Excellent piece by Robert Millar

[BillG]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/the-bare-minimum

[weisan]

Spot on.
nothing else needs to be said.
Thanks for the post.

[bostondrunk]

Nice, but I prefered the statements from Indurain and Valverde. Basically saying that Lance put in the work to win, and those who did the same drugs as him are now being hailed as heroes and Lance takes the fall.
Bunch of BS. All the posties and other riders should be facing the same punishment.

[G-Reg]

The problem with articles like this is that they assume there is some great public outrage because of doping.

The truth is that most of us don't really care. Don't care if they get away with it and don’t really care if they get caught. We just want to be entertained.

Truth be told, dopers tend to be more entertaining. Cycling needs to get more centralized and manage their problems mostly behind closed doors.

[laupsi]

Hello, remember a fellow by the name of Paul Kimmage and isn't what RM stated exactly what PK said 10 years ago? Shish!!!

[BillG]

That someone said it before doesn't mean that it shouldn't be said again, by a top-level rider.

[laupsi]

That someone said it before doesn't mean that it shouldn't be said again, by a top-level rider.

agreed, but having been "hit over the head" w/this story for the past two weeks, more if you've been following, simply makes it non-news worthy to some of us. it was news when it was "new information", and at that time no one gave it proper notice. the original author, PK, was villified for his comments and investigating, he was also a professional in the peleton, and to this day is not getting proper justice. guess you've got nothing to say about that? :confused:

[malcolm]

Good read
I've always said the hematocrit of 50 is seldom seen in healthy males at least at or near sea level.

[93legendti]

"1998 was the warning that the 50% limit chosen by the UCI two years earlier was an open invitation to dope to that level. The teams of the period, as teams had always done, expected the rules to be pushed and organised themselves as they thought fit. The UCI said it was 50% to protect riders’ health and just ignored the sudden emergence of the 75kg climbers. Festina were the unlucky ones as it could have been any of the teams – any one of them – and the bizarre strike of that year’s Tour just confirmed it. They weren't protesting that they were being cheated by Festina, they were protesting that their world had been found out."

Indurain retired in '96 and won his TdF's from 1991-1995 and he was at least 75kg...more like 80kg and he dropped climbers on every climb. I remember when he went to the front on the Ventoux, upped the tempo and riders dropped like flies.

[malcolm]

Not to defend the uci but without a test for epo they had to establish a limit and I suppose it had to be wide enough to account for variability. I just don't recall seeing many people that for some reason weren't chronically hypoxic that had a crit of 50. I seldom see men with crits above 48 although I'm sure they are out there they are just uncommon

[goonster]

1998 was the warning that the 50% limit chosen by the UCI two years earlier was an open invitation to dope to that level. The teams of the period, as teams had always done, expected the rules to be pushed and organised themselves as they thought fit. The UCI said it was 50% to protect riders’ health and just ignored the sudden emergence of the 75kg climbers. Festina were the unlucky ones as it could have been any of the teams – any one of them – and the bizarre strike of that year’s Tour just confirmed it. They weren't protesting that they were being cheated by Festina, they were protesting that their world had been found out.
Truth.

[Steve in SLO]

Induration retired in '96 and won his TdF's from 1991-1995 and he was at least 75kg...more like 80kg and he dropped climbers on every climb. I remember when he went to the front on the Ventoux, upped the tempo and riders dropped like flies.

Yes, but that was due to his rapid climbing cadence, which is what Lance emulated, hence his success.

(this, by the way is tongue in cheek)

[Rueda Tropical]

Nice, but I prefered the statements from Indurain and Valverde. Basically saying that Lance put in the work to win, and those who did the same drugs as him are now being hailed as heroes and Lance takes the fall.
Bunch of BS. All the posties and other riders should be facing the same punishment.

No surprise dopers would defend a doper. No telling what might happen if protected riders start getting sanctioned and riders start spilling the beans.

[BillG]

agreed, but having been "hit over the head" w/this story for the past two weeks, more if you've been following, simply makes it non-news worthy to some of us. it was news when it was "new information", and at that time no one gave it proper notice. the original author, PK, was villified for his comments and investigating, he was also a professional in the peleton, and to this day is not getting proper justice. guess you've got nothing to say about that? :confused:

Why so rude? As usual my desire to post on this website lessens every time I do.

[GuyGadois]

Great article. The book about Robert Miller is also very good and well worth reading.

[laupsi]

Why so rude? As usual my desire to post on this website lessens every time I do.

rude? sorry I didn't mean to come off that way. I was simply positing the obvious for those following this story and asking a question if you had even thought about the previous accusations over the years, especially from PK? I find it ironic that the more we hear about current events the more we consider the same information new information, like our interest is sparked and therefore we accept whatever is given to us w/out thinking about its origin and the build up of the story itself.

guess I feel for Paul Kimmage, having read his book some time ago and following him through his posts I really believe this man was the crusader in exposing the doping culture in cycling. now that these issues are front and center he has been forgotten and beaten down in the process.