come back negative. Just like Ricco and a slew of other pros I cheered on I was let down. It’s not slander if it’s true. …and hey we need a REALLY broad brush to wipe up all of these dopers.
Your age, divided by 2, plus 7. That is what you can date legitimately. Don’t remember where I heard that, but I think Boonen’s lady is within the limit. Not saying it is right but…..
Zirbel. I’ve ridden with this dude in local group rides. I have watched him shred our local time trial, I have watched him lap the field in our local crits. Then I watched his meteoric rise to the top of the time trial world. For some damn reason I never even considered he was cheating. Hind sight however…pretty freaking obvious now. Big disappointment.
Corey, you doth not offend, but you apparently don’t understand what doping has done, and is doing to the sport that we love. Let me give you one little example. I used to ride for a team, one of my teammates got popped for doping, and the next season, the club that sponsored our team decided that because of the bad publicity from the year before, they weren’t going to put the same money into the team as they did the year before, and hence, we ended up losing a bunch of good people, and essentially our elite level team because of the actions of one guy. Not to mention the black eye that it gave our team and sponsorship in general, and then we also had sponsors not renew, because of the doping.
So, yes sir, it does matter, it does matter indeed, and the folks that do it, need to be called out every single chance possible, because they are fucking assholes.
1)Millar doped. Because he caved and admitted it, now he’s the champion for the movement? Doper…
2)Air travel means nothing. Page finished waaay behind TJ today…stop giving him a rim job.
3)Zirbel’s a doper…gotta agree with you there.
giantcu92. i assure you I know all too well what doing has done to this sport. Alas when we have people stating such lines as this “This is where the hard men (or the best dopers) come into their own.” you take away any and all performances. there are a lot of squeaky clean racers on both sides of the pond, all im saying is don’t ruin the legitimacy of the hard working honest bad ass bike racers by casting them as dopers. Yes, like i said, doping sucks ass. but you wont have a sport if you keep casting the people who win as dopers. what will the kids who are looking towards a future in sport think to do if people use hyperbole with such reckless abandon. Here is my two bits. If i thought that the top level of this sport was dominated by people who dope, I wouldn’t be a fan of the sport. I’d also question those that have this “dopers everywhere” belief and still call them selfs a fan of racing.
Katie Comton stated she has been cramping like this since she was 18. Not new cramps, same problem every season. I wonder if this is why she had a hard time landing a sponsor this season.
I can still be a fan of cycling, and admit that there are indeed dopers everywhere. You only need to look at the results sheets from some of the major races over the past decade to see a highlight/who’s who of doping in the sport of cycling. I think it is being naive to think that there are a majority who are NOT doping. Even with better testing, tightened oversight and so on, they still keep busting guys. Cycling, like other high endurance sports, are a doping paradise. I still love the sport regardless, and I watch it, and follow it with a certain obliviousness, meaning, I watch the performances, and unless someone gets busted, I enjoy the performances, but as I said, doping IS everywhere.
For MM:
1. I agree, Millar doped, and is therefore a doper. He only admitted doping AFTER they caught him. If they hadn’t searched his apartment, nobody would have ever known, and he would have still kept his World Champion jersey. I don’t think he’s a good spokesperson for anti doping anything, mostly, because, he’s a doper. And as I said before, I’m pretty sure had he never been caught, he wouldn’t have come clean. That being said, I do think that dopers who serve their suspensions, are still welcomed back by a team, then good for them. I think people do make mistakes, and should be able to get back to the sport (again, if someone wants them), but I won’t be a fan of those guys, or respect their achievements.
2. I really don’t give a shit about Page. He had a good ride one year, and never really did much before then, or after. Seems like at the world cup level, he is mid pack fodder most of the time. I respect his work ethic, and how he is going about the sport, and if he does well, I say congratulations sir, but I’m really not a fan, and have never given him a rim job, that’s for sure.
Compton shouldn’t have a hard time landing a sponsor, as she led the world cup for most of this year, won just about every race she was able to finish, and is normally the strongest woman in the US. It’s just too bad she can’t get the cramping issue figured out, especially on big days like today.
listen, if you have such unequivocal proof that large portions of the pros are on the piss then step forward and lets hear it. Until then, unless they piss positive, you are assuming a lot, and confusing this delusional conviction with what actually is. There are some dopers, yes, but there are a whole bunch of great guys doing it right. remember that next time you watch a spring classic. if you still feel jaded by your cat 1 teammate for doping take it up with him. The sport needs less muck rakers and more people making the most out of what it can offer.
I never said that there weren’t some great guys doing it right. There are a lot of dopers. I don’t need to provide proof, as the list of positive tests year after year prove it for me. I don’t still feel jaded, but I was trying to explain about what had happened to me before, as others have tried. I’ve seen cat 3s who are doping, along with cat 4s, cat 2s, cat1s, and some pros that I’ve known who have done it. Overall, we’re just fans of the sport, and 99.99% of us are never go to ride in the pro ranks, and it’s THOSE guys who need to make the sport what it is, not us.
Again, I think anyone who thinks that doping isn’t prevalent throughout the peloton should maybe read up some more on the history of doping in the sport. It’s been there since the start, will be there throughout the rest of the sport.
Corey,
If you knew anything about pro cycling, from the inside and not what you read on Velonews.com then you would be amazed at the number of guys that do in fact dope. So go full bore with blood doping and some just use some amphetamines here and there. Your assertion that we need “unequivocal proof” is impossible to achieve. Look at the number of stars that have been busted in Europe and the US for that matter. Operation Puerto ring a bell? You think Rabobank covered up some evidence of what Rasmussen was really doing in Italy in the lead up to the tour? U.S. riders Kirk OBee, Adam Sbeih, Davidenko, Moninger, Tyler Hamilton, Fuentes, Zirbel, Adam Bergman and his Minnesota cohorts, and MANY more I can’t think of at the moment. Go do yourself some reading over at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_doping_cases_in_cycling
We bash dopers because they ruin this beautiful sport. This sport is hard, really fucking hard at the pro level and guys that use illegal methods to deal with just how harsh and hard this sport is are douchebags and should be called out.
I know that not everyone is doping, I was not jaded because someone beat me or had a really great ride and I didn’t think that they were doping. But, when you raced with the same guys week in and week out on the “circuit” you got to know things.
Oh, and please don’t ask me to reveal myself to “prove” my claims.
Im gonna leave it with this. My perspective is not formed from what I have read, it is from the people i know, and the races I have done. clean as a whistle i might add. rumors would sometimes circulate and those guys usually tested positive. I believe that, while not always perfect the control system in place is effective. ya’ll can chose to cast stones, and when someone test positive I’ll usually toss some with ya. I simply find it frustrating that professional level cycling gets painted with such a large brush. So. ifin ya feel that dopers are ruining our beautiful sport (and no doubt they have hurt it) harbor your feelings of contempt with those whom have tested positive, and leave the assuming to the people who don’t see this sport as beautiful.
also, Me, I’m not an idiot. I’m actually a pretty nice guy with reasonable intellect and integrity. I don’t know who you are, or where you raced. so, here is a quick lesson. I’ll bite my tongue and hold my assumptions on you. this is a public forum, no reason to open with “corey you are an idiot”
Every year I set up my own version of a cycling “Dead Pool” among friends, but pick pro riders I think will get busted rather than people I think will end up dead. Everyone picks ten (10) pros (male and/or female) and whoever has the most at the end of the year wins bragging rights for the coming year. Two down already this year and none are on my list. Damn!
giantcu92 Says:
” 2. I really don’t give a shit about Page.”
That wasn’t very nice. Knowing Jonathon (he grew up 30 miles from me) I can say if you were in his position, he would probably give a shit about you. After your comment, I’m thinkin….not so much.