Looks like it's official now. Check your link.

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Searching for the bliss of ultimate exertion.

Indeed...positive test confirmed for Piepoli...just between the time I posted and someone read it...amazing...at this stage, I wonder if anyone is going to make it to Paris.

So...let's see..Ricco, Piepoli...Mauro Gianetti and PFC back in the 90s...
no organized doping??

I bet it is the sports director is the brain behind the whole thing... He ended up in the emergency himself in 1998 after using drugs when he finished 2nd at worlds i think!!!

You mean this:

http://www.cyclingnews.com/...98/jul98/jul18a.html

?

I think he collapsed at the finishline after he finished 2nd at the world championships. He spent 3 days in a koma, and then he was like 2 weeks in emergency.

Gianetti had a near fatal collapse during the 1997 Tour de Romandie which was suspected to have been caused by doping with perfluorocarbon, an artificial carrier of oxygen

I guess this is what I heard about! I found it on Wikipedia, and I know that is not a very safe source:)....

Organized doping at Millar's former team? *shakes head delightedly* We may have finally found a cure for Millar's overwhelming case of self righteous smugness.

Yes, this is right. François and I have been discussing this in the other thread (Ricco thread). I mentioned there that Gianetti threatened to sue the hospital that saved him from death, because they made public allegations that his bad state was due not only to the crash but also because of the presence of PFC in his blood (complicating matters).

Organized doping at Millar's former team? *shakes head delightedly* We may have finally found a cure for Millar's overwhelming case of self righteous smugness.

Why all the hate here for Millar. Viewed another way, maybe he left the team in disgust.

As I have said in another thread, whether you like Millar or not, he is an extraordinarily important person in the fight against drugs in cycling. He is one of a small and select group, who have admitted that they have done wrong, paid their sentance, and are now working for change wil they continue to race. I note that this is highly unusual. The more common path is to continue to deny and keep fighting the conviction, like Landis, Hamilton and others or retire right away and say nothing, ever!

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Do the S-D uniforms really say "American Beef" on their shoulders? Am I reading that right?
(a) that is just funny
(b) it's ironic on a team getting busted for doping.

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De que depende?

Wasn't Millar doping with Cofidis? Was he clean on the dirty Saunier Duval team?

Was he clean on the dirty Saunier Duval team?

That's my point. He left in disgust. As I seem to recall when he did come back or said he was going to come back after the sentence, few teams seemed interested in him. There were not a ton of offers. I am sure at the time he took whatever he could get.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Why would you be surprised if anyone makes it to Paris?

Am I wrong or did the rest of the peleton seem mortal compared to what Saunier did in Pyrrenees? Frank had a great ride, but he couldn't finish with them...Christain and Cadel rode like mortals as well.

I think the performance bar will be lowered a little, the gaps will continue to fall, and the playing field will level, with new tactics coming out and possibly a different race org. Maybe the directors will have to shorten some stages, add more rest days, etc...finally realizing that to ask the riders to compete and complete what they have in the past, but clean, is a little much.

It seems as though another loophole has closed with Roche aiding in the detection of CERA. I wish Astana would have been in, just to see them get kicked out again and maybe have Johan B. finally get his comeuppance.

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Citius, Altius, Fortius.

Where has Millar ever said he left Saurier-Duval "in disgust". He has actually been very supportive of the team in the past day and said yesterday -

"I think that Mauro Gianetti has been taken advantage of and he is someone I have a lot of respect for," said Millar. "He does not deserve this and he has a good heart. He has perhaps put a lot of trust in people that he shouldn't have and he will learn from this.
"I guarantee - you watch Mauro - he will have an independent anti-doping programme within the team by the end of the year. He was close to doing it last year, and now he is going to have to extend his budget and get that programme in place. It is by doing that the sport will change."

Don't assume everyone is dirty just because one or two are.

You would be hard pressed to find anyone - and i do mean anyone who's raced for more then 4 to 5 years - who hasn't been on a team that had doping rumors about it or a doping positive. So the guilt by association card doesn't work in pro cycling. Everyone is one step away from a doper.

It was said in jest...not to be taken literally.

Well, what's a better approach? Continue to deny and fight like Landis and many, many others, wasting everyone's time or retire in a cloud of suspician and accusations or even after a positive test and say nothing. How are these latter two groups helping?

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

Sorry, I should have read the sarcasm a little better.

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Citius, Altius, Fortius.

I always have a healthy degree of cynicism for any converted doper. In my book, confessing that you doped doesn't count for much when the police have found syringes in your room and people have testified that you'e a doper. I also think that the only way to really tackle doping is to enforce punishments that really do act as a deterrent i.e. bans for life. Millar never struck me as a brave crusader in the anti-doping battle - more as a cynical and whiny self-publicist whose anti-doping stance is as much concerned with the rehabilitation of his own image as it is with the good of the sport.

He is becoming slightly more bearable and has at least chosen not to contest the British Olympic Association byelaw that prevents him from representing Britain at the Olympics as a convicted doper.

given Gianetti's reputation, doesn't Millar's stauch defense of him ring a little hollow? His comments about 'he'll have a doping program in place' seem to show that he's really delusional as well. There's not going to be a Saunvier Duval for much longer, and I don't see Gianetti's prospects looking too good, either.

does that link say he tested positive? you are the french expert, obviously, so if you could help me out... does it say he violated the drug policy, or the team ethical policy? am i missing a different link, or just bad at translating?

I agree. The Millar's defense of Gianetti seems a bit much. I will confess that I had not seen this. Given all the events of the last few days, it's pretty clear that there was something systemic going on at Saunier Duval. All of these guys could not have been acting completely on their own at the same time, with no communication at all bewteen themselves or the team managment - that is completely unbelieveable.

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Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog