Bonkers!

Mr Van Haute instructed the team mechanic, Moira Barrett, to wear a rider’s clothes and a face mask, to present herself at the start and sign the start sheet as the team’s fifth ride

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-sanctions-cynisca-cycling-after-mechanic-fradulently-posed-as-rider/

Jules said:

Bonkers!

Mr Van Haute instructed the team mechanic, Moira Barrett, to wear a rider’s clothes and a face mask, to present herself at the start and sign the start sheet as the team’s fifth ride

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/uci-sanctions-cynisca-cycling-after-mechanic-fradulently-posed-as-rider/

This story is nuts, and makes me wonder how much it underscores the possible abuses and pressures that some riders face. 

I am glad that the riders themselves were just reprimanded, and not suspended, and the tougher suspensions and sanctions went against the director and impersonating mechanic.

It's a bonkers story.  

UCI Rule: 2.2.003: For all road races, without prejudice to Article 1.2.053, if the number of starting riders per team is set at 4, 5 or 6, a team may not start with less than 4 riders. If the number of starting riders per team is 7 or 8, a team may not start with less than 5 riders. A team at the start of an event with fewer riders than the minimum established in the previous paragraph of this article may not start.

(this was a 7 rider teams race)

Agreed @wump super shitty thing to pressure a mechanic or helper into doing. It's not like they'd have any real options if they said "no"

Also a bullshit rule around minimums. If a team flies out and someone get sick or injured, I cannot see how it improves the race to bar them from starting.

^ seconded on the bullshit rule. Racing with less than the minimum number of riders literally does nothing other than disadvantage the team with less people. It also makes the peloton less dynamic/competitive and the racing worse since you're now down a team and a team with less people will almost always need to be more creative in their race craft if they hope to win.

But then again, this kind of rule feels very on brand for the UCI

Well, that sure was a normal, completely un-suspect, average, unremarkable race winning move now wasn’t it?

#stradebianchi

#iwanttobelieve

The initial jump and the first minute gap was extraordinary. As the kms ticked down and the chase group remained disorganized you can see them surging the nobody pulling through then surging then nobody pulling through over and over and over, like nobody wanted to take a chance which... okay, I guess they have a whole season ahead of them. Eventually the two other podium winners took advantage and played it smart and kept a strong steady pace. Piddcock timed it too late and couldn't eat up the single dangling minute to bridge and that was it.

Pogi is all of 25yo. Let's see if he can continue this insane pace into his 30s beating out the next crop of kids in their early 20s and then we'll talk Oprah interview.

Honestly @jules at this point why do you even tune in ?

Mark Taylor said:

Honestly @jules at this point why do you even tune in ?

WWE has plenty of fans, not many of them believe it's real.

David Yang said:

#iwanttobelieve

The initial jump and the first minute gap was extraordinary. As the kms ticked down and the chase group remained disorganized you can see them surging the nobody pulling through then surging then nobody pulling through over and over and over, like nobody wanted to take a chance which... okay, I guess they have a whole season ahead of them. Eventually the two other podium winners took advantage and played it smart and kept a strong steady pace. Piddcock timed it too late and couldn't eat up the single dangling minute to bridge and that was it.

Pogi is all of 25yo. Let's see if he can continue this insane pace into his 30s beating out the next crop of kids in their early 20s and then we'll talk Oprah interview.

A 4-5 minute gap in a pro race only happens when it's a stage race and the GC guys don't care. In a one-day race... tough to swallow. Oh wait, there is another time when it happens 

Which doping thread does this belong to?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/anti-doping-showed-up-at-an-amateur-race-in-valencia-130-riders-dropped-out/

More than SEVENTY percent of the race dropped out.

I've always had trouble finding the article where Basso was called an Alien. Turns out, it was because they called him an "extra terrestrial"

The more things change, eh?

https://www.cyclingnews.com/news/im-the-first-human-in-this-race-runner-up-juan-ayuso-on-vingegaards-domination/

https://www.cyclingnews.com/features/i-b-the-extra-terrestrial/

"Riding in a different world."

He's currently 6 minutes ahead. You have to go back to (checks notes) 2006 to see a larger margin at the finish... hmm, says here it was Ivan Basso... not sure where to find the largest mid-race margins.

The interesting part (for me) is that nobody is so much as whispering doubt in the press.

Maybe because it’s a weak field, as the fact that #2 is 38 years old proves. 

LennartZandbergen said:

Maybe because it’s a weak field, as the fact that #2 is 38 years old proves. 

Stopping bringing context

Uncle Mauro 

LennartZandbergen said:

Maybe because it’s a weak field, as the fact that #2 is 38 years old proves. 

His dominance is also creating a weird dynamic , Non of the top 5 actually believe they can beat him , so essentially are racing each other at this stage , this distorts the time gap

JohnMalcolmson said:

Uncle Mauro 

I don't get this reference , i googled it and something about cake boss came up

Mark Taylor said:

JohnMalcolmson said:

Uncle Mauro 

I don't get this reference , i googled it and something about cake boss came up

https://www.dopeology.org/people/Mauro_Gianetti/

https://www.dopeology.org/teams/UAE-Team-Emirates/

Jules said:

"Riding in a different world."

He's currently 6 minutes ahead. You have to go back to (checks notes) 2006 to see a larger margin at the finish... hmm, says here it was Ivan Basso... not sure where to find the largest mid-race margins.

The interesting part (for me) is that nobody is so much as whispering doubt in the press.

Or that the teams have told the riders to stay quiet. Or that the press isn't reporting on the whispers.  Velo/Outside doesn't want to go down this road.  I don't think CyclingNews or Bicycling would be interested.  Escape might be interested, but I don't know if they have the access, or the info.  Seems that there might need to be something else suspicious besides the gap, for it to get reported on.

What are the Twitter whispers saying ?

If I'm honest I think the deafening silence just comes down to money. Press in general and cycling press in particular is/are on the ropes and struggling for profitability. Teams are struggling, racing is shrinking. People know what happened the last time there was a huge doping story and I get the sense people have surrendered to the idea that while doping is a once-off huge story, if they want to make a living in and around the sport they cannot spit in the soup.

It also feels (purely subjective) that the deafening silence started during covid, when no testing at all was done for a couple of years, and every industry except video conferencing, slack and online shopping got absolutely shellacked.

Your saying ALL parties are complicit

Yeah it’s not very likely that you can get ALL 4-500 or so riders in the pro peloton to keep something as big as that a secret. They’d all know why they’re losing all the time despite all their sacrifices and still not tell?

You really only need the people who can prove you're doping to keep quiet.  Anyone else's accusations would just be heresay.

The overriding narrative of the last few years has been that riders are performing younger than ever , so have they started doping before they go pro?

I mean maybe? I find that hard to imagine though, especially with biological passports.

It's also hard to imagine there's widespread doping and no rumors about a new drug or what have you has spread. Back in the bad old days, everyone knew EPO was the it drug. But hey, maybe I'm naive?

I guess another thing that we don't see these days is an exercise physiologist banging the drum about doping.  

Seems like Ross Tucker of Science of Sport (https://sportsscientists.com/) has moved on.  His website has been dormant for four years.  And the only thing he seems to be quoted on these days is transgender athletes in sport.

I also watched the trailer for Season Two of Unchained.  They are teasing that Pinot might hint at doping in the peloton.

Matt,
     I think with bio passports, they would seem to have problems, and maybe doping early, pre passport, is a way to game that system.  

@mugwump that was my thought, but then that means they need to be doped 100% of the time for fear of their numbers falling to low below the recorded passport levels. That seems like a long shot and doesn't fit with what I understand as far as "normal" doping protocols (having ramp periods basically). But again, maybe I'm just hopelessly looking for the good