2012 Cycling Thread

[GoN_]

Well, that was unexpected. Thank you Cadel Evans for trying something in this boring Tour.

[Adam]

Apparently there were a couple of dozen tacks on the road on today's Stage #14 which caused problems for a lot of riders including Cadel Evans. Hope that wasn't intentional, and another example of the unexpected things you can't legislate on the tour like the flare that hit Wiggins the other day. Anyway, LL Sanchez wins the stage and all the leaders manage to recover from any problems and finish in the peloton to keep Wiggins clear in the yellow jersey heading into the final week.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Disgraceful is what it is. Lucky no-one got badly hurt.

Anyway huge congrats to Sanchez who has been fighting for the stage win all Tour. Millar and Sanchez winning is great cos both teams lost their main riders due to injury or sickness and are both now low in numbers.

[Mongrel]

Despite his best efforts in this stage...

"Drat! Double Drat! And Triple Drat!"

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well the old Lotto rider will be McEwen and the World Champ was Tom Boonen which means Milram COULD be an ageing Zabel. Guessing that Rabo sprinter would be Oscar Freire then.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well, if Froome keeps complaining or hinting about having to support Wiggins then it's his own fault. It turns out that he was offered a number of contracts at last year's Vuelta when he finished second. Including an offer from Garmin about 5 days into the race before he'd made any news.

Instead he took a 3 year offer from Sky with more money meaning that it's unlikely anyone can afford to buy out his contract as it would prove to be too expensive. He screwed himself over.

[GoN_]

UCI announces adverse analytical finding for Fränk Schleck at Tour de France

Diuretic found in urine sample taken on July 14

Earlier today, the UCI advised Luxembourger Fränk Schleck (RadioShack-Nissan) of an Adverse Analytical Finding in a urine sample collected from him at an in-competition test at the Tour de France on July 14, 2012.

The WADA accredited laboratory in Châtenay-Malabry detected the presence of the diuretic Xipamide in Schleck's urine sample.

According to UCI anti-doping rules the finding does not require a provisional suspension, but in a statement the UCI said, "the UCI is confident that his team will take the necessary steps to enable the Tour de France to continue in serenity and to ensure that their rider has the opportunity to properly prepare his defense in particular within the legal timeline, which allows four days for him to have his B sample analyzed."

Cyclingnews has called Fränk Schleck for comment but have not yet received a response. The RadioShack team told Cyclingnews: "We aren't making a comment, give us some time."

The case echoes the 2011 Tour when Alexandr Kolobnev tested positive for a banned diuretic (hydrochlorothiazide) following stage 5. He later suspended himself from his Katusha tea but was later cleared by CAS and hired back by Katusha.

This isn't the first time that Schleck has had to answer to anti-doping authorities as in 2008 it was revealed he made a payment to Dr Eufemiano Fuentes, the centre of Operación Puerto, but the charge was dismissed by the Luxembourg Anti-Doping Agency.

Hope the bastard gets banned. And this guys should get jail time.

Edited July 17, 2012 by GoN_

[bolleje]

Hope the bastard gets banned. And this guys should get jail time.

You have ány idea what Xipamide is? Basically... it makes you pee a bit more.

Frank Schleck probably 'took' it drinking green tea. They found the tea in his room, btw.

In any other sport, they would simply ignore this case. But offcourse, it's cycling so let's ban him, call him a bastard and put him in jail!

This isn't Ricco getting caught with CERA... at least wait until the investigation is over before calling him a bastard. Djeez

[GoN_]

I'm a fan of both Schleck brothers, so I'm sorry if I got really disappointed to see one of them testing positive. And the thing is a diuretic which can help making traces of doping usage disappear in urine by raising the turnover rate of that substance (basic metabolism knowledge). His team immediately sent him saying that that substance wasn't used by their staff, so what did you want me to think. And i haven't to this point read anything about any tea and until then my stance remains that if it is confirmed I want him out of the sport for as much time as possible.

Btw, in a recent update on cyclingnews.com:

RadioShack-Nissan rider positive for diuretic

As news of his withdrawal from the Tour de France following an adverse analytical finding for the diuretic Xipamide broke on Tuesday evening, Fränk Schleck was speaking with police in Pau.

After receiving notice of his positive test, Schleck is understood to have opted to travel to the police station himself to make a statement to officers from OCLAESP (Central Office for the fight against environmental damage and for public health).

Meanwhile, the entrance to Schleck's RadioShack-Nissan team hotel, the Villa Navarre in Pau, had been blocked by police as television crews and journalists began to assemble outside, waiting for a response from the team.

Shortly after 10pm, RadioShack-Nissan press officer Philippe Maertens came to the gates of the hotel to field questions from the reporters gathered outside.

"We're all a bit devastated but we can't do anything, we can only acknowledge the facts and see what happens. It's up to Fränk himself to find an explanation," Maertens said, adding that it "had not yet been decided" if Schleck would seek an analysis of his B sample.

Schleck's positive test dates from July 14, the day of stage 13 of the Tour to Le Cap d'Agde and Maertens said that the team had no reason to suspect such an occurrence before the race began.

"No, there were no doubts. If the team had doubts about him, they wouldn't have brought him to the Tour de France," he said.

Schleck himself has yet to make a public pronouncement on the matter, but Maertens said that the rider was surprised by the news: "He has no explanation."

As Xipamide is a specified substance, Schleck could in theory have continued in the race while awaiting analysis of his B sample, but the RadioShack-Nissan team opted to remove him from the race. Schleck entered the rest day 12th overall, 9:45 behind yellow jersey Bradley Wiggins (Sky).

"He was our best rider here, we needed him for the teams classification," Maertens said. "He's an important factor of our team who is gone. It's important for the other riders too because it's their profession and they've worked for this goal, but to be honest, it's worst for Fränk himself."

Schleck's family, who had come to visit him during the rest day in Pau, were present in the hotel on Tuesday. "It's not a happy situation," Maertens said.

Schleck's younger brother Andy is not at the Tour as he recovers from a fractured pelvis, but when contacted by a reporter from Le Parisien, he stressed his support. "On my life and on my family, I'm sure he hasn't taken anything," Schleck said.

Edit: Forgot to add that after reading the news I immediately remembered the story about Frank's money transfers to Fuentes a few years ago, and how I defended him saying that he probably could have been caught in the crossfire there... This makes me feel stupid, disappointed and angry.

And then there's the fact that Andy will obviously have suspicion around him for the rest of his career even if he never tests positive.

Edited July 17, 2012 by GoN_

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

1. It's not on the list of banned substances.

2. He says that someone must have slipped it into something (or, indeed, if it was in a funky tea).

3. This definitely isn't Riccardo Ricco injecting himself with blood he's chilled in a mini fridge.

Much less dodgy than Armstrong and he's offered himself to the police to get it sorted. Also, he doesn't fit the right cross section for an enhancement doper - his ability and record has been on a pretty stable curve throughout his career, he came into the Tour saying that he wouldn't really be leading the team and he hasn't, with much less stress and pressure. However he was pretty much linked to Fuentes back in the day though so who knows?

Yeah though, any other sport and it's not even mentioned. Doping is only mentioned in athletics when it's closing on a major championships.

[Sandars]

Silly boy Franck... I know Luxembourg doesn't get cricket, but Shane Warne has taught us to not touch anything we don't know about.... (and yet Warne and Hurley.. nevermind)

[GoN_]

Wiggins has this one in the bag. It has been a really boring tour.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

It's had some lovely, beautiful attack riding from some top quality fighters though and some worthy stage winners. Sagan's been brilliant too. The GC competition has never really ignited though - down to Sky's controlled riding and a course that wasn't really the best GC course ever.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

I'm also looking forward to Van Garderen vs Pinot in a couple of years time.

[Adam]

Arguably the day the tour was won. A good watch today as the breakaway slowly got swallowed up one by one, all except for Valverde of course, and then Froome and Wiggins exerted their power over the rest by stretching away and increasing the gap back to Nibali and Van Den Breuk. I think we'll all be very surprised if they don't close it out in the flat stage and time trial that remain before Paris.

[GoN_]

Chris Froome could have won this thing. That's the story to retain from this Tour. Oh and Sky was a true powerhouse.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Well that was embarrassing for Sky. I found that really hard to watch. Froome had to keep slowing down AGAIN so that he didn't leave his team leader behind. If Wiggins could have kept up then Froome would have won the stage too.

Anyway, Pinot was brilliant again. Van Garderen is deservedly crazy high in the standings and Roche is back on the fringes of the top ten which is great - doubt he can out TT a couple of the guys immediately behind him though.

Anyway I'm a bit grumpy because I HATE Valverde with a passion.

[Adam]

I don't think Froome seeming better than Wiggins is as big a deal as some are making out. Wiggins has been right there the whole time fending off his other rivals and he won the time trial. He certainly deserves to win this Tour. Froome will have his chance next year and at this stage I don't think anybody would bet against him.

[ChrisSteeleAteMyHamster]

Ugh. Thought Roche might have had a chance with that clever little attack at the end but Cavendish went past him and Sanchez like they weren't moving. There you can see a comparison between the majority of riders sprinting and a proper sprinter at full pace after having to hold it all in for the last two weeks.

[Rich]

That attack at the end from Cavendish was unbelievable, and with Wiggins heading the leading out coming into the final kilometre, Sky have just looked, quite frankly, scary.