"PRO" Cycling Discussion

[elviento]

Re: Belkin kit, there seem to be a lot of untold stories behind sponsorship negotiations/battles. The original drawing of the kit shows a huge Giant but the final version has a small Giant. Interesting to see a big "Linksys" but apparently Belkin owns Linksys.

Blanco used to be pure Giant's color scheme. Not it's gone. From a visual perspective, Giant got a good 6-mo run of advertising at least while Rabo was still paying.

Giant more than made up for the small font on the jersey by having a huge GIANT on the extended seat tube. Not aware of any recent brand this big anywhere on a pro bike.

[Anders3404]

I had to google the ownership of Linksys since I thought that Linksys was owned by Cisco. But it turns out that it was sold to Belkin i march.

[Kjetil]

It's a trailer for a cyclist/driver awareness campaign.

but what does the cat have to do with anything?

Nine lives.

Edit: tcurtbike beat me to it with a very good explanation.

[Kermithimself]

Also I'm guessing Jalabert isn't the GT winner mentioned here: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/05/the-secret-pro-2/ seeing as he was pre bio-passport. I'm wondering when that news may be made public

Wasn't it Menchov?

[tymon_tm]

some report on retroactive tests is due on July the 18th. although this concerns retired cyclists (1998) it sure as hell will further limit the probability of existance of the so called clean cycling phenomenon...

so this year we'll spend another 3 weeks listening to commentators and officials babbling about progress cycling's making fighting doping, only to learn another list of prominent names who tested positive, that's gonna be revealed shortly after Tour's end

meanwhile, Rasmussen, who i have some sort of sympathy for, has lost a legal battle against Rabobank. despite recent revelations on Rabobank's doping machine and their general involvment in doping practices, the court rules they've done OK firing Chicken for... doping offence... LOL

[djconnel]

I don't think Rasmussen, a lier and a cheat, is getting much sympathy. No honor among thieves.

[micky]

Also I'm guessing Jalabert isn't the GT winner mentioned here: http://cyclingtips.com.au/2013/05/the-secret-pro-2/ seeing as he was pre bio-passport. I'm wondering when that news may be made public

Wasn't it Menchov?

Everything seems to point at Menchov indeed.

[tymon_tm]

DJ, that's one way to look at this. but you gotta admitt the way Rabo fired him leaves a bad taste, after all they most likely oversaw his doping practices

[djconnel]

Rabobank had no choice or everyone, not just Rasmussen, would have lost their jobs. But Rasmussen deserved to get canned. Whether others did as well isn't important.

[tymon_tm]

i'm all for official recognizing the role of teams in doping. saying "it's only HIS fault" doesn't really bring us any further in this regard. i know it's a lot easier to condemn one cyclist instead of investigating the involvment of the team or other parties, but the reality is: busting cyclists only, while the teams and their staff remain untouched, won't really solve anything in the long term

[nathanong87]

i dont see why lifetime bans for first offense (and 2nd sample) is like not being used? is it because testing still have false positives? seems like if the punishment is severe enough, 'to never compete again on the pro level' that these dudes would actually consider not doping anymore.

[djconnel]

Tests, including the biological passport, are generally set to a threshold which is a compromise between false positives and false negatives. So false positives are expected. Indeed when they DON'T occur is cause for suspicion, for example when teams all have their own centrifuges and are testing hematocrit then diluting appropriately.

Science of Sport wrote a lot on the matter.

[KWalker]

I'm unaware of any false positives that have actually turned out to be true in cycling or at least had some reasonable explanation.

[HammerTime2]

i'm all for official recognizing the role of teams in doping ... busting cyclists only, while the teams and their staff remain untouched, won't really solve anything in the long term

Speaking of which, does anyone know the status of the Johan "I never put anyone’s health at risk" Bruyneel USADA arbitration?

Bruyneel, according to USADA, was to appear at a hearing sometime before the end of 2012, though that never came to fruition. It’s unclear now where the Belgian’s case stands. When contacted late last week, a USADA spokesperson said the organization could not comment on ongoing cases.

[btompkins0112]

I'm unaware of any false positives that have actually turned out to be true in cycling or at least had some reasonable explanation.

What about Bertie??

hehehe