This is just getting ridicoulous. Look at the statement by the direteur sportif. Would not be suprised if Gonzales De Galdeano thinks the same way..........
First spell the name of the team correctly before you can judge them
Anyway, interview with Astarloza which I also posted on the cyclingnews forum.
"The damage been done to my family will never be repaired"
Mikel Astarloza stands firm and keeps saying that he never used any illegal substances to win a race.
How are you doing right now?
Personally I am doing better now. The last month was the worst period in my life, the hardest hit I ever received. That's why I gave the press conference. It felt like a liberation, I could finally say what I wanted to say. Since then life started to pick up again, I got a bit of grip on the situation. Before, I wanted to hide. I will keep saying the same thing I said to the end. I will defend my innocence.
Are you aware that many people don't believe you?
I know that I am not in a good position, my word is contrary to the lab results, I am aware of that. But I am optimistic about going in appeal. If I did use drugs I would confess. I would acknowlegde that.
If you work together with the sports authorities you can get a penalty of only one year instead of two years.
I know there are ways to shorten the penalty, for example if I said I doped. But I didn't dope! I wouldn't say I doped even if I got no penalty at all! I then rather be two years suspended. I have good reasons for saying what I say, other authorized people believe in my credibility. I will never confess something I didn't do.
How was life since the positive?
The first two days since the news I didn't train. That was in the weekend, on Saturday and Sunday. On Monday I started training again.
Do you think about the situation in which you're in?
How couldn't I? I think about it all the time. But I know what I have done and I can stand firm.
What are the reactions of the people on the street? Did you get much support?
More than anything I got much support from the people, the family and my friends. Many people believe in my words. I realize that it is hard to believe a cyclist who tested positive because there are many cases of doped cyclists these days. But I didn't lie, and I didn't use any illegal substances either. I didn't lie. I keep saying the same thing. I am innocent.
You say you didn't dope, but the analysis and the counteranalysis is positive. How can that be?
I can not accuse anyone without proof. I can think of seventeen thousand theories of what happened, but I don't know the real story, for I have no proof of what I am thinking. Everything I can do is saying the truth, and that is that I am innocent.
Why should we believe this? Why can the people believe in you?
Because its true. I can repeat it time and time again. If I doped, I would have the courage to say, yes, I doped. And I would go home and do something else. But I don't.
Did you cry?
Yes, because of the helplessness, the shock, and the fact that I don't know why it is me that got into this shit. I am a guy with very expressional emotional feelings, so yes, I cried in anger.
Did you receive much support?
From many people, though I got more calls and messages after I won the Tourstage. If anyone supported me it were my friends and my family. That helped me a lot, though maybe they don't know that. But I am indebted to many people and if they need help in some part of their lifes, I will help and support them.
The press conference in the hotel Amara Plaza was a striking and surprising event.
Why are you surprised? I felt indebted to many people and I thought I had to do this. It is the best decision I made in the worst period of my life. I wanted to tell everyone the feelings of my heart.
How do you remember the stage you won in the Tour?
In my memories and with photos and newspapers in my house. Whatever will happen, nobody is going to erase that memory!
How do you see your future?
I am sure my career is not yet over. I want to prove that I am clean, that my word is true, that there can be a false positive. But I can not end my career like this, on paper.
Does your team support you?
How many teams support positive cyclists? They do. That means something. They have the most data and analysis of everyone from my controls.
For whom it was worse, for you or for your family?
It was harder for them. The damage done to them is unforgivable. They have been worse than me.
Is it true that you use a hypobaric tent?
Yes, I use it now for four years. It is totally legal. There are more things I do to prepare for racing, but it are all legal things.
Further reading also on cyclingnews, where the team doubts the reliability of the dopingtests and hires several experts to prove the innocence of Astarloza. If anything, I love their support for their rider and their courage.
Arnout wrote:
Further reading also on cyclingnews, where the team doubts the reliability of the dopingtests and hires several experts to prove the innocence of Astarloza. If anything, I love their support for their rider and their courage.
you seem to hold some quite bizarre opinions in relation to doping cases.
The Astarloza case is getting a bit ridiculous, the doping test is a scientific one, and it has been repeated more then once. If anything you are admiring their stupidly unwavering denial of Astarloza's guilt
They may be stupid, but I like it.
In another interview Astarloza also says that. He says the team has all his data from the past three years and can conclude out of that that Astarloza didn't do anything special. That's why the team made this decision (contrary to what they did with Landaluze, they suspended him a month before the UCI test was positive, because of that same data), and that's why the team is hiring lawyers and experts to prove the innocence of Astarloza. That's why the team chooses to support their rider, though they know it may (and I fear it will) harm them, but they make the decision because they think it is the right decision, and not because it is the best decision. I think that's life how it should be.
Doing or not doing things not because you want to do or not to do things but because you only fear the consequences is coward. I for my self try to avoid this coward reasoning in my life, and Euskaltel does the same. I love that. There should me more teams who are not that hypocrite that they first back a rider and then let him fall because of a test. You make call it stupid, I call it brave.
And I love and admire that kind of attitude in the cyclingworld which reigned by fear. Actually, when I have to choose between team Sky who don't want to contract Millar because he doped in the past and Euskaltel who is backing the rider I choose Euskaltel definately.
But I guess that is a structural difference between the old and the new cyclingcountries. I see that here on the forum. You may thing I have bizarre opinions about doping cases, but on the Dutch Cyclingmanagerforum half of the people is with me. And that is because cycling is a culture, a tradition and a sport full of beautiful history and full of stories made nowadays, doped or not. Many of us simply don't care. Because we love the sport for what it is.
If you compare the attitude of the Netherlands (that's where I'm from), Belgium, France (yes, France), Spain and Italy with the attitude of Germany, Great Britain (that's what I conclude from this forum, the cyclingnews forum and the way Team Sky is working) and the USA I see a clear and big difference.
A difference between bizarre and loving the sport.
So far, you've been defending pretty much all of the Euskaltel riders who've been caught. All cases are quite simple: They've tested positive for a banned product, this has been confirmed twice, and the riders can now look forward to at least a 2-year-ban.
That Euskaltel's internal program doesn't say anything - well, that proves how trustworthy that program is.
Also, do you think it's a coincidence that so many riders from the same team are caught?
Smell the roses, please.
Edit: And all that talk about loving the sport ... please - I'm sure that I 'love' the sport just as much as you do. I'm just not blinded by fanboyism.
Edited by CrueTrue on 10-09-2009 15:28
Please then explain why they did what they did with Landaluze...
Besides, it is not an Euskaltel oriented defense. I love the team because for what it stands for, but I will defend Boonen as happily, and the same holds for Landis. Just to make things clear.
Edit on your edit: Oh I am sure about that, but it is just in another way. I wouldn't say better or worse, just not in the same way. And this is not about being a fanboy or not, this is about loving the stories, the tactics, the fights, the... just everything that makes cycling a sport and football a game. And when doping is involved? No problem, the results are the same, the sport stays the same (only somewhat faster), the stories stay the same. The love stays the same.
Edited by Arnout on 10-09-2009 15:32
