You beat me to it Eric! Hopefully this means the rapid departure of the lad from the pro cycling scene. I think the UCI and others have been waiting for him to hang himself like this ever since the shenanigans last year. I don't think it's going to turn out well for him. He burnt too many bridges last year.

He must have asthma. It seems to have evolved a contagious variant in the pro peloton.

Imagine my shock. (I certainly am).

It's amazing how stupid he could be to try it again so soon.

The young Ukranian(3rd in the Giro) will soon follow.

Will reserve judgment on the latter, but as for the former:

When a) your talent (and he has some) will only take you so far, and b) you apparently have zero moral scruples, this kind of stupidity tends to be a recurring theme.

Having his wife rot in jail on his behalf for weeks while he tried to swing a deal for himself was a nice touch. Slimeball Husband of the year.

Kind of off the subject but my wife and I just about laughed our butts off during the final TT in the Giro when Phil Liggett kept calling him what sounded a whole lot like "Rum's Ass". It was like being in 3rd grade again.

[reply]You beat me to it Eric! Hopefully this means the rapid departure of the lad from the pro cycling scene. I think the UCI and others have been waiting for him to hang himself like this ever since the shenanigans last year. I don't think it's going to turn out well for him. He burnt too many bridges last year.[/reply]

beat you to this one too. Major bridge burner and total Moron [Rumsas]

from Cycling News

Following Raimondas Rumsas' suspension from the Lampre team yesterday after a non-negative drug test at the Giro d'Italia, Lampre has issued a statement about the troubled Lithuanian rider.

"The team management is saddened by the news especially after putting their faith in Rumsas after the events related to the 2002 Tour de France," Lampre said.

"We had decided to put our faith in Rumsas in the hope that he could prove his honesty and professionalism."

Team manager Giuseppe "Beppe" Saronni has been less diplomatic in comments to the press reported by Italian news agency ANSA. "We feel betrayed in the trust we had in him. He is suspended for now, but if the second sample confirms the findings, he will no longer be riding for us," said Saronni.

"We feel very bitter, not only me, but think about the feelings of the other officials, masseurs, doctors and all those who tried to put last year's controversy behind them."

The team statement said the UCI has not disclosed the details of the drug found by the test, but it has been widely reported to be EPO.

A positive B test would result in Rumsas's sixth place in this year's Giro d'Italia being annulled.

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"on your Left"

I'm just sitting here wondering what Iraqi Foreign Minister-like excuse he'll offer for this one. Last time he let his wife and family take the fall. Who now? Obviously this can't be his fault. He has no knowlege of drugs! NOT! Does he think the rest of the world is stupid? I suppose it'll be Lampre's fault this time. Or the drug testing company will have mixed his sample with someone else's. . . TWICE!

While I am a huge advocate of the innocent until proven guilty principle, sometimes the facts just scream too loudly. Rumsas claiming those drugs weren't for him last year is a lot like Scott Peterson claiming he's innocent. C'mon guys, some of us were born at night, but certainly not last night!

cue twilight zone theme music

TriBriguy is Psychic

and now the excuse [courtesy of Cycling News]

Rumsas denies charges
In the wake of reports that he had tested non-negative for a banned substance during the Giro d'Italia, Raimondas Rumsas (Lampre) has protested the results and insisted that he is innocent. Rumsas issued a statement through his attorney declaring that he has not used banned substances. "[Rumsas] formally contests accusations from the press concerning the use of doping products," said attorney Alexandre Varaut. "Mr. Rumsas has immediately asked for a counter analysis to establish proof of his integrity."

This new suspicions comes less than a year after Raimondas' wife Edita was arrested with a variety of banned substances in her car on the final day of the 2002 Tour de France. According to a l'Equipe report, Rumsas was formally put on notice by the UCI following last year's affair. "Despite this affair which implicates your wife, you have tested negative in all controls," the UCI's chief medical personnel Doctors Schattenberg and Zorzoli wrote in a communique to Rumsas. "You should know nonetheless that you are considered a suspect, that you will be under watch, and that we will test you regularly."

Meanwhile, the Lithuanian cycling federation echoed sentiments of surprise and disappointment voiced by Rumsas' Lampre team over the latest implication of doping. "We were surprised by the news, particularly given last year's scandal," federation president Valentinas Rutkauskas told the Associated Press. "He is tested frequently."

Indeed, the repercussions have already begun. Rumsas was immediately suspended by Lampre after the news of the non-negative test, but the entire team will suffer some degree of consequence for the new cloud which hangs over the rider. Lampre has not been invited to race the Tour of Denmark (August 12-16). "Some teams have not gotten the message," race director Jesper Worre said to AP. "We don't want teams like Lampre."

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"on your Left"

Of course! Why didn't we think of that? We should have known it's all a conspiracy to keep the Lithuanian man down! That explains EVERYTHING!

NOT!

<--Shaking his head in disbelief. . .

Speaking of living in a fantasy world. . . Rumsas claims set up

Suspended by the Lampre team for a non-negative test for EPO from the Giro d'Italia, the embattled Raimondas Rumsas has openly suspected that his team has set him up in order to remove him from its ranks. Rumsas explained that the day of his surprise test on May 16, the team's medications were under lock and key, and pointed a finger at the team's medical staff in the event of a positive B sample from his test.

"If the results of the second analysis are positive, I will be very surprised," Rumsas said, "but then the physicians would be under suspicion too." Rumsas maintains his innocence in this latest affair, which comes little less than a year after his wife Edita was arrested with doping products on the last day of the Tour de France. "I am surprised at how quickly the information reached the media," the Lithuanian said of the initial test results. "I learned from the media, and now I cannot reach the team manager."

"Everyone knows that I am under special observation," Rumsas admitted. "How then could I take EPO after what happened at last year's Tour de France?"

Rumsas did not test positive during any of his controls from the 2002 Tour, but remains under suspicion according to the UCI. He never made himself available to French prosecutors to discuss his the case surrounding his wife's arrest by customs officials. Without due cause to remove him from the team last year, Rumsas was accepted back into the Lampre fold, but by a team management which openly regretted his presence.

It keeps coming. This guy is on a roll...

[Velonews]

"Rumsas has immediately asked for a counter-analysis to prove his innocence," Rumsas' lawyer Alexandre Varaut said in a statement. "He formally denies the use of doping products."

Rumsas said on Friday he suspected he was the victim of a conspiracy cooked by his team.

"It could be that (Lampre) wants to get rid of me..." he said in an interview with Lithuanian daily Respublika, speaking a day after it emerged he had asked for a second drug test in a bid to prove his innocence.

"During Giro d'Italia all drugs were in the hands of our team's doctors," Rumsas said. "Everybody knew that I was under surveillance from all sides recently, so how could I use something after what happened last year after the Tour de France?

"If the results of the second test were positive I would be very surprised, but then suspicions would fall on doctors. I did not use any drugs on my own," he added.

I swear that's not my blood. I'm only holding it for a friend

LOL

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"on your Left"

ROFLMFAO. It is, of course, so very common for teams to set up their own riders -- particularly when they're racing superbly.

Maybe he can get to the bottom of this for us -- sorta like O.J. out on the golf course "looking for the real killer"! :-)

The sad thing is that pro cyclists get busted, sometimes more than once and they still get contracts from teams. I think Virenque (sp) is one with several non negatives. A 6month or year ban does not seem to be that big of a deal. The 2nd non negative test, both A and B samples, should be an automatic lifetime ban. That might cause one or two to stop saying that their toothpaste had cocaine in it, or their granny need HGH. Until then, we get a good laugh out of the excuses.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

{Rumsas} is an Idiot

from Cycling News
Lance Armstrong offered his own opinions on the latest affair surrounding Lampre's Raimondas Rumsas, who finished third behind the American in the 2002 Tour de France. When asked what he thought of Rumsas and his non-negative test for EPO from the Giro d'Italia,

Armstrong commented in a Reuters report that "[Rumsas] is an idiot to take drugs after what happened last year and knowing that the UCI is watching him."

Rumsas has denied any use of EPO or other banned substances, and has even offered that the result from the Giro could be an effort from his Lampre team to remove him from its ranks. The Lithuanian did not test positive during the 2002 Tour, but following the arrest of his wife Edita with banned substances in her car on the last day of the Tour, Rumsas has remained under increased suspicion from the UCI.

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"on your Left"

He could at least have blamed it on Simoni's granny and some of her special candy.