UCI to investigate Vinokourov's Liege-Bastogne-Liege victory

[djg21]

The UCI has confirmed to Cyclingnews that it will open an official investigation into Alexandre Vinokourov's victory at the 2010 edition of Liege-Bastogne-Liege after details of payments to Alexandr Kolobnev were revealed by the Italian police investigation into Dr. Michele Ferrari.

The allegations of Vinokourov paying off the Russian so he could secure victory in the Ardennes classic after returning from a ban for blood doping were first published by the L'illustre newspaper in Switzerland in 2011. Vinokourov and Kolobnev rubbished the accusations at the time and the UCI refused to open an investigation due to a lack of proof.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-to-investigate-vinokourovs-liege-bastogne-liege-victory

Professional cycling is just absurd. Now we have doping and bribes. No wonder the sponsors are fleeing en masse. This really is pathetic.:mad:

[GuyGadois]

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-to-investigate-vinokourovs-liege-bastogne-liege-victory

Professional cycling is just absurd. Now we have doping and bribes. No wonder the sponsors are fleeing en masse. This really is pathetic.:mad:

Cyclists paying for a victory is as old as racing itself. It has gone on for years and race radios have just made it easier and more efficient to do. First, they take away our doped heros, now they are going after our cycling mafia too? What's next podium girls? There is no way they are enhanced! :eek:

GG

[fiamme red]

There is nothing new about bribing another cyclist in order to win a race. It's always been done in professional cycling, though the public doesn't often hear of it.

[djg21]

There is nothing new about bribing another cyclist in order to win a race. It's always been done in professional cycling, though the public doesn't often hear of it.

I know that deals are often made, but I'd like to believe most are made for strategic reasons and not pure greed. I know this is naive.

[Rueda Tropical]

Why is it that when some pro gets nailed for cheating the response is always so what it's been that way forever.

"The winner had a motor in his seat tube, sabotaged the other teams bikes, was jacked up on EPO and paid off the other guys in the winning break" response: "So? You think Merckx won all those races on bread and water."

They say you get the leaders you deserve. I think we have the sport we deserve.

[David Kirk]

Maybe we can just cut out the middle men and inject money right into our veins?

Might work?

Dave

[Dave B]

Maybe we can just cut out the middle men and inject money right into our veins?

Might work?

Dave

Where can I sign up for that?

[David Kirk]

Where can I sign up for that?

Dr. Ferrari's accountant handles this aspect of the doping program.

dave

[54ny77]

If it's injected by Ferrari does it go faster and make beautiful sounds?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK8xvTXubxw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMt3BPHtZhc&feature=fvwrel

Cranked the speakers up, this sound gives me chills...oh man what it would be like to drive one of these. Hell on wheels!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fLV3L91otE&feature=related

Dr. Ferrari's accountant handles this aspect of the doping program.

dave

[CunegoFan]

What happens when Kolobnev says he did not think he could beat Vino in the sprint that day and wanted to get something for continuing to work? Does the UCI acknowledge the reality of situations like this or, like the doping situation, does it act shocked--shocked!--that money exchanges hands?

Going by the duplicitious way the UCI handled doping, I am going with the shocked approach. The UCI is taking fire from all sides. This will give McQuaid an opportunity to grandstand.

[Rueda Tropical]

What happens when Kolobnev says he did not think he could beat Vino in the sprint that day and wanted to get something for continuing to work? Does the UCI acknowledge the reality of situations like this or, like the doping situation, does it act shocked--shocked!--that money exchanges hands?

Going by the duplicitious way the UCI handled doping, I am going with the shocked approach. The UCI is taking fire from all sides. This will give McQuaid an opportunity to grandstand.


Does that mean McQuaid has to give back his cut? :banana:

[BdaGhisallo]

I didn't think that the UCI could descend further into farce,

I was wrong.

What next? Do we now outlaw the practice of breakaway riders deciding to concede a stage win if they are in line to take a leaders jersey if their breakaway companions help the break succeed? In that situation, should the new gc leader be stripped of his lead because he didn't contest the stage win?

How about team leaders gifting their domestique a stage win? Throw the team leader in the slammer for that one?

Give me an effing break. The UCI needs to concentrate on cleaning up the sport of its rank corruption. For me, the corruption and malfeasance among the sport's hierarchy is the biggest issue. Second is the doping problem.

The UCI needs to be put out of our misery and a new, and better, system rise up in its place. Perhaps a league system akin to the structure of European national soccer structures. Teams are permanent and maintain their position in the top leagues if they perform well enough to avoid relegation by finishing in the bottom five or ten percent of the standings.

Jaysus! Going after riders negotiating a race win is ridiculous. Please nobody tell them what goes on in the summer time village criteriums and the kermesses. The UCI would have a field day with them if anyone ever told them how they work!!

[jpw]

Vinokourov winning Olympic gold was a hard one to watch. He should be out of cycling, as should Riis, and the rest of the cheating b'stards.

[jlwdm]

Vinokourov winning Olympic gold was a hard one to watch. He should be out of cycling, as should Riis, and the rest of the cheating b'stards.

I never found it hard to watch Vino. He loved to attack all of the time instead of riding conservatively like most riders for too many years. Often the moves did not stick, but he stirred things up. I remember one tour stage where he would drop off the back on the climbs and catch back to the leaders; then as he caught on the next time he immediately attacked (including attacking his own team leader as I recall) but barely got anywhere. Always tried to make it a race and not a group ride.

Jeff

[fiamme red]

I know that deals are often made, but I'd like to believe most are made for strategic reasons and not pure greed. I know this is naive.http://nyvelocity.com/content/interviews/2009/joe-parkin-interview

schmalz And you learned to know who was willing to make a deal and who was going to pay out that day, also.

Parkin Yeah, you figure that out pretty quickly. The kermis races are quite often bought and sold, it's never just a "Here's some money and roll over and die" kind of thing, it's more of a buying a teammate on the road.

schmalz What percentage of those races do you think there were no deals made? Would it be half and half?

Parkin I would say that probably 50% of the races there's some sort of a deal somewhere or another. Typically I would say if a sprint wins a race, a guy who's a true sprinter wins the race and he has one teammate in the breakaway with him, then there's no deal. That's straight up racing. If a non sprinter wins a race solo, or against a couple of other guys who are also non sprinters, there's probably a better than average possibility that there was some sort of agreement that happened. And you know what, sometimes there's no money that exchanges hands, sometimes it's "you helped me last week, I'm gonna help you this week". I know of a couple of classics that while I couldn't swear to it, it seems to me that one rider won Tour of Flanders, and the other rider that was with him won Paris Roubaix.

schmalz It seems like at the higher level races you're going to have less chance of someone making a dollar offer on the road, whereas they might, like you said, offer to work together at the next race. I think the higher the stakes the less likely they are to do that.

Parkin There's still some money that changes hands...

schmalz...or maybe it's more expensive!

Parkin It's a lot more expensive. I know of a certain classic that was purchased in 19... I want to say '88 or '89, for about 20 grand.

schmalz Was it purchased beforehand or was it on the road?

Parkin No no, those races are...there's too many good guys. So in that case you've got the three or four or five riders in the world on that day in a breakaway together, and it really becomes a case where "I can't beat you", or "I like you better than the other two guys, so let's do something together", something like that. It's very much a last minute deal, it's never a case where, at least in my own personal experience, it's never ever a case where if I was faster than you, and you try to buy the race from me, that I'm going to go ahead and sell it to you. If I'm faster than you I'm winning the race.

schmalz Then why take the money, you can just win it anyway.

Parkin It really comes down more to, there's two or three of us in the breakaway, I'm the fastest one, and everyone knows that, there's no incentive for the other two guys to keep riding. So, they might be under team orders to not ride if there's another faster member of their team back there. If you know you're going to lose, if everyone goes to the line together and it's a sprint finish, you're probably going to be looking to make some sort of a deal so that you can make some extra money out of the race, or still have the chance to win.I believe there's more about this subject in A Dog in a Hat.

[Jaq]

If it's injected by Ferrari does it go faster and make beautiful sounds?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK8xvTXubxw&feature=related

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMt3BPHtZhc&feature=fvwrel

Cranked the speakers up, this sound gives me chills...oh man what it would be like to drive one of these. Hell on wheels!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7fLV3L91otE&feature=related

Meh. Sounds like a bunch of routers with broken bits. This (http://youtu.be/PKAOGCElH94) is what an engine should sound like. ;)