They actually booed him

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My first reaction to reading Vino had won L-B-L this morning was, “Oh god damn it.”

Now I see I was not alone in that assessment. The fans actually booed him as he crossed the line. Nothing like a fine welcome back for a previous winner (in 2005) of the event.

Despite getting booed as he crossed the finish line Sunday in victory at Liège-Bastogne-Liège, a repentant Alexander Vinokourov (Astana) said fans and journalists should believe him when he says his win was clean.

Vinokourov’s victory Sunday made more than a few people uncomfortable, including some fans who jeered and whistled when he crossed the line in Ans to win Liège in his first major win since coming back from a two-year doping ban last summer.

Read the rest: velonews.competitor.com.

Same deal at Cyclingnews:

Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) was booed by some of the crowd at the finish of Liège-Bastogne-Liège today and was then grilled by the press about his remarkable victory.

Read the rest: cyclingnews.com.

The questions inevitably squared up on his choice of training locations: Why were in you Tenerife?

More doping questions followed about why Vinokourov had recently been training in Tenerife, where disgraced sports doctors Eufemiano Fuentes and Michele Ferrari are alleged to work. Vinokourov specifically denied working with Dr Ferrari.

“Fuentes might be in Tenerife, and Ferrari could be in Saint-Moritz but those are great training locations and I can still train where I want to,” Vinokourov insisted.

“I was in Tenerife with a group of about twenty-five riders, including riders from Liquigas. The hotels were full. Who knows, maybe next year some French riders might even join us…

“I’ve been going to Tenerife since 2003 because it’s the ideal location for me. There’s the altitude, the weather and the accommodation to focus on training. I can’t concentrate on training when I’m at home in Monaco because the family and children don’t allow that. I’m not working with them (the doctors). After 2007 I realized that I don’t need a coach. In 2008 and 2009 I trained on my own and this year I’m sometimes asking advice from the team coach. But I’ve got ten years of experience and I’m even passing on my experience to the younger riders in the team.”
Id.

When you hear names like Fuentes and Ferrari, you know it’s all gone to shit.

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About big jonny

The man, the legend. The guy who started it all back in the Year of Our Lord Beer, 2000, with a couple of pages worth of idiotic ranting hardcoded on some random porn site that would host anything you uploaded, a book called HTML for Dummies (which was completely appropriate), a bad attitude (which hasn’t much changed), and a Dell desktop running Win95 with 64 mgs of ram and a six gig hard drive. Those were the days. Then he went to law school. Go figure. Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

30 Replies to “They actually booed him”

  1. There are better riders to favorite, greater men with more integrity to cheer for, but the benefit of the doubt is there, and people should have a chance to redeem past bad acts or bad decisions. We all have made a lapse in judgment.

    A guy like Vino, wouldn’t they not let him race if he wasn’t clean, after all?

    Or am I naive as fuck to even imagine that?

  2. As I said before, boooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo. Guy’s a douche. A softball calved, bull-thighed douche

  3. He did his time being banned. He bore the brunt of harsh criticism.

    He is back on the team. The team of Contador, and the team of Armstrong and Leipheimer. And he is a winner.

    All of the insults don’t add up to squat. TEAM ASTANA has my respect and loyalty. It’s all about the team, and your man is on it. Give it up.

  4. Actually, Armstrong and Leipheimer aren’t on Astana any longer, mostly because VINO came back to the team. Does he have a chance to redeem himself? Sure, doesn’t mean I have to like him. I don’t think he should NOT be racing. As you said, he served his time (sort of, the Kazakh federation cut him a sweetheart deal for banishment), and can race, as long as races will have him. Doesn’t mean, I, or anyone else has to like him. He’s still a douche.

  5. You gotta give the his due . That was a nice 1-2 he and el pistolrola pulled off today ! He made it stick and folks he is one strong mother fucker ! It was an even field of all dopers and he is the strongest ! Thats just how it is now . They are all spinnin their blood you know it . horse racing folks ! Enjoy

  6. Support Asstana and the Kazakhs fed baby feeding him all you want. And just to make it fair I never said he wasn’t talented or fast. Just a douche.

  7. …lotta young guys coming up have categorically stated they can & wanna do it “without drugs” but where do they draw the line ???…what is their point of compromise ???…

    …blood doping & blood spinning don’t involve “drugs” necessarily, so is that considered ethical from a “clean” riders sporting sense ???…“i’m not using stimulants, epo, hgh or any other “drug” so therefore i’m clean”

    …anyway, still can’t believe vino & kolobnev were allowed to get away & stay away @ 17k’s if not from a strategic viewpoint, then from the ethical standpoint of the “clean” riders not allowing a known cheater & recent race winner an obvious opportunity so close to the line, if everybody (directors as well as riders) is so fucking concerned…

    …& what’s the real “fly on the wall” dynamic between vino & contador on that team…

    …like andy rooney, i’m just askin’…

  8. If Vino fucks the teams moral up ala the boss ,I’ll be real surprised . Vino is a man of his word and knows he owes El pistolara for today with the initial attach that sent 30 guys to the pain cave and allowing him to slip away for the win . Conta will rip shit up in this years tour period .Vino will be his main bully !

  9. Vino has a place in the race, but he shall not win the tour. Will I be cheering for Vino in La Tour? Fuck no! I’ll be rooting for the little man. CONTADOR!! CONTADOR!! God I wish I could be there THIS YEAR. I will make the pubs change the channel to cycling, again… or go somewhere where they are showing it. I still don’t see what makes Vino such a bad person, but whatever – professional is as professional does. It’s fucking war to them.

  10. As far as I know, Vino’s as clean as the next guy. Sweetheart deal from the homeland aside, the UCI got their full suspension. I cheered for him, I miss his take-no-prisoners attacking style – unfortunately, I think it’s the same take-no-prisoners attitude that leads people into a Fuentes or Ferrari situation.

    And, hey, at least he sort of fessed up. Tyler? Floyd?

  11. BGW– Surprised clean riders didn’t chase him down? Wasn’t Valv.piti in that second group?

  12. Was there in ’05 when he beat who I think is a true work horse Voigt. I wanted Voigt to win that day. Vino did his time for the crime, but will still have to earn the respect back.

  13. warning. soapbox. rant. spew.

    lemmie see if I got this straight… vinny kookoo has been training in tenerife, where both fuentes AND ferarri are known to be operating, yet he can claim IM CLEAN and I NO LONGER HAVE NEED TO TRAIN W DR. FERARRI. wtf? why would you go anywhere near those two dudes? altitude schmaltitude. cycling will remain deaf dumb and blind, no journos will ever question anything unless the ‘journalists’ are ‘crackpot bloggers’… fucking pathetic velobicyclingnews chumps I’m glad the fans at least were smart enough to have booed his ass in belge and I wish someone’d throw something at him too. where’s rashan bhasati for some unmitigated juvenile behavior when you need it? ricco’s off letting his dopequeen girlfriend shove epo suppositories up his ass and the rest of that whole oil for drugs scam is gonna stink up europe but never make paper in the states, where we believe in the sanctity of sport. so now we’ve got riders from bmc and le shack popped for substance abuse but of course it’s more of the famous ‘isolated incidents’ & ‘rogue behavior’ never mind all the pre-season talk from both teams about how bonded and unified they are and everyone is following the same program blah blah blah – and again, no pussy selfserving ‘journalist’ in the sport is gonna raise that question, least he/she loose that ticket to france in july along with the bling bling free carbon bits for their new serrotta titanium tester dildo and hell, probably a syringe or six of ‘anti’aging’ meds for their own personal vitality and preservation. whores. the lot of ’em.

  14. He was not the only “former” doper in the pelaton today. By entering the race, he was allowed the chance to win, and he did. If this doesn’t make you happy, quit being a fan of bicycle racing. Because who’s to say every race isn’t won by a current or fomer doper?

  15. And you got to give it to the rough and tumble Kazak…at least he talks about the doping issue openly and frankly. He knows what people think and says the dirty out loud.

  16. Not really related, but Big Ben was banned for six games, just for being accused of wrongdoing. Can’t help wondering how the fans will react when he finally takes the field.

  17. Vino won on dope. You can see who he throttled and in what style and if you’ve watched cycle racing since 1990 you immediately say: “he’s packin”

  18. Leipheimer and Lance aren’t on Astana because Lance has to have the spotlight and he couldn’t/can’t handle being second fiddle to Contador

    As far as training on Tenerife, Armstrong still trains there. It is a rough and hot place to train and good altitude.

  19. Tenerife – oh, so since Lance trains there, it’s ok. huh?

    And Fuentes/Ferrari hang out there too, b/c of the heat and altitude – must help their golf handicap.

    whatever. go ride.

  20. If they test Ferrari, they are so fucked! How can it be so red and nor use EPO? And when you see all the features that have grown since the first race…
    And Alonso could be considered as HGH, no? He would fit in most blood streams…

  21. Anyone who doesn’t like Vino shouldn’t like any pro cyclist. At least not any cyclist who is winning. He got busted and sat out. Did anyone boo 3rd place? Or any of Valpiti’s wins? I’ve yet to hear that. Why Vino? Vino may be a sociopath and if that’s why you don’t like him then that’s understandable. But if it’s because he’s all doped up… Come on. That’s so 2005. The drugs work, testing is a joke, that’s why athletes take them. Do you really think that clean guys are winning races, really? Now that’s so 1999.

    The sad part is the UCI isn’t even making an attempt to look like they are trying to catch dopers, forget about actually trying to catch them. They are just trying to make money and dopers make the UCI lots of money…

    because of suckers like us…

  22. Unfounded speculation on Vino’s personality here. Sociopath? Come on.
    Isn’t some degree of sociopathy needed to have the mindset of a pro road racer, especially at that level? Who here who blogs or comments knows Alex personally? I mean, I’d be in awe just to be passed by him. Or any of them. Those guys who win, they got something WE DO NOT. So we hate.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHsMZwRqd9k
    “I hate!” My weakness is strong, by stand up comic Patton Oswalt
    Yesterday I pounded up one of these Seattle hills just a little harder, and said: “this one is for you, Vino.”

    You know, Pantani killed himself partly due to being slandered and treated badly by ‘the haters’. I don’t know about you, but I’m sad about that. I would not want the guilt of being one of those people who publicized negativity about Pantani after his sad death. I don’t like to assume nothing about somebody I don’t know, and me having never faced the choice ‘to dope or not to dope’ (at least in bike racing), I cannot be in a position to judge, and neither can you.

    There’s lots of people to hate that don’t ride bikes. If you got room for hate; I’m just saying.

  23. What we have to realize is that these guys are modern gladiators . They truly fight to the death . we love it and we thrive on it . They are entertaining us . I will enjoy seeing Vino rip people apart in the same way I like to see Alberto kill people . Jens too . For sure Fabian . Line em all up and lets see the carnage . Of all the my cycling heros , what I think
    of them today is how they rode not the doping issues . Pantani , ruled !
    Vino , he is a very special rider . Merkx , all time ! we schould just give Vino a break because he gonna deliver , we are gonna remember this guy .

  24. FUcK All the WhinerZ, go do six hours a day six days a week and stop whining about races won on the otherside of the world by somebody other than you
    And
    neverFORGET
    that whining ontheinternet
    islike

    well, you know

    RIDE MORE

  25. On this and other cycling boards discussing Vinokourov and his controversial win yesterday, there are always a few (eg slappy) telling everyone to fuck themselves and ride harder and/or more frequently.

    I don’t understand this reaction, or what it has to do with anything.

    Are they suggesting it is cathartic to ride more after disappointment in a controversial win? Are they declaring those who have energy to ponder the legitimacy of a pro-tour results are not exhausted enough from their own riding, and therefore have no right to speak?