VeloResults

Dan Fleeman – About his Biological Passport (1)

Oh no! Not another drugs article!

Yes, but this one is positive – ah, no, not that kind of a ‘positive!’

Dan Fleeman texted me the other day to tell me that he’ll be getting a bit of an airing on the Bike Pure site, due to his decision to continue with UCI Biological Passport level blood testing with Raleigh – at his own expense.

‘Why do you want to do that?’ I asked. His answer was enlightening.

Joe Papp – Still Atoning for His Doping (1)

A few weeks ago, Pez ran an interview with Joe Papp one of the very few riders to admit, face up to and openly discuss the fact he failed a drugs test.

Like most folks, we’re sick of the drugs scandals, but then the Tom Zirbel situation pops up and we to have accept that it’s still a problem and we need to understand it better.

Here’s what Joe had to say – and it’s scary!

What a Waste of a Great Career (1)

Fourth in the Worlds Elite TT, second only to Zabriskie in the US TT champs and with a Garmin contract neatly signed.

But scratch all of the above and file under, “Another one bites the dust!” albeit the ‘B’ sample might just be ‘clean.’

We asked Paul Coats, who’s a lecturer at Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy & Biomedical Sciences, for an expert view.

What are the Odds? (1)

I hope you all had a good Xmas; Viktor didn’t – but that shouldn’t surprise us.

He did make a good point though – namely that Sky are well behind with their training camps; all of the big squadra have had one, if not two camps already.

From a fitness and bonding point of view the digital vision guys are behind the eight ball already; it’ll be interesting to see if that makes a difference come flag dropping time.

An Iberian Update (0)

It’s funny how things work out, Alberto Contador signs a contract with Specialized bikes for 700,000 euros last week. So will he be riding for one of the teams who ride on Specialized bikes; Quick-Step or Saxo Bank? Ah! Then Quick-Step announces that they will no longer be riding on Specialized, but will be on Eddy Merckx bikes.

Iljo Keisse – Putting the Worst Time of His Life Behind Him (0)

The cheer from the cabin next door to ours – below the Grenoble velodrome – told us that the result Flanders had been holding it’s breath for, had arrived. Belgium’s number one six day man, Iljo Keisse’s ‘positif’ in the 2008 Gent six day race has been dismissed on the grounds of ‘insufficient evidence.’

“Cathine was not found in the ‘B’ sample and HCT was there in quantities so small as to have no effect on performance.”

VeloResults was granted the first face to face interview with Iljo, after the result was announced.

RIP, VDB (4)

“RIP VDB” said the text from John Stollery, waiting for me, when I woke up; there were others too, from Dave and Stevie all expressing sadness – for all his faults, he was a hard man to dislike.

He was just 34, cause of death is cited as a ‘blood clot.’

Paris – Tours Preview, and the Demise of the German 6-Day? (1)

The trouble with Richard Virenque was, that if he was seven times King of the Mountains; he was at least eight times King of the Erses.

The Festina scandal, that mouth of his, his idiotic tactics – all conspired against him.

This meant that when he pulled off a genuine exploit, the journos and slaggers wrote it off as a fluke or; ‘he’ll be on new stuff!’…

We’re Disappointed in You, Gabriele (1)

“Our pal Bosisio positive,’ said the text from Dave.

Gabriele Bosisio of LPR Brakes and Italy was the subject of a UCI out of competition test; “the adverse finding was a direct result of a targeted urine test, conducted immediately after a blood test triggered an unusual blood profile within the biological passport program,” said their statement.

On the Kroonplatz time trial stage of the 2008 Giro, we gave Gabriele a shout as he came down off the mountain, after his ride.

Madrid 2016? NOT! (0)

Today the capital city of Spain didn’t get awarded the 2016 Olympic Games – they went to the Brazilian City of Rio de Janeiro.

I normally have my siesta around 4 o’clock in the afternoon, but today I watched the Olympic Games conference live on TV Copenhagen where they were to vote for the next Games after London.

The Spanish contingent made a great job of convincing the Olympic Committee that Madrid would be the best place for the 2016 games.

Will the Vuelta be Scandal-Free? (0)

A Clean Vuelta?

I hope so, but let’s look at the facts:

The Spanish sports papers quote Oscar Freire; “Rabobank want a stage win in Holland” and I’m sure all the other teams want the same, but the Dutch bank have spent a lot of money bringing La Vuelta a España to Holland for the race start.

One of a Certain Breed (0)

Vino’s back!

Richard Pestes’s reaction was;

“I’m still aghast at the arrogance of that guy.. ”

And whilst I can understand the PezMeister’s outrage, we have to take a minute to try and put ourselves inside the mind of the little Kazahk.

Joe Parkin – Still Racing, But Just For Fun! (0)

“A Dog in a Hat,” has to be one of the best books about pro cycling ever written.

Author Joe Parkin took some time to talk to VeloResults about life, bike racing, his next book – yes, and Lance!

Al Hamilton – The View from Spain (0)

Eufemiano Fuentes, Jesús Manzano, Operación Puerto, Alejandro Valverde, Alberto Contador… and now Manuel Beltran. All Spanish, all hot topics – but what’s the buzz in España?

We turned to VeloResults Iberian correspondent Al Hamilton for the low down, and asked him some questions on just what the current Spanish perspective is.

An Incredible Day (0)

It was completely surreal.

It was the 26th of July last year, and we were in Lourdes, sitting in a neon-lit, scruffy, greasy-spoon café at 1:00 in the morning. Our pizzas were cooking in the oven, but we weren’t really that hungry anymore. We had travelled to the summit and back down again today, both literally and metaphorically; we’d had a wonderful day working on Stage 16 of the Tour de France which took the race to the ski station, 5,600 feet high, at Gourette-Col d’Aubisque in the Pryenees, and it had been turned completely on its head.

Life and La Vuelta ’08 – According to Fabian Jeker (0)

Every year I write a route preview of the up and coming Vuelta a España for Pez Cycling News, normally I talk to the locals in my village and last year I had the input of Alex Coutts (Babes Only-Flanders) and David Harrigan (DFL). This year I managed to enlist the help of ex-pro, Fabian Jeker, and we spoke about next year’s Vuelta – but as these things often go, we spoke at length on many other topics: life; cycling; Festina; and the future.

Fabian has the perfect background to give a pro riders insight into La Vuelta. He was a pro from 1991 to 2005 and in that time rode 5 Tours de France, 4 Giro d’Italia’s and 9 Vuelta a Epaña’s and he likes to add that he has also driven a VIP car in 2 Vuelta’s, so that makes 11 Vuelta’s that he has “competed” in – and if you see the way he drives, well, its still a competition!

The Landis Affair – Just An Opinion (0)

With the crucial ‘B’ sample test result due on Saturday, VeloResults thought we would take a look at some of the key rant-points in ‘L’affaire Landis’. We know it isn’t Scottish, but it’s the biggest cycling story on the planet so here goes….