2017 'PRO' cycling discussion.

[mike]

Money trail is one form of proof. Witnesses another. I doubt you will ever find e actual bikes. Those are most likely destroyed

[maquisard]

Indeed and remember that Armstrong was brought down mostly on the basis of witness testimony rather than hard evidence.

Should be interesting.

[TonyM]

Some will surely be rather a witness than in jail....

That‘s going to be interesting.

[Jenmoss]

Indeed and remember that Armstrong was brought down mostly on the basis of witness testimony rather than hard evidence.

Should be interesting.

It was Travis Tygart who basically threatened mostly A lot of Garmin riders ( another team who claimed to be changing cycling for the good )
who gave Armstrong up because they did not want to end up in jail , even Hincapie folded .So a ship load of pressure was put on to get the confessions . But ultimately Armstrong still confessed.
He did not have to if you remember his defence comeback against those riders who named him was pretty good but Hincapie was a big problem for him. I personally think he should have shut up shop and carried denying. It’s was a unbelievable witch hunt on a rider who was only doing what’s was needed to compete at that level . I mean if he never won any tours no one would give a ship ,I mean no one cares about Ulrich or any of the other top stars and teams who were doping at the same time and before Armstrong even turned a pedal in Europe. It’s down to personality IMO. I mean look at the likes of Millar etc giving their views like they never doped .its BS. Armstrong divided people from the off .
When you have BS interviews by the likes of Wiggins etc saying how shocked they were that Armstrong was doping “ pass me the bucket” RIders managers etc all know the score. I mean look how many riders Tygart got to confess ,riders who for years were in denial .
Sky / Brailsford no drugs policy , TUE’s , Fabs motor doping ( he definitely was ) the UCI it a farce, pure comedy gold .

[mike]

well said. all the riders know the score for sure. doping is still done, and sky tries to do it within the max allowed, but backfired this time. I suspect nebulizer was used, plus the puffs from inhaler. if cancellera is found to have mechanically doped, dropping boonen with ease, I will not be surprised one bit.

[Jenmoss]

well said. all the riders know the score for sure. doping is still done, and sky tries to do it within the max allowed, but backfired this time. I suspect nebulizer was used, plus the puffs from inhaler. if cancellera is found to have mechanically doped, dropping boonen with ease, I will not be surprised one bit.
[/quote

You can clearly see Fab reach over to a button or switch on his bars and then boom Boonen is dropped.
No electronic shifting then. He does the same at PR as well , is cadence is no better than the other riders yet he drops them with ease . It looks amazing but for me having a motor is completely wrong. I don’t care what substances they take but to cheat using a engine in cycling that’s just not on. Fab never once dropped anyone like that when the suspicion came out . He kept saying he was marked man etc but that’s BS ,if you could do what he did without a engine then he could drop anyone and being a marked man would make no difference . I would like to see him explain the reaching for the button / switch . Try and justify what his hands were doing , it’s so clear that he his doing ,pressing something and then drops riders . He should explain that action . The footage is there I think that’s the best way to bust him for that ,pin him down. I seriously don’t know how any rider could live with themselves cheating in that way. I bet a few more pros have used motors but been a little bit more smarter about it.

[HammerTime2]

Do you have link(s) to video(s) of Cancellara reaching over to a button or switch? I retain an open mind and would like to see the footage.

[TonyM]

I can remember it: the bar tape war extremely thick at one point close to the bar as something would be under the tape at this position. And yes he did feel very impressive from time to time - as if he would have a motor. I am not sure we could see him touching that position on the bar and then just riding much faster...Will see in the videos!

[CrankAddictsRich]

I've seen the Fab videos and IMO, its not as clear-cut as the previous posters are making it out to be... and I'm not a Cancellara fanboy by any stretch.

I've also ridden with people on current tech e-bikes and even in the woods, you can hear the motor, so I don't think they'd be silent enough back then for other riders not to know right away.

[wheelbuilder]

I've seen the Fab videos and IMO, its not as clear-cut as the previous posters are making it out to be... and I'm not a Cancellara fanboy by any stretch.

I've also ridden with people on current tech e-bikes and even in the woods, you can hear the motor, so I don't think they'd be silent enough back then for other riders not to know right away.

Agreed. Technology wasn't magically better back then. The best motors available today are instantly recognizable by the sound. I'm not convinced.

[TonyM]

It was maybe "just" a 20-30W boost so quite different than the current ebikes motors.

[LeDuke]

I've seen the Fab videos and IMO, its not as clear-cut as the previous posters are making it out to be... and I'm not a Cancellara fanboy by any stretch.

I've also ridden with people on current tech e-bikes and even in the woods, you can hear the motor, so I don't think they'd be silent enough back then for other riders not to know right away.

Agreed. Technology wasn't magically better back then. The best motors available today are instantly recognizable by the sound. I'm not convinced.

Isn't he surrounded by hundreds of cheering fans in the video in question?

[wheelbuilder]

I've seen the Fab videos and IMO, its not as clear-cut as the previous posters are making it out to be... and I'm not a Cancellara fanboy by any stretch.

I've also ridden with people on current tech e-bikes and even in the woods, you can hear the motor, so I don't think they'd be silent enough back then for other riders not to know right away.

Agreed. Technology wasn't magically better back then. The best motors available today are instantly recognizable by the sound. I'm not convinced.

Isn't he surrounded by hundreds of cheering fans in the video in question?

Yes.

[AJS914]

The video is on youtube if one hasn't seen it.

[jooo]

pure comedy gold

Speaking of comedy gold, is it 2 or 3 times you've been banned previously? Not exactly sure why a repeat offender has been allowed to re-register?