drug taking in sport

[noel]

It's happened again. "We're going to win and we're going to win clean" is about what they said. How hollow do the words of Sutton et al sound now? It's one fiasco after another, how can british cycling ever recover...

Another team will rise from the ashes. They'll make a big song and dance about how they're not cheating. And the cycling watching public will believe them. And repeat...

[brett]

I'm done with professional cycling

I believed Armstrong

I believed Wiggins

I'm so disappointed

I'll just ride my bike and anybody that passes me... they are doping obvs...

[Llani Boy]

There are a few public honours, Knighthoods, OBE's and MBE's that might have to be revoked having been awarded on the back of suspect performances.

[molehill]

I'm done with professional cycling

I believed Armstrong

I believed Wiggins

I'm so disappointed

I'll just ride my bike and anybody that passes me... they are doping obvs...

They are probably riding an ebike 😂.

[Mossdog]

Another team will rise from the ashes. They'll make a big song and dance about how they're not cheating. And the cycling watching public will believe them. And repeat...

Now, we all need to remember that '..it's the taking part not winning that counts' $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

[Graham Breeze]

Now, we all need to remember that '..it's the taking part not winning that counts' $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

I find that if one is generally sceptical about the integrity of one's fellow man then one is rarely disappointed.

[Graham Breeze]

No riders were caught with drugs in their system and Mark Cavendish, when he was winning, said he was getting tested over 50 times a year - both during competition and when at home

It's one (bad) thing to order illegal performance-enhancing drugs, and quite another to actually use them. With the retrospective sample testing they do, and the large number of tests, it's one of the cleanest sports.

Those of you who think otherwise should recall back in 2019 when Chris Froome, whilst lying in a hospital bed after badly crashing in the Dauphine, was awarded the 2011 Vuelta a Espana (Tour of Spain). He got the win after Juan José Cobo, a Spaniard, was striped of the win for drug offences.

With respect, Lovable Lance only failed one drug test (cortisone)and he owned his own EPO factory so he could get the stuff discounted.

[Graham Breeze]

Yes, but there were less tests, no conclusive test for epo back then, and he was making 'donations' to the cycling federation who were happy to turn a blind eye.

The fact that a Spaniard is stripped of winning the tour of Spain goes to show how far we've moved on from Lance's era.

Yeees. Although the Vuelta is organised by a French company who would like to "internationalise" the event even more and so are perhaps less sensitive to Spanish opinion.

I remember when the wonderful Nibali (who is always good value with his contempt for the media) was kicked out of the Giro for hanging onto a team car doing around 60 mph when filmed from the helicopter. One might have thought this was a noble gesture by the Italian RO but, of course, it was the commissaires who chucked him out and they are not all Italians.

[JohnK]

Yes, but there were less tests, no conclusive test for epo back then, and he was making 'donations' to the cycling federation who were happy to turn a blind eye.

The fact that a Spaniard is stripped of winning the tour of Spain goes to show how far we've moved on from Lance's era.

Not really sure that anything much, other than prize money (and thus the temptation) has moved on since the 1880s

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_o...ses_in_cycling

OK I know the 1886 reference may be apocryphal but there is no smoke without fire

[noel]

Good point JK. That wikipedia page is astonishing.

I seem to remember a discussion on here about 8 years ago that went something along the lines of "...goes to show how far we've moved on from Virenque's era."

If history has shown us anything it's that those winning now haven't been caught yet.

Of course, we could just accept that many are doping to small degrees within safe limits, and it's all part of the sport.