Since it's the first of June it's time for a 'News in June' thread.
Bobbie Traksel may end his career. Since a crash in April the nerves in his left hand don't work anymore, meaning he can't move his hand or can't feel anything with it.
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Wilier wrote:
Since it's the first of June it's time for a 'News in June' thread.
Bobbie Traksel may end his career. Since a crash in April the nerves in his left hand don't work anymore, meaning he can't move his hand or can't feel anything with it.
this is indeed grave news. But lets hope for the best
“What happened with the Spanish federation and Contador was 100 per cent predictable and it’s the same in the Schleck case. It was no surprise that the Luxembourg federation decided not to do anything. I thought the real turning point with our entire pro cycling sponsorship was the press release sent out when the Schleck thing broke. That for me was really the end of it. That was so bad and it assumed cycling fans were so stupid that I just didn’t get that at all. That for me was the end.”
- Gerard Vroomen of Cervélo
I think Mr. Vroomen is overestimating the intelligence of many cycling fans. As can be easily seen on many forums, there are many fans who really are incredibly stupid to the point where they honestly believe Schleck paid Fuentes for training advice and not for a doping program.
Edited by issoisso on 03-06-2011 18:30
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
I read the whole article, and contemplated posting a link to it.
Vroomen makes a lot of very interesting points I must say.
Cycling fans aren't necessarily stupid, they don't lack intelligence, what they lack is wisdom. They're blind boys when it comes to their favourite riders, most of times because those riders or their teams are from the country of the fan.
Nationalism is a pain in the a***e generally speaking, and it's case in cycling too, sadly.
Aquarius wrote:
I read the whole article, and contemplated posting a link to it.
Vroomen makes a lot of very interesting points I must say.
Cycling fans aren't necessarily stupid, they don't lack intelligence, what they lack is wisdom. They're blind boys when it comes to their favourite riders, most of times because those riders or their teams are from the country of the fan.
Nationalism is a pain in the a***e generally speaking, and it's case in cycling too, sadly.
Indeed.
I'm always reminded of spanish cycling forums and the dozens of locals who refuse to believe Induráin was on drugs no matter how oblique Induráin's non-denial of drug use becomes.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
Aquarius wrote:
I read the whole article, and contemplated posting a link to it.
Vroomen makes a lot of very interesting points I must say.
Cycling fans aren't necessarily stupid, they don't lack intelligence, what they lack is wisdom. They're blind boys when it comes to their favourite riders, most of times because those riders or their teams are from the country of the fan.
Nationalism is a pain in the a***e generally speaking, and it's case in cycling too, sadly.
I agree. Nationalism is bigger probably in cycling than in most sports as we don't really become fans of "teams" as such.
There's no point slapping a schleck - Sean Kelly on "Who needs a slap"
The Luxembourg federation wouldn't put a ban over 1/3 of their country's cycling, that's for sure.
But yeah, after reading the article, I've got to say that I agree almost 100% with Vroomen. Finally someone points out that the media has possibly as much resposibility on the situation of the sport as the UCI, the teams or the riders.
He also wrote a very interesting article about the Crostis affaire in his blog which I very much recommend to everyone. Even if I don't agree with the whole article, he raises some pretty interesting points there.
That's two thirds they should ban, actually. I can't believe Frank and Andy are that different (you know what I mean) that only of them must visit gynaecologist.
Aquarius wrote:
That's two thirds they should ban, actually. I can't believe Frank and Andy are that different (you know what I mean) that only of them must visit gynaecologist.
While we're at it, Kirchen's 2008 Tour just screams CERA use.
Even at the time, there were very persistent rumours from several different sources that all managed to agree on which teams the suspicious samples belonged to. 2 Columbias were supposedly involved.
Of course, the re-testing then happened with the newer CERA test and....what a surprise...the positives all came from teams that had been involved in the rumours.
Now that I think about it, the guys who were rumoured to have suspicious CERA test results who weren't suspended never did anything great after that Tour. Kirchen included.
The rumours said 2 Gerolsteiners, 2 Sauniers, 2 AG2Rs and 2 Columbias. the first 4 were caught with the retest, and Valjavec, Efimkin, Rogers and Kirchen never again were as good as they were that Tour
Edited by issoisso on 03-06-2011 19:14
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong