Kelme out of the Tour (and more)

[jeffg]

see:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news.php?id=news/2004/mar04/mar26news3

[Andreu]

:confused: The problem is, I don't know who to believe now. Is Manzano just trying to make get some mileage out of this? Was he about to lose his contract and this is sour grapes? IF he is right, do the organisers of the tdf honestly believe that Kelme are the only team not to be touched by the problem. These questions are academic because the sport, yet again, has been tarnished. On the BBC cycling web site (which I refuse to check out now) just after Panatani died, the page was full of bad news stories about drugs....not a good advertisement for kids or parents who have kids in the sport.
see also...http://www.procycling.com/news_main.asp?newsId=5061
A :bike:

[MartyE]

Given the previous problems that had Kelme on hold by ASO
(money problems) and the current revelations by Manzano
I'm not surprized at all.
with the current state of affairs concerning doping I'm
sure that they (ASO) don't want anything that remotely
looks like a rerun of the Festina affair.

Marty

[Andreu]

I guess we are all to blame ....we want exciting mountain top finishes in long stages over three weeks....this means sponsors pay pieceweight (more races finished in higher places=money) and this puts added pressure on professionals to do things us mere mortals would'nt dream of doing. Plus added pressure of sponsers threatening to pull funding....it's a recipe for disaster.
A

[BumbleBeeDave]

. . . of how these revelations make the sport look, I think Manzano's descriptions as recounted on the CylingNews and ProCycling web sites are simply just a bit TOO detailed and complete to be the spur-of-the-moment fiction. He is just a bit TOO familiar with all the different drugs, the different methods, and the different (convincingly logical sounding) methods for circumventing the drug controls.

I am going try to remain skeptical of what he is saying until he can present physical evidence--ANY physical evidence--for what he is insinuating. But I have to wonder--the reasons for his collapse in the Tour and the team's sudden pullot from the other race due to mysterious "gastrointestinal" problems sound logical and particularly damning.


BBDave

[BarryG]

I agree that Manzano's accounts have the ring of truth. He paints a convincing picture of routine drug and blood doping applied systematically to beat the tests. Why wouldn't other teams and athletes be doing this if it meant the difference between winning and losing?

And now the rider protest: "the final stage of the Setmana Catalana did not start on time Friday, as the 112 remaining riders held a two minute protest on the start line against the words of ex-professional Jesus Manzano . . ."

Starting to feel a bit cynical and suspicious about those guys. I'm more inclined to be skeptical about the 112 riders rather than Manzano at this point. I sure hope I'm wrong. But Manzano has made a strong case that someone with no positive tests can still be very juiced. How isolated a case WAS Manzano?

Barry