This will be a good acid test for Cookson. If he's serious about cleaning up the sport, they'll take the short term sponsorship hit.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Please let Astana be given the arse.... Sick of those pricks attitude...
No pride, no honor, no respect...

Not sure if I am sad for, or disappointed in Nabali

Perhaps both. I was skeptical of Iglinski's LBL win but kept my mouth shut at the time. Then there's Vino winning the Olympics despite a serious setback from an injury the previous year. Really not sure what to make of all this. Guess they are just doing things "the Vino Way," which incidentally is how Vino described Iglinski's LBL win

I was really impressed with Nibali's win. I thought with the lead he had coming out of the cobble stage, that it was to bad what happened with AC and Froome. He would not get the credit he deserved. Now, even if He was clean, i doubt the team was. .......Sadly He cannot just jump to another team.

He probably has an out clause if Astansa looses its license.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Or if you are extremely cynical and conspiracy theory-oriented, you could say that Astana pissed off someone at the UCI, thus bringing this on their head. I personally find this a bit far fetched, but that's what some says over on the Clinic of cyclingnews

Or you can be extremely cynical and conspiracy theory-oriented and say they lost their shield when McQuaid/Verbruggen left.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

Maybe my view is a bit extreme, but if even only one domestique was doping it gave the rest of the team an unfair advantage.

Does this mean Vino wasn't clean...after is first suspension...where he went on to win Olympic gold? I am so surprised. Next thing you are going to tell me is age groupers are doping...that would be crazy!


Now I am going to go and ice the bump I got on my head from crawling out from under the rock I have been under for the past 10 years.

I have been a fan of professional cycling for many years and have watched the super human efforts of these athletes. I always hope that this adoration is based on clean athletes competing on a level playing field. Time after time though many of these athletes and teams fall from grace and are tainted with cheating. The cynic in me says - you have to dope to win at thier game - but the optimist in me says - lots of guys out there are not doping and although they may not be winning -they deserve my attention - so I continue to watch them race and persevere. True heros in my view!

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Michael Hay - helped on the journey by the great folks at ZiZU Optics, (for the custom fit), and Bialkowlski's TRYSPORT

But that would acknowledge that the culture of corruption is going away. How dare you be this optimistic ;)?

Seriously, that what really irks me about that place, every single thing has to be viewed cynically. Everyone's cheating, even if there's not a single rumor swirling. Otoh, you get some inside info that you don't hear anywhere else, and sometimes you need the skeptics and the cynics to point out the inconsistencies. Not to derail this, but i thought the analysis of what's in Hushvod's book to be quite useful.

Oh, I agree. And if there is a chance Nibali.was clean he knows more than any other his win is tainted........or he was.doped

Seems like a plausible scenario!!!

8.5/10

nice one!

vino and gold do not f&*king compute . .

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What are you people, on dope?

—Mr. Hand

bump ;)

I'm shocked SHOCKED that Astana riders are doping - said no one ever.

Yup. #4. But, really, I just wanted this to be seen again.

Hahaha, Vino is watching you!

Unless you happen to be doping, in which case Vino didn't see anything.

Made me go over to cyclingnews.

Or you can be more cynical and say anti-doping pro cycling has always been a PR exercise and the doping never stopped in 2006 or whatever time is currently used as the start of the new era, which seems to change every few years when the new era starts to look too much like the old era.

BTW, don't pay too much attention to The Clinic. Those crazies see conspiracies everywhere.

The exposure of Armstrong was an opportunity to deal honestly with cycling's doping problem. Unfortunately too many people used it as a way to promote themselves and continue cycling's policy of scapegoating a few riders.

sarcasm mode on: I thought all cyclists decided in 2006 to stop doping? Oh, that's right, that's just the American Cyclists (just please overlook all the postive U.S. cycling dope tests since 2006).

Oh, I thought the new generation is clean, or at least the Young Generation is Clean, and that you can win clean and that you would have to be an imbecile to dope... Roll Eyes. Latest doper to be caught- a 20 year old TT champion.

I'm really glad that the Tour Champion's team has 4 positive tests in a several month period. Makes you feel real comfortable about the current state of the sport. Roll Eyes.

"The UCI has confirmed that Astana Continental rider Victor Okishev has been suspended after he returned an adverse analytical finding for Anabolic Androgenic Steroids. The positive test comes from the Asian Championships in May of this season, where Okishev won the under-23 time trial. The 20-year-old has been part of the team since August of 2013."

The Tour champion's team has had two positives, and they were brothers. The development team is a different organization than the WT team. The recent positive was from before the rider joined the team.

The common thread is that there is a doping problem in Kazakhstan, where Astana, of course, hires a large percentage of its riders.

 



From: https://twitter.com/ammattipyoraily

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