Bad news du jour:

And so,after all the rumours about doping,a rider was finally tested positive.The rider I'm talking about is Gabriele Bosisio,who last year won a stage in the Giro and also wore the maglia rosa.If the counter analysis will confirm this result or if Bosisio admits having doped (yes,I know that the last thing I wrote is very unlikely to happen),it will be another negative thing for cycling supporters.
On this blog I've never talked a lot about doping,because I'm fed up by the fact that,every time a new rider is found positive,everybody always say the same things.And these same things are:

Rider: "I'm innocent,I swear it!! There must have been a conspiracy against me!!"
Ds: "I didn't know anything!! Oh,I'm going to fire that stupid asshole!!"
Sponsor: "Man,I'm sooooo fucking angry I'm gonna stop sponsoring that team!!"
Journalists: "Another rider found positive.Cycling is in an obscure tunnel,when will the cyclists finally understand that it's high time they stopped doping?"
Chronists: "Another rider was tested positive,but you have to think that a big part of the peloton is clean,there are lots of controls,ecc.ecc"
Supporter of the Spaniards: "A rider tested positive? Is he italian? Pfh,CONI should start to control their own cyclists instead of saying stupid things about Valverde"
Italian supporter: "Another rider found positive? Is he a Spaniard? No? What? Are you kidding me? Well,we're the only country that is doing something against doping".
Supporter 1:"Ok,I'm fed up: I'm not gonna follow cycling anymore".
Supporter 2: "I believe there are some clean riders in the peloton".
Obscure observer: "A sportman tested positive? He must be a cyclist,that's for sure.I can't understand why people keep on following cycling:they're all doped!"

As far as I'm concerned,I've always been lucky so far: none of the riders I like (and I liked in the past) has ever been tested positive.But I can talk about 2 people I know very well and that weren't as lucky as me.The first of them was a Rebellin and Sella's supporter.We all know how it ended up with them.The other one instead really liked Riccò and Di Luca (I know:they're not the nicest cyclists to support,but you can't argue about taste,can you?).And we all know how things ended up with them as well.
Last year,all Schleck Fangirls had to go through the "Frank Schleck affaire".I've always believed Frank when he said "I have never doped",but I can't even imagine how things would have ended up if he had been disqualified.Probably right now I wouldn't be sitted here to write on a blog and,in the best chance,I would have become a Sorensen/Voigt's full time supporter while,in the worst chance,I would have stopped following cycling.

Last year,during the Olympic Games,I was on holiday with a friend of mine.The day of the Cycling road race,I had a little argument with her father (who's a very kind and nice person,except when he starts to talk about cycling and football) since he didn't want me to watch that race."C'm on,come to the beach with us.Why do you lose your time watching cycling? They're all doped!" He repeated that a few times,then I replied him: "I watch cycling because it's my favourite sport and it's not up to you to say if they're doped or not.And then,why do you care about me watching cycling? I think it's not your problem if I stay here,suffer for my favourite rider and then I find out he was doped".

You probably remember how things went at the Olympics: Andy got 5th (4th?) and Rebellin (2nd) was found positive.And few days after that race,I got the news of Sella's positivity.Of course my friend's father made me notice that fact,and me really wanted to hide my head in the sand when he told me about that.

The problem with doping is that cycling risks to lose supporters.And without supporters,tvs go away.And without tvs,sponsors stop giving money to the teams.And without sponsors,you can't do a lot.

I'm not referring to Bosisio's case in particular,but to all the doping problems we had in the last years.And the thing that sometimes worries me the most is the period of the year in which some riders are tested positive.Bosisio for example has been tested positive in a control conducted on September 2 and Sella last year resulted positive at the end of June,if I remember rightly.Now,I wonder: why do you dope yourself when you don't have any important race to do? I mean: Sella wasn't scheduled to ride the Tour,so why did he dope in June? And Bosisio: why did he get doped at the beginning of September,I wonder?

Anyway,let's move on to another (better) topic.After all,as a cliché says,"when a rider is tested positive,it means that there is one cheater less in the peloton".
So: the other topic.The season is winding down and soon "the cyclistic year 2009" will be over.And 2009 brought some very good moments to Schleck fangirls: Frank's victory in California,Andy's amazing ride in Liege,the Tour of Luxemboug,Andy winning the national title, Frank winning the Grand Bornard stage at the Grande Boucle,Andy ending up on the podium of the Tour...Btw,even if the Schleck brothers have stopped racing for this year,the season isn't over yet: and actually,on Saturday,there is one of my favourite races,the Giro of Emilia.Saxo Bank riders for that race will be Lasse Bøchman,Jakob Fuglsang,Alexandr Kolobnev,Gustav Larsson,Anders Lund,los Sorensens and his Amazingness Jens Voigt (if you're interested,there's a nice vid about him on Saxo Bak Taking the Lead website).

Since the Schleck brothers won't be racing,me will be in a very "Allez Chris-Anker Sorensen!" mood,even if the Danish rider fears that the last races of the season won't go very well for him.In fact,on his blog (http://blog.tv2.dk/chris.anker.ol/entry338632.html) he wrote that he didn't feel very well the day of Mendrisio Worlds and that,the day after the race,he came down with flu,so he had to spend a few days in his bed wihout training.

Anyway Chris is already thinking about the future and has already "booked" his place in the Danish national team for 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro."I know that perhaps it's a bit early,but I've always liked the song "Rejsen til Rio" (ndr;Journey to Rio),I would love to go to Brazil and then,in 2016,I'll be 31 year-old,so I'll be at the top of my cycling career". Unfortunately,I'm afraid that we'll have to wait some time before of finding out whether the Danish coach will decide to take Chris at the Olympics in Rio...In the meanwhile,we can enjoy the last races of 2009 season (and hope that there won't be any other bad surprise left for this year).

(Ansa)