[BVC-CHAT] Ricco positive

[Christopher Menzel]

On Jul 17, 2008, at 7:59 AM, Frank Irwin wrote:
> On Thu, Jul 17, 2008 at 7:51 AM, Christopher Menzel  
> <cmenzel at tamu.edu> wrote:
>> Well, at least they're catching the cheats:
>
> Some of them.  They've been catching the cheats for years, and  
> things don't seem to change.

I don't think it is true that things aren't changing.  For one thing,  
there is a strong, outspoken anti-doping culture growing among a lot  
of younger riders (Cunego, e.g., is sporting an "I'm doping free"  
tatoo), and teams like Columbia and Garmin/Chipotle are taking a  
strong lead in instituting very stringent anti-doping measures.   
Though admittedly fragile, I still think there are reasons to be  
optimistic about the long term prospects of pro cycling.

>>  http://www.cyclingnews.com/road/2008/tour08/news/?id=/news/2008/jul08/jul17news4a
>
> The funny thing is that after Duenas was busted, someone posted on  
> txbra about riders with earrings being dopers.  I asked if Ricco  
> would be the next one caught...

I had strong suspicions after that blistering attack on Col d'Aspin  
followed by an individual time trial over the last 25k, where a fairly  
large group of chasers couldn't even begin to close a 1'20" gap; that  
just doesn't happen.  Ricco wasn't anywhere near that good last year,  
and it is very unlikely that you can improve that much as a climber  
and time trialist in a year's time without help.  Word is there were a  
lot of rumors about Ricco floating around in the peloton (where he was  
unpopular, to say the least) and that he was under particular scrutiny  
by the anti-doping folks.

>> So now we know how he was able to ride away from everyone a la  
>> Pantani on Col d'Aspin in Stage 9.
>
> "a la Pantani" being the key words here...

The comparison was not accidental!

-chris