Giro D'Italia 2007

[the puerto rican feen]

This years route a race for time trialists and climbers

who is going to win ?

Ivan Basso

Damiano Cunego

Danilo Di Luca

Paolo Savoldelli

Gilberto Simoni


After his performance in the Tour De France last year Carlos Sastre with a strong CSC team might be up there.







P.S. Storysham, get over it

[ho chi feen]

I wish to fawk there was a drugs forum.

[the puerto rican feen]

I wish to fawk there was a drugs forum.

booooooooooooooo


get out


we all know that

[the puerto rican feen]

here ya go ho chi

wonder will this drag on through the start of the Giro, May 12

by Justin Davis Tue Apr 24, 1:23 PM ET

PARIS (AFP) - Italian cycling star Ivan Basso has been suspended by his team, Discovery Channel, as Italian authorities investigate his role in the 'Operation Puerto' doping affair in Spain.
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Basso, who was suspended by his former team CSC due to his alleged role in the affair prior to the 2006 Tour de France, has the full support of Discovery although his future in the sport may now be severely compromised.

The Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) has asked Basso to appear before an anti-doping prosecutor on May 2, where he could be asked to provide a DNA sample to prove his innocence.

Basso was kicked off the Tour by CSC in 2006 after it was revealed that he and German Jan Ullrich, formerly of T-Mobile, were among dozens of cyclists to have links with Spanish doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

Police uncovered bags of blood and doping products on a raid on Fuentes' laboratory in Madrid, along with codenames of cyclists and documents which suggested the doctor had been paid to manipulate and store blood.

On Wednesday a Spanish magazine said the Spanish authorities are now ready to send the blood allegedly belonging to Basso to the Italian authorities.

Recently, a DNA sample from former Tour de France winner Ullrich matched blood allegedly belonging to the German found in Fuentes' laboratory.

The Italian authorities, including CONI, initially cleared Basso of any wrongdoing last autumn claiming there was not enough evidence to sanction the reigning Tour of Italy champion.

However their decision to act in the wake of a series of damaging revelations to have appeared in both the Spanish and French press has left Basso's future in limbo.

A statement by Discovery Channel's management company, Tailwind Sports, said: "Team management at Tailwind Sports has requested that Italian rider Ivan Basso not compete pending further information in a new investigation coming out of Italy.

"Consistent with the teams stated position on this issue, upon notification of the new investigation opened in Italy, General Manager Bill Stapleton and Sports Director Johan Bruyneel will not allow Basso to race pending further information.

"We continue to stand behind Ivan and intend to cooperate with all parties involved until there is closure. It is unfortunate that this is now occurring, however, I have spoke to Ivan and although frustrated he agrees and understands with the decision we have taken."

The news will be a huge blow to Basso, who was deprived of racing the Tour de France last year when he had a great chance of succeeding retired seven-time winner Lance Armstrong.

After last year's pre-race debacle, which led to the suspension of 13 riders in total, Tour de France chiefs recently declared they will not tolerate a repeat when the race kicks off in London on July 7.

Tour de France chief Christian Prudhomme said that the recent developments on Ullrich had been decisive for them, and added: "Naturally, the level of suspicion on the riders implicated has been pushed up a notch.

"The sport just cannot allow cyclists who are still implicated in this affair to start the Tour de France if suspicion still hangs over them."

Basso's participation in the Tour of Italy, from May 12 till June 3, is also under doubt, according to race director Angelo Zomegnan.

He told La Gazzetta dello Sport: "As it stands his participation in the Giro d'Italia will be difficult.

"To live under suspicion is frightening and I say that without any rhetoric. I hope that the truth comes out as soon as possible because cycling can't stand stress like this."

[Rebel Yell]

It's such a bloody shame that a fantastic sport like cycling has to be ruined by the continuous drug spectre.

A much tougher policy has to be implemented.
The whole magic of a sport is lost when the first thing you wonder before any event is if the competitors are cheating.

[boshea]

It's such a bloody shame that a fantastic sport like cycling has to be ruined by the continuous drug spectre.

A much tougher policy has to be implemented.
The whole magic of a sport is lost when the first thing you wonder before any event is if the competitors are cheating.


Totally agree.........it's a shame because the genuine guys there (and lets not forget a majority of the riders are genuine!!) are verging on superhuman athletes........thei r endurance levels are simply amazing.

Also, I don't think it helps that the testers seem to be out to get the riders.....it seems to be a case of guilty til proven innocent for all the riders and the attitude of the testers is along the lines of "You're clean this time, but we'll get you eventually". Must be pretty discouraging for them.

[jungle]

I'm not sure it's significantly dirtier than top class athletics and swimming. Unlike those two, cycling doesn't organise on a national basis, so the testers are more independent. In athletics and swimming it often seems to be covered up.

[Rebel Yell]

Totally agree.........it's a shame because the genuine guys there (and lets not forget a majority of the riders are genuine!!) are verging on superhuman athletes........thei r endurance levels are simply amazing.

Also, I don't think it helps that the testers seem to be out to get the riders.....it seems to be a case of guilty til proven innocent for all the riders and the attitude of the testers is along the lines of "You're clean this time, but we'll get you eventually". Must be pretty discouraging for them.

Yeah...that attitude seems to prevail all too regularly among the testing community (christ...the 'testing community' )

I remember some article I read in one of the American papers last year about the same kind of thing in baseball - another sport haunted by drug claims. However, it seems worse somehow when cycling is inflicted....the levels of performance in this sport do indeed seem beyond the level of normality for most people and it's a shame that the efforts of the great names of the past.....Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault, Coppi etc who did so much to elevate the sport now seem associated with an increasingly devalued sport.

[the puerto rican feen]

I'm not sure it's significantly dirtier than top class athletics and swimming. Unlike those two, cycling doesn't organise on a national basis, so the testers are more independent. In athletics and swimming it often seems to be covered up.


Operation Puerto also contained information about drug taking in football and tennis, and you don't see such a witch hunt going on there.

[jimmy magee]

Lick my balls you lucozade-swilling cyclists!

Maybe scary is de wurd!

[the puerto rican feen]

Lick my balls you lucozade-swilling cyclists!

Maybe scary is de wurd!

fuck off Jimmy

you had the answers underneath the desk on Know your sport

cunt

[Rebel Yell]

fuck off Jimmy

you had the answers underneath the desk on Know your sport

cunt


My theory is that Jimmy invented Google in 1965...

....the bollix only let the rest of the world in on it 35 years later :)

[the puerto rican feen]

by Gregoire Lemarchand Tue May 8, 12:47 PM ET

ROME (AFP) - Italian cycling star Ivan Basso denied on Tuesday having ever taken banned drugs or used blood transfusions, but he did admit to having made an attempt to do so that was never concluded.
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Basso's comments at a press conference follow his admission on Monday to the Italian Olympic Committee (CONI) that he was involved in the Operation Puerto blood doping scandal that rocked last year's Tour de France.

"I have never taken banned substances and I have never employed blood doping," last year's Tour of Italy winner said in an emotional statement before a press conference he had called.

"I did admit having attempted to use doping for the (2006) Tour de France and I am ready to pay the penalty for that.

"All my wins have been achieved in a proper and clean manner and I have every intention of returning to action and continuing with the job I love once I have paid the penalty."

The 29-year-old Basso, one of the favourites for this year's Tour de France was among dozens of riders implicated in the Operation Puerto doping affair.

The scandal erupted before last year's Tour De France when Spanish police uncovered an alleged blood doping network run by doctor Eufemiano Fuentes.

Police discovered bags of blood and doping products on a raid on Fuentes's laboratory in Madrid, along with codenames of cyclists and documents which suggested the doctor had been paid to manipulate and store blood.

The 2006 Tour was deprived of its top names such as Basso and Germany's Jan Ullrich who were barred from competing after their implication in the Puerto affair.

This year Tour organisers have been piling the pressure on cycling authorities to act against implicated riders to try to avoid a repeat of last year's fiasco in this year's Tour, which begins in July.

Basso had always denied any wrongdoing, but last week he parted company with the Discovery Channel team after CONI had recalled him to a second hearing to answer doping charges.

He was initially acquitted by CONI of any involvement in the scandal after the first hearing due to what Italy's governing body for sport described as insufficient evidence.

But CONI reopened their investigation after unearthing new evidence, believed to be blood samples and text messages between Basso and Fuentes.

Basso, with lawyer Massimo Martelli at his side, admitted that he had had dealings with Fuentes calling them "moments of weakness which will stay with me for the rest of my life and for which I intend to pay the price."

"I am fully aware that an attempt at doping is tantamount to doping, but I am asking to be excused for this and that should be enough," he said.

"All my victories were obtained in an honest manner and nobody can contest what I achieved in the 2006 Tour of Italy no more than the other results I achieved during my career."

Despite not admitting to having actually doped, Basso would still face a two-year ban from the sport as the World Anti-Doping code states that any attempt to dope is punishable in the same way as actual doping.

CONI later revealed that another Italian rider, Michele Scarponi had approached them on Tuesday to admit his involvement in the Puerto affair while offering to collaborate with their investigation.

Spanish sports minister Jaime Lissavetzky said Basso had admirably taken responsibility for his actions. "The knowledge I have of the matter is based on CONI and personally I consider this an example of courage," Lissavetzky said. (...)

"I believe Basso not only showed he is a great cycling champion but also someone who knows how to take responsibility. Congratulations."

[the puerto rican feen]

Stage 1, yesterday, interesting to see the strength of the teams and is this going to be shown in the mountains, CSC look strong do they have a leader in their midst

1 Liquigas 33.38 (45.668 km/h)
2 Astana 0.13
3 Team CSC 0.30
4 Lampre-Fondital 0.42
5 Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team 0.49
6 Acqua & Sapone-Caffe Mokambo 1.02
7 Tinkoff Credit System 1.04
8 Crédit Agricole 1.13
9 Caisse d'Epargne 1.23
10 Saunier Duval-Prodir 1.25


Sprinters day today and McEwen obliged, Di Luca with the pink jersey on the 2nd day, will he have it at the end

1 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto 5.07.13
2 Paolo Bettini (Ita) Quickstep - Innergetic
3 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram
4 Assan Bazayev (Kaz) Astana
5 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria - Navigare
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance
7 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne
8 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo
9 Lorenzo Bernucci (Ita) T-Mobile Team
10 George Hincapie (USA) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team


GC
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 5.40.51
2 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
3 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
4 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas
5 Andrea Noe' (Ita) Liquigas
6 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
7 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 0.13
8 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) Astana
9 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana
10 Serguei Yakovlev (Kaz) Astana


102 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 2.50

[Tube a Pringles]

I think it's going past my house on Sunday next.


I might.....MIGHT..... .open the curtains.

[the puerto rican feen]

I think it's going past my house on Sunday next.


I might.....MIGHT..... .open the curtains.

make sure you have clothes on

[Rebel Yell]

102 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 2.50

Looks like Nicholas needs to get some more Galtee cheese into him if he wants to be as successful as his oul fella.

[the puerto rican feen]

Looks like Nicholas needs to get some more Galtee cheese into him if he wants to be as successful as his oul fella.

it was a little bit more than cheese that made him successful*

















*Allegedly

[Rebel Yell]

it was a little bit more than cheese that made him successful*

















*Allegedly


Dunno biy...too much of that Galtee would make any fella pedal like a lunatic to the nearest portaloo.

[the puerto rican feen]

Another sprinter stage today won by Petacchi, McEwen up there again, should be a battle for the points jeresy


1 Alessandro Petacchi (Ita) Team Milram 4.22.57
2 Robert Förster (Ger) Gerolsteiner
3 Maximiliano Richeze (Arg) Ceramica Panaria - Navigare
4 Robbie McEwen (Aus) Predictor - Lotto
5 Danilo Napolitano (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
6 Alexandre Usov (Blr) AG2r Prévoyance
7 Lloyd Mondory (Fra) AG2r Prévoyance
8 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas
9 Jose Joaquin Rojas Gil (Spa) Caisse D'Epargne
10 Volodymyr Bileka (Ukr) Discovery Channel Pro Cycling Team

General Classification after stage 3

1 Enrico Gasparotto (Ita) Liquigas 10.03.48
2 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas
3 Andrea Noè (Ita) Liquigas
4 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas
5 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas
6 Charles Wegelius (GBr) Liquigas
7 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) Astana 0.13
8 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana
9 Andrey Mizourov (Kaz) Astana
10 Dmitriy Muravyev (Kaz) Astana

100 Nicholas Roche (Irl) Crédit Agricole 2.50

[the puerto rican feen]

First big day in the mountains, and the giro strong men are prominent




1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 4.46.39 (34.118km/h)
2 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir
3 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 0.07
4 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 0.15
5 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 0.19
6 Stefano Garzelli (Ita) Acqua & Sapone - Caffe Mokambo 2.17
7 Yoann Le Boulanger (Fra) Bouygues Telecom 2.33
8 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - Fondital
9 Riccardo Ricco (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir
10 Franco Pellizotti (Ita) Liquigas 2.38



GC
1 Danilo Di Luca (Ita) Liquigas 56.42.25
2 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 1.03
3 David Arroyo Duran (Spa) Caisse d'Epargne 1.16
4 Andy Schleck (Lux) Team CSC 1.25
5 Francisco Javier Vila Errandonea (Spa) Lampre - Fondital 1.39
6 Damiano Cunego (Ita) Lampre - Fondital 2.10
7 Emanuele Sella (Ita) Ceramica Panaria - Navigare 2.14
8 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Saunier Duval - Prodir 2.34
9 Evgeni Petrov (Rus) Tinkoff Credit System 2.48
10 Eddy Mazzoleni (Ita) Astana 3.28

[storysham]

This years route a race for time trialists and climbers

who is going to win ?

Ivan Basso

Damiano Cunego

Danilo Di Luca

Paolo Savoldelli

Gilberto Simoni


After his performance in the Tour De France last year Carlos Sastre with a strong CSC team might be up there.







P.S. Storysham, get over it

LOL