|
Andy Schleck wins a Grand Tour
|
| Deadpool |
Posted on 10-04-2008 19:06
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7357
Joined: 06-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Schleck may wear No. 1 at Giro
CSC's young star not eager to act as defending Giro champ
By Andrew Hood
For Schleck winning the 2007 Giro 'would be another sad story for cycling.'
This week’s two-year suspension of Eddy Mazzoleni, third in last year’s Giro d’Italia, for links to the “Oil for Drugs” doping scandal raises the prospects that 2007 winner, Danilo Di Luca, could soon face the same fate.
Di Luca is facing allegations leveled by officials from Italy’s Olympic Committee (CONI) that he underwent banned transfusions en route to his Giro victory.
If Di Luca is banned, last year’s runner-up Andy Schleck (CSC) could be elevated to overall winner, something that the 22-year-old says he’s not relishing.
“If he gets disqualified it’s because there’s proof that he did something, then it’s clear that I am the winner,” Schleck told VeloNews. “But it’s not nice to win like that.”
Schleck was the revelation of last year’s Giro, hanging tough in the decisive climbing stages and only losing by 1:55 in what was the his grand tour debut.
The Luxembourg rider said he’s more concerned about making his debut in the Tour de France this summer than thinking about what Italian officials might do.
“I cannot expect more than I have now with second place. I will always be satisfied with what I did in the race,” Schleck continued. “For me, it would be another sad story for cycling.”
Di Luca is in the crosshairs. He was already handed a three-month ban this fall for his alleged links to the “Oil for Drugs” scandal, a four-year-old Italian investigation triggered by allegations that Dr. Carlo “the chemist” Santuccione had established a nation-wide sports doping program. In 2004, a coordinated series of police raids resulted in the seizure of doping products and transfusion records, but the investigation has since moved slowly. Last year, evidence suggested that Di Luca was tied to Santuccione, who the cyclist claimed had been his family doctor since his childhood. The 2007 Giro winner was subsequently suspended for three months, a decision he has appealed.
To add to his problems, CONI officials alleged that Di Luca returned an anomalous sample following the 17th stage up Monte Zoncolan in last year’s Giro, a result they insist indicates manipulation. Earlier this month, officials delayed an expected decision to allow three scientists to further evaluate the sample.
Schleck finished the '07 Giro in second place, an impressive grand tour debut.
Di Luca, meanwhile, continues to race and prepare to defend his Giro title. He joined LPR after his Liquigas team released him last fall and won the Settimana Lombarda last week.
Team CSC boss Bjarne Riis said the team is frustrated by apparent inconsistencies and delays by Italian authorities.
“It makes no difference for us. I think it’s ridiculous. Leave (Di Luca) in peace or do something about it, not just this ongoing non-sense,” Riis told VeloNews. “If they have something concrete on him, that’s another story.”
Riis, who admitted last summer that he used the banned blood booster EPO en route to winning the 1996 Tour, said that chasing Di Luca doesn’t do anyone any good unless there’s firm evidence of cheating.
“Take some decisions instead of just messing around. If (Di Luca’s) going to continue in the peloton, then give him peace, instead of just ruining the rider and the sport because someone wants publicity. It’s worthless,” Riis said. “It’s not good for the sport and it’s not good for the rider.”
If Di Luca is ultimately banned by CONI, it would mark the third grand tour champion to be disqualified in the past three years.
In 2005, Roberto Heras lost his Vuelta a España crown after testing positive for EPO while Floyd Landis is challenging in the International Court of Arbitration for Sport his disqualification from the 2006 Tour after tested revealed the presence of synthetic testosterone.
(Taken from Velonews.com)
Note: I'm sure A_Schleck is blackmailing CONI to pass a guility verdict on Di Luca  |
| |
|
|
| filmmaker14 |
Posted on 11-04-2008 09:32
|
Stagiare
Posts: 236
Joined: 29-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
It would be/is sad. If schleck would be declared the winner that would mean of the last five GT's only Menchov still stands as the one original winner (in last Vuelta).  ops:
Edited by filmmaker14 on 11-04-2008 09:48
|
| |
|
|
| issoisso |
Posted on 11-04-2008 10:03
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 22918
Joined: 08-02-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
We'll know next Wednesday when the decision on Di Luca is announced.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
|
| |
|
|
| ladagnous |
Posted on 11-04-2008 12:45
|
Stagiare
Posts: 214
Joined: 21-02-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
It would be/is sad. If schleck would be declared the winner that would mean of the last five GT's only Menchov still stands as the one original winner (in last Vuelta).
that is scary |
| |
|
|
| Aquarius |
Posted on 11-04-2008 12:59
|
Grand Tour Specialist
Posts: 5220
Joined: 29-11-2006
PCM$: 200.00
|
How about Contador ? |
| |
|
|
| Macquet |
Posted on 11-04-2008 13:11
|
Domestique
Posts: 655
Joined: 28-09-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Was in second until Rasmussen was pulled out. |
| |
|
|
| Deadpool |
Posted on 11-04-2008 13:14
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7357
Joined: 06-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Yeah, I agree, Rasmussen would have had to have crashed over the last two (mainly flat) stages, and lost real time for Contador to beat him, I doubt it would have happened. |
| |
|
|
| filmmaker14 |
Posted on 11-04-2008 14:23
|
Stagiare
Posts: 236
Joined: 29-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
Aquarius wrote:
How about Contador ? Yeah what about him ?  |
| |
|
|
| CrueTrue |
Posted on 11-04-2008 14:34
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 29989
Joined: 20-10-2006
PCM$: 200.00
|
"It would be/is sad. If schleck would be declared the winner that would mean of the last five GT's only Menchov still stands as the one original winner (in last Vuelta)."
Contador hasn't been removed from the rankings |
| |
|
|
| filmmaker14 |
Posted on 11-04-2008 14:36
|
Stagiare
Posts: 236
Joined: 29-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
Not yet  |
| |
|
|
| Ad Bot |
Posted on 24-11-2024 01:55
|
Bot Agent
Posts: Countless
Joined: 23.11.09
|
|
| IP: None |
|
|
| Deadpool |
Posted on 11-04-2008 15:13
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7357
Joined: 06-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Breaking News in cycling today, the UCI has declared that all winners of any race in cycling history have to be dopers, because, in the kind words of Pat Mcquaid "None of those fuckers could have won otherwise." Because of this development, Mads Kaggestad is now the most successful cyclist in the history of professional cycling. Good Night, and have a pleasant tommorow. |
| |
|
|
| Macquet |
Posted on 11-04-2008 15:16
|
Domestique
Posts: 655
Joined: 28-09-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
CrueTrue wrote:
"It would be/is sad. If schleck would be declared the winner that would mean of the last five GT's only Menchov still stands as the one original winner (in last Vuelta)."
Contador hasn't been removed from the rankings
I think he is implying that Contador won b/c Rasmussen was removed from the Tour so he did not win with out the assistance of some controversy. Thus leaving Menchov. |
| |
|
|
| issoisso |
Posted on 11-04-2008 15:21
|
Tour de France Champion
Posts: 22918
Joined: 08-02-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Macquet wrote:
CrueTrue wrote:
"It would be/is sad. If schleck would be declared the winner that would mean of the last five GT's only Menchov still stands as the one original winner (in last Vuelta)."
Contador hasn't been removed from the rankings
I think he is implying that Contador won b/c Rasmussen was removed from the Tour so he did not win with out the assistance of some controversy. Thus leaving Menchov.
And if Rasmussen wasn't there to help pull Contador up the mountains, he wouldn't have won the Tour. And if it wasn't a tailwind in the final TT, he wouldn't have won the Tour.
And if he hadn't punctured in the stage to Tignes he would have irrespective of Rasmussen. And if....(etc...)
If If If.
The preceding post is ISSO 9001 certified
"I love him, I think he's great. He's transformed the sport in so many ways. Every person in cycling has benefitted from Lance Armstrong, perhaps not financially but in some sense" - Bradley Wiggins on Lance Armstrong
|
| |
|
|
| Deadpool |
Posted on 11-04-2008 15:27
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7357
Joined: 06-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
iffoiffo has a good ring to it... |
| |
|
|
| Stijn_vranken |
Posted on 11-04-2008 15:28
|
Sprinter
Posts: 1638
Joined: 28-03-2008
PCM$: 200.00
|
Deadpool wrote:
Breaking News in cycling today, the UCI has declared that all winners of any race in cycling history have to be dopers, because, in the kind words of Pat Mcquaid "None of those fuckers could have won otherwise." Because of this development, Mads Kaggestad is now the most successful cyclist in the history of professional cycling. Good Night, and have a pleasant tommorow.
hehehe |
| |
|
|
| Deadpool |
Posted on 11-04-2008 16:17
|
Team Leader
Posts: 7357
Joined: 06-10-2007
PCM$: 200.00
|
Now for the 10 o'clock news...
In the sports world, we need to clarify something about the Mads Kaggerstad bit. McQuaid followed up his somewhat terse statment with the note that Mads Kaggerstad was the most succesful rider in history because any victory he has must have been a fluke, because, in another somewhat terse phrase from the Irishman, "Only a fucking norwegian bastard could be that bad," McQuaid was later forced to apoligize when Thor Hushovd hunted him down and broke his back with his bare hands. McQuaid's funeral service is at Westminster Cathedral, at 10 o'clock, and the Queen will be in attendance. |
| |
|
