yeah, it was. Riis himself was known as "Mr. Sixty" which, if true, is staggeringly dangerous. This was the period when most of the peloton used to keep their bikes on turbo trainers in their hotel rooms so they could set the alarm to wake them every two hours, and spend fifteen minutes spinning to get the heart rate back up to a remotely sane level so their blood didn't coagulate while they slept. The fifty percent thing was brought in offically not as an anti-doping measure (because, of course, it couldn't establish guilt to a legally useful level) but for the safety of the riders. Of course, granting exemptions to people with naturally higher levels gave the lie to that - by the "safety" reasoning, they shouldn't have been allowed race at all...

And a huge number of them. Indeed, they'll stay there for the entire duration of a Grand Tour, which is basically impossible by legal means.
That's one of the things the biological passports should do a great deal to discourage.

Great stage today, lovely attack by Ricco, the sheer pace of his climbing was a joy to watch. The fact that most riders were bitching afterwards about Ricco being too far down the standings for anyone to care about chasing him didn't matter, it was a great win by someone who appears to be on the path to great things.

I'm really, really enjoying this tour. It seems fairly obvious that it's clean just by the changing fortunes of the riders on the stages, the way De la Fuente and Schumacher would try to break only to find themselves completely knackered and struggling to hold on the back of the peloton after being caught was captivatingly human and natural.

Tomorrow is going to be incredible, I though Samuel Sanchez looked comfortable all day, any chance of him making an impact tomorrow?

Watching Ricco head off and the peleton of favorites fail to react was almost like a rerun of Rasmussens ride last year when he pedalled away without being chased as he was considered to much of an outsider... until he suddenly did well in the TT.

The advent of epo and thicker blood coincided with an increase in riders dying of heart attacks.

I love watching riders attack and try and blast their opponents out. It doesn't feel like a "fair" win of the Tour if you win it in the time trials but just tootle along near the front of the bunch and just watch the attacks. If only nobody had mentioned the questions Ricco's cleanness, because that's exactly the kind of ride I want to see.

Do they put EPO in the water in Luxembourg, by the way? Holders of yellow, green and white jerseys today.

I really like that Kirchen is still in both yellow and green. It means there's no question that he's been the best rider so far in the tour.

Bit of a fluke though, if Schumacher hadn't ridden into his back wheel and fallen off then Kirchen wouldn't have taken the jersey till yesterday when Schumacher lost time. Even Kirchen is kind of bemused by it.

QUOTE:
It seems fairly obvious that it's clean just by the changing fortunes of the riders on the stages, the way De la Fuente and Schumacher would try to break only to find themselves completely knackered and struggling to hold on the back of the peloton after being caught was captivatingly human and natural.

Or they are struggling to get the dosages right to get maximum benefit while beating the tests

There might be, at most, a few domestiques that are clean. I don't think cycling has gone from rife drugs taking to a clean sport in a space of a few years.

Cadel Evans is attacking.

Commentator: "That's the last thing I expected!"

Sastre is great. You keep thinking he's cracked but he just keeps coming back.

Sastre was just hanging in there though really wasn't he? I thought Voight and Cancellara were great.
It was a really tough day today, Pieploi is a fantastic climber and Frank Schleck has put himself into a place where he can strike in the Alps, he won on Alpe D'Huez the last time the tour was there. Satre and Andy will work for him now. Popyvych was poor today, and a lack of team mates has to be Evans' achilles.
With time bonuses Schleck would be in yellow by now - ho hum.
Any news on what happened to that motor cycle rider? Looked very grim at the top of the Tourmalet.

This was the stage my bro' did last week. Very different weather thenthough. Rained all day, and at the peaks the fog visibility was down to 10m.

Bryantop wrote:

QUOTE:
I don't think cycling has gone from rife drugs taking to a clean sport in a space of a few years.

Given what happened in last year's Tour de France alone, you'd imagine not . . .

ITV-4's 7 p.m. wrap-up show seems to consist of 10 minutes of cycling and 50 minutes of adverts.

I must admit that before this started I was less excited about it than any Tour for the past 20 years. But it's growing on me fast.

Apparently Cadel Evans wants to model himself on Indurain. Cadel, I knew Miguel. Miguel was a hero of mine. Cadel you're no Miguel Indurain.

I see the comparison, but Indurain did more than just stay with the leaders. He personally chased down breakaways, didn't just let people go on a "how few seconds can I spare them" basis. He assumed his responsibilities as Patron. He also used to win the time trials in a stunning,exciting manner, while Evans seems content to merely trundle in in 3rd or 4th behind the specialists.

How fitting that Evans should hold the Yellow jersey by one second. It just about sums him up, the calculating bastard. My main interest in this tour is rapidly becoming the "Anyone but Evans"factor.

Maybe he'll prove me wrong one day soon, and get up out of his saddle and show me his "gros moteur"

Dutch TV were really laying into The Caisse D'Epargne team today for throwing all their eggs into the Valverde basket, and ignoring Parriera's chances. If he hadn't had to fuck about helping Valverde he could have stayed with the Evans group up the Tourmalet and not had to drag the Valverde group along into the wind on the flat between the last 2 cols. As it was he blew it on the Hautacam and now they are left with no one in the General.

I like Ricco. He's a sort of Cycling Cassano. But the Saunier tactics were a bit wierd at times. At one stage Ricco was leading the Evans group chasing down Piepoli.

QUOTE:
Maybe he'll prove me wrong one day soon, and get up out of his saddle and show me his "gros moteur"

I like cycling, but not as much as I like ladies' tennis, in that respect...

toro toro wrote:

QUOTE:
yeah, it was. Riis himself was known as "Mr. Sixty" which, if true, is staggeringly dangerous. This was the period when most of the peloton used to keep their bikes on turbo trainers in their hotel rooms so they could set the alarm to wake them every two hours, and spend fifteen minutes spinning to get the heart rate back up to a remotely sane level so their blood didn't coagulate while they slept. The fifty percent thing was brought in offically not as an anti-doping measure (because, of course, it couldn't establish guilt to a legally useful level) but for the safety of the riders. Of course, granting exemptions to people with naturally higher levels gave the lie to that - by the "safety" reasoning, they shouldn't have been allowed race at all...

And a huge number of them. Indeed, they'll stay there for the entire duration of a Grand Tour, which is basically impossible by legal means.
That's one of the things the biological passports should do a great deal to discourage.

I was just wondering, when do the effects of Doping wear off? How long before your body returns to "normal"?