Just a little brief communication from me: the comments that you had left on my last post have disappeared because of Blogger's maintenance. Also the post I had written about yesterday's stage disappeared with them and this fact really freaks me out.
I'm sorry that you weren't able to read my blog properly in the last 24 hours, but it didn't depend on my will. On the other hand, I understand that a website like Blogger really needs a lot of maintenance works and I thank those who do them.
It is very late in the evening here in Italy, so I'll just say a very few things about today:
1. Chapeau to Bart De Clerq, who attacked with 8 kms to go and won today's stage, which had a summit finish. He's just 24 and he started riding when he was 18, so I think this is a huge success for him. Bart dedicated his victory to Wouter Weylandt (*sigh*). However, dear Bart, could you please not make me have a heart attack the next time you win? This afternoon I screamed so much when I saw that Scarponi was oversprinting you!
2. Chapeau also to Niemiec, who did a wonderful job for Scarponi. And hey, third in the stage was Kreuziger! :O
3. A special mention goes to Johnny Hoogerland, who made a great attack on the day of his 28th birthday. Another special mention goes to Pirazzi, who attacked twice even today.
4. In spite of what la Gazzetta said, Weening managed to keep the pink jersey. Mwhahahaha!
5. Nice to see De Greef at the front. I like that guy.
I'm sorry that you weren't able to read my blog properly in the last 24 hours, but it didn't depend on my will. On the other hand, I understand that a website like Blogger really needs a lot of maintenance works and I thank those who do them.
It is very late in the evening here in Italy, so I'll just say a very few things about today:
1. Chapeau to Bart De Clerq, who attacked with 8 kms to go and won today's stage, which had a summit finish. He's just 24 and he started riding when he was 18, so I think this is a huge success for him. Bart dedicated his victory to Wouter Weylandt (*sigh*). However, dear Bart, could you please not make me have a heart attack the next time you win? This afternoon I screamed so much when I saw that Scarponi was oversprinting you!
2. Chapeau also to Niemiec, who did a wonderful job for Scarponi. And hey, third in the stage was Kreuziger! :O
3. A special mention goes to Johnny Hoogerland, who made a great attack on the day of his 28th birthday. Another special mention goes to Pirazzi, who attacked twice even today.
4. In spite of what la Gazzetta said, Weening managed to keep the pink jersey. Mwhahahaha!
5. Nice to see De Greef at the front. I like that guy.
Talking about other cycling-related things, here's an interesting link: http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/ucis-suspicious-list-leaked-from-2010-tour-de-france . L'Equipe in fact has recently received a leak about the doping suspects that UCI had (and still has) on some riders. The results '0' and '1' correspond to 'No suspects at all', results from '2' to '5' correspond to 'he had an anormality in his biologic passport, but it can happen', results from '6' to '10' say 'this rider has probably doped'. Here's part of the list:
0 : Mario Aerts, Yukiya Arashiro, Michael Barry, Francesco Bellotti, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Lars Boom, Maxime Bouet, Pavel Brutt, Fabian Cancellara, Manuel Cardoso, Dries Devenyns, Samuel Dumoulin, Julien El Farès, Simon Gerrans, Anthony Geslin, Bert Grabsch, Christopher Horner, Robert Hunter, Kristjan Koren, Brett Lancaster, David Le Lay, Christophe Le Mével, Adriano Malori, Koes Moerenhout, Amael Moinard, Lloyd Mondory, Damien Monier, Juan Jose Oroz, Remi Pauriol, Mathieu Perget, Gregory Rast, Mark Renshaw, Nicolas Roche, Jurgen Roelandts, Pierre Rolland, Anthony Roux, Jeremy Roy, Mathieu Sprick, Rein Taaramae, Sebastien Turgot, Niki Terpstra, Brian Vandborg, Kristof Vandewalle, Ivan Velasco, Thomas Voeckler, Fabian Wegmann, David Zabriskie
1 : Marcus Burghardt, Sandy Casar, Anthony Charteau, Sylvain Chavanel, Julian Dean, Mickael Delage, Martin Elmiger, Johannes Fröhlinger, Jakob Fuglsang, Robert Gesink, Xavier Florencio, Adam Hansen, Ryder Hesjedal, George Hincapie, Andreas Klier, Roger Kluge, Alexander Kuchinsky, Daniel Lloyd, Mirco Lorenzetto, Martijn Maaskant, Aitor Pérez, Alan Pérez, Jerome Pineau, Ruben Plaza, Alexandre Pliuschin, MaartenTjallingii, Rafael Valls, Maarten Wynants
2: Eros Capecchi, Mark Cavendish, Stephen Cummings, Remy Di Gregorio, Arkaitz Duran, Mathias Frank, Oscar Freire, John Gadret, Francesco Gavazzi, Volodymir Gustov, Thor Hushovd, Christophe Kern, Thomas Löfkvist, Sebastien Minard, Daniel Navarro, Grischa Niermann, Stuart O'Grady, Rubén Pérez, Christophe Riblon, Thomas Rohregger, L. L. Sanchez, Carlos Sastre, Fränk Schleck, Simon Spilak, Bram Tankink, Stijn Vandenbergh, Benoit Vaugrenard, Jens Voigt, Eduard Vorganov
3: Ivan Basso, Grega Bole, Brent Bookwalter, Dimitri Champion, Gerald Ciolek, Rui Costa, Damiano Cunego, Mauro Da Dalto, Francis De Greef, Markus Eibegger, Imanol Erviti, Tyler Farrar, Fabio Felline, Juan Antonio Flecha, Maxim Iglinskiy, Vasil Kiryienka, Roman Kreuziger, Matthieu Ladagnous, Robbie McEwen, Maxime Monfort, Sergio Paulinho, Joaquin Rodriguez, Andy Schleck, Chris Anker Sörensen, Sylvester Szmyd, Paolo Tiralongo, Amets Txurruka, Johan Van Summeren, Gorka Verdugo, Charles Wegelius
4: Lance Armstrong, Janez Brajkovic, Bernhard Eisel, Cadel Evans, Pierrick Fédrigo, Juan Manuel Garate, Andriy Grivko, Jesus Hernandez, Ignatas Konovalovas, Sebastian Lang, Levi Leipheimer, David Millar, Daniel Moreno, Serge Pauwels, Manuel Quinziato, Luke Roberts, Samuel Sanchez, Christian Vande Velde, Nicolas Vogondy
5: Alessandro Ballan, Matti Breschel, Alberto Contador, Cyril Gautier, Inaki Isasi, Sergei Ivanov, Vladimir Karpets, Alexandr Kolobnev, Karsten Kroon, Steve Morabito, Benjamin Noval, Jose Rojas, Nicki Sörensen, Alexander Vinokourov, Bradley Wiggins
6: Linus Gerdemann, Christian Knees, Egoi Martínez, Alessandro Petacchi, Francesco Reda, Mauro Santambrogio, Geraint Thomas (Geraint?!? And Linus? What the hell are they doing here?)
7: Jeremy Hunt, Andreas Klöden, Tony Martin, Christophe Moreau, Michael Rogers, Wesley Sulzberger (Toni? That Toni Martin? Are we sure?)
8: David De la Fuente, Ivan Gutiérrez, Danilo Hondo, Matthew Lloyd, Iban Mayoz, Dmitriy Muravyev, Rinaldo Nocentini, Daniel Oss, Kevin Seeldraeyers, Kanstantsin Siutsou, Jurgen Van Den Broeck
9: Denis Menchov (WHAAAAAAT????)
10: Carlos Barredo,Yaroslav Popovych
I'm pretty shocked by this list because I didn't expect guys like Menchov, Rogers, Martin, Siutsou and Oss to receive such negative results. Luckily, I was also quite relieved by the points received by other guys (lo Schlecks :). What do you think of this list?
I don't think we should put that much meaning into this list. First of all, it was never meant to be read by the public and I think it's OK that the UCI has some sort of order of priority in order to make their testing more effective. Second of all, this list doesn't mean that any of the riders have doped at all. It's also important to note that this is a list made just before the Tour last year with all the riders in that Tour - and not a list of all the riders that the UCI suspects of doping.
RispondiEliminaActually, I find the list quite positive in a weird way :P I mean, only two riders in the tenth category, one in the ninth. Most riders are in the first categories which I find very positive - just think a few years back and most riders would probably be in the last categories, right?
I just read that a rider also got a higher score if he had a great result, without any medical proof.
RispondiEliminaI don't believe any of this anymore.
Stupid UCI. I'm so pissed off! It's because I just read an article about WADA, they asked UCI to test those high scored riders and then UCI tested them 10 days later and 'forgot' to test them for things as CERA.
Argh, stupid UCI is killing cycling, instead of making it better.
There must be an English version of this story, because I think it's pretty damn important news.
In Australia it moderate news.
RispondiEliminaCycling + doping whats new seems to be the general attitude. There is some suprise that several Aussies were high but then again it is known here that is why Lloyd was dumped by OPL. Also a noted Sports doctor said the reason for some Aussies and English to be high is that they have to dope to keep up with the rest of the peleton especially quote "the italians and the spanish"---his words not mine.
I think there are only a few suprises in the 5 and above. Most are generally considered dirty in the literature that I read ie Menchov, Barredo, Popovich etc.
This list is just a 'target list'. It is based on their biological passport and recent related performances. So if someone started doing well leading up to the TDF then they were a higher target and others who may have had drops in haemocrit level in the 1-2 months before the tour were as well. EPO markers may have altered as well so those riders were put higher.
Myself, I'm a lover of conspiarcy theories so the questions I would be asking are
1. Did UCI leak the list. Rumour McQuaid did it to punish recent team action re race radios and threats of new cycling federation.
Also do the cyclist 3-5 range have better doping regimes. Are the cyclists in the 0 category 'clean' or just escaping testing and having attention drawn to them. Or are they "UCI protected " riders-another conspiracy theory.
It is not good for the clean riders but really who do we know is clean or not. Having a high level of suspicion is different to testing positive. It just reiterates the belief that cycling is still 'dirty' which is so disappointing. Jen
The UCI proves ones again that they're absolutely not thinking about the riders, but only about themselves and the image of cycling.. It's getting really embarrassing :(
RispondiEliminaJee, that a lot of comments are missing now.. and one of your posts? :(
We're still super happy here in my family: Pieter Weening still in PINK! I hope he can keep it for another day :-) One of Pieter's friends had a bet with Pieter, he said if Pieter ever got the Maglia Rosa, he'd paint his car pink.. so you can guess what happened.. he had to paint his car pink!! Result: http://twitpic.com/4wrpbh
This car is even going to Italy the upcoming week.. in a trailer though, because it's an old car haha ;) Pieter also said: that car going to Italy?? It's 20 years old!! It has to have a big check up first!! ;) Hahaha.
Tomorrow the Etna.. I hope it'll be safe enough.. :/
Yay, Pieter still in Pink! And his quotes are getting funnier every day as well.. ;)
RispondiElimina"I don't think the Etna will explode, maybe I will explode"
Btw, you mentioned Francis de Greef - he's great! And that Bart de Clercq won was also great.. epic win!! Exciting finish for sure :-) Today Sporza broadcasted very long, so I could finally see Steven Kruijswijk on the podium in his white jersey..
Oh, I must say that this was quite a crazy finish.. all those corners!! Mark Renshaw on Twitter:
"The #Giro isn't kind to the sprinters this year. Always uphill or stupid crazy finishes... bravo"
I have to agree with him on this.. it's very hard for sprinters to win a stage. On the other hand: deal with it. They could've known it beforehand.. and those typical sprint stages (like in the Tour) aren't that fun to watch. These things are difficult.. yes/no.. it's not that simple. But they do deserve a few sprint stages, at least 3 I guess...
Well, anyway.. tomorrow Etna!! (..and the final matches of the Dutch soccer season.. GO AJAX! ;) )
A reading of 2-5 almost seems nebulous, doesn’t it? I mean it’s not strictly a scientific system, it’s the UCI’s own internal way of referring to suspected riders, but to me, there should be a standardised way of measuring what distinguishes a 1 from a 5. Not these vague generalizations, which seem designed to unfairly scrutinize certain riders.
RispondiEliminaI’m surprised Andy has even registered at a 3. If indeed, as Mar says, the UCI is just basing these on an individual cyclist’s results, then the system is already seriously compromised, because it’s based on something as arbitrary, and dangerous as human suspicion. Does anyone seriously believe that the Spanish Inquisition found practicing witches, or was it an excuse to expel certain ethnic groups from the Iberian peninsula? There just seems to be a witch hunt to seek out “dirty” riders, so that the governing bodies look like they’re accomplishing something, rather than just following their original mandate, which is to protect the integrity of the sport.
Have you ever read the depressing story of how David Millar was caught with phials of EPO? While I don’t condone what he did, and wonder why his lifetime ban was lifted, I think the way the police conducted the investigation was almost a crime in itself:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Millar#Doping
Also, watching stage 8 today, I’m reminded again of what a gorgeous country Italy is. It makes me wish they’d clear the roads from time to time for the general public, so that people can cycle across parts of the country. Honestly, I don’t watch enough professional cycling, but I love being on bicycle; you just see, and experience the world differently when you’re on a bike.
--figbash
@ Susanne: I completely agree with you: it's normal that UCI has a list like this and I think we shouldn't give it such a great meaning. But still, it gives an idea of the riders' biological passports and of the opinions that UCI has about the riders.
RispondiEliminaLike you, I was pretty surprised by the results too. I didn't expect Toni Martin, Barredo, Nocentini, Oss and Menchov to get such high results, but I was actually even more surprised by the riders getting low results. I mean, Cancellara has a 0, Jakob has a 1, Frank has a 2, Andy has a 3... These seem very encouraging results!!
@ Mar: I'd be very happy to read the English version of that article. When I read your comment, I couldn't believe it! I mean, how can UCI guys be so stupid?
I agree with you about UCI: the problems that cycling is having, in my opinion, depend more on sport justice and on stupid political debates than on doping cases. After all, supporters care about agonism and they're fed up of hearing stories regarding radio bans, World Tour calendars and so on.
@ Jen: It's actually true that many English/Australian riders got high results, but also the Italians didn't do that well (Petacchi had a 6 -.-").
Don't worry when you have to mention Spanish and Italian riders: it's a matter of fact that most of the last doping cases regarded riders belonging to these two countries. Italians say that this happens just because Italy is one of the few country that is seriously fighting doping, but I don't really believe this theory :P
Actually, no one knows why Lloyd was fired by his team. I mean, according to this list, also Van Den Broeck should have been fired :P
It's true that Popovych and Menchov haven't got a very clear past as far as doping is concerned, but I was surprised anyway when I saw their names at the top of the list. Actually, I was surprised also by the results given to Thomas, Rogers, Martin, Sulzberger, Nicki Sorensen and Breschel.
However, most of the guys with a very worrying result aren't that young anymore and I think that this is very encouraging.
Btw, as you say, this is just a target list.
As far as hiding doping is concerned, the infamous growth hormone can't be found yet by the doping laboratories and this really worries me. But still, I remember that when the scientist found a way to discover CERA (and the riders didn't know about this achievement), there weren't so many positivities at the controls. And I remember being positively surprised by this fact!
I don't know if there are clean riders in the peloton. But still, I can't imagine someone like Pinotti or like Voigt cheating. For me, a positivity of theirs would be a bit like the end of the world :P
@ Marleen: A big Yay! for Pieter Weening and for his n. 1 supporter, Tien! ;)
RispondiEliminaI think that now Weening's friend will never have troubles again in finding his car in a parking lot :P That pink is really striking. Btw, this teaches us that one should never (never!) bet on their car's colour! ;)
Etna's stage is surely going to be...volcanic. There will be thousands of people on the roads and Nibali will surely try to win the stage. It'll be great :)
As far as safety is concerned, Etna has apparently stopped erupting (just like Nibali had predicted two days ago). Let's hope it won't start again tonight!
Blogger's maintenance came at a very wrong time. I started writing my post 5 minutes before they closed down the website and, when I tried to publish it, not only didn't they publish it, but they even deleted it. And it was very good, really... Well, I'll try writing it again when I have some free time.
Hey, Pieter is a very hilarious guy! I want to know him a bit better now, he seems such a cool rider!
I almost had a heart attack when De Clerq won, I didn't think he would have made it! And De Greef is such a cool guy, I met him in Milan in 2009 and he was very nice (I talked about that experience on 'Bananas About Bikes', if anyone wants to know more about it).
Over the last yars, Giro has become unkind towards sprinters... But still, they can choose whether to take part in this race or not. Freire and Boonen didn't, Cavendish and Renshaw could have stayed home too. Sorry to be harsh, but all those critics on the parcours shouldn't be made now. Already in November people knew that the sprinters had just 4 victory occasions in this Giro, so complaining now is just useless.
On the other hand, I do think that the Giro organisers have dared a bit too much this year. Crostis's descents, just 4 stages for sprinters, the gravel roads, the Etna... As I already said, I don't want to see the riders suffering too much: I want to see a bike race, not a carnage!
@ Figbash: UCI should have been more precise about this list, no doubts about that. Btw, I'm wondering who leaked it (Julian Assange isn't an option, right?). And then, I'm also wondering why some riders reacted so badly, while some teams appreciated the leak and other cyclists remained silent.
Hopefully UCI bases its results not only on human suspiciousness (is this a word :P?), but also on other things. However, I think that UCI would have never given a '0' to Cancellara if it had based itself just on human suspiciousness :P
I had actually heard a rumour regaring a list according to which UCI decided which riders to test, but I thought it was a mythological invention :P
That story about Millar is terrible! Unfortunately, it wasn't the first time it happened. I once read that Zulle, who was involved in the Festina doping affaire in 1998, had to spend a whole night in a French police station, naked, sat on a bench. The policemen even took his looking glasses away - and Zulle couldn't actually see anything without looking glasses (he wore them even during races)!!
I understand that dopers are hateful, but they're still human beings!
Talking about dopers, have you already heard the great news? Riccò may come back racing! ;)
Italy has great landscapes, that's for sure. Unfortunately it can be very dangerous to ride a bike on the Italian roads. Just think that today's stage was dedicated to the memory of 8 amateur cyclists who were killed by a car in December 2010... :(