Monday 9 July 2012

Bradley Wiggins - Doping Accusations

There is no doubt that Bradley Wiggins' success is linked to doping, but not in the way some morons are putting forward. The simple fact is that Bradley Wiggins and the whole of the Sky team are clean, what has changed is that the cheats who have previously been at the forefront of cycling can no longer get away with the vile practices they have used in the past and we are now seeing them for what they are.

Things are different because the playing field is more level and Wiggins and his team mates have just trained harder and better. I also have no doubt that Cadel Evans is clean. The dopers are now struggling, now that they no longer have free rein to abuse drugs and things are not going all their own way, and they don't like it.

The biological passport has it's flaws but it is a powerful weapon and it has been a force for good.

Chapeau Wiggo!

27 comments:

  1. Wiggins - at 32 - is suddenly a superstar? Froome - a nobody before joining Sky - is suddenly miles ahead of the established top riders? Because the entire peloton was on dope until last year and now they're not?

    Do you honestly think we haven't heard all this before?

    GIVE ME A BREAK

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    1. Time will tell my anonymous friend, time will tell.

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    2. Amen to this comment! To put nearly a minute into Fabian? Don't think so. Froom? Should be FROM WHERE? I'm not gonna drink the Sky kool aid.

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    3. Fabian is not in peak condition, I think that's quite obvious. He crashed in April suffering a multiple collar bone fracture putting him out for months, only returning to competitive cycling 3wks before the start of the TdF! At this level where the top professionals are seperated by the tiniest of margins can you really expect even Fabian to win everything, everywhere, everytime?!

      As for Froome, he only turned pro at the relatively old age of 22 and joined his first pro team a year later in 2008. In GC cycling terms he is still very young (27yrs) and still developing his endurance. He has come on in leaps and bounds, improvements that are certainly not unheard of at his age. And remember, he has always come from a pure climbing background.

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    4. I agree with all you say. The performances of Wiggins and Froome are entirely explicable and in all honesty I would stake my house on them being clean, this is a new era and it's so terribly sad that people can't see that and enjoy it. I see Wiggins has had to talk on the subject again and has said "what else can I do" - it must be very tedious. As for Paul Kimmage, I doubt very much that he will ever be satisfied, with anyone! I've nothing at all against the guy and he helped cycling with his exposures but maybe it's time he let the authorities do their work. At least people can now speak openly on the subject, the sadness is that most people only ever speak anonymously.

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    5. Wiggins "suddenly a superstar"? Four olympic golds in track cycling is hardly coming from nowhere to superstardom. I think you'll find he's been a superstar in UK for a number of years.

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  2. The facts are plain to see i'm afraid. Wiggins and Froome ahead of Fabian and not a hint of a doping scandal amongst them. The fact seems to be that the landscape has changed, which of course can be the result of a different approach to things. I think in the case of the TT the difference lies not in power but in reduced frontal area and therefore resistance. The good thing is that we live in a democracy and can all have our different views. The sad thing is that people continue, anonymously, with these doping slurs.

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  3. Anonymous or not he has a point because the improvement from Wiggins & Froome is remarkable. I've followed the Tour since '82 & I recall so many "shocks" that weren't... Hopefully Sky is clean but don't think there aren't rumors: just read some of the French sites

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    1. Oh yes, there are and will be rumours all right but that is all they will be. The big difference, I believe, is that now, unlike the past, there is a drug and blood testing regime in place which actually catches people and documents variations from the norm for the individual. In the past people were essentially "allowed" to cheat up to a certain level (I'm sure you'll remember the 50% haematocrit limit!) which was just appalling! Other teams will catch up as they look more carefully at what they, and Sky, are doing but for the moment I believe that natural talent is shining through, unmasked by a blanket of drugs and gross blood manipulation.

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    2. 3 reasons to worry about Sky: 1) Hired Leinders as team doctor - formerly with Rabobank when Rasmussen was kicked off Tour. Why? 2) Paul Kimmage today reported in Velonation expressing concerns - and he's got real credibility; 3) today's Le Monde has a detailed article on power outputs by Wiggins & Froome - which peaked on stage nine at 30+ watts more than anyone else. On the mountain section. They're producing figures now that haven't been matched since US Postal. Wiggins I could just about buy. Froome producing 467 watts

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  4. These things do not worry me in the slightest. 30W more than "anyone else" - I'm surprised they have power data on all the riders, teams and individuals often tend to keep these things to themselves I think. The only figures I believe are those I download myself off a power meter head unit, anything else could have come from anywhere and as far as I'm concerned is just rumour and hearsay. I just find it astonishing that based on these things people come to this "they must be cheating" conclusion, without a single shred of evidence. I suppose if Cancellara happened to produce an extra 20W or so in a particular race, if that could be verified, he would be accused of doping too. Fortunately we live in a democracy and we can all express our views but to suggest that people may be doping without evidence of any kind is simply wrong, and in my view dangerous. Quite apart from that I don't see the point of it.

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  5. Where there is smoke there is fire. Definitely
    smell a rat with Wiggins and Froome.

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    1. I'm sorry you, anonymously, feel that way. It must make it very difficult to enjoy sporting success. Surely if you doubt everyone that gets it right and rises to the top it must make one cynical of every sporting success. The success that these guys are having is not new or unplanned.

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  6. Don't be sorry, and yes it is hard not to be cynical given the tours history of doping. I certainly didn't question Cadel Evans victory last year as you can just tell who the true champions are.

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  7. I really hope Wiggins is clean, Quentin, but you ride and you know you don't just cruise over these mountains. Wiggins & Froome look like they've just finished a training ride, and that's very reminiscent of US Postal, Astana, and other doping outfits. I do trust Le Monde, and I'd like to know where the extra power is coming from: is it really just training? I have been on some of those mountains, too, and I just don't buy Froome cruising up day after day. Evans was shattered yesterday, and don't tell me Froome is suddenly better than Evans. Cadel doesn't believe it: just watch his face at the end of yesterday's stage. I hope you're right, Quentin, but this story feels awfully like the old ones...

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    1. Must confess that on the footage I've been watching nobody looks as if they have just finished a training ride, they can hardly stand up! I disagree on the data, I only trust data that I gather myself, certainly not what's published in a newspaper. In any event whatever numbers are posted the analysis of them is hugely variable. Cadel Evans is below his best, ignoring Wiggins and Froome totally, he's just not riding as well as he has previously and I am sure he will say that, in fact he has already. We all have different views and that is good, for now there is no evidence whatsoever that they are anything but clean riders and I remain confident that will remain the case.

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  8. Suspicious how sky team picked the two best biological passports at once. And how they both happen to be Brits. And just before the olympics. Some people would expect such champions to be one out of a bigger bunch, but maybe British people are just better at it.

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  9. Sigh, another anonymous comment, still, never mind. I still can't work out why all the people finishing these stages ahead of Froome and Wiggins are not being accused of doping, are we suggesting that Wiggins and Froome are actually going slower than they could do and that Froome and Wiggins are being beaten by clean riders even though they are cheating themselves? Surely not! :-)

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  10. Cadel tried a breakaway up an extremely steep incline on stage 13 and Wiggins reeled him in without leaving his seat looking like he was on the flat. All the other riders were swerving up the hill like old women. Good on you Wiggins, what power and endurance you possess, almost super human in fact. A fine clean specimen indeed Bradley.

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    1. As I'm sure you well know the fact that people are swerving around and jumping about shows simply that they are wasting energy, seated climbing in energy efficiency terms is far more effective particularly over long climbs and particularly for a rider like Wiggins with a TT and pursuit background. The facts that matter are body weight and power output, not how much effort you appear to be putting in. Cadel Evans if well off his best, Wiggins and the sky team have timed their preparation to perfection and it's a shame that the result of that are these anonymous suggestions of cheating. It still staggers me how people keep coming up with this rubbish even when on the same stages others are covering the ground more quickly, why is nobody saying that Griepel must be cheating, he NEVER wins 3 stages so he MUST be cheating?. How about Sagan, where has he come from to win three tour stages? Are these people not cheating? I'm sure they are not, and nor are Wiggins and Froome.

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  11. Wiggins lead that stage to the finish and probably could have won it. He might enter next years tour as team Wiggins and just ride solo. Built like a stick, power of a machine.

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    1. Yes, I thought that was an excellent piece of riding, not often the yellow jersey puts themselves at risk at the sharp end of that kind of stage, paying a debt of gratitude.

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    2. Amazing the number of people wo hide under the Anonymous handle, maybe they are dopers from the TdF.
      From what i saw evans was way offf the standard of last year, plus of course the issues with some nasty people who just love to spoil sport with tin tacks etc.
      IMO wiggins rode a very good tour with the aid of his team.

      As for drugs well people can believe whatever they read in the papers.

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  12. If Bradley Wiggins and all of Sky were doping, it would be the most sophisticated doping system of all time. But while its possible with the money they have, it would also be the most shocking thing ever and I think if you know anything at all about Wiggin's history then you will realise that he would not dope. All those rants against doping like when Floyd Landis got busted, and when his own team were kicked out the Tour cos his teammate was doping he did a whole press conference about how angry he was and how messed up cycling was with all the doping. Why would he just drop all that attitude and become a doper? If you look carefully, dopers never actually seem to make anti-doping statements, Lance Armstrong? Nope, Contador? Definately not. Thats why those guys definately doped and Wiggins definately did not. End of.

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    1. I'm with you 100%, completely unthinkable. Compare it to the LA era when practically everyone except LA thought he and his team mates were at it.

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  13. I recently viewed just about every journal article written on tdf power outputs, heart rates, team make ups. Yes Sky are different, special, spectacular. However they will not cheat. They are not representing team sky they are representing British Cycling. If they were caught doping everyone from Hoy, Vic, Trott, Kenny would all be under the microscope. Sky have got to much to lose. Anymore damage to the Murdoch media machine would probably be near fatal. Doping is one thing I can say is not as rife in the UK as what it has been in mainland EU and the US (Not mentioning the old eastern block). You only got to look at who has been caught to see that. British Cycling is in an absolute golden era. With more to come. Fans of the tour of Britian will know that. Point fingers, needles and piss pots all you want. Arise Sir Wiggo

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    1. Agree entirely Tony, thanks for your input. Wiggins would never have stood a chance in the juiced-up era but now real talent is starting to shine through. Wiggo go into that little country school where he takes his kids as a convicted cheat? He couldn't live with himself. Don't know if you saw hime when he visited the little school and all the kids were singing to him to wish him well, he was choked to bits, not a chance in hell he would let them down, let alone BC. Yes, "Arise Sir Wiggo" indeed, Go-Wig-Go!

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