Vuelta a Espana - Blazin' Saddles: In Vino veritas?
Eurosport - Tue, 25 Aug 19:33:00 2009
Blazin' Saddles is shocked at the audacity and lack of remorse shown by a certain proven drug cheat.
So it's official: Alexandre Vinokourov is back and allowed to race the Vuelta. Only at Astana and in Spain could such a thing happen.
Spain's lax attitude to dopers past and present is there for all to see while Astana, lest we forget, is the reincarnation of Manolo Saiz's Liberty Seguros team, who, captained by Roberto 'Alas' Heras, were the main perpetrators of Operacion Puerto.
Renamed Astana-Wurth, Vinokourov's "baby" soon became a kind of Dopers' Anonymous thanks to the sterling efforts of Mathias "Quick Fix" Kessler, Eddy "Give me drugs, I'll give you oil" Mazzoleni and, later, the Kazakh pair of Vino and his pal Andrey "Blood Brother" Kashechkin.
All rather embarrassing for the Kazakh sponsors and officials behind the financing of the team, Blazin' Saddles is sure you'll agree.
With a pang of nostalgic lament, BS remembers the time he was invited to the Kazakh Embassy in London to discuss Vino's chances of winning the 2007 Tour, which started that year in the UK capital.
BS can see your mind ticking over - BS, with his reputation, in the Kazakh Embassy... What where they thinking? - but insists on the veracity of this tale.
The ambassador - an affable chap called Erlan Idrissov - lauded Vinokourov's attacking style, comparing it to that of Kazakhstan, a country which was "leaping out".
"Let's hope Vino's style and the style of the country will continue to match each other in the future," he continued, before comparing Vino to a snow leopard, one of Kazakhstan's national symbols.
In hindsight, it was an uncanny analogy. The crepuscular carnivores cannot roar and boast amongst their diet the snowcock, a type of pheasant. Basically, for all their beauty, snow leopards are the same as normal leopards, but smaller, mute and albino - which sums up Vino to a tee.
Snow leopards are also sometimes known as an 'ounce' - in which case, Vino is clearly not an 'ounce' of remorse.
For that is the most galling thing about the return of Kazakhstan's prodigal son: rather than put his hands up - like Messrs Ricco, Millar, even Kohl - and accept some responsibility for his actions, the diminutive rouleur simply denied his blood boosting, claiming he had been violated while lamenting other sports' lax attitude to doping.
But Vino's crash early in the 2007 Tour saw him cut both knees so deeply you could see the bone.The rider lost so much blood and could hardly walk, let alone ride.
And yet he miraculously turned things round to win the first ITT by over a minute and then snare a stage in the mountains - with the help of a homologous transfusion which doubled the population of erythrocytes in his blood.
As Vino Bianco became Vino Tinto, it became obvious that the rider had cheated the system to get his race back on track. BS is the last person to suggest that he had a habit of doing this - for all we know, Vino's 2006 Vuelta triumph was legit and he was not cycling's equivalent of Ivan Drago - but the fact that Vino has never put his hands up and shown some contrition means none of us can believe in him again.
Which is precisely why the Vuelta officials should not only bar him from racing but also ban his Astana team for having the temerity to take the disgraced cyclist back onto their payroll.
ASO officials quite rightly banned Astana from racing the Tour in 2008 following Vino's actions in the previous Tour.
Then, the victim was Alberto Contador, who was denied the chance of defending his crown. If the Spaniard has any sense he'll have his lawyers on the case extracting him from the Astana team in time for next season.
With last year's top three riders in the Vuelta all sitting out the race this year, the 2009 edition is as open as its beginning is Dutch. And with Ivan Basso and Alejandro Valverde joining Vino on the roster, things are shaping up nicely for a dopers' elect podium in Madrid.
CHARLY TRIES HIS ARM: Following the popularity of his impromptu bike ride in Paisley, Lance Armstrong has tried the same tactics in Dublin, where he is about to host a three-day Global Cancer Summit.
BS seems to recall the seven-time Tour champ being in Ireland for another reason, but can't recall what it was. Oh yes, to stretch his legs a bit in his Astana finale, before retiring from the three-day Tour of Ireland because of a bit of rain.
(Incidentally, at least the bad weather allowed the Texan to wear a black waterproof and cover up the sponsors of the team he so obviously despises.)
Anyway, Lance used Twitter again this week to advertise a ride in the Irish capital's Pheonix Park. The quick-thinking American even informed his followers where they could hire a bike from if they wanted to attend the meet.
At the time of publishing, BS had yet to hear whether the ride had been a success, but it has definitely inspired one of Armstrong's peloton colleagues to use similar tactics.
Britain's Charly Wegelius, who is in Sweden training for his third Grand Tour of the season, tweeted moments after Armstrong, asking if there was "anyone in the area of Tavastehus today with a scooter who wants to motor pace me?!!!".
As far as BS can gather, it ended up a solo ride.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK: "Vinokourov gave a press conference in Monaco and said that if Johan (Bruyneel) didn't want to take him then Johan would have to go. Of course Johan wasn't happy with what Vino said. It took a while (to reach an agreement) but, of course, the sponsors want Vino on the team. He created the team." - Astana spokesman Philippe Maertens tells Cyclingnews about the "hard negotiations" that went on prior to the confirmation of Vinokourov's return.
Still, Bruyneel is used to working in a team whose leader he doesn't really like - ask Alberto Contador. Anyway, surely it's only a matter of time before the Belgian jumps ship to RadioShack.
Follow Blazin' Saddles throughout the day on www.twitter.com/saddleblaze
Watch La Vuelta LIVE at 3pm on Saturday 29th August on British Eurosport (Sky 410 / Virgin Media 521); Also available on your PC via the Eurosport Player - click on the link under the picture to subscribe
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Comment 17 - 36 of 36
Well I know I've learned something: It would be a blast to party with Phelps and Boonen.
Bryan O, I am not saying that there is conspiracy against only our team and sponsors, but there is.
Borat was made for humor (not to be taken seriously enough to accuse anyone of being ignorant). Marc Biver was fired from the Astana organization because of the integrity issues with the team. Johan was hired to reinvigorate the team and won 4 grand tours (job well done).
I have a feeling that Kazakhstan is not the only minor country in Europe. So I beg the question, why is there a conspiracy?
Was there a conspiracy against Landis and the Phonak team (everyone hates the Swiss)? Or remember that rouse to rid the Tour of French team Festina? [you know how the French like to pick on French team just because they are French --- and doping]
Bryan O, Kazakhstani cyclers and sponsors are discriminated in Europe. The former manager of the team Mark Biver after leaving Astana team raided all team's assets and we still cannot get them back in European courts. It is like a coach of a soccer team makes all the equipment of the team his when he is sacked by the team.
Johan Bruneel is intending to do the same, and I don't know if we have a chance against him. In Europe Kazakhstan is considered as a minor nation, whose interests can be ignored.
However, as time goes, more and more influential people are getting interested in this injustice giving our representatives their support. We've got support of such people as Rinus Wagtmans, and now our voice cannot be ignored as it was. And so, I guess now it would be much more difficult not to allow us into TDF!
As for Borat, he was made for ignorant people to have a wrong impression of Kazakhstan. Join the crowd.
l1chadwilliams, I am not saying pot is simulating him, but bringing in the fact that he did use a forbidden drug, and I am sure his tests indicated that, but officially he never tested positive!
I am not saying that nobody except for Kazakhstani are accused, but implying the fact of discrimination of Kazakhstani athletes at a certain point of time! Vino did a heroic race in TDF 2007, but someone didn't want a hero to be from Kazakhstan.
And don't be so ignorant as to call Vino a Kazakh rider, he is a Kazakhstani rider! He is in fact ethicallty Russian.
zazajk28 - A. Don't group me with l1chadwilliams (no offense chad)
B. Wow! I thought you would appreciate that Armstrong tested positive for corticosteroids in 99 and was exempted with a back dated prescription and made a donation to the UCI for doping control equipment in the amount of a @#$% load of money. And subsequently Armstrong faced scrutiny in all of the following Tours and was investigated in France for sporting fraud for nearly two years.
I also thought you would understand that I watched Cancellera sprint from 1k to beat all the sprinters in stage 3, Vino crash in stage 5, Vino wave goodbye to the camera as he lost minutes on stage 7 (reminds me of some Mennonite bike racer on stage 16 2006), stage 11 when Astana crushed the field into the wind splitting the group aggressive racing at its best (reminds me of a time when Armstrong was in a group where Team Colombia split the peloton leaving Contodor behind), and then an amazing effort from Vino both legs still bandaged crushes the field by over a minute, which of course leaves stage 15 where Vino continues his transition from hobbled cyclist to vicious contender by leaving an elite group to win the stage. AMAZING BUT NOT IMPOSSIBLE. Kind of like stage 17 in 2006.
I know that testing has a margin of error. I know that CAS has no incentive to invalidate the original findings of WADA or UCI or any other governing body. I just don't understand why there is some exclusive prejudice against the great nation of Kazakhstan and its riders. It seems like a lot of Spanish riders and a couple of American riders and all of the Italian riders have found there way into fights with doping controls. Rasmussen isn't from any of those places and never tested positive (he just doesn't know geography) and he's can't get a team to sign him for the Veulta.
Is this because of Borat???
zazajk28--- Ok go ahead and play the discrimination against Kazakhstani cyclists card. So explain Basso, Ullrich, Ricco, Millar, Hamilton, Kohl, Shumacher, Rasmussen, Heras, Dekker, Hondo, Pantani, Moreau, Virenque, Honchar. This is just to name a few there are so many I could never list them all. Actually there are so many from every country except Kazakh. I repeat you do not know what you are talking about and there is no proof supporting your claim. Nice try, If anything Vino is one of the only riders from Kazakh that has ever been caught. You can look it up for yourself if you choose. Maybe they are all innocent given the recent accusations that the labs can be bought off, except for the fact that some of them admitted doing it. Oh, and by the way pot is not a performance enhancing substance like blood transfusions and EPO.
l1chadwilliams, Bryan O, I don't need to be a 'Cancer Treatment Genius' to understand that WADA/UCI are forbidden from announcing positive tests of certain sportsmen. Take an example of Michael Phelps, also one of the 'most tested athlete': once someone smokes hash, it stays in the blood for more than a month! And how come he also never returned a positive test on hash? He only gets caught when a paparazzi publish his photo.
There might be 2 reasons for that: he was not tested for doping during a couple of months after the photo or his positive results were changed to negative.
That means either he is not so 'most tested athlete' or his test results are falsified. This means that Vino's results could also be falsified from negative to positive!
Kashechkin is still trying to bring an action against WADA in European courts, but these courts for some reason simply do not consider his case. If they do, then he will surely win the case!
It is a certain that there is discrimination against Kazakhstani cyclers!
l1chadwilliams, Bryan O, I don't need to be a 'Cancer Treatment Genius' to understand that WADA/UCI are forbidden from announcing positive tests of certain sportsmen. Take an example of Michael Phelps, also one of the 'most tested athlete': once someone smokes hash, it stays in the blood for more than a month! And how come he also never returned a positive test on hash? He only gets caught when a paparazzi publish his photo.
There might be 2 reasons for that: he was not tested for doping during a couple of months after the photo or his positive results were changed to negative.
That means either he is not so 'most tested athlete' or his test results are falsified. This means that Vino's results could also be falsified from negative to positive!
Kashechkin is still trying to bring an action against WADA in European courts, but these courts for some reason simply do not consider his case. If they do, then he will surely win the case!
It is a certain that there is discrimination against Kazakhstani cyclers!
zazajk28 - he did have a positive test in 1999. If you actually knew this you're argument about WADA / UCI would have be slightly more reasonable. You are right to be skeptical. Critical thinking is what allows one to assemble a reasonable argument. Unfortunately, you are attempting to use guilt by association to convict Armstrong while you defend Vino, who tested positive for a homologous blood transfusion (one of the most reliable doping tests).
Now using the guilt by association logic I will prove that Vino was a doper: Vino shared the TdF podium in 2003 with Armstrong and Ullrich and was 5th in the 2005 TdF behind Armstrong, Basso, Ullrich, and Mancebo. Given that Vino has tested positive AND was in close competition with others that have doped, he MUST have doped..... Unless he said he didn't.
carnocm4m6----- Don't make ignorant comments about something you know nothing about. Chemo has the opposite affect on the body, as it kills the Cancer cells it also damages your good cells. Tell me how this is an advantage? You are free to do your research on Cancer treatment.
For those of you Vino fans. Poor Vino he is so sorry he was caught. If you know the dangers of transfusing or EPO I think the fans of Vino should be glad he got caught for his own personal well being. The ill reffects of what they have done will not show up for several years and then you will know.
zazajk28---- unfortunatly you know nothing about Cancer and the treatments provided. If you would like to know more read the book or do your research before you rant.
BS brings a much needed sense of humor to cycling.
It's not all that funny to watch an amazing effort, overcoming pain and impossible odds, in a competition for the podium in a Grand Tour only to find out the competitors that created the story are dopers.
So, Vino Basso Landis and all the others that were caught and have come back; ride hard, make it a great race, but please don't turn the unbelievable effort into a lifetime suspension and another disappointing story.
Off the subject, but why was it called the "Oil-for-Drugs" scheme? I apologize for the sidetracking...
@si1268 - Ivan Basso happened. Liquigas chose to stick two fingeres up to the rest of the ProTour teams and opened the floodgates for the likes of Vino, Ricco, Sella, Landis etc to join any ProTour team who wants to take a chance. That all said, I was interested to hear during an interview with Pat McQuaid during the Tour of Ireland that it was likely that a number of ProTour licences will be withdrawn at the end of this year due to poor performances, irregularities or ethical issues. This opens the door for the likes of TeamSky and RadioShack, but doesn't sound like good news for the likes of Astana, Fuji-Servetto........maybe even Millram???
BS isn't journalism, its and opinion column. Stop taking it too seriously. The Vuelta is round the corner, Vino's in it... legitimate subject to write about. He sure as hell wouldn't be allowed in the TdF. What happened to the Pro Tour teams not signing anyone until 2 years after they'd served their ban?
If anyone of you ever drove a bicycle you would know that everyone are cheating. I drive bicycle 4 days a week, whole summer, and when I see them driving faster then me up, with difference that I'm driving flat road and they are driving climb of average 10%, then I'm wright to be suspicious (positive) that they are cheating.
carnocm4m6- Agree with you, I think it's deliberate spitefulness by BS and Eurosport at large to be so anti-Vino. He has served his time along with David Millar and others. Journalism from a "3rd class degree in media studies at xyz polytechnic".
'
On the different issue of the Vuelta and cheating, will the Vuelta be as clean as the TdF due to 1. stringent testing deterring cheats or 2. lax testing not uncovering cheats.
'
Catch 22- the Vuelta may be clean for the right reasons (1) or the wrong reasons (2), but we will not be able to identify which. This problem is understandable- being junior to the TdF, the Vuelta has a smaller budget for testing and sponsors face less downside risk to ensure a clean race.
'
If only all participating teams paid £100,000 to the race organisers as insurance against a cheating race (and redeemable if no cheats are found). That could change attitudes.
THIS IS DIRECTED AT 'P' number 15!i thought astraloza tested positive or was that in another event?i used to really like vino...and ricco i guess the cheats attacking style is great to watch!but BS is not fair!he has served his ban!and valverde is only banned in italy so thats not really fair either!but i agree with zazajk28 armstrong cheated or gained an advantage from the cancer beating drugs!
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