Dankan wrote:


Every single race outside the Benelux and the Mediterranean countries (= Spain, France and Italy) takes place in icy or snowy circuits. The entire Czech calendar is full of snow, and same counts for Germany, East Europe, some American races and even some of the Benelux ones. I don't think it's funny.

Levi4life wrote:
Final teams list for California
Ag2r-La Mondiale (FRA)
Astana (KAZ)
Bissell Pro Cycling Team (USA)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Cervelo Test Team (SUI)
Colavita/Sutter Home Presented by Cooking Light (USA)
Fly V Australia presented by Successful Living Foundation Team
(AUS)
Garmin-Chipotle (USA)
Jelly Belly Cycling Team (USA)
Liquigas (ITA)
Ouch Presented by Maxxis (USA)
Quick Step (BEL)
Rabobank (Netherlands)
Rock Racing (USA)
Saxo Bank (DEN)
Team Columbia (USA)
Team Type 1 (USA)

CrueTrue wrote:



It's only a question of time until this event becomes Pro Tour

stuartmcstuart wrote:
Well its already more keenly contested than the (...) Tour of Poland

issoisso wrote:

If by "more keenly contested" you mean "the field is better on paper", you can make a case for that, but I still think it's wrong.

If by "more keenly contested" you mean "the field that actually goes there to attempt something (as opposed to smiling at the sponsors and staying in the pack all the time) is better, then I think you're a bit misinformed on the Tour of Poland.

stuartmcstuart wrote:


Well, obviously, the Tour of Poland is more established as an event, so I guess you could say more riders go there to make an impact, but surely this is more to do with the races position on the calendar, used in the recent past as a form building race for the worlds. The tour of california, on the other hand, is widely used for race fitness for the season, but a number of riders still turn up with the determination to do well and gear off season training for it.

Thus, I make the argument, that the Tour of Poland may have more people on form pushing to make an impact, if the race was held in February then I don't think you'd see such an active field.

issoisso wrote:


Well, that's obvious, but you what you discussed was which race is more keenly contested, so what's what I answered

In December Senior consultant Bo Belhage visited his colleague, Rasmus Damsgaard, in his home in Kongens Lyngby north of Copenhagen. In Belhages mind was a nasty suspicion.

The two doctors have developed the world's best anti-doping program, based on systematic blood and urine tests of some of the world's best cyclists. Last year's Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre, were part of this program. The same is the top five favorites for this summers tour on French roads, brothers Andy and Frank Schleck from Team Saxo Bank and the three-Astana cyclist, Alberto Contador, Lance Armstrong and Andreas Klöden.

All cyclists delivers negative doping tests but are still winning some of the world's biggest races in front of riders, which is subsequently ruled out for abuse of doping. And it is here, Bo Belhages doubts and suspicions come into play. As Rasmus Damsgaard chief and senior consultant and research director at Bispebjerg Hospital, he has overall responsibility for the hospital's anti-doping program medically and economically, can never be questioned.

But in the autumn there was some things that woke the doctor's concern. It emerged that CSC rider Frank Schleck had tried to buy a training program for 8000 Euros by the Spanish gynecologist, Eufemiano Fuentes, who is notoriously known as the man behind one of history's biggest doping scandals Operación Puerto.

"It is completely absurd to believe that it is ethically clean the edges. It is clear that it has shed so much in my ears and made my desire to continue with the most ethical teams in the cycling world smaller. I was a little unsure about whether the ethical standards are as high as when we started, "says Bo Belhage today.

Another episode is about American Lance Armstrong comeback in the cycling world. The seven-time Tour de France winner who is currently a rider at Astana, which is also subject too Rasmus Damsgaard and Bo Belhages doping program. But Lance Armstrong has his own anti-doping program along with the American doctor Don Catlin and would not readily be examined by a doctor from Bispebjerg Hospital. It was totally unacceptable to Bo Belhage.

"If we have to be with Astana, and he must ride for Astana, which we have a contract, he must also be checked on our premises, not on his premises. That would be nonsense, "said Bo Belhage in the autumn to Ritzaus Bureau.

"We must not only be able to see his values - we must also take samples. It should be us who are knocking on his door two o'clock at night and say, 'Lance, now you piss in the pot.' That's it. "

IT WAS EPISODES like these, Bo Belhage went to Lyngby to discuss with Rasmus Damsgaard. But the epsiodes were quickly forgotten, according to Berlingske Tidende. details of a conflict of a completely different and more sinister nature appeared.

At Rasmus Damsgaards house Bo Belhage spotted a bicycle similar to those CSC riders ride in competition. A hand buildt bike like that is worth somewhere between 5000-7000 euros. Berlingske Tidende can reveal today that the otherwise independent doping researcher Rasmus Damsgaard received the cycle as a 'gift' from Bjarne Riis. Bo Belhage will not comment on the newspaper's information. Anything related to Rasmus Damsgaard bike, is faced with the same answer:

"I have no comments."

Bo Belhage confirm however that he few days later after visiting Damsgaard - a month ago - withdrew Bispebjerg Hospital from the world's most prestigious anti-doping project. The official reason was that there was a natural contract expired on 31 December 2008. But Bo Belhage would not renew the contract.

"I do not like to be involved in projects where there is not full and perfectly streamlined clarity about who does what, when and why. I would not be involved if there were one-Astana rider, who ran his own show. In that way it all would be a mess, where we would discuss who had tested whom, and who were in our program and not. And we could vouch for that, Astana riders were in order - that is equal, except Lance Armstrong, "says Bo Belhage to Berlingske Tidende.

If you have to UNDERSTAND Bo Belhages dilemma fully, it is necessary to go two and a half years back in time for autumn 2006. At that time, Rasmus Damsgaard Secretary of the Anti-Doping Denmark and the epitome of a fierce dog, who ruthlessly criticized doping offenders and professional sports organizations, which were powerless in the face of doping spreading. Damsgaard was one of the leading doping hunters in the world and the media darling because he never went to compromise on his positions.

So it came as a shock when Rasmus Damsgaard received an unexpected invitation from Bjarne Riis. Denmark's only Tour de France winner invited his worst critic to make a bullet-proof anti-doping program for his cycling Team CSC. Bjarne Riis was distraught over how far the doping had spread in cycling, and he declared to the world that he now wanted a clean cycling - no matter what it would cost. Riis would prioritize ethics higher than the results.

The Doping hunter was flattered and finally said yes after lengthy deliberations in favor of the task, although he could see all the ethical problems that could arise in the aftermath of such an agreement. So it was a key point in the agreement between Bispebjerg Hospital, CSC and Rasmus Damsgaard that he was never paid money, given gifts or other benefits between the researcher and the cycling team.

Bo Belhage says today that the agreement between Team CSC and Rasmus Damsgaard only be awarded if there were absolutely watertight bulkheads between the researcher and the cycling team, the so-called arm's length principle.

"It was a demand from the capitols Board that there would be an economic separation. Being objective, we should not have any financial interest in the project, "says senior consultant Belhage.

COOPERATION BETWEEN Rasmus Damsgaard and Bjarne Riis' Team CSC has since evolved into an unmitigated success - for Riis and Damsgaard. Despite the past Team CSC now has a reputation as the cleanest in the cycling world.The team Also won this summer's Tour de France with Carlos Sastre ahead of a wave of competitors that have since tested positive for use of doping.

Rasmus Damsgaard has turned his name into the international sporting world as a researcher who can create great results without the use of doping. A collaboration with the dane can give access to the biggest races in the world and the main sponsors, where you can get millions of dollars. For the same reason the Kazakh cycling team, Astana, made an agreement with Bispebjerg Hospital on the same terms as CSC Saxo Bank. The team riders were tired of the doping rumors that agglutinated them. Rumors among others meant that the team was excluded from last year's Tour de France, although the reigning champion, Alberto Contador, rode for Astana.

But Bispebjerg Hospital and Bo Belhage will not be a part of it anymore. They no longer have full faith in the project. Although Bo Belhage would not sign it, the guilt lies with Frank Schleck, Lance Armstrong and Rasmus Damsgaard themselves.

Does Rasmus Damsgaard continue working with CSC and Astana, although Bispebjerg Hospital have pulled out of the projects?

'Possibly. I do not know. If you can reach Rasmus, and he can sometimes be almost impossible to reach, then he might answer you, "said Bo Belhage.

But Rasmus Damsgaard was not allowed to be coupled economicly with CSC, because it would jeopardize the project's legitimacy?

"That is absolutely correct."

It was Bispebjerg Hospital, who made an agreement with CSC, and then it was up to the hospital to pay Rasmus Damsgaard, so there was no economic threads between him and the cycling team?

"That is absolutely correct."

Then you can deny that Rasmus Damsgaard is still cooperating with CSC and Astana now that Bispebjerg Hospital isn't?

'No, I can not deny that because Rasmus is an independent person. I do not have Rasmus in my department at the moment. So what Rasmus does, I have no control over at the moment,"

So he is not on your payroll?

'No. If Rasmus has an agreement with CSC Saxo Bank and Astana, it is in some other conditions than those I know about. "

The truth about Rasmus Damsgaard projects are somewhat more gloomly than even his closest friends and colleagues know about. Berlingske Tidende has followed the cash flow between Rasmus Damsgaard and the cycling teams, he is assigned.

For one and a half months ago, December 1, Rasmus Damsgaard created Radar Ltd, which he owns one hundred percent. Meanwhile, Damsgaard dropped the arm's length principle, so he is currently employed directly by the professional cycling teams CSC Saxo Bank, Astana, and two more.

A senior source in the doping environment is appalled by what he hears:

'Why is there no journalists who ask Rasmus Damsgaard:' Do you, do it because you're cycling sport Messiah. Or do you do it because you really have found a treasure trove, that you continue to chop out of gold. 'I am inclined to believe that he has gone into the task with the first mindset, but eventually discovered that this is a good way to ensure his old age on. "

The question is routed directly to Rasmus Damsgaard.

"It's just wonderful that people have a lot of opinions about things. I have never concealed that it is not philanthropy, I do this for. No, I have accumulated a lot of knowledge. And yes, I make money at it. I do. I must admit. On the other hand I also think that we have come very far in this area, "says Rasmus Damsgaard.

CrueTrue wrote:
Damsgaard is still an anti doping guy who wants to 'find' as many dopers as possible, I believe. But I don't believe that he's able to. As always, the teams are one step in front of him.

It's, of course, stupid to accept to receive gifts from the teams, he should know that, but I don't doubt his integrity at all.

Bosskardo wrote:
Found out more on Tanel Kangert. He is currently seeking specialist advice for his knee problem. He will most likely miss this season and will not get a new contract but he hopes to be back next year.

Ruben wrote:
Rene Mandri owns all