The first thoughts of most of the media was "Wiggins?" but he had not ridden this years Tour following the public dispute with Froome. Other Sky riders came into question, young gun Kennaugh? Aussie Porte? Perhaps eve Stannard or Thomas!

The WADA spokesperson continued, ignoring the shouts. He went on to say that the sample was taken, again, on Rest Day 1. But this time it was not AICAR or GW1516, but EPO that was found. They explained that they did not instantly announce this during the Tour as they believed the test to be wrong, as no-one could have been desperate enough to use something as easily detected as EPO at that level of competition. Once back in Switzerland they tested the B-Sample, which confirmed it. This rider was using EPO during the Tour de France.

He won two stages in this race finishing second in the Points competition. Mark Cavendish has bee caught using EPO during the Tour de Frace! WADA confirmed that he would receive a 12month suspension from racing, ending 9th August 2015. The same punishment was handed out to Chris Froome.

A full statement from Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish, Sky and Quickstep is expected to come tomorrow. Reports suggest both riders will be sacked, keeping them out of competition until 2016 at the earliest. It is certainly a most shocking day here in Switzerland...

TheManxMissile wrote:
@Schleck
Take it you're not a fan

The collapse could perhaps be trace to the start of that week, when Chris was confirmed positive and banned for a year. Some would say it went further to the Vuelta 2011 with Froome's magnificent transformation. Others might point ever further into the past, bringing up the checkered past of many of it's stars such as Millar, Boardman or even the great Simpson.

But it is certain none would ever have thought things would get to this point. Yes it is well known that Track Cycling is probably the worst of cyclings sectors for doping, but somehow the lack of big cases gave hope. Well that illusion is well and truly gone now, along with a whole lot more. The money will certainly run out soon now, the venues given over to private firms and the future of the development programmes on ice until further notice.

The National Lottery has cut and run. Sky are cutting it's losses and focusing solely on the road. The partners and suppliers will be looking to make differences elsewhere. The Pringle may now be torn down for good. Manchester handed over to the Council, who will have a hard time keeping it maintained. Wales and Scotland will loose out massively but can fall back onto their own secondary Federations. Frankly it's anyones guess how this will affect the public long term. Already we've seen angry backlash against the stars, participation has seemed to falter and drop. Support has decreased following the loss of the long term stars of the last decade.

That said there is still hope. Some talents have escaped unharmed in the shape of Thomas, Stannard, Dowsett and Kennaugh, well at least for now. David Millar is still the shining example of how to fight back, at least until he retires at the end of 2014. Lastly there are more still coming through such as the Yates twins of Orica and recently signed Lasnik of RLM.

Today a significant number of announcements have been made, all relating to British riders. Following the doping convictions of Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish in August an investigation into UK Cycling was launched. With the first findings due to be published in a week it seems a selection of cyclists are jumping early to minimise the damage.

First off, the 2012 Tour de France winner, Bradley Wiggins has confirmed his imediate retirement from cycling. The word was that he would be targeting Paris-Roubaix early in 2014 but this is being put firmly to rest now. Having retired from Track cycling after the 2012 Olympics this means the end of competitive Wiggo.

Other former track riders have joined him. Multiple gold medalist Ed Clancy steps down from cycling and retires. Andrew Tennant joins the move as he quits team Madison-Genesis for a sabatical year away from the sport. Johnathan Tiernan-Locke is the last of the bigger names to quit as he drops out of Team Sky. The 2012 Tour of Britain winner will also step away for at least 12 months.

This will promote riders like Geraint Thomas and Ben Swift into greater leadership roles at Sky. It will also allow young guns like Adam and Simon Yates or Peter Kennaugh a new freedom to grow and develop. Finally promising young Amateur Tom Lasnik will tackle his first pro season well away from any of this damanging influence as he signed up with Roubaix-Lille Metropole. With Millar retiring at the end of 2014 and these recent trailblazers for UK cycling it seems as if the torch has been well and truly handed onwards.

sutty68 wrote:
Great news that Geraint will become a Leader at Team SKY

TheManxMissile wrote:


Should say this is on delay due to DB issues... as in Lachis Editor won't work with windows 8.1. Using one of the other available editors i made mistakes that i don't know so now the DB won't work. As such i am waiting to get my hands on a windows 7 computer to make changes again, but this won't be for at least another week